Talk:Slutsk Chronicle

Facsimiles of the Uvarov manuscript

Pochwała Witoldowi.jpg a.k.a. Слуцкі летапіс 2.jpg

File:Pochwała Witoldowi.jpg, a fragment from the Praise to Vytautas on л.51. (folio 51 recto) from the Slutsk Chronicle: "[Похвала] o великомь князи Витовте. Таину цареву таити добро есть, a дела великаго господаря поведати добро жь есть. Хочю вамь поведати o великомь князи Олександре ВитовтЂ литовьскомь и руськомь, иных многих земли господари. Но по неи же есть писано: «Братя, бога боитася, a князя чтите». Такожь и я хочю вамь поведати o славномь томь господари, но не мо..."
("[Praise] to Grand Prince Vytautas. It is good to keep a tsar's secrets; but it is likewise good to tell the deeds of a great sovereign. I want to tell you about the great Prince Alexander Vytautas of Lithuania and Ruthenia, lord of many lands. But it is written: 'Brothers, fear God and honour the prince.' I also want to tell you about that glorious lord, but I cannot...")

So I'm trying to find facsimiles of the Slutsk Chronicle / Uvarov manuscript (No. 1381 (153) in the A. Uvarov Collection, State Historical Museum), but it's not easy. The only one I'm somewhat sure is correct is File:Pochwała Witoldowi.jpg, which supposedly contains a fragment from the Praise to Vytautas. The reason is that if you follow the source https://bis.nlb.by/api/files/getFromDocument/19328, it will download a file named Слуцкі летапіс 2.jpg, which is literally "Slutsk Chronicle 2" in Belarusian. For me, it opens in Adobe Acrobat, and actually shows a larger picture than has been uploaded, namely two folios instead of one. The left one has '90' in Arabic numerals at the top, and the right one '91' at the top. I'm not sure what they're counting, but it's probably not \л.90.\ and \л.90об.\ or anything; in PSRL 35, those folios are in the middle of the Conversion of Volodimer' narrative, not the Praise to Vytautas.

I think my best move is to try and transcribe some of the Слуцкі летапіс 2.jpg and try to match it with the digitised text of the Slutsk Chronicle in PSRL 35, because that would confirm it really is from the manuscript we're looking for. Otherwise, it could be anything. NLeeuw (talk) 21:18, 21 August 2025 (UTC)

Lol okay that was easy. I'm extremely lucky. The red Т gave it away. It is the incipit of the Praise to Vytautas. It's all in cursive; that's why I misread the lowercase Te (Cyrillic) as an Em (Cyrillic) (a common mistake amongst readers used to the Latin script).

In any case, there are minor discrepancies in transcription, but overall, the exact place where the text begins is \л.51.\, and it cuts off at \л.51об.\. Indeed, the lower right corner of Слуцкі летапіс 2.jpg (with '91' above) actually says '51', now that I look more closely (page '90' is thus \л.50об.\, or fol. 50 verso). We've got a match. This is the Praise to Vytautas in the Slutsk Chronicle / Uvarov Manuscript. Now it would just be nice to be able to find the rest of it. All I can do so far is just also upload л.50об., but that doesn't help me much right now. NLeeuw (talk) 21:48, 21 August 2025 (UTC)

I found the source of Слуцкі летапіс 2.jpg at bis.nlb.by/by/documents/174562 on the website of the National Library of Belarus. That's where I also found Слуцкі летапіс 1.jpg and Слуцкі летапіс 3.jpg, which I have just uploaded along with Слуцкі летапіс 2.jpg as:

• File:Слуцкі летапіс 1 л.35об. – л.36.jpg
• File:Слуцкі летапіс 2 л.50об. – л.51.jpg
• File:Слуцкі летапіс 3 л.34об. – л.35.jpg

That gives us 3 solid facsimiles, but unfortunately not the whole thing of 106 sheets (212 pages). I might be able to find that on the website of the State Historical Museum, though. NLeeuw (talk) 14:08, 22 August 2025 (UTC)

Won't the real Uvarov Chronicle please stand up?

