Video Script
Hello, my name is Diego De la Parra and this video is on “A Glimpse into the Life Cycle of Medieval Novgorod Through the Eyes of Birchbark”.
In the 1950s archeologists discovered hundreds of birchbarks documents near Novgorod, Russia. They were letters, notes and receipts dating from the 11th to 15th centuries, relating to all sorts of topics such as household life, trade and finance, travel, administration, religion, love letters, and even historical events.[1] They were written by people of both sexes and all ages and statuses. They reveal the high literacy rate in Novgorod, which was likely higher than in Western Europe. Women often could read, enjoyed nearly equal rights to males, and were able to own land and enter into trade. Novgorod was a crucial trade link between Russia and Western Europe. While Novgorod is by far the largest source of the documents, others have been found in Staraya Russa, Torzok, Smolensk, and other cities.[2]
Novgorod was founded around 947 by the Kievan Princess Olga, and was part of Kievan Rus.[3] In 988 Kievan Rus adopted Christianity, and in Novgorod the first churches were built soon after and literacy developed. In 1136 the Kievan Prince Vsevold was deposed and replaced with Sviatoslav Olgovich, spelling the beginning of the Novgorod Republic.[4] It had a unique political system centered around a veche assembly, theoretically open to the people. However, the boyar nobles had most of the power and elected the posadnik or governor.[5] The 13th century was turbulent for Novgorod with the Mongol invasion and other military threats from the Teutonic Knights and Swedes. The city’s trade links were cut off by the Mongols but recovered in the 14th century.[6]
When Prince Yaroslav the Wise visited Novgorod in 1030, he took 300 noble and clerical children to teach them literacy. This was immensely important for the development of literacy in Novgorod. The Novgorod Psalter is also from this period and is the oldest dated book in the entire Slavic world. It was meant to teach writing: the teacher wrote something, had the pupils copy him, then rubbed it out and continued on.[7] When learned, the skill of reading and writing Cyrillic could easily be used for religious and secular purposes.[8] Yaroslav’s pupils were given a broad Christian education, and this created a literate class who started the tradition of practical literacy. Many of the birchbark documents are connected to the Church. Clergy practiced pragmatic writing, and this ecclesiastical birchbark literacy created a mediating link between ecclesiastical parchment literacy on one side and lay birchbark literacy on another. A money lender writing down the names of debtors and their total debts is basically doing the same things as a priest putting together a list of saints to be mentioned in that day’s service: both are producing records for memory and the former is likely following the latter’s example.[9] Lay practical literacy used formulas such as a cross at the beginning of each letter as reminders of literacy’s Christian roots. However, this gradually fell out of use as Christianity and writing became more integrated into society, making them redundant.[10]
Possibly the most famous and distinctive birchbarks are those from a medieval classroom, which provide us with a unique historical peek. Birchbark was a good material for writing things down with such a short half-life. When pupils got bored, they would begin to doodle, not unlike today. Seventeen birchbarks were created by a child named Onfim, dating from around 1240-60. The style of his drawings and the kinds of texts he wrote show that he might have only been around six or seven years old. On one of the drawings, N202, Onfim drew rough figures with big hands. Although the text is not that clear, it may read: “To take debts from Dmitr”. Onfim’s texts show that children in 13th century Novgorod learned to read and write by practicing the alphabet and spelling out syllables, i.e. writing out all the consonants and the vowel a, then all the consonants and the vowel e, etc. They would also copy well-known texts like the Psalms. N202 is a copy of common business notes from adults.[11] We see here that Onfim is starting to write the forms of a letter on the collection of debts which was important for a relatively advanced medieval economy like Novgorod. Onfim is imitating the actions of adults as part of his learning process. I suspect that Onfim’s parents had to collect debts from Dmitr and Onfim was imitating one of their letters.
