In September 2021, the Reims Gospel arrived in Moscow for an exhibition in the Kremlin. The manuscript is surrounded by numerous legends. We figured out how true they are.
The average version of the legend sounds like this. The daughter of the Kyiv Prince Yaroslav the Wise Anna Yaroslavna in 1051 married Henry I French. In her dowry, she brought from Kyiv the most valuable manuscript in Cyrillic. With her coronation, Anna Yaroslavna showed perseverance - She refused to swear allegiance to the Latin Bible and took an oath to the "native" gospel. The first king to swear on him during the coronation in the Cathedral of Reims was Philip I, the son of Anna, in 1059. Until 1793, all monarchs of France swore at this Orthodox Gospel. At the same time, the French could not read incomprehensible letters for centuries, therefore the manuscript was called the "Book of Angels." And only Peter I during his visit began to read in Russian directly from the sheet, revealing the secret of the origin of the book.
This is written, in particular, some Travel sites, portal "Russian trace in world history", website "Military Review", Ukrainian information agency UNIAN and other sources. The legend is also mentioned in books, among which "Yaroslav the Wise" Vladimir Dukhopelnikov, "Wives and Virgo of Ancient Rus'" Tatyana Muravyova, "The relics and treasures of the French kings" Sergei Nechaev and many others.
To begin with, formally Princess Anna Yaroslavna in the XI century, the Raymsk Gospel manuscript, stored today in the municipal library of the city of Reims (France), could not be physically brought, since this book is now now consists of Of the two intertwined manuscripts on the Cyrillic alphabet and a gaming created in different centuries. Its second, the larger verbal part dates back to 1395, it is written on the Croatian head of the Church Slavonic language. The inscription in it, in addition to the date, reports that it was created in Prague, in the monastery of St. Jerome, after Emperor Charles IV gave the monastery the first part. It is believed that it was then that both parts were combined under one cover, forming the Reims Gospel.
But what about the first, Cyrillic part? Could Anna Yaroslavna bring her to France? No direct instructions in text There is no manuscript on the date and circumstances. However, the analysis of the text, font and ornaments shows that this manuscript was indeed created in the middle of the XI century. It is written at the Old Russian Division of the Church Slavonic language. Modern writers of writing They thinkthat it was really created in Kievan Rus, probably in the Skrips of Yaroslav the Wise, deceased in 1054.
Thus, this manuscript could really have time to make in Kyiv before Anna Yaroslavna’s departure to France (near 1051), and she could take her with her. But is there any documentary evidence? Not a single one: there are no dowry lists, there is no detailed description of its marriage. In no historical documents, the manuscript does not pop up for a long time. For the first time, the Cyrillic half of the Reims Gospel is mentioned only in 1395, when the scribe in the Prague Monastery makes an inscription, storing: “As for another part of this book, it corresponds to the Russian rite. It is written with her own hand St. Prokop, abbot, and this Russian text was donated by the late Charles IV, the emperor of the Roman Empire, for perpetuating St. Jerome and St. Prokopa ".
If you believe that Anna Yaroslavna brought a manuscript in the XI century to Paris, then how did he find himself in the XIV century in the Holy Roman Empire, in the hands of its emperor? Unknown. The empire, especially its Slavic territories, was a rather close neighbor of Rus', so it is more logical to imagine that the manuscript fell into Prague from the east, not from the west. Please note that the Czech monk calls the author of the Cyrillic text of Prokop, that is, the Czech saint Procopius of Sazavsky (c. 970–1053). This means that no associations with France or Kyiv around the manuscript then protruded.
What are the other well -known firm facts about the Reims Gospel? There are many legends and theories, but the next iron fact Such: In 1574, the French cardinal Karl Lorraine gives him to the Reims Council, with whom his story will be associated in the future. If you believe that the manuscript in this cathedral has already been to Anna, then it will be an amazing coincidence. Why did the cardinal presented him Reims? Perhaps he heard about the legend and just returned the book to its place? No, just since 1538 he He served Here is the archbishop. Where there was a manuscript until this time is unknown.
By the way, the date is 1574, although historians believe her, not so reliable - we will learn about her only from inventories 1669. Thus, between the two references to the manuscript lies for 274 years, and Anna Yaroslavna has never appeared in descriptions. But they arise other Legends: they say, Holy Methodius himself wrote it, brought to Reims in the 9th century Archbishop Ebbon Reims or emperor-adobe Baldwin, who found a manuscript in Constantinople.
In the XVIII century, after the visit of “Russian tourists”, about which the story will go below, the French already know that the letters in the first part are not ancient and Greek. But the legend of the princess was still not born. When in 1782 Empress Catherine the Great officially requests a certificate of historical rarity in France, in Rescue There is not a word about Princess Anna, although it is obvious that in the message of the Russian ruler of such a story the place is the place.
The great French revolution with its plunder of churches and monasteries is the reason for the next gap in the fate of the "Reims Gospel." In 1793, a heavy silver salary with precious stones and sacred relics - the relics of the saints and, which is very important, is a particle of the Cross of the Lord. The protocol about this Saved. The book itself disappears from the cathedral, but the dilapidated parchment was lucky-someone handed it to the library, where it is identified around 1835. It was then that Anna Yaroslavna finally arises.
Researcher of the life of Princess, historian Alexander Musin Counts The plot of the Gospel in her dowry to the number of numerous myths and legends formed around the figure of Anna Yaroslavna, and believes that the addition of this bike occurred no earlier than the 1830s. This date is interesting in that only shortly before, Nikolai Karamzin is relatively in detail oveneTIL The circumstances of the marriage of Anna Yaroslavna in her “History of the Russian State”, interested in her the fate of educated Russians. In 1836, one of Karamzin’s acquaintances, prominent cultural figure Alexander Ivanovich Turgenev Publishing The journal of the Ministry of Education has a small message under the heading "Ancient news of Anna Yaroslavna and the Slavic Gospel in Reims."
