legends

Velikiy Novgorod. Dove and Sadko
SmartNews has collected the legends of the Novgorod region

Almost every city in our large country is fraught with legends and traditions that local residents have been passing on to each other for decades, or even hundreds of years. They are told to children and grandchildren, travelers, guests, collected in collections, compose songs about them. We have collected the most interesting and meaningful legends of the Russian regions, on the basis of which you can make an alternative history of the country.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Ancient Novgorod land is full of legends, legends and tales. Over the almost 1155-year history of one of the oldest cities in Russia, a lot of them have accumulated. Some legends are retold by word of mouth for many years, others are written down in books. SmartNews has compiled a list of the most interesting legends of the Novgorod region.

city ​​guardian

Sophia Cathedral is considered the main Orthodox church of Veliky Novgorod. The first stone was laid back in 1045, and by 1050 the ancient Novgorodians were able to visit the temple. In addition to architectural and other features, St. Sophia Cathedral has one mysterious riddle - a lead dove on the cross of the main dome.

- The story of the appearance of a dove on the cross of the main dome of St. Sophia Cathedral is amazing and at the same time tragic. At the end of 1569, Tsar Ivan the Terrible went on a campaign against Novgorod. He suspected the Novgorodians and his cousin, Prince Staritsky, of allegedly wanting to poison the tsar, and that they wanted to recognize the power of the Poles over themselves. As a result, Ivan the Terrible killed his brother and decided to go to Novgorod. Moreover, the ancient Novgorodians were independent, capricious - a veche republic. For many years, Moscow tried to subjugate Novgorod, but Ivan the Terrible managed to do this only with great bloodshed. The punitive campaign in Novgorod lasted, according to some reports, a month and a half, everything was plundered and destroyed here. It is also not known for certain about the dead, some say about 1.5 thousand dead, others say that about 60 thousand inhabitants were killed.
Inessa Antonova, tour guide

According to the chroniclers, the blood of the Novgorodians flowed in streams through the streets. On one of the days of the rout, a dove flew over the city. Tired, he sat down to rest on the cross of the main dome of St. Sophia Cathedral, and when he saw what was happening below, he was petrified with horror. And after some time, one of the monks told about the appearance of the Mother of God, who revealed to him the secret that the dove was sent to the people of Novgorod as a consolation. The legend says: while the dove sits on the cross, Novgorod will live and prosper. As soon as the dove flies, then the city will no longer exist.

It is also curious that on the monument "Millennium of Russia", installed opposite the St. Sophia Cathedral more than 150 years ago, among the statesmen you will not find Tsar Ivan the Terrible.

Guslyar Sadko

Hero of the Novgorod epic cycle. Some sources initially called him a merchant, others - a poor harpman. The people tell from mouth to mouth the story of how a poor gusler became a famous merchant.

- Sadko is a legendary person, many people know and heard about him. The main version tells how, after sitting idle for several days, and he was engaged in playing the harp during the feast, he went to Lake Ilmen, where he began to play. This went on for several days. And once, when he again came to the shore of the lake and started the game, the Sea King appeared from the abyss. Before he liked the game of the poor harpman, he suggested that at one of the feasts he bet that there was fish in the lake - golden feathers and Sadko would catch it, naturally, not without the help of the king.
Igor Petrov, historian

Artist Boris Olshansky

Sadko did just that. He won a dispute with three merchants, and they each gave him a shop with goods. He is getting rich. And once at a feast, which Sadko himself had already arranged, he told the guests that he would buy up all Novgorod goods. For several days the merchant swept goods from the Novgorod counters, but they did not end. The merchant loses the argument.

- After a lost dispute, he went to sell Novgorod goods to overseas countries. And already on the way back to Novgorod, he was visiting the Sea Tsar. The king asks the harpman to play. The epic says that Sadko played for several days, and the king danced, which caused a storm at sea, as a result of which ships sank and people died. Everything stopped when Sadko, following the advice of St. Mykola of Mozhaisk, broke the strings on the harp.
Alena Gavrilova, pupil of the school of Russian folklore "Kudesy"

But the Sea King did not let up and offered Sadko to marry a sea beauty. And here Mikola Mozhaisky came to his rescue. He advised Sadko to marry the very last mess - Chernavushka. After the wedding feast, Sadko fell asleep, and in the morning he woke up in Novgorod. The merchant no longer traveled with goods to overseas countries.

The image of the merchant Sadko is also depicted on the Fairytale Map of Russia. In addition, a film of the same name was made about Sadko and an opera was staged.

Guslyar Sadko

Two brothers

There is Lake Ilmen not far from Veliky Novgorod, all rivers flow into it, and only one falls out - Volkhov. There are many legends about the origin of the name of the lake. Historical roots, perhaps, should be sought in the Finno-Ugric language. But there are several legends, one of which is permeated with a wonderful feeling - love.

The curse was that the brother would become crooked, hunchbacked, and he would no longer be able to rise from the ground. That's how it all happened. Once Ilmen had a dream where he saw a crippled brother. Ilmen decided that he would not rise from the ground either. So the lakes Seliger and Ilmen appeared.

- If someone has been to Seliger, he noticed that this lake is crooked in places, has boulders, which may indicate that the story of the brothers is really real. But I still tend to believe that this is just a beautiful and tragic love story.
Inessa Antonova, tour guide

Lake Seliger

In 2014, a new tourist route "The path of legends of the land of Novgorod" will appear in the Novgorod region. Walking through it, Novgorodians and guests of the city will be able to learn about the myths and legends of Novgorod.

The path of legends. Tourists will be taken to the places of Novgorod legends

A well-known Novgorod historian and folklorist has developed a new tourist route "The path of legends of the land of Novgorod". It took him a year and a half to draw up a route based on legends and traditions. The first tourists will set off on the route in 2014 - they will be able not only to visit the places of the region associated with famous ancient legends, but also to see their characters.

The idea and authorship of the new tourist route "The path of legends of the land of Novgorod" belongs to the famous Novgorod historian Igor Petrov. For a year and a half, he collected the brightest local legends, stories and even tales, developed a route that could cover the most legendary places in the region, created costume designs for the heroes of legends who meet tourists on the route.

The route is designed for two days. It includes sightseeing tours of the cities - during this time tourists will visit Veliky Novgorod, Staraya Russa and Volot - an interactive program and master classes. Now with the goddess of water Ilmera, after whom Lake Ilmen is named, the princes Sloven and Rus, the legendary Scythian founders of the cities of Slovensk and Rusa, and the giant Volot, the mythical ancestor of the Slavs, Novgorodians and guests of the city will be able to get acquainted with their own eyes.