I put some "Uvarov Chronicle" fascimiles I could find from PSRL 28 in the gallery, although I'm not sure if they are from the Slutsk Chronicle or some other manuscript in the wider Uvarovsky Collection of the State Historical Museum. The registration numbers suggest they are different things.

This Livejournal post discusses the so-called "Uvarov Chronicle" (Уваровская летопись), specifically entries in the year 1480 on the so-called Great Stand on the Ugra River. I'm skeptical that this is the same as the Slutsk Chronicle, which is supposed to end in 1446. The registration number is also different: State Historical Museum, Synodal Collection, No. 645. Document No. 178. NLeeuw (talk) 21:18, 21 August 2025 (UTC)

PS: I'll just move the Gallery over here for now. It's very likely that it's not connected to the Slutsk Chronicle at all, but some other manuscript in the Uvarov collection. Maybe I'll find out later, but for now, I'll stay on the safe side. NLeeuw (talk) 07:40, 22 August 2025 (UTC)

• 
  Уваровская летопись, State Historical Museum, Синодальное собрание, No. 592, л. 383.
• 
  Уваровская летопись, State Historical Museum, Синодальное собрание, No. 188, л. 70.
• 
  Уваровская летопись, State Historical Museum, Синодальное собрание, No. 645, л. 351.
• 
  Уваровская летопись, State Historical Museum, Синодальное собрание, No. 645, л. 423.

The 1446 thing

File:Урывак з Нікіфараўскага спіса.png. What even is this thing?

Finally, uk:Слуцький літопис embeds this mysterious unidentified facsimile File:Урывак з Нікіфараўскага спіса.png. I have no idea what it is, except that it just fundamentally cannot be the so-called be:Беларуска-літоўскі летапіс (1446) / uk:Білорусько-литовський літопис 1446 року etc. Because that is a purely hypothetical document, which all articles and also the source itself, http://library.by/portalus/modules/belarus/print.php?subaction=showfull&id=1292150109&archive=1293199280&start_from=&ucat=1&, admits of: Першапачатковая рэдакцыя не збераглася. The original edition has not survived. So whatever that picture http://library.by/portalus/modules/belarus/data/upimages/121a1b_-_223e3c_1_-_2007-35.jpg (with a frustratingly non-descriptive filename) is showing, it's not a hypothetical text that was lost; by definition, it can't be. It also looks nothing like the ink, handwriting and paper of the File:Pochwała Witoldowi.jpg above, so ukwiki's embedding and the c:Category:Sluck Letopis categorisation, suggesting that it is the Slutsk Chronicle manuscript, are almost certainly wrong.

Earlier today I added my own guess that it might be the Nikifor Manuscript, but that was based on a faulty Google Image search, that got me confused with Afanasy Nikitin (author of A Journey Beyond the Three Seas). So, I just don't know. NLeeuw (talk) 21:18, 21 August 2025 (UTC)

I've removed it from c:Category:Sluck Letopis and d:Q1251463 (Slutsk Chronicle) for now, and replaced it with File:Слуцкі летапіс 3 л.34об. – л.35.jpg (just uploaded). NLeeuw (talk) 14:03, 22 August 2025 (UTC)

HAH! bis.nlb.by/by/documents/145080 on the website of the National Library of Belarus identifies this image as Беларуска-Літоўскі летапіс 1446. Урывак з Нікіфараўскага спіса. Крыніца ілюстрацыі: Энцыклапедыя гісторыі Беларусі : у 6 т. – Мінск, 1993. – Т. 1. – С. 363.

Belarusian-Lithuanian Chronicle 1446. Excerpt from the Nikifaraŭskaha Manuscript. Source of illustration: Encyclopedia of the History of Byelarus: in 6 vols. – Minsk, 1993. – Vol. 1. – P. 363.

So it was from the Nikifor Manuscript after all! Time describe it as such everywhere, and remove it from everywhere where it does not apply. NLeeuw (talk) 14:13, 22 August 2025 (UTC)

I've filed for the Commons image to be renamed to File:Урывак з Нікіфараўскага спіса.png, exactly the way the National Library of Belarus website does it. In a few days, we might settle 12 years of confusion from one incorrect file name. NLeeuw (talk) 14:31, 22 August 2025 (UTC)