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Mykola Zharkikh (Kyiv)

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Reliability of the annalistic story

Nicholas Zharkikh

The results of browsing the pages of the "Complete Collection of Russian Chronicles" can be presented in the following stemma:

Stemma of the versions the «Tale of…

Stemma of the versions the "Tale of Vasily Kalika"

In spite of my dislike for the "protograph", here I am forced to show a hypothetical "codex of 1418", otherwise it is impossible to explain the entire set of discrepancies between the text of the PVK in S1L and NKL-2. Greenish background highlighted the versions that have the source significance for the history of the PVK text, the rest of the chronicles provide processing previously written.

So, in full view, we have PVK in the relatively late text of the "codex of 1418", therefore the main question is whether the PVK can be considered the product of a contemporary of the events 1330-1331. (hence, an authentic historical source), or it should be attributed to the beginning of the 15th century. (conditionally – 1418, 87 years after the events) and considered a historical novel written using known sources.

Thus, despite the relatively late origin of the preserved copies, we can consider the "Tale of Vasily Kalika" a reliable source for the events described. Behind the broad back of Archbishop Basil, "Prince Theodor" also moved into history.