- Of the legendary heroes today, many remember Sadko, Vasily Buslaev, but the legends and legends that are still alive in many areas remain in the background. Although there are truly unique and exciting legends, and not only ancient ones, but also modern ones. Therefore, when the development of the route began, the problem arose in the selection of material. I wanted to take into development not quite hyped, so that they would arouse interest. I chose the recreational route also due to the fact that serious tourist products require a lot of money. For example, the Noise Mountain project, where, according to legend, the grave of Prince Rurik is located, is very interesting if it is fully implemented. But for this, funds are needed, but so far they are not available. A fairy tale, folklore, legends attract tourists. And the Novgorodians themselves will be interested.
Igor Petrov, historian, project developer

The project of the route "Trail of legends of the land of Novgorod" in 2012 won the competition "Novgorodika". The main prize was a grant of 150 thousand rubles. With this money, Igor Petrov ordered costumes for the characters, sketches for which he himself came up with.

- We helped him submit this project last year to the competition "Novgorodika". As a result, the project was supported by the city and regional authorities. The route can be completely transformed. A tourist may, for example, not travel to districts or visit only one district. Suppose, after participating in an interactive program in Veliky Novgorod, you can go to the Fairy Tale Museum, created by enthusiasts in the Volotovsky district. But the key figures of the route, of course, are Veliky Novgorod and the Trinity excavation site.
Marina Lebedeva, director of the tourism development center "Red Izba"

The first tourists will go to the Novgorod legends in 2014. The fact is that the Troitsky excavation site is a seasonal object, it is closed in the autumn-winter period. At the same time, Igor Petrov is now working on trying to make the route year-round.

The first who managed to walk along the path of legends were children from large and low-income families. Many surprises awaited them: folk rituals, fun and competitions from the heroes of Novgorod legends. Everyone was able to test their strength in folk games and take part in ancient Novgorod amusements: hunt the Korkodil monster, create “speech circles” with their own hands and spread cabbages.

By the way, the interest of tourists to Veliky Novgorod has grown significantly. A powerful impetus for this was the major international holidays in 2009 - the Hanseatic days of the New Age and the 1150th anniversary of Veliky Novgorod. According to statistics, in 2012 about 200 thousand people visited Veliky Novgorod. For comparison: in 2008 the number of tourists did not even reach 100,000. The city authorities plan to increase the flow of tourists to Veliky Novgorod by 2015 to 370,000 people.

Travelers are attracted not only by the ancient history of the region, but also by its rich tourist resources. Event tourism is gaining momentum. Among the largest projects in the field of event tourism include an international exhibition of calligraphy, theatrical programs "Novgorod Veche" and "Tales of the Boy Onfim", as well as the production of the opera "Sadko".

tourism day

Anton Morozov, Sergey Antonov,
Tatyana Leonova, Natalia Grebneva, Natalia Solovieva
SmartNews, September 16-February 14, 2013-14

Epic stories, the hero of which is Vasily Buslaev

According to S.A. Azbelev, numbering 53 plots of heroic epics, Vasily Buslaev is the main character of three of them (No. 40, 41 and 42 according to the index compiled by Azbelev).

40. Vasily Buslaev and Novgorodians

41. Vasily Buslaev's trip

42. Death of Vasily Buslaev

The image of Vasily Buslaev in epics

Vasily Buslaev is a Novgorodian hero, representing the ideal of valiant boundless prowess. This is the most famous of the folklore characters bearing the name Vasily.

The first of the epic stories dedicated to Vasily Buslaev tells about his conflict with the urban community. From a young age, Vaska has no restraints; he always does as he pleases, regardless of the harm that his actions bring. Having set the majority of Novgorodians against himself, he gathers a squad of the same daredevils like himself, and rages more and more; only his mother has even a shadow of power over him. Finally, encouraged at the feast, Vasily bets that he will fight at the head of his squad on the Volkhov bridge with all the Novgorod peasants. The battle begins and Vasily's threat to beat all opponents to a single one is close to being carried out; only the intervention of Vasily's mother saves the Novgorodians.

The second of the epic stories dedicated to Vasily Buslaev depicts this hero no longer as a young man, but as a mature person. Feeling the weight of his sins, Basil goes to pray for them in Jerusalem. But the pilgrimage to the Holy Places does not change the character of the hero: he defiantly violates all prohibitions and dies in the most ridiculous way on the way back, trying to prove his youth.

The type of Vasily Buslaev was little developed in pre-revolutionary scientific literature. Most researchers have spoken in favor of the originality of this type, considering it the personification of the power of Novgorod itself, while Sadko is the personification of its wealth.

Movie hero

Nikolai Okhlopkov (left) as Vaska Buslay. The film "Alexander Nevsky"

One of the main characters of the famous film by Sergei Eisenstein "Alexander Nevsky", filmed in 1938, is a Novgorod guy Vaska Buslay (not Buslaev!). This character "inherited" two traits characteristic of the epic Vasily Buslaev: reckless prowess and reverence for his mother. Otherwise, the cinematic hero is sharply different from the epic one: he does not oppose himself to the community, and his overflowing energy is skillfully directed by Prince Alexander in the right direction (he is entrusted with the most important and most dangerous place in the upcoming battle). Cheerful and full of inventions, Vaska Buslai is represented by a friend-rival of the sedate boyar Gavrila Aleksich. In the Battle on the Ice, both perform great feats, and at the end of the film, Buslai himself generously recognizes the primacy of his older friend in military prowess.

In 1982, director Gennady Vasiliev shot the film-tale "Vasily Buslaev". The author of the script used some motifs of epics about Vasily Buslaev (and in a very free interpretation).

Notes

Literature

• N. I. Kostomarov Historical monographs and research, Volume 8. St. Petersburg. Type. K. Wulf, 1868. pp. 124-148

Links

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010 .

• Vasily Kosoy
• Sokar

See what "Vasily Buslaev" is in other dictionaries:

VASILY BUSLAEV- VASILY BUSLAEV, USSR, film studio. M. Gorky, 1982, color, 81 min. Tale. Based on the poem of the same name by Sergei Narovchatov. Once the townsman's son Vaska Buslaev heard from wanderers an alarming message that terrible enemies had attacked Russia and ruined it. ... ... Cinema Encyclopedia

VASILY BUSLAEV- the hero of the epics of the Novgorod cycle (14th-15th centuries), a reveler and a mischievous person who entered into battle with all of Novgorod ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Vasily Buslaev- the hero of the epics of the Novgorod cycle (XIV-XV centuries), a reveler and a mischievous person who entered into battle with all of Novgorod. * * * VASILY BUSLAEV VASILY BUSLAEV, the hero of the epics of the Novgorod cycle (14th-15th centuries), a reveler and a mischievous person who entered into battle with all of Novgorod ... encyclopedic Dictionary

Vasily Buslaev- VASILY (Vaska) BUSLAEV folklore character, hero of the Novgorod epics Buslaev and Novgorodians and Buslaev's death. Like other epic heroes, V. B. is endowed with a fantastic. strength, growing unusually fast, testing its physical. power on peers, ... ... Russian humanitarian encyclopedic dictionary

Vasily Buslaev- the hero of two epics of the Novgorod cycle, created during the heyday of the commercial and political life of Novgorod in the 14th and 15th centuries. and experienced later influences of the 16th and 17th centuries. Condemnation of V. B., a reckless drunkard and ushkuin, entering into battle with everything ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

VASILY BUSLAEV- the hero of Russian epics, the son of a boyar, who contacted the Novgorod freemen, a reckless drunkard and ushkuin, who entered into battle with all of Novgorod. He died on the way from the Holy Land, where he went to atone for sins.

