Video: Letters from the 13th century: homework and notes on birch bark left by a little boy
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Onfim was an ordinary boy who lived in Novgorod in the 13th century. As was customary at the time, he wrote letters and painted pictures on birch bark, using a sharp pen. Unbeknownst to him, Onfim created spectacular archaeological artifacts that were discovered centuries after his life. This kind of "time capsule" provided a unique opportunity to look into the life of medieval Novgorod.
Onfim was a six or seven year old boy who kept all his experiences on birch bark. His personal letters, shopping lists, spelling exercises, personal notes and homework have been perfectly preserved for centuries in the clay soil of Novgorod.
He also made drawings on birch bark that depicted scenes from his daily life, for example, a fight between him and his teacher.
Onfim's notes are especially valuable because of their childlike honesty - thanks to this impartial description of life in medieval times, scholars can learn more about history. Most of the records of the past are the works of politicians, theologians and historians, but this surviving children's work tells more about the lives of "real" people.
The collection consists of seventeen birch bark letters, twelve of which are illustrations with text, and the other five contain only text. Scientists have studied this amusing collection in detail and analyzed the work of Onfim. For example, one of the drawings depicts a knight on a horse, who stabs with a lance someone lying on the ground.
Apparently, Onfim portrayed himself as a knight. Most of the surviving letters are part of Onfim's homework - he practiced writing the alphabet and rewriting the psalms (for example, there are phrases such as "Lord, help your servant Onfim" and passages from Psalms 6: 2 and 27: 3. " his work contains quotations from the Book of Psalms. The boy left behind for centuries drawings of knights, horses, arrows and slain enemies. Apparently, he liked to illustrate people more than anything else.
In one of the drawings, he depicted himself, his mother and father, and in the other he painted a self-portrait in the form of a fantastic animal. There is also a drawing showing children playing around a tree (one of the children is hiding behind a tree).
A number of illustrations, made by a Novgorod boy, have notes. For example, one says "I am a beast", and the other "Bow from Onfim to Danila." Next to a picture of one person, Onfim wrote, “This is my dad. He is a warrior. When I grow up, I want to be a warrior, like him. " It is not known whether he managed to become a warrior, since one can only guess about the further fate of the boy, after whom his childhood drawings have survived.
Today Novgorod birch bark letters - letters that came after 600 years are of great interest to historians.
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