Chroniques russes

Rus' chronicle or Russian chronicle or Rus' letopis (лѣтопись) was the primary type of Rus' historical literature. Chronicles were composed from 11th to 18th centuries, generally written in Old East Slavic (and later Ruthenian and Muscovite Russian) about Kievan Rus' and subsequent Rus' principalities and histories. Chronicles were one of the leading genres of Old Rus' literature, and were prominent in medieval and early modern Eastern and Central Europe. The genre was distributed in Belarus, the Czech lands, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine. Chronicles were the main form of historical narrative until the middle of the 16th century, the time of Ivan the Terrible, when they were superseded by another historiographical genre – chronographs. The лѣтопись has given rise to many Slavic derivatives (летапіс; letopis; latopis; летопись; lȅtopīs/ljȅtopīs / ље̏топӣс, litopīs / литопӣс; літо́пис), and was translated into Lithuanian as metraštis. The term letopis is translated into English as 'chronicle'. The record of a particular event in the annals usually begins with the words: "Въ лѣто..." (V lito...), which means "In the year..."; from these words, the terms litopys, letopis and latopis were derived. Most of the letopises are author's works, which describe the genealogy and biography of the Old Rus’ian knyazes, the life of the people of Old Rus, and interpret events and signs from an E. Orthodox and eschatological point of view (see “”). It is distinguished from otheral common genres such as "Word", "Life", and Kormchaia. Letopises, unlike chronicles and annals, contain historical documents, oral traditions (often of a mystical nature), and excerpts from previous chronicles combined with the text of the chronicler himself. The letopis is more of a work of fiction, although it is based on svod (annual record). The scheme of construction of the oldest Russian chronicle, generally accepted by modern scientists, was developed by Alexey Shakhmatov.