Russian epics are a reflection of historical events retold by the people, and as a result, have undergone strong changes. Each hero and villain in them is most often a real-life person, whose life or activity was taken as the basis of a character or a collective and very important image for that time.

Heroes of epics

Ilya Muromets (Russian hero)

Glorious Russian hero and brave warrior. This is exactly how Ilya Muromets appears in the Russian epic epic. Serving faithfully to Prince Vladimir, the warrior was paralyzed from birth and sat on the stove for exactly 33 years. Brave, strong and fearless, he was cured of paralysis by the elders and gave all his heroic strength to the defense of the Russian lands from the Nightingale the Robber, the invasion of the Tatar yoke and the Pogany Idol.

The hero of epics has a real prototype - Ilya Pechersky, canonized as Ilya Muromets. In his youth, he suffered paralysis of the limbs, and died from a blow to the heart with a spear.

Dobrynya Nikitich (Russian hero)

Another hero from the famous trio of Russian heroes. He served Prince Vladimir and carried out his personal assignments. He was the closest of all the heroes to the princely family. Strong, brave, agile and fearless, he swam perfectly, knew how to play the harp, knew about 12 languages ​​and was a diplomat in solving state affairs.

The real prototype of the glorious warrior is the governor Dobrynya, who was the maternal uncle of the prince himself.

Alyosha Popovich (Russian hero)

Alyosha Popovich is the youngest of the three heroes. He is famous not so much for his strength as for his onslaught, resourcefulness and cunning. A lover of boasting about his achievements, he was instructed on the true path by senior heroes. In relation to them behaved in two ways. Supporting and protecting the glorious trio, he falsely buried Dobrynya in order to marry his wife Nastasya.

Olesha Popovich is a Rostov brave boyar, whose name is associated with the appearance of the image of the epic hero-hero.

Sadko (Novgorod hero)

Lucky gusler from Novgorod epics. For many years he earned his daily bread by playing the harp. Having received an award from the Tsar of the Sea, Sadko became rich and set off by sea with 30 ships to overseas countries. On the way, a benefactor took him to himself as a ransom. On the instructions of Nicholas the Wonderworker, the guslar managed to escape from captivity.

The prototype of the hero is Sodko Sytinets, a Novgorod merchant.

Svyatogor (hero-giant)

A giant and a hero who possessed remarkable strength. Huge and mighty, born in the mountains of Saints. As he walked, the forests trembled and the rivers overflowed. Svyatogor transferred part of his strength in the writings of the Russian epic to Ilya Muromets. Shortly thereafter, he died.

There is no real prototype of the image of Svyatogor. It is a symbol of a huge primitive power, which has never been used.

Mikula Selyaninovich (heroic plowman)

Bogatyr and peasant who plowed the land. According to the epics, he was familiar with Svyatogor and gave that bag to lift the full weight of the earth. According to legend, it was impossible to fight with the plowman, he was under the protection of Mother Raw Earth. His daughters are the wives of the heroes, Stavr and Dobrynya.

The image of Mikula is fictional. The name itself is derived from the common at that time Michael and Nicholas.

Volga Svyatoslavich (Russian hero)

Hero-bogatyr of ancient epics. He possessed not only impressive strength, but also the ability to understand the language of birds, as well as turn around any animal and wrap others in them. He went on campaigns to the Turkish and Indian lands, and after that he became their ruler.

Many scientists identify the image of Volga Svyatoslavich with Oleg the Prophet.

Nikita Kozhemyaka (Kyiv hero)

Hero of Kiev epics. A brave hero with great strength. Could easily tear apart a dozen folded bull skins. He tore out the skin with meat from the angry bulls rushing at him. He became famous for having defeated the snake, freeing the princess from his captivity.

The hero owes his appearance to the myths about Perun, reduced to everyday manifestations of miraculous power.

Stavr Godinovich (Chernigov boyar)

Stavr Godinovich is a boyar from Chernihiv region. Known for his good playing on the harp and strong love for his wife, whose talents he was not averse to boasting to others. In epics, the role is not the main one. More famous is his wife Vasilisa Mikulishna, who rescued her husband from imprisonment in the dungeons of Vladimir the Red Sun.

There is a mention of the real Sotsky Stavra in the annals of 1118. He was also imprisoned in the cellars of Prince Vladimir Monomakh after the riots.

Sergei Nikolaevich Azbelev (born 1926) is a Soviet and Russian philologist and historian. Doctor of Philology, Professor, Leading Researcher at the Institute of Russian Literature (IRLI) RAS (Pushkin House), Professor at Yaroslav the Wise Novgorod State University. Member of the Great Patriotic War. Author of many works on the history, literature and folklore of Ancient Russia. Below is a fragment from the book: Oral history in the monuments of Novgorod and Novgorod land (textbook for the course "source study"). St. Petersburg: "Dmitry Bulanin", 2007.

I.E. Repin. "Sadko" (1876), fragment

Two equally popular heroes of the Novgorod epic differ, in particular, in that they are connected in different ways with chronicle news about them. The degree of this correlation and the degree of reliability of one of such news were the subject of discussion not only among epic scholars, but also among historians. If about Vasily Buslaev there is, in essence, only one chronicle evidence, although repeated in several monuments, then there is quite a lot of information related directly or indirectly to the prototype of the epic Sadko. Chronicles reported that in 1167 Sotko Sytinich laid the stone church of Boris and Gleb in Novgorod Detinets, which existed until the end of the 17th century. Epics tell that Sadko built one or more churches in Novgorod. CM. Solovyov, who resolutely affirmed the historicity of Vasily Buslaev, spoke cautiously on the question of the historicity of Sadko; “The similarity of the song Sadok with the chronicle,” he writes, “is that in the song the rich guest is a hunter to build churches.” F.I. wrote about this even less definitely. Buslaev. Mentioning that the epic Sadko built churches, the researcher notes: “... this detail is consistent with the news of the Novgorod chronicles that nowhere in Russia were so many churches built by ordinary citizens as in Novgorod,” but does not mention the chronicle Sotko Sytinich.

