b o o k it is. remarkable, that an author of fuch importance, whofe
\
name frequently occurs in the early Ruffian books, ffioukl
have remained, in obfcurity above 600 years ; and been
fcarcely known to his modern countrymen, the origin and
aflions of whole anceftors he records with fuch circumftan-.
tial exactnefs. A copy o f his chronicle was given in 1668
by prince Radzivil to tire library o f Konigfburgh, where i t
lay unnoticed until Peter the Great, in his paffage through
that town, ordered a tranfcript of it to be fent to Peteriburgh.
Rut it ftill was not known as the- performance of Neftor : for
when Muller, in 1732, publiffied the firft part o f a German
tran(lation % Ire mentioned it as the woEk o f the abbot The-
odolius o f Kjtof; an error which arofe from the following
circumjfan.ee : the ingenious editor,, not being at that time
fufficiently acquainted, with the Sclavonian tongue,.employed,
an interpreter, who* by miftaking a letter in the title, fup--
pofed it to- have been written by a perfon whofe name was,
Theodofius, This ridiculous blunder was foon circulated,
and copied by many foreign writers, even long after it had
been candidly, acknowledged and corredted by Muller.
“ r it y o f thofe fou rce s . B u t I do not ad- “ wretch ed c o m p i l e r s - o f th e a r tic le Ruffik
‘ J-drefs m y fe lf to thofe w h o ha ve not h i- “ in the Univerfa l H i f to r y : T h e fe reader»
“ therto been acqua inted w ith an y o th er “ w ill not indeed b e eafity induced foe fte em ,
“ w r ite r s on tp e e a r ly times o f the Ruffian. “ as au th en tick , the relations o f a mouk,
“ ■ hiftory than Herberltein and Petreius j “ whofe writings fhnw the in a c cu ra c y o P
“ who pla c e th e in t ro d u a io o of. th e art o f “ the above-mentioned au th ors , and con-
“ w r itin g in to Ruffi.il fo late as the 13 th , “ fu te at once th e ir whole ac count o f Ru f-
“ cen tu ry j w h o h o ld th e fueceffion o f R u f- . “ fia d u r in g ,th e middle a g e s .” ScJiI.oetzer,.
“ fian fovereigns to b e un kn ow n ,, at leaft R u ff. A n y .- :p . 3?.
“ uncertain, until the time o f Ivan V a ffilie -. * S . R . G . I , p . i .& c r . T h e real title
“ v itc h ; who confider, th is jp n g period as., t o this m an ufcript w a s , by th e “ M on k o f
« tota lly obfeurp, in w h ich no chronicle., the T h eod o fian Convent o f P e t c h e r ik i;
•t affords a clue to the d ifc emin g hiftorian ; w h ich the in te rp re te r, b y miftaking on -
“ who draw th eir w h o le knowled ge o f R u f- le tte r , explained, T h e fdonh T h eod o fiu s , o f
Can hiftory from S trahlen b e rg, V o lta ir e , th e C o n v en t , & c . . See .Sch io e tze r , p . 16.
. .p a C o in b e , and from th e ftill m o r e ,
4 Neftor
Neftor Was fucceffively followed by three annalifts; the CHAp-
firft was Sylvefter, abbot o f the convent o f St. Michael at K io f,» .
and bifliop o f Periflaf, who died in 1 1 23 : he commences
his chronicle from 1 1 15, only two years poiterior to that o f
Neftor, and continues it to 1 123; from which period a monk,
whofe name has not been delivered down to pofterity-,
carries the hiftory to 1 1 57 ; and another, equally unknown,
to 1203. With refpcct to thefe performances, Mr. Mullef
informs us, “ the labours o f Neftor and his three continu-
“ ators have produced a connected feries o f the Ruffian hif-
“ tory fo complete, that no nation can boaft a fimilar trea-*
“ fure for fo long and unbroken a' period We may add
likewife from the fame authority, that thefe annals record
much fewer prodigies and monkifli legends, than others
which have ifliied from the cloifter in times fo unenlightened.
From this period, which terminates in 1203, there is no
regular continuation o f the Ruffian hiftory, but many fepa-
rate and detached annalifts : for as the empire was broken
into independent principalities, each writer has detailed the
events o f the particular diftri<5t in which he flourifhed.
The next general annalift who prefents himfelf to our notice
is Cyprian, metropolitan o f Ruffia in the reign o f Demetrius
Doniki, who began in the 14th century the Book o f Degreej ;
fo called becaufe it records the hiftory o f the empire, arranged
according to the order o f defcent: each degree contains the
reign of thole fovereigns who followed each other in an uninterrupted
line; and a new one commences when the throne
Raffed to a collateral branch. This work was continued by
the metropolitan Makari, who ftouridied under Ivan Vaffi-
vitch ,11. and afterwards by unknown compilers, to the
femes fonrewhat pofterior to the reign of Feodor Ivanovitch-,
* S . R . G . V . p . 6 .
13 b .2 Thofe