Novgorod birch bark letters - letters that came after 600 years

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Modern man is interested in how his ancestors lived many centuries ago: what did they think about, what was their relationship, what did they wear, what did they eat, what did they strive for? And the annals report only about wars, the construction of new temples, the death of princes, the election of bishops, solar eclipses and epidemics. And here birch bark letters come to the rescue, which historians consider the most mysterious phenomenon in Russian history.

What is birch bark letter

Birch bark letters are notes, letters and documents made on birch bark. Today historians are sure that birch bark served as a written material in Russia before the appearance of parchment and paper. Traditionally, birch bark letters are attributed to the period of the XI-XV centuries, however Artsikhovsky and many of his supporters argued that the first letters appeared in Novgorod in the 9th-10th centuries. One way or another, this archaeological discovery turned the view of modern scientists to Ancient Russia and, what is much more important, made it possible to look at it from the inside.

The first birch bark letter

It is worth noting that it is the Novgorod letters that scientists consider the most interesting. And this is understandable. Novgorod is one of the largest centers of Ancient Rus, which was neither a monarchy (like Kiev) nor a principality (like Vladimir). "The Great Russian Republic of the Middle Ages" - this is how the socialist Marx called Novgorod.

The first birch bark letter was found on July 26, 1951 during archaeological excavations on Dmitrovskaya Street in Novgorod. The letter was found in the gap between the planks of the flooring on the pavement of the 14th century. In front of the archaeologists was a dense birch bark scroll, which, if not for the letters, could have been mistaken for a fishing float. Despite the fact that the letter was tattered by someone and thrown away on Kholopya Street (this is how it was called in the Middle Ages), it retained quite large parts of the related text. There are 13 lines in the letter - only 38 cm. And although time did not spare them, it is not difficult to grasp the content of the document. The charter listed the villages that paid the duty to some Roma. After the first find, others followed.

What the ancient Novgorodians wrote about

Birch bark letters have a very different content. So, for example, letter number 155 is a note of the court, which orders the defendant to compensate the plaintiff for the damage caused in the amount of 12 hryvnia. Diploma number 419 - prayer book. But the letter at number 497 was an invitation to Gregory's son-in-law to stay in Novgorod.

The birch bark letter sent by the clerk to the master says: "".

Among the letters were found love notes and even an invitation to an intimate date. A note from her sister to her brother was found, in which she writes that her husband brought his mistress home, and they, drunk, beat her half to death. In the same note, the sister asks her brother to come as soon as possible and intercede for her.

Birch bark letters, as it turned out, were used not only as letters, but also as advertisements. For example, letter number 876 contains a warning that renovations will take place on the square in the coming days.

The value of birch bark letters, according to historians, lies in the fact that in the overwhelming majority these are everyday letters, from which you can learn a lot about the life of Novgorodians.

The language of birch bark letters

An interesting discovery in relation to birch bark letters was the fact that their language (written Old Slavonic) is somewhat different from what historians are used to seeing. The language of birch bark letters contains several fundamental differences in the spelling of some words and letter combinations. There are differences in the placement of punctuation marks. All this led scientists to the conclusion that the Old Church Slavonic language was very heterogeneous and had many dialects, which sometimes differed greatly from each other. This theory was confirmed by further discoveries in the field of the history of Russia.

How many letters in total

To date, 1,050 letters have been found in Novgorod, as well as one birch-bark letter-icon. The letters were found in other ancient Russian cities. 8 letters were found in Pskov. In Torzhok - 19. In Smolensk - 16 letters. In Tver - 3 letters, and in Moscow - five. In Old Ryazan and Nizhny Novgorod, one letter each was found. The same letters were found in other Slavic territories. In Belarusian Vitebsk and Mstislavl - one letter each, and in Ukraine, in Zvenigorod Galitsky - three birch bark letters. This fact indicates that birch bark letters were not the prerogative of Novgorodians and disperses the popular myth about ancient Russia - the myth of total illiteracy of the common people.

Modern research

The search for birch bark letters continues today. Each of them is thoroughly studied and deciphered. The last letters found contained not letters, but drawings. Only in Novgorod, archaeologists have found three letters-drawings, two of them were, most likely, the prince's warriors, and the third one contains an image of female forms.

A mystery for scientists is the fact how exactly the Novgorodians exchanged letters and who delivered the letters to the addressees. Unfortunately, so far only theories exist on this score. It is possible that already in the 11th century Novgorod had its own post office or at least a "courier delivery service" designed specifically for birch bark letters.

No less interesting historical theme temple decorations of the ancient Slavs, by which one can judge the traditions of the ancient Slavic women's costume.