A.N. Veselovsky had no doubt that the epic reflected, by the similarity of names, the real Sotko Sytinich, the builder of the church of Boris and Gleb. Of the churches built by Sadko, according to the epics, according to the researcher, “the primary is<...>church in honor of Nikola, who saved Sadka from the sea. According to A.N. Veselovsky, the real Sotko Sytinich, rescued during a storm by Boris and Gleb, built a church in their honor, which is noted in the annals. Folk tradition replaced Boris and Gleb with the more popular Nikola. V.F. Miller, who deduced the epic about Sadko mainly from the Finnish epic, on the question of his attitude to the chronicle Sotko Sytinich, in fact, adhered to the same view as Veselovsky. Identified Sotko Sytinich with the epic Sadko and A.V. Markov.

Subsequently, A.N. Robinson dated the epic about Sadko to the 11th century. - based on the fact that the Church of Boris and Gleb was founded by Sotko Sytinich in 1167. The same point of view was expressed by D.S. Likhachev. Talking about the church built by Sotko Sytinich, he writes: “Naturally, the name of its builder passed into the epic and around the construction of the church of Boris and Gleb<...>legends were created. This is exactly what later epics tell:

Shel Sadko, God's kram built
And in the name of Sophia the Wise,

and other versions of epics about Sadko attribute to him the construction of two more churches: Stepan the Archdeacon and Nikola Mozhaisky. Chronicles and Sadko epics are one and the same person. Thus, the emergence of legends about him is also dated. Without touching the essence of the issue for the time being, let us eliminate the factual inaccuracies obscuring it. In the text of the epic cited by D. S. Likhachev, Sadko built a temple “in the name of Sophia the Wise”, the chronicle reports on the church of Boris and Gleb (which is not in any epic record), therefore, it is illogical to say that this version of the epic “tells exactly about it". It is not true that the text of the Sophia Time Book says "Satko is rich" - it simply says "Sotko".

2
Let's turn to chronicles. The construction of the Church of Boris and Gleb by Sotko Sytinich is reported in one context or another by 25 annalistic monuments. This is the Novgorod 1st chronicle of both versions, Novgorod 2nd, Novgorod 3rd of both editions, Novgorod 4th and Novgorod 5th chronicles, Novgorod Karamzinskaya, Novgorod chronicle according to Dubrovsky’s list, Novgorod Bolshakovskaya, Novgorod Uvarovskaya, Novgorod Zabel some , Novgorod Pogodinskaya chronicle of all three editions, Chronicler of the Novgorod rulers, Novgorod chronicler according to the list of N.K. Nikolsky, Novgorod chronicler, discovered by A.N. Nasonov, Pskovskaya 1st chronicle, Sofia 1st, Annals of Avraamka, Volgodec-Permskaya, Tverskaya, Typographical, Moscow chronicle of the end of the 15th century, Rogozhsky chronicler, Vladimir chronicler, Voskresenskaya and Nikonovskaya chronicles.

14 chronicles contain the news of the very laying of the church by Sotko Sytinich in 1167. We quote it from the oldest of them - the Novgorod 1st chronicle of the senior version: under Archbishop Elijah. In other cases, the text either coincides with the one given, or is reduced or somewhat extended by introducing topographical clarifications (“in Kamenny Grad”, “in Okolotka”, “above the Volkhov at the end of Piskupli Street”). These clarifications are consistent with each other and correspond to the location of the church on the ancient plans of Novgorod. In the future, the church is repeatedly mentioned in chronicles and acts. In particular, it is reported that it was consecrated in 1173, that it was restored after a fire in 1441, and that it was dismantled due to dilapidation in 1682. One of these references (under 1350) says that the church was “built by Sotko Sytinich” .

Chronicle 21 mentions the church of Boris and Gleb, along with the name of its builder, in another connection. Reporting the death by fire in 1049 of the wooden church of St. Sophia (after which the stone St. Sophia Cathedral was built), these chronicles indicate that the wooden Sophia stood on the spot where Sotko Sytinich later built the Church of Boris and Gleb: “On March 4, on Saturday, St. Sophia was burned; beashe was honestly arranged and decorated, 13 the tops of the property, and that St. Sophia stood at the end of Peskuple Street, where now Sotka has erected the church of the stone of St. ; in other chronicles there are abbreviations and additions that are insignificant for us now, similar to those that are present in the above news of 1167). These data undoubtedly testify that the builder of the Church of Boris and Gleb, erected in Novgorod in 1167, Sotko Sytinich, is a very real historical person.

In all chronicles, his name is read almost the same: Sotko (in the vast majority of cases), Sytko, Sodko, Sadko, Sotka, Sotka, Sotka; in one case it was clearly corrupted: Sitkomo (Tver Chronicle). The middle name also varies slightly: Sytinich (in most cases), Sytinich, Sytinits, Sytenich, Sygnich, Sytnichi, Stanich, Sotich; in one case spoiled: Sochnik (Novgorod 2nd Chronicle). In epics, the forms of the name are essentially the same: Sadko, Sadke, Sotko, Sadka, Sadok. The epics did not preserve the patronymic of their hero, but they remembered the construction of the temple by him firmly. The very name of the builder and the name of his father are not unique: in similar forms and in various modifications, sometimes in the form of a patronymic or nickname, they are relatively often found in chronicles and ancient Russian acts, for example, the Novgorod ambassador Semyon Sudokov (under 1353), chief guard detachment Grigory Sudok (under 1380), Prince Sytko (under 1400), governor Sudok (under 1445), patrimony Ivan Fedorovich Sudok Monastyrev (under 1464 and 1473), Sudok Ivanov son Esipov (under 1503 g.), Metropolitan clerk Sudok (under 1504), peasant Sotko (under 1565), Kargopol patrimony Sotko Grigoriev son of Dvoryaninov (XVI century). In addition to the name and patronymic, the chronicles, unfortunately, do not provide any information about the builder of the church of Boris and Gleb, in connection with which M.K. Karger even wrote that “the identification of this noble boyar, whose name is mentioned in the annals“ with the fatherland ”, with the epic guest Sadko, long accepted in historical and archaeological literature, still requires serious justification.”

D.S. Likhachev rather unsuccessfully tried to justify this by the size of the building. According to him, “the Church of Boris and Gleb, until its destruction in the 17th century, was the largest church in Novgorod, the only one that surpassed in its size the patronal church of Novgorod - Sophia” and therefore “around the construction of the Church of Boris and Gleb - so unusual in its size in Novgorod - legends were created. The erroneous opinion that the temple had such a huge size can be based on only one circumstance. Image of the Novgorod Detinets on the Khutyn Icon of the 16th-17th Centuries. shows the Church of Boris and Gleb larger than St. Sophia Cathedral. However, in the same image, Sofia is also surpassed by the belfry, which has survived without significant alterations to this day and whose real dimensions cannot be compared with the St. Sophia Cathedral. It has long been known that the ratio of the size of individual images on ancient Russian icons and miniatures is completely arbitrary. On another image of the Novgorod Detinets, approximately the same time (XVII century), the temple of Boris and Gleb looks several times smaller than Sophia. Other images of the church of Boris and Gleb, except for these two, have not been preserved.

