Novgorod First Chronicle

Rus' literary work

The Novgorod First Chronicle (, commonly abbreviated as NPL) or The Chronicle of Novgorod, 1016–1471 is the oldest extant Rus' chronicle of the Novgorod Republic. Written in Old East Slavic, it reflects a literary tradition about Kievan Rus' which differs from the Primary Chronicle. The later editions of the chronicle reflect the lost Primary Kievan Code of the late 11th century, which contained information not present in the later Primary Chronicle. The earliest extant copy of the NPL is the so called Synod Scroll , dated to the second half of the 13th century. First printed in 1841, it is currently preserved in the State Historical Museum. It is the earliest known manuscript of a major Old East Slavic chronicle, predating the Laurentian Codex of the Primary Chronicle by almost a century. In the 14th century, the Synod Scroll was continued by the monks of the Yuriev Monastery in Novgorod. Other important copies of the Novgorod First Chronicle include the Academic Scroll and Commission Scroll ), both dating to the 1440s, The lost contents of the Synod Scroll before the year 1016 are unknown, and can only be speculated about.

The Archaeographic Commission copy of the Novgorod First Chronicle, which stems from the mid 15th century, contains at the beginning two genealogies and a chronological regnal list of Rus' princes; all three of them begin with "Rurik". This is in sharp contrast with the Hypatian Codex (compiled 1425), wherein the list of knyazi ("princes") of Kiev starts with "Dir and Askold", followed by "Oleg", and then "Igor", and does not mention "Rurik" at all. Similarly, the chronology at the start of the Laurentian Codex (compiled 1377) makes no mention of "Rurik", but starts the regnal list of Rus' princes from the year in which Oleg took up residence in Kiev. The narrative part of the NPL starts from the legendary origins of Rus' and its last records refer to mid 15th century events. It describes the accession to the throne of the princes of Novgorod, the elections of major officials such as tysyatsky and posadnik, building of churches and monasteries, epidemics and military campaigns. The Novgord First Chronicle (NPL), just like the Primary Chronicle (PVL) and the Kievan Chronicle, follows a formulaic practice in which the reign of any given prince is legitimised by pointing out that he "sat on the throne of his father" and often "his grandfather" before that, or occasionally "his brother" or "his uncle". The reason for that is that if a man's father (or other close male relative) did not sit on that same throne, that man was izgoi, ineligible to rule.

The chronicle describes the actions of the Volkhvs (Magi) who became the leaders of rebellions in 1024 and 1071. Historian Igor Froyanov analysed a scene from the Novgorod First Chronicle in which the Magi talk about the creation of man. According to legend, under the year 1071, two Magi appeared in Novgorod and began to sow turmoil, claiming that soon the Dnieper will flow backwards and the land will move from place to place. Yan Vyshatich asked: "how do you think man came to be?" The Magi answered: "God bathed in the bath and sweated, wiped himself with a rag and threw it from heaven to the earth; and the devil created man, and God put his soul into him. Therefore, when a person dies, the body goes to the earth, and the soul goes to God"|Novgorod Chronicle

Froyanov was the first to draw attention to the similarity of the text with the Mordovian Finn legend about the creation of man by God (Cham Pas) and the devil (Shaitana). In the retelling of Melnikov Pechersky, this legend sounds like this:
Shaitan modeled the body of a man from clay, sand and earth; he came out with a pig, then a dog, then reptiles. Shaitan wanted to make a man in the image and likeness of Cham Pas. Then Shaitan called a mouse bird and ordered it to build a nest in one end of the towel with which Cham Pas wipes himself when he goes to the bath, and to breed children there: one end will become heavier and the towel with a carnation from the uneven weight will fall to the ground. Shaitan picked up the fallen towel and wiped his cast with it, and the man received the image and likeness of God. After that, Shaitan began to revive a person, but he could not put a living soul into him. The soul was breathed into the man by Cham Pas. There was a long dispute between Shaitan and Cham Pas: who should a person belong to? Finally, when Cham pas got tired of arguing, he offered to divide the person, after the death of a person, the soul should go to heaven to Cham pas, who blew it, and the body rots, decomposes and goes to Shaitan.|Melnikov Pechersky

The similarity of the legend with the words of the Magi under the year 1071 (presumably they were of Finnic origin) indicates that the worldview of the Magi of that period was no longer pagan, but was a symbiosis of Christianity with folk beliefs.

The text of the Novgorod First Chronicle was repeatedly used in other Novgorod chronicles. It became one of the main sources of the so called Novgorodsko Sofiysky Svod, which in turn served as the protograph of the Novgorod Fourth Chronicle and Sofia First Chronicle. The Novgorodsko Sofiysky Svod was included in the all Russian chronicle of the XV XVI centuries. Independently it was reflected in the Tver chronicle.