In N200, Onfim has spelled out the letters a to k of the Cyrillic alphabet in the upper right corner. He has also drawn a knight on horseback with a raised sword piercing a vanquished enemy, possibly a beast, with a spear. Onfim wrote his name beside the knight and below the letters, suggesting that he is the knight.[12] I think these drawings may have been influenced by the turbulent period Novgorod experienced in the mid 13th century when it was attacked by enemies such as the Mongols and the Teutonic Knights. Indeed, the Novgorodians under Prince Alexander Nevsky won a glorious victory against the Teutonic Knights in the Battle of the Ice in 1242, and this triumph may have been on Onfim’s mind.[13] He may have looked up to the Prince and Novgorod’s warriors and they may have inspired his knight. Perhaps he wanted to be like them when he was older.
N199 is an example of a recycled birchbark which used to be on the bottom of a basket before being given to Onfim for his writing exercises when the basket was spent. On the inner side, Onfim has written the letters of the Cyrillic alphabet and sequences of syllable exercises: ba va ga da, etc. On the outer side Onfim drew a beast, and on a frame has written “A bow from Onfim to Danilo”.[14] This formula is inspired by Church Slavonic, and the word for “bow” in Novgorodian is a Church Slavonic word taken from a Greek loanword. Its counterpart in the closure of a letter can be “I bow to you” or “I kiss you”, the latter also coming from Church Slavonic.[15] Below the frame in the middle of the beast, Onfim wrote “I am a puppy”. The same inscription is found in letter N1067 from the second quarter of the 14th century. The piece of birchbark it is written on has small eyeholes, indicating that a child might have attached it with a cord around the neck of his favorite puppy. Onfim’s fantastical beast has a long neck, small ears and a curly tail. It has something protruding from its mouth that appears similar to the feathered shaft of an arrow, perhaps its fire breath or its forked tongue. Onfim’s drawings show that his world of imagination had horses, weapons, knights killing enemies, and monsters and appear like the artwork of any child today or those of any day and age.[16] I suspect they might have been taken from Slavic mythology or folklore.
Onfim’s learning also included recreating short texts like N203, which has a well-attested religious formula above a messy drawing of two human figures, one standing and one on horseback, which says “Lord, help your servant Onfim”. Another view of the drawing is that it depicts Adam, Eve and the serpent. In N207 Onfim has copied phrases from a Psalter. In N206, he has written, along with syllable exercises and drawings, a sequence of 4 letters. They may read a number, 1263, which possibly represents a year, lining up with the birchbark’s approximate date. However, a new interpretation sees the four letters as an abbreviation of the first words of the six o’clock troparion (which is a short hymn sung in Orthodox church services): “Who on the sixth day and hour.” Onfim must have understood it and used it to practice writing.
There are also other troparia found on birchbark, including N977 from around 1180-1220, which has the first words of each tone (glas). Written by Jakim, this document must have been used as a memory aid to help a priest or choirman learn the text of this troparion.[17] So Onfim was imitating the actions of adults working in the ecclesiastical realm through his copying of the birchbark, and he may have been primed to be a priest or choirman himself. As we have seen, religion was deeply tied to education in Novgorod.
There are other examples of writing exercises. The oldest one, N591, dates from 1030 and spells out letters such as a b v g d, etc. Practicing the alphabet and copying religious texts was also done on wooden wax tablets, of which a dozen or so have been discovered in Novgorod. One example from the 12th century has a wooden frame with carved letters. One edge has an arrangement of Cyrillic letters B, Ž, K, P, F, Š, and Ju (read from top to bottom). Comparing this with the rows of letters Onfim wrote on N199, the wax tablet’s order is largely analogous to the second column of N199. This proves that the wax tablet was likely part of a polyptych made up of 5 tablets. If those 5 tablets were joined, the alphabet must have been organized in the order highlighted on the lower diagram.[18] I think this shows that the copying of the letters followed a logical sequence in Novgorodian education, and that Onfim’s education would have been somewhat similar to that of Novgorodian schoolchildren 200 years earlier. Onfim may have copied the sequences already found in polyptychs.
