A. M. Vvedensky. The Initial Part of the Pskov Chronicles: On the Issue of Sources // Petersburg
Historical Journal, no. 2, 2026, pp. 168–179.

DOI 10.51255/2311–603X_2026_2_168

Abstract:

The article focuses on the initial segment of the Pskov chronicles, spanning from the inception of the narrative to 6573/1065. In this section, the text of the Pskov Second Chronicle deviates from the text found in the Pskov First and Pskov Third Chronicles. A comprehensive textual analysis of the Pskov Second Chronicle reveals that its compiler employed a single chronicle source, specifically the Novgorod First Chronicle, in the initial section. This finding suggests that the compiler did not draw upon additional chronicles during the composition process. The common protograph of the Pskov First and Pskov Third was derived from two chronicle texts: The Novgorod First Chronicle and the Brief Novgorod Chronicler. The compiler of the Pskov Third Chronicle also drew upon the content of several chronicles belonging to the Novgorod-Sofia group. The article provides a compelling argument to support the hypothesis that the initial part was absent from the general protograph of all Pskov chronicles.

Key words: history of Pskov, 15th century, Pskov First Chronicle, Pskov Second Chronicle, Pskov Third Chronicle, Novgorod First Chronicle, Brief Novgorod Chronicler.

Author:

Vvedenskiy, Anton Mikhailovich — Candidate of Philological Sciences, Senior Researcher, Saint-Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Associate Professor, National Research University Higher School of Economics (Saint Petersburg, Russia).
E-mail: 3103104@mail.ru
ORCID: 0000-0003-4046-8292

References:
Bobrov, A. G. Knizhnost’ velikogo Novgoroda [Bookishness of Veliky Novgorod. In Russ.]. Moscow, Kvadriga publ., 2024. 716 p.

Bobrov, A. G. Novgorodskie letopisi XV veka [Novgorod Chronicles of the 15th Century. In Russ.].
St. Petersburg, Dmitrii Bulanin publ., 2001, 287 p.

Gimon, T. V. Novgorodskoe letopisanie XI — serediny XIV v. kak sotsiokulturnoe yavlenie [Novgorod Chronicle of the 11th — mid‑14th Centuries as a Socio-Cultural Phenomenon. In Russ.]: dis. … d-ra ist. nauk. Moscow, 2014, 426 p.

Nasonov, A. N. Iz istorii pskovskogo letopisaniya [From the History of the Pskov Chronicle. In Russ.]. In Polnoe sobranie russkikh letopisei. Vol. 5, iss. 1. Moscow, Yazyki russkoi kul’tury publ., 2003, pp. 9–44.

Nasonov, A. N. O spiskakh pskovskikh letopisei [On the lists of Pskov chronicles. In Russ.]. In Polnoe sobranie russkikh letopisei. Vol. 5, iss. 1. Moscow, Yazyki russkoi kul’tury publ., 2003, pp. XXIX–LXIII.

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