Mr. Veliky Novgorod has always stood apart from other Russian cities. Veche traditions were especially strong in him, and the role of the prince for a long time was reduced to arbitration and organizing the protection of external borders. Rich families played an important role in politics and public life, but all letters and agreements were sealed by the archbishop - it was his foreign travelers who called him "the lord of the city." The Novgorod heroes were also unusual. It would seem that there was never a shortage of enemies: Lithuanians, Swedes, knights-sword-bearers, pagan tribes - there was from whom both vast possessions and their hometown were to be defended. And by their nature, Novgorodians were very adventurous and cocky people. Nevertheless, there are only two Novgorod heroes - Sadko and Vasily Buslaev, and even then, not quite "correct". True, sometimes Gavrila Oleksich, the great-grandson of a certain Ratmir (Ratshi), is also included in the number of Novgorod heroes. But Gavrilo Oleksich did not act alone, like Ilya Muromets, and did not fight monsters like Dobrynya and Alyosha Popovich - he performed his feats as part of the Novgorod army. He became famous during the Battle of the Neva (1240), when, pursuing the Swedes, he tried to enter the ship on horseback, but was thrown into the water. Gavrila Oleksich had two sons: Ivan Morkhinya and Akinf. One of Ivan's grandchildren was Grigory Pushka, who is considered to be the founders of the Pushkin noble family. From another son of Gavrila, Akinfa, the Kamenskys led their family, one of which became the hero of the article The Devil's General. Nikolai Kamensky and his Suvorov nickname.
But Vasily Buslaev, who, like Gavrilo Oleksich, by the will of S. Eisenstein became the hero of the famous film "Alexander Nevsky", in fact, was not noticed by anyone in the defense of Russian lands, and his weapon is not heroic - most often referred to as "black elm "(Club).
Two epics are known about this hero: "Vasily Buslaev and the Novgorodians" (20 versions recorded) and "The trip of Vasily Buslaev" (15 entries).
IN AND. Dahl reports that the word "buslay" literally means "a riotous bastard, a reveler, a wicked fellow." Meanwhile, it is said about Vasily's father:
“I didn’t mate with the New City, With Pskov, he did not cheer, And I didn’t contradict Mother Moscow”.
Therefore, there is reason to believe that "Buslaev" is not a patronymic, and, moreover, not a surname, but a characteristic of this hero, who has become from the age of 7:
To joke from, to joke, To joke - from a joke is unkind
With boyar children, with princely children:
Who will be pulled by the hand - the hand away, Whose leg is a leg away, Will push two or three together -
lie without a soul."
And when Vaska grew up, his "mischief" and "jokes" began to bear a purely mercantile character. Having recruited a gang of 30 people, many of whom, judging by their nicknames (Novotorzhenin, Belozerianin, etc.), were newcomers, not Novgorodians, he began to go to feasts, starting quarrels with “rich merchants” and “Novgorodian peasants”. And even the representatives of the Church ("elder" Pilgrim) did not escape Vaska's "mischief". In some texts, this elder is also the godfather of Buslaev:
“You listen to me, but I'm your godfather, I taught you to read and write, instructed you to do good deeds,”he turns to him.
To which Vaska replies: "When you taught me, you took the money."
And further:
The devil bears you, but you are my godfather, The water one carries you, but everything is not on time.
And hit with his blackened viscous
And he killed the elder, his cross-father."
As a result, "the townspeople submitted and made peace" and pledged to pay "three thousand for every year." Some researchers believe that "the struggle of the Novgorod political parties" is reproduced in the epic. However, one can rather assume that Vaska acts here as a typical “crime boss” and racketeer.
It is possible that Buslaev's gang could also provide services to protect their clients, or, on the contrary, arrange attacks on their opponents. The existence of such "brigades" even in the 15th century is confirmed by Metropolitan Jonah, who reported in a letter to Archbishop Euthymius of Novgorod that there are in Novgorod:
“Internecine bickering, and strife, and murder, and bloodshed, and the murder of Orthodox Christianity was created and is being created; they hired for that evil and disgusting deed, hiring from both sides malevolent and bloodshed, drunken and negligent malevolent people about their souls ».
The tests that the candidates for Buslaev's gang are subjected to are curious: it was necessary to raise a glass of wine in one and a half buckets with one hand and drink it, after which Vasily also beat them on the head with his beloved "black elm". It is clear that after such tests, a person became either disabled or a psychopath with post-traumatic personality and behavioral disorders. However, I think that in this case we are dealing with an exaggerated description of the ritual of initiation into the earhooks: the bowl of wine was, maybe, large, but not “in one and a half buckets,” and the blow with the club was probably purely symbolic.