N687 is a letter written about a century later, around 1360-80, which instructs “[…] Buy yourself butter (?), and (buy) clothes for the children […]. Let (them) study writing, and the horses […].” The sender is likely a husband writing to his wife from out of town. He asks his recipient to carry out many everyday tasks. One is having the children learn to write. This was likely a normal request for the period: otherwise, we may see more detail or even a separate letter sent. The recipient clearly understood what to do, and it would be normal for children in this family to learn some literacy.[19] I think this also indicates that writing was related to everyday tasks in Novgorod and was not just largely a fancy elite activity like in other parts of Europe. Ordinary people like this family would write as well.
There are less texts about the church and written in Church Slavonic on the corpus. This is because these types of text were written on parchment due to their importance. One text, N717, from 1160-80, can be linked to the Convent of St. Barbara. It reads: “A bow from the abbess to Ofrosenija. Send the habit and wimples. If (you have) a lot of wimples, send up to five wimples. I am extremely busy with the nuns; they have to be tonsured soon. Therefore, do find out if Matfej is at the monastery.” The “habit” is likely a different type of monastic garment – one wound or laced around the head or body. This is the only found instance of this word in Old East Slavic. Four abbesses serving in the convent are named in separate chronicles: Ana, Marem’jana, Xristina, and Varvara (Barbara). One likely sent the letter. Matfej was likely the priest who had to consecrate the novices.[20] I think they would have been training in the monastery, possibly doing more advanced versions of religious exercises similar to Onfim’s, and would have been young adults when they were consecrated. The abbesses must have been much older.
Many of the birchbarks concerned trade. One insightful letter is from Pskov, originally a satellite of Novgorod which had become independent by the time of this letter, Pskov 6, around 1260-80:
“From Kjurik and from Gerasim to Anfim. About the squirrel skin: if you (plural) haven’t traded (it yet), send (it here) immediately, because squirrel skin is selling well here. And about ourselves: if you (Anfim) are free, come to us; Ksinofont has done us harm. And about this man: we don’t know him. In this, (may) God’s will (be done), and yours.”
The physical artifact and the structure of the text show that this letter was carefully written and edited. Apart from the salutation and closing, the letter has three sections, each starting with a heading (‘about the squirrel skin’, ‘and about ourselves’, ‘and about this man’) referring to Kisinofont. The first two sections have blatant requests with rationales and the third just a rationale (“we do not know him”) which implies that the man should not be trusted. The letter ends with the author confiding his welfare to the recipient.[21] I think these jobs in trade could be an important part of the life cycle of some young men in Novgorod and they appeared to be common.
Birchbark communication could also be done over long distances. In this letter N424 from 1100-1120, Gjurgij writes from outside Novgorod, either in Smolensk or Kiev. He is imploring his parents to come because of the better economic conditions he has noticed during his travels:
“[A letter from Gjurgij to] father and to mother. After selling the farm, come (plural) here, either to Smolensk or to Kiev. Grain is cheap. If you don’t come, send me a note (saying) whether you are well.”
This letter shows us how economic conditions in medieval Novgorod changed. Since the soil conditions were unfavorable for a large population, importing food was necessary and this made life relatively expensive. The chronicles talk about recurring food shortages and famines in the city.[22] Gjurgij appears to have been an enterprising young man who was inquisitively searching for better economic conditions.
