On the issue of the 'Kazan Chronicle' as a literary source of M.M. Kheraskov's poem 'Rossiada'

A.I. Zavyalova

Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History, Moscow, 125009 Russia

E-mail: azavyalowa@gmail.com

Received March 5, 2020

Full text PDF

DOI: 10.26907/2541-7738.2020.5.272-280

For citation: Zavyalova A.I. On the issue of the “Kazan Chronicle” as a literary source of M.M. Kheraskov’s poem “Rossiada”. Uchenye Zapiski Kazanskogo Universiteta. Seriya Gumanitarnye Nauki, 2020, vol. 162, no. 5, pp. 272–280. doi: 10.26907/2541-7738.2020.5.272-280. (In Russian)

Abstract

M.M. Kheraskov’s epic poem “Rossiada” is devoted to the Kazan Siege by Ivan the Terrible. It is based on the works published by Russian historians, as well on facts from the Old Russian manuscripts. One of the main literary sources of the “Rossiada” is the “Kazan Chronicle”, also known as the “Story of the Tsardom of Kazan”, a famous historical and publicistic story of the 16th century. This hypothesis was introduced as a result of the studies by G.Z. Kuntsevich, U.N. Sidorova, and G.N. Moiseeva. In this paper, the authenticity of the hypothesis was considered. Comparative study of the “Rossiada” and different sources about the Kazan Siege was performed. The Old Russian manuscripts and the “Kazan Chronicle” also contain numerous stories about the Kazan Siege. New facts confirming that the “Kazan Chronicle” was used by M.M. Kheraskov to create the plot of his epic poem were discussed: he drew upon some historical facts, such as about the Tartarian princess Söyembikä and the Kazan voivode Atalyk. The writer imitated the attitude of the author of the “Kazan Chronicle” towards the characters. Therefore, the “Kazan Chronicle” turns out to be the most important source of M.M. Kheraskov’s poem, but not the only one.

Keywords: “Rossiada”, M.M. Kheraskov, Tsardom of Kazan, “Kazan Chronicle”, Kazan, P.I. Rychkov, Söyembikä, Atalyk, Razmysl

References

1. Kuntsevich G.Z. Istoriya o Kazanskom tsarstve, ili Kazanskii letopisets: opyt istoriko-literaturnogo issledovaniya. [The Story of the Tsardom of Kazan, or the Kazan Chronicle: A Historical and Literary Research]. St. Petersburg, Tip. I.N. Skorokhodova, 1905. 682 p. (In Russian)
2. Sidorova Yu.N. M.M. Kheraskov’s “Rossiada” and “Kazan Chronicle”. Literatura Drevnei Rusi, 1975, no. 1, pp. 97–104. (In Russian)
3. Moiseeva G.N. Drevnerusskaya literatura v khudozhestvennom soznanii i istoricheskoi mysli Rossii XVIII v. [The Old Russian Literature in the Artistic Conscience and Historical Thought of Russia in the 18th Century]. Leningrad, Nauka, 1980. 264 p. (In Russian)
4. Golitsyn N.V. Portfeli G.F. Millera [Portfolios of G.F. Miller]. Moscow, Tip. G. Lissnera i A. Geshelya, 1899. 150 p. (In Russian)
5. Lyzlov A.I. Skifskaya istoriya. [The Scythian History]. Pt. 1. St. Petersburg, Tip. Sukhoputnogo Kadetskogo Korpusa, 1776. 166 p. (In Russian)
6. Lomonosov M.V. Kratkii Rossiiskii letopisets s rodosloviem [Brief Russian Chronicle with Genealogy]. St. Petersburg, Imp. Akad. Nauk, 1760. 75 p. (In Russian)
7. Rychkov P.I. Opyt Kazanskoi istorii drevnikh i srednikh vremen [The History of Kazan in the Ancient and Middle Ages]. St. Petersburg, Imp. Akad. Nauk, 1767. 196 p. (In Russian)
8. Nasonov A.N. New sources on the history of the Siege of Kazan. In: Arkheograficheskii ezhegodnik za 1960 g. [Archaeographic Almanac of 1960]. Moscow, Izd. Akad. Nauk SSSR, 1962. pp. 3–26. (In Russian)
9. Kuntsevich G.Z. Kheraskov’s “Rossiada” and “Story of the Tsardom of Kazan”. Zhurnal Ministerstva Narodnogo Prosveshheniya, 1901, no. 1, pp. 1–15. (In Russian)

The content is available under the license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.