Memorandum of Yaroslav Osmomysl (About the Origin of the Early Halych Notes of the Kyiv Chronicle of the Twelfth Century)

Abstract

The article considers a set of early Halych notes of the Kyiv Chronicle of the 12th century.

Aim of the work is to establish their origin and probable ways of penetration into the chronicle.

The methodological principle of the study is determined by the universal principle of historicism with its inherent methods of hermeneutic procedures and the content of the analysis of the language code of chronicle texts.

Scientific novelty. The hypothesis about the origin of the Halychian written evidence of 1144–1158 of the Kyiv Chronicle from the one compiled in Halych in the late 50s of the 12th century is put forward. A selection of texts, tentatively named by the author of the memorandum of Yaroslav Osmomysl.

Conclusions. The impetus for the creation of a series of scattered memoirs was the claim of the Halych prince to put an end to the claims of his cousin Ivan Rostyslavych (Berladnyk) to his share of possessions in the Halych land. Enlisting the support of influential Rus and Polish princes and the Hungarian king, Yaroslav sent his envoy Izbignev Ivachevych to Kyiv in 1159 in order to obtain the extradition of Ivan Berladnyk. This mission required him to draw up a series of documented certificates to confirm Yaroslav Volodymyrovych’s property rights to the Halych parishes he held. Their oral framing was to be the testimony of the ambassadors delegated to participate in the Kyiv tribunal. Although the action carefully prepared by Yaroslav Osmomysl failed ingloriously, the “dossier” submitted by his envoy in Kyiv did not appear to be doomed to obscurity. It was used by the compiler of the Kyiv Chronicle, consolidating it into a series of Halych notes from the chronological period 1144–1158. Contextualized among other narrative plots of the chronicle, they do not show traces of improvisational verbal technique inherent in the nature of “oral sources”.