However, in the same epic it turns out that there is a hero in Novgorod and stronger than Buslaev. More precisely - a hero. This is a certain little girl, a servant of his mother, who, on her orders, in the midst of an "epic" street fight, easily drags the unlucky Vaska off the street and locks him in the cellar. Some explain this unexpected obedience of the violent Buslaev by his fear of disobeying his mother, but this is completely not in the character of this hero, who, in his own words, does not believe in either sleep or chokh, but only in that notorious black elm. Further, it is already described about the "exploits" of the draft. Having delivered Vaska "to his destination", this girl, seeing that his friends are defeated, "throws maple buckets from the cypress rocker arm" and starts wielding them like a club, beating many opponents "to death."
And then, disregarding the order of his mistress, he releases Vasily, who completes the pogrom of the “Novgorod peasants”, which ended with an agreement on the payment of that very annual “tribute”.
In the next epic, Vasily suddenly realizes that he has:
“From a young age it was beaten and plundered, In old age, you need to save your soul."
Or, alternatively:
“I have done a great sin, I nailed a lot of Novgorod peasants."
Having equipped the ship, he turns to his mother:
Give me a great blessing
Go to me, Vasily, to Jerusalem-grad, With all the brave squad, Pray to the Lord for me, Adhere to the holy shrine, Take a bath in the Erdan River."
Knowing the value of these good intentions of her son, the mother gives him a blessing with the proviso:
"If you, child, go to robbery, And do not wear Vasily damp earth."
However, Vaska does not need a blessing on such conditions, he “hovers around her like a loach,” and his mother concedes, even helps with equipment:
“Damask steel melts from the heat, Mother's heart dissolves
And she gives a lot of lead, gunpowder, And gives Vasily grain supplies, And gives a long-term weapon, Save you, Vasily, your riotous head."
On the way to Jerusalem, Buslaev's gang meets with robbers, "three thousand of whom are robbed of beads, galleys, and smashing scarlet ships." But, having "tasted" Vaska's "elm", the robbers "bow" to him, bring rich gifts and even give him a guide.
Another obstacle on the way is “suboi is fast, but the shaft is thick”, that is, a strong current and a high wave, which Vasily's experienced team also successfully copes with. Further on Sorochinskaya mountain (from the name of the river, which is now called Tsaritsa - a tributary of the Volga) Buslaev sees a skull, and finds nothing better than to kick it. And he hears a formidable warning:
“I was a fine fellow, but not a mile away for you, I'm lying on the mountains on Sorochinsky, Yes, then lie to you on my right hand."
On the facial synodic books common in medieval Russia, images of a skull and a snake with similar inscriptions were often found. For example:
"Behold, man, and know whose head this is, after your death yours will be like this."
The words of the dead head do not make the slightest impression on Vasily, moreover, it seems that he perceives them as a challenge. So, for example, having reached the Holy Land, despite warnings, he bathes naked in the Jordan River. On the way back, on the same Sorochinskaya mountain, where the skull lies, Buslaev already finds
"Gray is a combustible stone, The stone is thirty cubits wide, To the valley is a stone and forty cubits, Its height is near a pebble, after all, three cubits."
The stone is clearly a gravestone; an inscription is carved on it, prohibiting jumping over it. However, there are texts in which the inscription, on the contrary, has the character of a challenge: "Who will jump and jump this stone?" In any case, the character does not allow Buslaev to just pass by: he jumps over the stone himself, and orders his companions to jump. Then, he decides to complicate the task: according to one version, he jumps over the stone along, and not across, according to the other - "facing back." And here luck finally leaves this hero:
“And only a quarter didn’t jump, And then he was killed under a stone."
The companions buried him, as predicted - next to the skull.
Here we are probably dealing with pre-Christian ideas that the dead can take with them people who step over a corpse, or over a grave. It is especially dangerous to step over the grave along, since in this case the person not only crosses the path of the deceased, but shares his path with him.
Of course, attempts were made to correlate the epic Vasily Buslaev with some real historical person. I. I. Grigorovich (a Russian historian of the 19th century) and S. M. Soloviev spoke about the Novgorod mayor Vaska Buslavich, whose death is reported by the Nikon Chronicle (written in the middle of the 16th century) under 1171. In addition to Nikon's, the death of this mayor is mentioned in the Novgorod Pogodin Chronicle (written in the last quarter of the 17th century): "The same year (1171) the mayor Vasily Buslaviev died in Veliky Novgorod." It is assumed that this news came into this chronicle from Nikonovskaya. The literary critic A. N. Robinson and the Soviet historian and philologist D. S. Likhachev also trusted this news.
