The Chronicler of Sablins Merchants — Unknown Monument of Ustyug Chronicles of the Last Quarter of the 17th — First Half of the 18th Centuries

Abstract

The article introduces into scientific circulation a previously un- known monument to the private Ustyug chronicle of the 17th — 18th centuries. It represents several blocks of chronicles for the years of 1601–1735, left on clean lists of RSL manuscript, f. 310 (collection of V.M. Undolsky), No. 387. The study of ownership marks of the manuscript, as well as the annalistic text read in it allows us to make attribution of the work in question with confidence. Accord- ing to the author, the chronicler was created in a family of Ustyug merchants Sablin in 1670–1730s. The chronicle combines the features of the city chronicler, family notebook and diary notes. It reflects important milestones in the history of Veliky Ustyug: the events of the Troubles, the city fires of 1677 and 1678, the observation of the Big Comet of 1680/81, the Solovetsky trips of Peter the Great, the crop failures of the second half of the 1690s, the flood of 1723. The compilers of the chronicler pay special attention to the Ivanovsky fire of 1715 — the text of the chronicle preserved three independent descriptions of this natural disaster. The article concludes with the publication of the text by the Sablin’s Chronicle and the owner’s records of the manuscript of the Undolsky collection.