Archaeological excavations unearthed its foundation. It turned out that the area of ​​its foundation was half the area of ​​the foundation of St. Sophia Cathedral. Thus, the real size of the Church of Boris and Gleb does not give reason to assume that its exceptional size caused the creation of legends about its construction, since no legends about the construction of the much larger St. Sophia Cathedral have been preserved. But still, according to archaeological data, the temple of Boris and Gleb was "an exceptionally monumental structure, not inferior in size to one of the most majestic buildings in Novgorod - the Cathedral of St. George in the princely Yuriev monastery." It is appropriate to recall that 40 years before Sotko Sytinich began to build the temple of Boris and Gleb, a revolution took place in the city. Novgorodians deprived of power and expelled their prince Vsevolod Mstislavich (grandson of Vladimir Monomakh). The Novgorod principality actually became a republic, often shaken by internecine clashes between city parties, although the Novgorodians later invited princes, however, greatly limiting their prerogatives. The struggle for power between the opposing factions, sometimes reaching crowded bloody battles, lasted 350 years: until the abolition of the republican system by Ivan III, who completed the unification of the Russian lands, annexing Novgorod to the Muscovite state. Soon he destroyed the Tatar-Mongol yoke, which lasted two and a half centuries, and was established due to the lack of unity among the then rulers of Russia used by the enemies.

As you know, the princes Boris and Gleb (sons of St. Vladimir), treacherously killed in 1117 by their brother, who sought sole power, were officially canonized by the Russian Church as saints already in 1171. Their killer, Svyatopolk, received the title of the Cursed, and Saints Boris and Gleb became a religious symbol of opposition to internecine strife, the spiritual patrons of the princely family, consecrating the principle of the inviolability of hereditary rights. The erection in the center of medieval Novgorod, in its citadel, of an imposing temple dedicated to precisely these saints (even before their official canonization) could not but have then an important symbolic meaning. This should have been perceived there as a condemnation of bloody strife, and perhaps as a manifestation of sympathy for the princely dynasty, whose members precisely here no longer had real power.

The epics speak differently about the reasons for building the church. The earliest record came in the famous Collection of Kirsha Danilov. As in a number of other variants, here Sadko competes in wealth with Novgorod: he undertakes to buy up all the goods of Novgorod merchants. In some versions of the epic he succeeds, in others he does not. According to the text of Kirsha Danilov, Sadko wins the match three times. Each time he gives thanks to heaven by building a temple. Bylina, thus, reports on the three churches that Sadko built. This indicates that he was well remembered as an outstanding temple builder, although the majestic church, actually built at his expense, had not existed for a long time already by the time the epics began to be written down. But popular memory attributed to Sadko the construction of the St. Sophia and St. Nicholas Cathedrals, erected in fact by the Novgorod princes at the time when they were still sovereign rulers of Novgorod. From Kirsha Danilov we read:

And God wetted him in a zealous heart:
Shed Sadko, built God's temple,
And in the name of Saphea the Wise,
Crosses, poppies gilded with gold,
Mestia adorned the icons,
He embellished icons, seated them with pure pearls,
He gilded the royal doors.

In the same expressions, the epic tells further about the construction of a temple in the name of St. Nicholas. It turns out that already more than 400 years ago, popular rumor began to attribute to the builder of a magnificent church in honor of the blessed princes-martyrs Boris and Gleb that he was involved in the construction of the oldest princely cathedral - St. Sophia, which became the state symbol of Novgorod. The chroniclers of the 12th-15th centuries correctly pointed out that the creator of this temple was the son of Yaroslav the Wise. But compiled at the end of the XVI century. The Novgorod 2nd chronicle reports under 1045: “Lay the foundation of Prince Volodnmer Yaroslavich and Vladyka Luke of St. Sophia of stone in Veliky Novgorod, Sotko Sytinich and Sytin.” The chronicler rewrote the main part of the text from his ancient source, and obviously made the addition on the basis of the epic. It is historically unreliable, since more than 120 years passed between the construction of the St. Sophia Cathedral and the temple of Boris and Gleb, but it shows how trusted the oral epic was in those days.

Another example is the addition of the church of Boris and Gleb in the news about the construction by Sotko Sytinich. In the Novgorod chronicler, discovered by A. N. Nasonov in a manuscript of the middle of the 16th century, it is said about this church that it was built by “Weaving the Rich”. We find the same replacement of “Sotko Sytinich” with “Sotko rich” in the Novgorod Uvarov chronicle, compiled at the end of the 16th century, and in all subsequent Novgorod chronicles dating back to it: in the Novgorod 3rd edition of both editions, the Novgorod Zabelinskaya, Novgorod Pogodinskaya all three editions (the original edition of this latter in one case out of two gives a “compromise” reading: “Sotko Sotich rich”). The alteration of "Sotko Sytinich" to "Sotko rich" was, obviously, a consequence of the chroniclers' confidence that Sotko Sytinich is the same "Sadko rich guest" that is sung in epics.

4
The epic stories about Sadko make up a small cycle of three works. In oral existence, they were sometimes performed by folk singers separately, but more often in different combinations of two epics combined into one, and occasionally all together in one performance. Since most of the records contain contamination of plots about Sadko, previous works on the Russian epic were, as a rule, about one epic dedicated to him, although transmitted by singers with varying degrees of completeness and consistency. However, they noted the inconsistency in the plot composition of the available variants, the difference in time between the appearance of individual parts. Works by V.F. Miller, A.N. Veselovsky and other epic scholars clarified this even before the beginning of the last century. But the very thesis about the independent origin of each of the three plots was put forward quite clearly more than four decades ago in an article by B. Meridzhi A shortly after T.M. Akimova, having carefully examined all the records introduced by that time into science, convincingly proved that they represented not one epic dedicated to Sadko, but three.

The construction of the temple is not only in the center of the epic about the competition between Sadko and Novgorod. It also passed into another epic about him, dedicated to the journey to the bottom of the sea. In its variants, usually the hero, who went down to the water to propitiate the sea king, ends up in the underwater kingdom; it is possible to return from there thanks to the advice of St. Nicholas. To him, in gratitude, according to his promise, Sadko then builds a church. But again, attention should be paid to the oldest recording of Kirsha Danilov. There is no such promise here, and it is clear from the text that Sadko belonged to the parishioners of this church, which already stood in Novgorod before he set sail: having followed the advice of St. Nicholas from the sea king -

From sleep, Sadko tried to shrink.
He found himself under the New City,<...>
He recognized the church - the arrival of his own,
Tovo Nikola Mozhayskov,
He crossed himself with his cross.

