THE TALE OF SLOVEN AND RUS AS THE FIRST NARRATIVE OF THE EARLY MODERN MUSCOVITE RUSSIAN NATION: A NEW APPROACH TO THE INTERPRETATION OF THE TALE

Abstract

Created in the 1630s, the legend of Sloven and Rus illuminates the early history of Rus’ from the Great Flood to the invitation of Rurik. Although this tale is one of the principal pieces of Russian historical writing from the first half of the 17th century, I suggest that it remains misunderstood. It not only stands out from the Old Russian chronicle tradition but is also alien to it. The legend is concerned with the ethno-cultural rather than the dynastic or state origins of Rus’, the beginnings of the Rus’ people rather than the Rus’ state. Focused on Novgorod, it opposes the Kievan Rus’ narrative. The legend is a compilation of borrowed stories about European antiquity synchronized by Renaissance humanists. The Tale of Sloven and Rus offered Muscovite Rus’ a new starting point and set new milestones for its history, adjusted its branches of succession to European ancestry, and in this way opposed the isolationist trend of the “Old Russian tradition”. The Time of Troubles (Smuta), which compelled Muscovite Russia to think about its place in the new Europe, was the very impetus for the creation of this legend. The article considers the legend as the first early modern national narrative of Muscovite Rus’ within the general European ideological and cultural context.