Supraśl Manuscript

This article is about the 1519 manuscript in Ruthenian. For the 10th-century codex in Middle Bulgarian, see Codex Suprasliensis.

The Supraśl Manuscript^[c] is a codex compiled in 1519. It has 175 folios in total. On folios 3r up to 108v of the manuscript, it contains a compilation of first-redaction Lithuanian Chronicles (sometimes dubbed the "Supraśl Chronicle"), that are estimated to have been originally written in Early Ruthenian in the mid-15th century.^[1] It also contains copies of the Kyiv Caves (Pechersk) Patericon and the Wiślica Statutes of Casimir the Great, amongst other things.^[2] The codex was rediscovered in 1822 in the Supraśl Orthodox Monastery (near Białystok in present-day Poland, close to Belarus).^[1]

Supraśl Manuscript
f. 115, no. 143, RAS History Institute, Saint Petersburg[1]
Type	first-redaction Lithuanian Chronicles
Date	1519
Place of origin	Supraśl Orthodox Monastery[1]
Language(s)	Ruthenian[a]
Scribe(s)	Hryhoriy Ivanovych[1]
Author(s)	Szymon Ivanovych Odincewicz[1]
Patron	Odintsevychi[1]
Material	thick white paper; linden boards covered with leather[1]
Condition	paper thoroughly turned yellow; leather heavily worn[1]
Script	Cyrillic[b]
Contents	175 sheets[1]
Discovered	1822[1]

Structure

Legend:

• fol. = folio, sheet.
• r. = recto, the first (right) side of a folio. Corresponds to "лл" ("лицевая сторона" litsevaja storona, "front side" or "face side").
• v. = verso, the second (left) side of a folio. Corresponds to "об." ("оборотная сторона" oborotnaja storona, "reverse side" or "back side").

Fol.	Notes
1	Gospel readings index; unrelated to chronicles.[1]
1a – 2v	Genealogy of Odintsevychi[1]
3r–72v	Incipit: Избрание лЂтописания изложено въкратце [Izbranie lětopisanija izlozheno vŭkrattse. "A Selection of the Chronicle Set Out in Brief."][1] Сказание o вЂрных святых князеи руських. [Skazanie o virnykh svjatykh knyazei rus'kikh. "The Tale/Legend of the Faithful Holy Princes of Rus'."][1] This section contains entries from 854 (Calling of the Varangians) until 1427. It contains data of an all-Rus' nature, and is very detailed on the 14th and 15th century.[2]
72v	Excerpt from the Primary Chronicle (PVL) of 10 lines ("The Dnieper River flows near the Poneshskoye Sea...").[1]
72v – 87r	An untitled section dedicated mainly to grand duke Vytautas the Great. This part reports on the failed coronation of Vytautas and his death; on the accession of Svidrigailo and his struggle with Sigismund; then the Praise to Vytautas. At the end there are several reports of events (1432–1445) in/about Smolensk.[1][3] The section ends in 1446 with the blinding of Vasily II of Moscow.[4]
87r – 108r	Chronicler of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania (in cinnabar colour)[5] a list of the sons of the Grand Duke Gediminas[5] Vytautas's reign in Lithuania[5] 102r – 108r: The Tale about Podolia.[6][7] Explicit (108r): ляхове, пана Долькгирда из города ис Каменца созвали на раду к собе и до рады не допустивши самого иняли и огьрабили, и Каменець засели, и все тое забрали, што Подолъскои земли держать.[d]
108v – 125r	Wiślica Statutes of Casimir the Great (originally composed 1346–1362 in Latin), translated into Ruthenian.[2]
125v – 126r	A genealogy of dukes of Masovia, and a complaint to the king about the starost of Zamość (without end).[2] Written in Old Belarusian with various 17th-century handwritings and inks.[2]
127r – 172r	Kyiv Caves (Pechersk) Patericon[2]
173r – 174v	Various random writings in Belarusian and Polish; some Polish poetry.[2]
175	Gospel readings index; unrelated to chronicles.[1]

Contents

Critical edition of the Supraśl Manuscript by Obolensky (1836)

In 1836, M. A. Obolensky published a critical edition titled Супрасльская рукопись, содержащая Новгородскую и Киевскую сокращенные летописи [Suprasl'skaia rukopis', soderzhashchaia Novgorodskuiu i Kievskuiu sokrashchennye letopisi, "The Supraśl Manuscript, containing the shortened Novgorodian and Kievan chronicles"].^[8]

Contrary to earlier scholarly belief, the Supraśl Chronicle does not contain an account of a 10-week-long 1240 siege of Kiev.^[9]

Notes

1. And some later short, unrelated entries and poems in Polish and Latin.^[1]
2. But Latin script in the Polish and Latin bits and pieces.
3. Polish: Rękopis suprasielski. Belarusian: Супрасльскі рукапіс, romanized: Suprasĺski rukapis. Ukrainian: Супрасльський рукопис, romanized: Suprasljsjkyj rukopys. Also known pars pro toto as the Supraśl Chronicle,^[1] or the Supraśl Codex, not to be confused with the 10th-century Codex Suprasliensis in Middle Bulgarian.
4. ["The Poles summoned Pan Dolkgird from the city of Kamenets to a council to themselves and, not allowing him to reach the council, they seized and robbed him, and settled in Kamenets, and took everything that the Podolian [Podolsk] lands needed to be kept."]^[2]