The name of the Borisoglebskaya church was forgotten in the epics. One of the main researchers of epics about Sadko A.N. Veselovsky suggested that it was replaced by the name of the St. Nicholas Church because of the well-known proximity between St. Nicholas and St. Boris and Gleb, according to the time of their church honoring and according to some folk ideas about them. The name of St. Nicholas eventually became especially popular in Novgorod, where there was a “brother Nikolytsin” (where the epic Sadko enters) - a merchant community, whose heavenly patron was St. Nicholas. He was also the patron saint of seafarers, and Sadko, according to the most common of the epics about him, conducted overseas trade, and the caravan of his ships almost died from a storm, but Sadko escapes, following the advice of St. Nicholas. As the epic evolved, the idea appeared in it that “Sadko the Rich” erected a church specifically for St. Nicholas. According to A.N. Veselovsky, “at this stage of development, the legend was further complicated by the dark elements of a fairy tale, which are filled, with the exclusion of the episode about Nikola, bylinas that have come down to us.”

Epic stories about the sea king and his impact on the fate of Sadko, of course, are of fabulous origin. They acquired the most developed form with the advent of another epic about Sadko: a poor gusler on the banks of the Ilmen delighted the lord of the water element with his game and for that he received wealth from him. This became, as it were, a preamble to the main epic about the competition between the rich Sadko and Novgorod (although there are other epic variations a tsy l in explaining how Sadko got rich). The final one in the resulting cycle was the very epic where Sadko, forced to thank the sea king for his wealth, falls to the bottom, here he must entertain him with his game, then choose his bride, risking staying here forever, if not for the wise advice of the saint, allowed to return to Novgorod. Thoroughly studied the epic about Sadko V.F. Miller rightly considered the central plot, where Sadko competes with Novgorod, to be primordial: the narrative could be based on historical reality. Not only in Kirsha Danilov, but also in a number of other entries, it is this plot that depicts its hero as a temple builder. As V.F. Miller, "the chronicle does not call Sadko a trading guest, but it is easy to assume that the historical Sadko acquired his wealth, which gave him the means to build a stone temple, like other rich Novgorodians, through extensive foreign trade." The scientist believed that there was a "Novgorod tradition that formed the basis of the epic"; later, “fabulous motifs” were attached to the name of this historical person.

Possible sources of such motifs were indicated by Veselovsky, Miller and other researchers in the folklore of not only the Slavic peoples, and close parallels turned out, in particular, among the Karelians living in the same places where the epics about Sadko were especially intense. The game of the hero on the harp in the underwater kingdom, for example, was explained by the influence of the Karelian-Finnish runes. But the most interesting parallel, which drew the attention of A.N. Veselovsky, was found in a French medieval novel. His hero, named Zadok, sailing in a storm on a ship, is forced by lot to throw himself into the sea (as the culprit of danger) so that his companions do not die; after that, the storm subsides, and Zadok himself is saved. This is the same scheme of the plot in the third epic about Sadko. As Veselovsky suggested, "both the novel and the epic, independently of each other, go back to the same source." This source has not yet been discovered. But it is quite obvious that the folk singer, who knew the epic about Sadko, naturally perceived such a work as a story about other adventures of the same hero. The intensive overseas trade of ancient Novgorod gave wide scope for the international exchange of folklore stories, V.F. Miller wrote that the mentioned episode about Zadok, due to the coincidence of names, influenced the epic that has come down to us. The scientist believed that the image of Sadko the merchant was later expanded by the idea of ​​him as a harpist. The fact is that playing the harp is not mentioned in one of the two epics about him by Kirsha Danilov: Sadko receives wealth from Ilmen Lake, having served him not as a harpist. Miller knew one more record, where it is even about Sadko's stay with the sea king, offering the hero a bride, but there is no playing his harp. True, this text is without a beginning. However, after Miller's death, two more interesting versions of the epic about Sadko's stay with the sea king were recorded. Here's a good start:

Sadko also lived a merchant, a rich guest.
Not a few times Sadko ran a shaft across the sea,
The sea king did not give anything.

Here, too, we are talking about the bride, but there is also no question that the hero is a harper. It is not necessary to explain this by later oblivion: both versions were recorded in the Siberian polar village of Russkoe Ustye, where for centuries the old folklore tradition was preserved in isolation, which was brought by the Novgorodians who, according to their legends, moved here back in the time of Ivan the Terrible. There are Russian mythological stories recorded in different places about how the hero became rich thanks to the water man. Some of them are close to the story of getting rich without the help of playing the harp in the epic about Sadko. There are also stories where we are talking about an alleged marriage to the daughter of a vodnik, in contrast to the epic, where the hero managed to avoid this marriage.

The fabulous and mythological details in the epics about Sadko are the result of a complex and, probably, long interaction between ancient Russian and non-Russian folklore plots and the historical grain that underlay the oral narrative about the Novgorod builder of the famous temple of the XII century. In epics, he also became famous as a gusler - like another popular hero of our epic Dobrynya Nikitich, although the historical prototype of the epic Dobrynya was not a wealthy Novgorodian of the 12th century, but a statesman and military leader of the 10th-11th centuries, connected by his biography with Novgorod. But, unlike Dobrynya Nikitich or Stavr Godinovich, the epic Sadko is a professional gusler, which was also noted by V.F. Miller. He rightly wrote about the presence of "traces of buffoon processing" mainly in "epics-short stories" depicting "incidents of urban life." The trilogy about Sadko, which belongs to their number, is the most striking evidence of the contribution that, obviously, the Novgorod buffoons made in equipping the historical basis of epic songs with fabulous episodes from their heterogeneous repertoire of professional harpists.

5
The dispute about how the epics about Vasilin Buslaev correlate with chronicle news is of considerable length. More I.I. Grigorovich, in his “Experience on the Novgorod Posadniks,” had no doubt that the “posadnik Vaska Buslavich,” whose death the Nikon Chronicle reports in 1171, was a historical figure. N.M. Karamzin treated this chronicle news ironically. In contrast to him, S.M. Solovyov wrote, with reference to the Nikon chronicle, that “in ancient Russian poems from the faces of historical<...>is the acting Novgorodian Vasily Buslaev. I.N. argued this point of view. Zhdanov, pointing out that the Novgorod chronicles do not know such a posadnik, and "the lists of Novgorod posadniks do not mention him either." V.F. Miller and A.V. Markov (and later A.I. Nikiforov), on the contrary, saw no reason to doubt the authenticity of the Nikon chronicle. S.K. Shambinago, noting that “the Nikon Chronicle often uses song material for its inserts”, and in the oldest chronicle of Novgorod - Novgorod 1st - “there was no such posadnik” (in 1171, Zhiroslav was the posadnik, according to this chronicle), and ((Other chronicles do not mention Vaska at all,” concludes that this news from the Nikon Chronicle “does not match reality.”