But N. M. Karamzin reacted to this chronicle news with suspicion. Academician I. N. Zhdanov, who found out that in the lists of Novgorod mayor there is no Vasily Buslaev, or a person with a name that is even remotely similar. S. K. Chambinago considered the Nikon Chronicle an unreliable source due to the frequent insertions of "song material". Modern researchers agree with him, believing that the Nikon Chronicle includes "news gleaned from folklore sources." But in the much more "authoritative" among the historians of the Novgorod First Chronicle, a certain Zhiroslav was named a mayor in 1171.
Another Novgorod hero - the famous Sadko, again, absolutely does not look like the heroes of the epics of the Kiev cycle. Sadko does not possess heroic strength, but he is an excellent (possibly a genius) guslar and singer. It is his voice that attracts the sea king, from whom the hero receives the award, which makes him one of the first people of Novgorod.
Collected 40 versions of the epic about Sadko, which, according to the place of recording, are divided into 4 groups - Olonets, White Sea, Pechora and Ural-Siberian. Among the latter is the epic of the famous Kirsha Danilov, a hammer master of the Demidovs' Nevyansk plant. At the same time, there is only one absolutely complete version, containing all the episodes - recorded by the Onega storyteller A. P. Sorokin (10 more epics were also received from him). Sorokin's epic about Sadko consists of three parts, which for other storytellers turn out to be separate songs.
There are different versions of the origin of Sadko epics: according to the first of them, Sadko is a native Novgorodian, according to the second - an alien. The second version seems more preferable, since in the epic of Kirsha Danilov it is reported that, having become rich, Sadko remains an outcast, and even asks the sea king: "Teach me to live in Novyegrad."
The sea king advises him:
"Have a chance with the people with the customs, And only about their dinner of armor, Call the good fellows, the townspeople, And they will know and Vedati."
I think that a native of Novgorod himself would have guessed who should be invited to the "honorable feast", to whom to flatter and with whom to make the necessary acquaintances. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.
First of all, let's say why Sadko had to sing alone on the shore of Lake Ilmen. It turns out that, for some reason, they stopped inviting him to feasts (perhaps the repertoire ceased to suit, but maybe Sadko allowed himself some kind of impudence), and he was in a state of depression. Attracted by his singing, the sea king offers him a reward. According to the most famous version, Sadko must wager with eminent people that he will catch a fish-golden feather in Lake Ilmen.
It is not entirely clear what value this fish has, and why this mortgage is so interesting to Novgorod merchants: well, there is, perhaps, some very rare fish in the lake. Since a person argues, perhaps he has already caught it, and knows the place where it is found. Why put all your fortune on the line for such a trifling reason? According to a less common, but more logical version, Sadko hires a fishing artel, which catches a lot of big and small, red and white fish for him. During the night, the fish caught (and folded into the barn) turns into gold and silver coins - this is a record of the same Kirsha Danilov.
This concludes the first part of Sorokin's epic (and the first songs about Sadko by other storytellers). And the second begins with the fact that, having become rich, Sadko remains a stranger in Novgorod, and, following the advice of the sea king, tries to establish contacts with influential people. But even here he does not succeed, because at this feast there is a new quarrel with eminent Novgorodians. As a result, he again bets that he will be able to buy up all the goods of Novgorod. Sometimes he succeeds, and he again puts the Novgorod merchants to shame, but more often Sadko fails (since the goods are brought up all the time: first from Moscow, then foreign ones, and prices for them rise). One way or another, Sadko turns out to be the owner of a huge amount of unnecessary goods, which cannot be sold in Novgorod. But cash is probably already in trouble. That is why he has to sail “beyond the sea” - to try to realize them: the third, the most fabulous (and, as it is believed, the most ancient and archaic) part of the epic begins.
Through the Volkhov, Lake Ladoga and the Neva, Sadko enters the Baltic Sea, from it - to distant countries (in some versions of epics even India is called), where he successfully sells all goods.
