Prince`s Twilight. To the 850th Anniversary of the Death of Andrey Bogolyubsky

The paper comes up with an adjustment of chronological evidence concerning the death of the Great Prince Andrey Bogolyubsky which allows determining the time of his death and establishing an historical and cultural memorial date. According to the oldest Hypatian and Laurentian Chronicles, the Prince was murdered in the year 6683 since the creation of the world, according to the First Novgorodian Chronicle — in 6682 (which corresponds to the years 1175 and 1174 C. E.). In the chronicle “Tale of the murder of Andrey Bogolyubsky” the time of the Prince`s death is defined as Saturday night which falls, on the one hand, on the eve of Ss. Peter and Paul feast day, i. e. June 28th, and, on the other hand, on the very day of Ss. Peter and Paul, i. e. June 29th. Since Ss. Peter and Paul feast fell on Saturday in the year 1174, but not in 1175, the historians came to the conclusion that Prince Andrey died in 1174, but not in 1175. The author ascertains that the chronicle data on the date of murder combine different types of evidence reflecting different variants of day reckoning: the “calendar” variant — day begins at midnight, and the “church-service” variant — day begins on an average six hours earlier, at sunset. A careful analysis of the “Tale” made it possible to conclude that the whole evidence is perfectly congruent in the hypothesis of evening twilight on the eve of Sunday as the time of Prince`s murder. According to the Old Russian manner of day reckoning the time of twilight could belong to Saturday June 28th (“calendar” day reckoning) as well as to Sunday June 29th (“church-service” day reckoning). In contemporary society it is “calendar” day reckoning which is in common use and thus the day June 28th 1175 of old style (Julian) corresponds to the day July 5th 1175 of new style (Gregorian) which is to become a historical and cultural date for the memory of Andrey Bogolyubsky.