One landmark birchbark letter is N1000, from 1140-60 which reads: “From Kyas and from Zirocko to Tverdjata and to Ivan. We are both fine”. While it appears like simply greetings, one of the recipients, Ivan, has been connected with Luka, who is mentioned (as author or referent) in many other birchbark communications. Luke and Ivan send this letter, N1009, likely written by Ivan: “[From] Luka and from Ivan to Snovid. We are both fine. We’ve already sold (everything). We didn’t buy (any) Greek merchandise. Try to get a little overseas merchandise.” N1009 and others show that Luka and Ivan were business partners on a trip to buy and sell goods.[23] They had a large and thriving business, trading in different types of grain, hides, and furs, horses, wine, glassware, and pans.[24] They dabbled in foreign merchandise: the “Greek” appears to be Byzantine, while the “overseas” might be from North-Western Europe. The impression is that Luka, Ivan and Snovid are one family: the former two are brothers while the latter is their father.[25] The sons must have often gone on long trips away from Novgorod, while their father, to whom they sent their letters and instructions, stayed in the city. These birchbarks are business letters, resting on the shared business of the correspondents.[26] “We are both fine” appears to refer to the completion of business missions, showing that the mutual interests of the authors are flourishing.[27] This offers a fascinating glimpse into the operation of a family business in Novgorod. The young men are likely subordinate to their father and will grow in wealth and prestige through these trading missions. They were in contact with each other and also important people from the upper Novgorodian society, like the posadniks Miroslav Nesdinic (nicknamed Miroska) and Jakun Miroslavic, and Marena, the wife of the boyar Petr Mixalkovic.[28]
Snovid appears in another letter, N955 from 1140-60. This letter’s upper layer has been lost, but it evidently had a drawing of a cross with a woman and a man on either side. It appears to show a wedding ceremony. It has three sections with an ornamental initial, unusual for a birchbark letter which is more straightforward. It shows different parts of what is apparently a wedding agreement: “[Upper part] From Milusa to Marena. Big Braid, may she (or: let her) marry Snovid. [Lower left] Marenka, let the vagina drink and the clitoris. [Lower right] Thus spoke Milusa: Give yesterday’s 2 grivnas.”
At the top, Milusa tells Marena about the upcoming wedding of Big Braid and Snovid. “Big Braid” is, likely, an individual nickname for an unmarried woman who wore her hair in a braid following the Russian tradition for unmarried women. Milusa asks for money in the message on the lower right, proving that she is the matchmaker. She utters a wish on the lower left, that the marriage be fruitful, and this shows that the latter is the bride’s mother. While Milusa uses Marena’s full name in the opening formula, in the fertility spell she uses the diminutive form of Marenka.[29]
There are some other letters about love. One, N377, is from 1280-1300. The author, Mikita, writes his proposal to Malanija in a straightforward way: “From Mikita to Malanija. I want you, and you me. And Ignat Moiseev is witness to that. And in property […]”. The text is more realistic than it appears. The phrase “I want you, and you me” is prosaic and was used formulaically in medieval marriage proposals. So it does not necessarily say much abut Mikita’s feelings. Mikita is unusual in proposing directly to Malanija instead of her parents. Other medieval sources, like the one we just saw, show that the groom’s family negotiated the marriage with the bride’s parents or other senior family members.[30]
While Novgorod had important connections with Byzantium, it later refocused on its large colonial lands to the northeast, largely because the Mongol invasion had cut off trade. As a result, the topics of the birchbark letters changed from international trade to interior administrative matters, like taxation. Many birchbark letters from this period are about the gathering of revenues by tax officials and stewards or correspondence between peasants and landlords living in the city to manage the boyar’s estates outside the city.[31]
For the former topic, the letter N286 from 1351 or shortly after is of particular interest. It mentions a peace treaty: “[From] Grigorij to Dmitr. [We are well.] Make your rounds, don’t be afraid; they have made peace on the old border of Prince Jurij. And they have sent [me] to Karelia to the Kajan Sea. (Can you imagine:) You (i.e., ‘I’) shouldn’t hinder, shouldn’t do harm to the Kajan people, and shouldn’t make a bad name for yourself! If you have collected last year’s tribute, take mine also. And if you hear I am not going to No[ja], then you go. And at home all is well. Send me some news. If you can, help me out with something.”
The ‘peace on the old border with Prince Jurij’ that Grigorij mentions is the renewal of the Treaty of Noteborg which had set the border between Novgorod and its enemy Sweden in 1323. The treaty was confirmed many times but accounting for the dating of N286 and other letters and notes, this letter is likely about the renewal in the year 1351. The Isthmus of Karelia was divided into Swedish (western) and Novgorodian (eastern) sections. We know from this communication that Grigorij and Dmitr, probably his brother, were likely tax collectors in the northwestern hinterlands of Novgorod. Grigorij is asking that Dmitr take the work that he was responsible for in southern Karelia, which he says is now secure again because of the peace treaty. Grigorij himself has been sent further north to the Kajan Sea (the upper section of the Gulf of Bothnia). He did not expect the assignment and is outraged with it and wants to make sure Dmitr finishes Grigorij’s normal tasks.[32]
One communication between peasants and landlords is seen in N361 from 1380-1400:
“A bow from the people of the Šižnja and from the people of Bratiloviči to lord Jakov. Come, lord, for your grain, so that it will not rot, lord. We are ruined now, lord; the grain has frozen. There is nothing to sow, lord, and also there is nothing to eat. You (and your opponents), lord, will not come to terms between yourselves, and between you we are ruined.”