The main adventure begins on the way home. A strange storm falls on the sea: there are huge waves around, the wind tears the sails, but Sadko's ships stand still. In the epics recorded in the Russian North, Sadko sends him to see if his ship is sitting on an “underwater luda” (an underwater scattering of stones, typical of the White Sea). But he himself already guesses that things are bad: he, apparently, has some unpaid debts to the sea king, and he is doing everything possible to avoid meeting with the "benefactor." Initially, Sadko resorts to the ancient rite of "feeding the sea", which was remembered in Novgorod at the beginning of the 20th century - fishermen threw bread and salt into the water. Sadko is not a trifle - he orders to throw barrels of gold, silver and pearls into the sea. However, the storm does not stop, and the ships, as before, stand still, and it becomes clear to everyone that a human sacrifice is required (the same Novgorod fishermen, at the end of the 19th century, sometimes threw a straw effigy into the water as a substitute victim). VG Belinsky, as you know, admired Sadko's “prowess”, including his readiness to save his comrades at the cost of his life. However, this “readiness” looks somewhat dubious, and in this situation Sadko does not behave very decently: knowing who the sea king demands, he tries in every possible way to deceive fate. At first he announces that the one whose lot will drown will go to the king of the sea, then, on the contrary, whose lot will remain afloat, and this time he makes his “lot” of iron, while for his subordinates they are “willow” - all in vain. Finally realizing that the sea king cannot be outwitted, Sadko plays the harp for the last time (as he thinks), puts on the most expensive sable coat and orders an oak raft to be lowered into the sea. On this raft, he falls asleep, and wakes up already in the sea kingdom. Considering that in the finale of the epic Sadko wakes up again - on the banks of the Chernava (or Volkhov) river, some considered his underwater adventures a dream.
So, finding himself at the bottom, Sadko meets the king of the sea. There are several versions of the reason for this "call". According to the first, the most prosaic and uninteresting, the sea king is really unhappy that he did not receive the tribute:
“Oh, you are, Sadko is a rich merchant!
You have walked the sea forever, Sadko, But for me, the king, he did not pay tribute.
Would you like to, Sadko, will I swallow you alive?
Would you like to, Sadko, will I burn you with fire?"
According to the second, he wants to ask Sadko some questions: he demands that he judge him in a dispute with the queen:
“I then demanded you here, You tell, tell and tell me
What do you have dear in Russia?
We have a conversation with the queen, Gold or silver in Russia is expensive, Or is damask iron expensive?"
Sadko replies that gold is expensive, but people need iron more.
In one and only variant, the sea king wants to play chess with Sadko. But, more often than not, he wants to once again listen to his playing on the harp and singing.
Sadko has to play and sing for three days without a break. He does not know that the dance of the sea king caused a terrible storm on the surface, he is informed about this by a gray-haired bearded old man who happened to be nearby, in whom Sadko recognizes St. Nicholas of Mozhaisky. Since in the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, according to legend, next to his image was found a previously drowned, but alive and all wet girl, Nicholas was often called "Wet" and was considered the patron saint of sailors and those in distress.
The saint orders to break the psaltery - to break the strings and break the pins. The sea king stops dancing and the storm stops. This is followed by "an offer that cannot be refused": the tsar demands that Sadko accept a new reward and marry in his kingdom. On the advice of Saint Nicholas, Sadko chooses the most ugly of the brides offered to him - Chernava. There are two versions of the need for such a choice. According to the first, she is the only earthly girl in the underwater kingdom, according to the second, Chernava is the embodiment of a real river flowing near Novgorod.
Falling asleep after the wedding feast, the hero wakes up on the ground. Soon they are returning to Novgorod and its ships. The epic ends with Sadko's promise to build a "cathedral church" in Novgorod.
Are there real prototypes for this Novgorod heroic merchant? It's hard to believe, but the Novgorod chronicles claim that Sadko (Sotko, Sotko, Sotka) Sytinich (Sytinits, Stynich, Sotich), saved by Saint Nicholas, built the Church of Saints Boris and Gleb in Detinets. And not one, two or three - a total of 25 sources say this. Among them: the Novgorod first chronicle of both versions, Novgorod second, Novgorod third, fourth and fifth, Novgorod Karamzinskaya, Novgorod Bolshakovskaya, Novgorod Uvarovskaya, Novgorodskaya Zabelinskaya, Novgorodskaya Pogodinskaya, Chronicler of Novgorod rulers, Pskov first chronicle, Sophia first, Perm, Tver the annals of the end of the 15th century, the Rogozhsky chronicler, the Vladimir chronicler, the Resurrection and Nikon chronicles, and so on.
14 sources contain information about the foundation of this church in 1167. It is also reported that it was built on the site of the first wooden St. Sophia Cathedral, which burned down in 1049. And then this church is mentioned many times in the annals and acts: it is reported about its consecration (1173), about restoration after a fire (1441), about dismantling for dilapidation (1682).
Many researchers believe that over time, frankly fantastic details have been superimposed on the real story of a merchant who miraculously escaped at sea. Perhaps the Finnish legends about the singer Väinemeinen and the sea king Ahto also had some influence. Among the optimists were such authoritative historians as A. N. Veselovsky, V. F. Miller, A. V. Markov and D. S. Likhachev, who made a rather bold statement that "Sadko chronicles and Sadko epics are one and the same person." But everyone, of course, is free to have his own opinion on this matter.
