Historical Writing of Early Rus (C. 1000-C. 1400) in a Comparative Perspective

This book deals with the Rus annals (letopisi) and with a variety of related texts concerning the historical past. A new typology of those texts is introduced, together with a comprehensive discussion of how the writing of history came into being in Rus around 1000. The author focuses on the work of the annalists of Novgorod from c. 1045 to c. 1400, and discusses the functions of annalistic writing in the Rus society. Both the character and the role of the writing of history in Rus' is highlighted by means of comparison with other political and cultural areas of medieval Europe, particularly with the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in England.