A.N. Robinson not only did not doubt the authenticity of the annalistic news, but also dated, following V.F. Miller, on the basis of this news, the epics themselves: “The Nikon Chronicle,” he writes, “under 1171 marks the death of the “posadnik Vaska Buslavich,” on the basis of which the epics about him can be attributed to the 12th century.” D.S. Likhachev , accepting this dating and repeating the main arguments of his predecessors in favor of the folklore origin of the chronicle news, he wrote: “The form of the mayor’s name (“Vaska”), unusual for the chronicle, but common for epics about him, also indicates that this news was taken from the latter” However, D.S. Likhachev's own argument is untenable: the same diminutive names of Novgorod posadniks (Ivanko Pavlovich, Mikhalko Stepanich, Miroshka Neznanich, Ivanko Dmitrievich, etc.) constantly appear in the annals. At present, there is an indication of Vasily Buslaev not in one, but in essence in three chronicles.This is, firstly, the Nikon Chronicle (under 1171): ik Vaska Buslavich"; The Novgorod Pogodinsky chronicle, in its original edition (under the same year): “The same year, the posadnik Vasily Buslaviev reposed in Veliky Novgorod”, and, finally, the abridged version of the same chronicle (also under 1171): “The same summer, the posadnik Vasily Buslaviev reposed posadnik Vaska Buslaviev in Novegrad.

Both editions of the Novgorod Pogodin Chronicle belong to the last quarter of the 17th century. None of the Novgorod chronicles that preceded it (and now there are eight of them, apart from short chroniclers, some of which came in several editions) contains such news, as well as any mention of Vasily Buslaev at all. There is also no information about him in any of the published Nenovgorod chronicles, except for Nikonovskaya, compiled in the middle of the 16th century. There is reason to believe that this news came to the Novgorod Pogodinskaya chronicle from Nikonovskaya (directly or indirectly), since there is no such news in the Novgorod sources of the Novgorod Pogodinskaya chronicle - in the Novgorod Zabelinskaya and Novgorod 3rd chronicles. In Nikonovskaya itself, it is placed immediately after the story about the victory of the Novgorodians over the Suzdalians, which goes back to the texts read in the Novgorod chronicles, which have come down to us and do not mention Buslaev. Carefully compiled lists of Novgorod posadniks, which have come down as part of the Novgorod 1st chronicle according to a 14th-century manuscript, do not contain the name of Vasily Buslaevich (or Boguslavovich). This applies not only to the time around 1171, but also to all the posadniks preceding this year, which is significant, since if the news of the death of "Vaska Buslavich" in 1171 was reliable, it would not necessarily mean the death of a sedate posadnik (t e. who sent his post in 1171), as S. K. Shambinago thought; Novgorod posadniks continued to bear this title even after they ceased to perform posadnik functions.

The lists of posadniks include several persons bearing the name of Vasily, but all of them date back to no earlier than the middle of the 14th century. Not a single posadnik was named at all, whose patronymic even remotely resembled "Buslaevich" or "Boguslavovich". The consideration of P.A. Bessonov that Vasily could "hide" in the early Novgorod chronicles under a pagan name: the news of the Nikon chronicle should have been traced back to one of these early chronicles. However, it has long been proven that it was the Nikon Chronicle that included information gleaned from folklore sources. This leads us to believe that the same source owes its origin to her mention of "Vaska Buslavich". I.N. Zhdanov assumed that there was a plot where Vaska becomes a posadnik. If such a plot really existed in it, as well as in a possible source of V.A. Levshin (see below), Sadko was mentioned, then there is nothing surprising if the chronicler familiar with this plot considered it best to place the news of the death of the "mayor Vaska Buslavich" in chronological proximity to the news of Sotko Sytinich, whom he naturally identified with folklore Sadko. The attention of the Nikon Chronicle to epic heroes and even to folklore characters that are absent in the works of oral tradition that have come down to us, but, obviously, appeared there before, is a fact that sufficiently justifies such an assumption (not excluding, of course, the possibility of a real basis).

Although, unlike the epic Sadko, the epic Vasily Buslaev has not yet been correlated with a well-defined historical prototype, there are fairly close historical parallels. Particularly interesting material of this kind was considered by B.M. Sokolov, commenting on the epics about Buslaev and Sadko in an anthology of 1918, rarely used due to the small circulation. Two epics about Vasily Buslaev - about his quarrel with the Novgorodians and about a trip to Jerusalem, known in a significant number of records, were sometimes combined by storytellers into one. There were no other epic epic works about this hero, but it can be assumed that if not epics, then legends about Vasily Buslaevich, the content of which is not covered by surviving epics, existed. This is evidenced by the reflections of folklore about this hero in the Icelandic epic, to which the work of V.A. Brima. Comparing the Icelandic and Russian material, the author came to the conclusion that there must have been a legend about the campaign of Vasily Buslaev to the East. It was reflected in the Bosa-saga, the older version of which, represented by a significant number of manuscripts, appeared not earlier than the 14th century. and has similarities with both the first and the second epics. Another piece of evidence is The Tale of the Strong Bogatyr and the Old Slavonic Prince Vasily Boguslaevich, composed by V. A. Levshin in the second half of the 18th century. based on folklore. As I wrote

A.M. Astakhov, "for the history of the Russian epic epic" Levshin's Tale is of great interest as a reflection of one of the oral versions of the XVIII century epic about Vasily Buslaev. And although “the direct source of the Tale is unknown to us”, and it itself is “not a simple retelling of an epic”, but “a literary work based on epic material”, its text contains “details that are known in the subsequent oral tradition”. the version that Levshin used, all the details of the Tale that were missing in it, but among them there were almost certainly those that reflected the features of this particular oral source. ”, and Vasily himself eventually becomes the prince of Novgorod and the ruler of the entire Russian land.

Epics about Sadko and Vasily Buslaev provide useful illustrations of the results of studies of the socio-political structure of Novgorod, which in recent decades have been significantly enriched with the most valuable materials obtained as a result of unprecedented archaeological discoveries. Despite the changes that introduced a lot of fairy tales into the epics about Sadko and gave rise to several semantic ambiguities, dark places in the epics about Vasily Buslaevich, here and there many characteristic features of the social life of Novgorod in the 12th-15th centuries are authentically conveyed: mortgages, brothers, recruitment of squads young boyar, the battle on the Volkhov bridge caused by the struggle for power, the huge scope of trade, pilgrimages to the Holy Land - all this, like many other things, reflected the real life of ancient Novgorod more vividly and more fully than the sometimes somewhat schematized pictures of ancient Kyiv in epics about exploits his rich people.

