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The Supraśl Manuscript[c] is a codex compiled in 1519. It has 175 folios in total. On folios 3r up to 108v of the manuscript, it contains a compilation of first-redaction Lithuanian Chronicles (sometimes dubbed the “Supraśl Chronicle“), that are estimated to have been originally written in Early Ruthenian in the mid-15th century.[1] It also contains copies of the Kyiv Caves (Pechersk) Patericon and the Wiślica Statutes of Casimir the Great, amongst other things.[2] The codex was rediscovered in 1822 in the Supraśl Orthodox Monastery (near Białystok in present-day Poland, close to Belarus).[1]

Structure

Legend:

  • fol. = folio, sheet.
  • r. = recto, the first (right) side of a folio. Corresponds to “лл” (“лицевая сторона” litsevaja storona, “front side” or “face side”).
  • v. = verso, the second (left) side of a folio. Corresponds to “об.” (“оборотная сторона” oborotnaja storona, “reverse side” or “back side”).
Fol. Notes
1 Gospel readings index; unrelated to chronicles.[1]
1a – 2v Genealogy of Odintsevychi[1]
3r–72v Incipit: Избрание лЂтописания изложено въкратце [Izbranie lětopisanija izlozheno vŭkrattse. “A Selection of the Chronicle Set Out in Brief.”][1]
Сказание o вЂрных святых князеи руських. [Skazanie o virnykh svjatykh knyazei rus’kikh. “The Tale/Legend of the Faithful Holy Princes of Rus’.”][1]
This section contains entries from 854 (Calling of the Varangians) until 1427. It contains data of an all-Rus’ nature, and is very detailed on the 14th and 15th century.[2]
72v Excerpt from the Primary Chronicle (PVL) of 10 lines (“The Dnieper River flows near the Poneshskoye Sea…”).[1]
72v – 87r An untitled section dedicated mainly to grand duke Vytautas the Great.
87r – 108r Chronicler of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania (in cinnabar colour)[5]
  • a list of the sons of the Grand Duke Gediminas[5]
  • Vytautas’s reign in Lithuania[5]
  • 102r – 108r: The Tale about Podolia.[6][7]
  • Explicit (108r): ляхове, пана Долькгирда из города ис Каменца созвали на раду к собе и до рады не допустивши самого иняли и огьрабили, и Каменець засели, и все тое забрали, што Подолъскои земли держать.[d]
108v – 125r Wiślica Statutes of Casimir the Great (originally composed 1346–1362 in Latin), translated into Ruthenian.[2]
125v – 126r A genealogy of dukes of Masovia, and a complaint to the king about the starost of Zamość (without end).[2] Written in Old Belarusian with various 17th-century handwritings and inks.[2]
127r – 172r Kyiv Caves (Pechersk) Patericon[2]
173r – 174v Various random writings in Belarusian and Polish; some Polish poetry.[2]
175 Gospel readings index; unrelated to chronicles.[1]

Contents

Critical edition of the Supraśl Manuscript by Obolensky (1836)

In 1836, M. A. Obolensky published a critical edition titled Супрасльская рукопись, содержащая Новгородскую и Киевскую сокращенные летописи [Suprasl’skaia rukopis’, soderzhashchaia Novgorodskuiu i Kievskuiu sokrashchennye letopisi, “The Supraśl Manuscript, containing the shortened Novgorodian and Kievan chronicles”].[8]

Contrary to earlier scholarly belief, the Supraśl Chronicle does not contain an account of a 10-week-long 1240 siege of Kiev.[9]

Notes

  1. ^ And some later short, unrelated entries and poems in Polish and Latin.[1]
  2. ^ But Latin script in the Polish and Latin bits and pieces.
  3. ^ Polish: Rękopis suprasielski. Belarusian: Супрасльскі рукапіс, romanizedSuprasĺski rukapis. Ukrainian: Супрасльський рукопис, romanizedSuprasljsjkyj rukopys. Also known pars pro toto as the Supraśl Chronicle,[1] or the Supraśl Codex, not to be confused with the 10th-century Codex Suprasliensis in Middle Bulgarian.
  4. ^ [“The Poles summoned Pan Dolkgird from the city of Kamenets to a council to themselves and, not allowing him to reach the council, they seized and robbed him, and settled in Kamenets, and took everything that the Podolian [Podolsk] lands needed to be kept.”][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Ulashchik 1980b, pp. 5–7.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Ulashchik 1980b, p. 5.
  3. ^ Ulashchik 1980a, pp. 51–61.
  4. ^ Ulashchik 1980a, p. 61.
  5. ^ a b c Ulashchik 1980b, p. 6.
  6. ^ Ulashchik 1980b, pp. 65–67.
  7. ^ Slipushko 2022, p. 22.
  8. ^ Maiorov 2016, p. 704.
  9. ^ Maiorov 2016, pp. 703–704.

Bibliography

Critical editions

Literature