The two places referenced, the river Siznja and the village of Bratilovici (today Ratilovo) are more than 200 km northeast of Novgorod. In the letter, the villagers from two settlements beg for help and criticize Jakov as they blame their problems on his ongoing issues with another landlord (or landlords).[33] I think this shows that whether they wrote it themselves or not, peasants did not hesitate to use birchbark letters to voice their complaints and advocate for themselves.
Many connections have been established between individuals across different birchbark letters. One is between Olisej Grecin and Miroska Nesdinic. Grecin was a famous citizen of Novgorod in the late 12th century, and likely the son of Petr Mixalkovic. Two texts about him are key: N502, where Miroska (called Mirslav in the birchbark) Nesdinic writes to Olisej Grecin about Gavko from Polock, whom Olisej must place ‘before the witnesses that he mentions’ in the event that ‘he has seen how I arrested Ivan’. N549 is a commission from a priest to paint him “two six-winged angels on two small icons above the Intercession. Miroska Nesdinic, who we have already encountered, was an important boyar and the psadnik of Novgorod from 1189 until he died in 1204. The two letters reveal that Olisej was both an artist (painting icons and frescos) and a court official. He was also a priest, unsuccessfully standing in the elections for a new bishop in 1193.[34] Thus he is an example of the integration of secular and ecclesiastical activities in Novgorod.[35] He shows that some prominent citizens could have many different occupations in Novgorod.
Another interesting network comes from Jakim, who we have already seen one letter from. Active from roughly the 1160s-90s, he has turned out to be Novgorod’s most productive attested writer. Jakim’s writings are mostly notes on many activities relating to church practices and household management, maybe at the same time or different parts of his life. He was definitely well educated and could skillfully create an outline of a troparion, and catalogue supplies of parchment and other monastic items, like oil and headgear. He is also shown managing a large boyar household, dealing with the exchange of many commodities like oat, beans, peas, barley, linseed, rye, salt, and leading the financial administration, which entailed handling large sums of money. One example is N1021 which is about the transaction of around 3,100 squirrel skins for the very big amount of 2,233 kinas (or around 89 grivnas).[36]
This is but a taste of the rich historical world of medieval Novgorod we can discover from interpreting the birchbark letters. Thank you for listening to my video. Here are references if you want to know more.
Bibliography
Fiechter, Derek & Brandon. 2016. “Russian Folk Music and Slavic Music” Youtube, song compilation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlD84j7DcJU&t=1479s
Gippius, Alexej. “Birchbark Literacy and the Rise of Written Communication in Early Rus.” In Epigraphic Literacy and Christian Identity: Modes of Written Discourse in the Newly Christian European North, ed. Kritel Zilmer and Judith Jesch, 225-250. Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2012. https://www-brepolsonline-net.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/doi/book/10.1484/M.USML-EB.6.09070802050003050402090402
Ianin, V.L. “Medieval Novgorod.” In The Cambridge History of Russia Volume 1: From Early Rus to 1689, 188- 210. Cambridge University Press, 2016. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-history-of-russia/medieval-novgorod/E4971A80FD89034F3D7BAE2B700298D8
