When revealing the question of what a chronicle is, it must be said that it, being a documentary confirmation of the history of Ancient Russia, is a handwritten body of work that reveals events in chronological order.
These documents are of interest to historians, linguists, ethnologists and philologists, since they are a source of study of past years, thanks to which we have the opportunity to know the events of a certain era, as well as language, culture and customs. In addition, modern history is written on their basis.
Chronicles of ancient Russia were written both by individuals (Nestor the Chronicler), and by entire groups (Ipatiev Monastery). To date, historical arches have not been preserved in the original, they exist in copies copied from the source.
The most ancient document of Russia is considered to be "The Tale of Bygone Years", which was written in Kiev in the XII century. The task of the compilers was to describe the historical events that took place throughout the state. Until the XVII century, chroniclers wrote entire books at monasteries and princely courts. This profession was respected by people, as it was believed that it contributes to the creation of a huge heritage for posterity.
Considering what a chronicle is, it should be noted that she takes her name from the words "In the summer ..." with which each story began. Such records were gradually collected in arches, which were divided into categories depending on the place of their compilation or the events described (Kiev, Pskov, Novgorod and others). All of them differed in expressions and selection of news, as a result of which, over time, they began to divide into so-called plots.
Chronicles were written in many ancient Russian cities, the following are considered the main ones:
1. Lavrentievsky list (origin unknown) - reveals the origin of Kievan Rus and describes the times of the reign of Prince Vladimir. Most of its content is The Tale of Bygone Years.
2. Nestorovsky or Khlebnikovsky list (origin unknown) - describes the reign of Alexander I.
3. The Radziwill list (written in the 15th century) - has many illustrations, therefore it is called the front. Its first copy was made in 1716, and in 1767 it was printed completely without any corrections.
Thus, knowing what a chronicle is, let us consider how it was compiled. So, the source for writing documents was small notes of incidents compiled in chronological order, as well as various traditions and songs. All materials were processed by the compiler and historical codes were written on their basis.
Depending on the place of the described events, Novgorod, Kiev, Pskov annals are distinguished, as well as the Galician-Volyn and annals of northeastern Russia.
Old Russian literature is historical monuments that have survived to this day and played a great role in the formation of our Fatherland. And although during the wars, opponents massively destroyed the storage of books in estates and monasteries, we still have the opportunity to study history from copies made from the original sources.
However, not all annals are official, many of them have private notes (for example, in the narrative about the campaign of Prince John Vasilyevich to Ugra, one can find a letter from Vasian). Also, some people brought in the time of service of their ancestors, and chronographs - Russian events.
Thus, having understood what a chronicle is and how it was created, we can conclude that today, thanks to these historical and literary documents, we have an idea of the life, customs and culture of our ancestors. This heritage plays an important role in the development of modern society.