The main characters of epics are heroes. They embody the ideal of a courageous person devoted to his homeland and people. The hero fights alone against hordes of enemy forces. Among the epics, a group of the most ancient stands out. These are the so-called epics about the "senior" heroes associated with mythology. The heroes of these works are the personification of the unknown forces of nature associated with mythology. Such are Svyatogor and Volkhv Vseslavievich, the Danube and Mikhailo Potyk.

In the second period of its history, the heroes of the new time replaced the ancient heroes - Ilya Muromets, Nikitich And Alesha Popovich. These are the heroes of the so-called Kiev cycle epics. Under cyclization refers to the unification of epic images and plots around individual characters and places of action. This is how the Kyiv cycle of epics associated with the city of Kiev developed.

Most epics depict the world of Kievan Rus. Heroes go to Kyiv to serve Prince Vladimir, they protect him from enemy hordes. The content of these epics is predominantly heroic, military in nature.

Novgorod was another major center of the ancient Russian state. epics Novgorod cycle- household, novelistic 4 . The heroes of these epics were merchants, princes, peasants, guslars (Sadko, Volga, Mikula, Vasily Buslaev, Blud Khotenovich).

The world depicted in epics is the entire Russian land. So, Ilya Muromets from the outpost of the heroic sees high mountains, green meadows, dark forests. The epic world is “bright” and “sunny”, but enemy forces threaten it: dark clouds, fog, thunderstorms are approaching, the sun and stars are fading from countless enemy hordes. This is a world of opposition between good and evil, light and dark forces. In it, the heroes fight with the manifestation of evil, violence. Without this struggle, the epic world is impossible.

Each hero has a certain dominant character trait. Ilya Muromets personifies strength, this is the most powerful Russian hero after Svyatogor. Dobrynya is also a strong and brave warrior, a snake fighter, but also a hero-diplomat. Prince Vladimir sends him on special diplomatic missions. Alyosha Popovich personifies ingenuity and cunning. “He won’t take it by force, so by cunning,” says epics about him. Monumental images of heroes and grandiose accomplishments are the fruit of artistic generalization, the embodiment in one person of the abilities and strength of a people or social group, an exaggeration of what really exists, i.e. hyperbolization 5 and idealization 6 . The poetic language of the epics is solemnly melodious and rhythmically organized. His special artistic means - comparisons, metaphors, epithets - reproduce pictures and images epicly sublime, grandiose, and when depicting enemies - terrible, ugly. 7

In different epics, motifs and images, plot elements, identical scenes, lines and groups of lines are repeated. So, through all the epics of the Kiev cycle, images of Prince Vladimir, the city of Kyiv, heroes pass. Epics, like other works of folk art, do not have a fixed text. Passed from mouth to mouth, they changed, varied. Each epic had an infinite number of options.

In epics, fabulous miracles are performed: the reincarnation of characters, the resurrection of the dead, werewolves. They contain mythological images of enemies and fantastic elements, but fantasy is different than in a fairy tale. It is based on folk-historical ideas. The famous folklorist of the 19th century A.F. Hilferding wrote:

“When a person doubts that a hero could carry a club of forty pounds or put a whole army on the spot, epic poetry is killed in him. And many signs convinced me that the northern Russian peasant who sings epics, and the vast majority of those who listen to him, unconditionally believe in the truth of the miracles that are depicted in the epics. Bylina preserved historical memory. Miracles were perceived as history in the life of the people. 8

There are many historically reliable signs in the epics: a description of the details, ancient weapons of warriors (sword, shield, spear, helmet, chain mail). They glorify Kyiv-grad, Chernihiv, Murom, Galich. Other ancient Russian cities are named. Events are unfolding in Ancient Novgorod. They indicate the names of some historical figures: Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich, Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh. These princes were combined in the popular imagination into one collective image of Prince Vladimir - "Red Sun".

In epics there is a lot of fantasy, fiction. But fiction is poetic truth. The epics reflected the historical conditions of the life of the Slavic people: the aggressive campaigns of the Pechenegs and Polovtsians in Russia, the ruin of villages, full of women and children, plunder of wealth. Later, in the XIII-XIV centuries, Russia was under the yoke of the Mongol-Tatars, which is also reflected in the epics. During the years of national trials, they instilled love for their native land. It is no coincidence that the epic is a heroic folk song about the feat of the defenders of the Russian land.

However, epics depict not only the heroic deeds of heroes, enemy invasions, battles, but also everyday human life in its social manifestations and historical conditions. This is reflected in the cycle of Novgorod epics. In them, the heroes differ markedly from the epic heroes of the Russian epic. Epics about Sadko and Vasily Buslaev include not only new original themes and plots, but also new epic images, new types of heroes who do not know other epic cycles. The Novgorod bogatyrs, unlike the bogatyrs of the heroic cycle, do not perform feats of arms. This is explained by the fact that Novgorod escaped the Horde invasion, the hordes of Batu did not reach the city. However, Novgorodians could not only rebel (V. Buslaev) and play the harp (Sadko), but also fight and win brilliant victories over the conquerors from the West.

Novgorod hero appears Vasily Buslaev. Two epics are dedicated to him. One of them speaks of the political struggle in Novgorod, in which he takes part. Vaska Buslaev rebels against the townspeople, comes to feasts and starts quarrels with “rich merchants”, “men (men) of Novgorod”, enters into a duel with the “old man” Pilgrim, a representative of the church. With his squad, he "fights, fights day to evening." The townspeople "submitted and reconciled" and pledged to pay "three thousand every year." Thus, the epic depicts a clash between the wealthy Novgorod settlement, eminent peasants and those townspeople who defended the independence of the city.

The rebelliousness of the hero is manifested even in his death. In the epic “How Vaska Buslaev went to pray,” he violates prohibitions even at the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, bathing naked in the Jordan River. There he dies, remaining a sinner. V.G. Belinsky wrote that "Vasily's death comes directly from his character, daring and violent, who seems to be asking for trouble and death." nine

One of the most poetic and fabulous epics of the Novgorod cycle is the epic "Sadko". V.G. Belinsky defined the epic "as one of the pearls of Russian folk poetry, a poetic apotheosis of 10 Novgorod." eleven Sadko- a poor harpman who became rich thanks to the skillful playing of the harp and the patronage of the Sea King. As a hero, he expresses infinite strength and infinite prowess. Sadko loves his land, his city, his family. Therefore, he refuses the untold riches offered to him and returns home.

So, epics are poetic, artistic works. They have a lot of unexpected, surprising, incredible. However, they are basically true, they convey the people's understanding of history, the people's idea of ​​duty, honor, and justice. At the same time, they are skillfully built, their language is peculiar.