According to Turgenev, “one of our compatriots in France,” found in Reims “in between the lines of one church manuscript, hitherto unknown information about Anna Yaroslavna”. In addition, he “took out a picture from the first page of the ancient Slavic Gospel,” written by the Glagolitic and Cyrillic, on which the kings swore and examined by Peter the Great. The text shows that we are talking about two different manuscripts: one between the lines says something about the princess, the other is the gospel. However, these two sonorous names, finding himself in one headline, intertwined very quickly.
French researcher Valerie Zeronymi, in 2018, having audited all the legends of the manuscript, also He thinksthat one of the shocks in creating a myth was a surge in the interest of people at the beginning of the 19th century in Anna's romantic figure. In particular, in 1805, the St. Petersburg Northern Herald published the news that Peter Dubrovsky acquired in Paris the “personal library of Anna Kyiv”, but does not show it to anyone.
In 1837, the local archivist Louis Louis was finally recorded in Reims. He Published The description of the manuscript listed the most diverse hypotheses of its origin, mentioning and dowry Anna Yaroslavna (however, without reference to the source).
The legend received a second wind at the turn of the century when acted Franco-Russian Union. Herony Pays attention The fact that the manuscript was demonstrated by Nicholas II during his visits to France in 1896 and 1901. In the twentieth century, serious scientists (for example, Lidia Zhukovskaya in the monograph “Reims Gospel: the history of its study and text”) the legend has repeatedly refuted the legend, but this did not interfere with the spread of the bike.
The second component of the legend is the use of the "Reims Gospel" during the coronation of all French kings. As we have already seen, it could not come in handy “to all kings” because of the date of its arrival in Reims (1574). But what about those monarchs who were married to the kingdom after this date? There may be all of them four: Henry III (1575), Louis XIII (1610), Louis XIV (1654) and Louis XV (1722). Henry IV Navarre crowned in the Chartra Cathedral (1594), and Louis XVI (1774) certainly did not use the "Reims Gospel", like the late sovereigns.
Herony He emphasizes: “Not a single historical document confirms the presence of the“ Reims Gospel ”during the coronation of the French monarchs” (more precisely, we are talking about the religious rite of the wedding to the kingdom). However, historians admit that such probability still exists, although the first clarification of which gospel was used is very later. It appeared in 1746 in the book of Abbot Plush Le Spectacle de la Nature. In any historical documents describing the Rams of the Reims Gospel, it is not mentioned, although its local name Texte du Sacre (literally - “The text of the coronation”) indicates a special status. Nevertheless, from the 18th century, they everywhere say that the Reims Gospel was used in the rite (in particular, this was reported by Ekaterina the Great in the letter mentioned above). However, it is strange that the contemporaries of the coronation of Louis XV in 1722 or historians who described the reign of the Sun King did not write a word about this.
Be that as it may, it is known that the kings in Reims swore, putting a hand on a certain gospel and a cross. If the Reims Gospel was used at the same time, then most likely They think Historians, for the reason that a relic was mounted in his salary-a particle of the life-giving cross, and not because of the value of the manuscript itself.
Finally, the third part of the legend is about the emperor Peter the Great, who fluently read the text of the mysterious manuscript “in Russian”. This legend pays tribute to the Encyclopedic knowledge of the sovereign, making it a kind of our first paleographer. However, firstly, the Church Slavonic language of the XI century, of course, differs from the Church Slavonic, which the young prince studied at the end of the 17th century. So fluently in Russian, this text, which causes difficulties and experts, was unlikely to be instantly read.
In the Reims Cathedral, by the way, they themselves did not believe that they had a king, at least in the XVIII century. In 1782, on the foreman of the gospel was made postscript: "The royal subcancler, passing through Reims on June 27, 1717, very fluently read the first part, as well as two gentlemen, with him former: they said that the language of the manuscript of their natural." Podanzler is Pyotr Pavlovich Shafirov, a diplomat, polyglot, a former head of the embassy order, who had vast experience with a variety of quite ancient Russian documents. A little later, in 1726, the Gospel examined, after reading the text, Russian ambassador Boris Kurakin. The description of his visit has been preserved, which indicates the interest of Reims clergymen in exotic tourists in the Cathedral’s saucristance.
Were Pyotr in Reims? French documents ConfirmThat in 1717 the king, following from Paris to the Netherlands through Livry, Suisson and Authal, stopped in Reims. However, he spent only a few hours there, after which he left for Liege. The municipality then spent 455 livres and 13 suns on the only dinner. French Reportthat the king came to Reims to see the famous basements of the abbey of Saint-nickname, where champagne was made.
Perhaps, after lunch and champagne, Peter also managed to accompany Shafirov to the cathedral, in his long -standing habit - incognito. However, the algorithm of myth -making, in which the subcancler of Peter I, during retelling, turns into Peter I himself, is obvious. This happened in the 19th century - as mentioned above, Alexander Turgenev wrote about this.
Thus, the Reims Gospel is a remarkable case of a whole bouquet of beautiful, but absolutely untruthful stories.
Not true
- Museums of the Moscow Kremlin. Exhibition "France and Russia. Ten centuries together "
- "Reims EVangelia "on the website of the Reims municipal library
- V. Geronimi. L’évangéliaire slavon de reims mythes, (Re) Découverte Historique et Perspectives
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