Kwakkel, Erik. “Medieval kids’ doodles on birch bark.” Erik Kwakkel. Accessed October 2, 2022. https://erikkwakkel.tumblr.com/post/67681966023/medieval-kids-doodles-on-birch-bark-heres
McAnallen, Julia. “Medieval Trash to Modern Treasure: 1,000 Birchbark Letters and Counting.” Newsletter of the Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. Volume 27, Number 2, (Fall 2010): 3-6. https://iseees.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/iseeesnl_fall_2010_web.pdf
Onfim, “Diploma No. 199.” Birchbark inscription, 1240-60. Moscow, State Historical Museum. http://gramoty.ru/birchbark/document/show/novgorod/199/
“Diploma No. 200.” Birchbark inscription, 1240-60. Moscow, State Historical Museum. http://gramoty.ru/birchbark/document/show/novgorod/200/
“Diploma No. 202.” Birchbark inscription, 1240-60. Veliky Novgorod, Novgorod State United Museum-Reserve. http://gramoty.ru/birchbark/document/show/novgorod/202/
“Diploma No. 203.” Birchbark inscription, 1240-60. Moscow, State Historical Museum. http://gramoty.ru/birchbark/document/show/novgorod/203/
“Diploma No. 206.” Birchbark inscription, 1240-60. Moscow, State Historical Museum. http://gramoty.ru/birchbark/document/show/novgorod/206/
“Diploma No. 207.” Birchbark inscription, 1240-60. Moscow, State Historical Museum. http://gramoty.ru/birchbark/document/show/novgorod/207/
Pereltsvaig, Asya. “Birch Bark Documents from Novgorod, Russia.” GeoCurrents. Accessed October 2, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20130324014929/https://www.geocurrents.info/cultural-geography/linguistic-geography/birch-bark-documents-from-novgorod-russia
Schaeken, Jos. Voices on Birchbark: Everyday Communication in Medieval Russia. Leiden: Brill, 2018. https://brill.com/view/book/9789004389427/B9789004389427_015.xml
[1] Erik Kwakkel, “Medieval kids’ doodles on birch bark,” Erik Kwakkel, accessed October 2, 2022. https://erikkwakkel.tumblr.com/post/67681966023/medieval-kids-doodles-on-birch-bark-heres; McAnallen, Julia. “Medieval Trash to Modern Treasure: 1,000 Birchbark Letters and Counting.” Newsletter of the Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. Volume 27, Number 2, (Fall 2010): 3-6.
[2] Asya Pereltsvaig, “Birch Bark Documents from Novgorod, Russia,” GeoCurrents, accessed October 2, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20130324014929/https://www.geocurrents.info/cultural-geography/linguistic-geography/birch-bark-documents-from-novgorod-russia
[3] V.L. Ianin, “Medieval Novgorod,” in The Cambridge History of Russia Volume 1: From Early Rus to 1689, ed. Maureen Perry (Cambridge University Press, 2016), 192.
[4] Ibid, 195.
[5] Ibid, 207.
[6] Ibid, 198-201.
[7] Ibid, 192-93.
[8] Alexej Gippius, “Birchbark Literacy and the Rise of Written Communication in Early Rus,” in Epigraphic Literacy and Christian Identity: Modes of Written Discourse in the Newly Christian European North, ed. Kritel Zilmer and Judith Jesch (Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2012), 234.
[9] Ibid, 236-38.
[10] Ibid, 248-49.
[11] Jos Schaeken, Voices on Birchbark: Everyday Communication in Medieval Russia, (Leiden: Brill, 2018), 109.
[12] Ibid; Kwakkel, “Doodles”.
[13] Ianin, “Novgorod”, 198-99.
[14] Schaeken, Voices, 110-11.
[15] Gippius, “Literacy”, 245-46.
[16] Schaeken, Voices, 111.
[17] Ibid, 112-13.
[18] Ibid, 113-14.
[19] Ibid, 113.
[20] Ibid, 117-18.
[21] Ibid, 61-62.
[22] Ibid, 64-65.
[23] Ibid, 68-69.
[24] Ibid, 179.
[25] Ibid, 69.
[26] Ibid, 179.
[27] Ibid, 69.
[28] Ibid, 180.
[29] Ibid, 99-100.
[30] Ibid, 98-99.
[31] Ibid, 17.
[32] Ibid, 126-27.
[33] Ibid, 92.
[34] Ibid, 175-76.
[35] Gippius, “Literacy”, 239.
[36] Ibid, 180-82.
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