Editors’ foreword

Abstract

Dear readers!

We present to your attention the first issue of the second volume of the scientific journal "Caurus". In preparing this issue, the editors decided to shift the vector of the problems of published materials from issues related to the history of the Baltic region, despite the fact that this topic is the main one for this periodical, to other important aspects of domestic and foreign history, the publication of the results of relevant research of which is also a priority for the journal. In this issue, the greatest attention is paid to the intellectual history of the Middle Ages and early modern times. According to the editors, it is impossible to build a complete picture of the relations between various European states without studying their intellectual contacts. In this regard, the reader will be able to find on the pages of this issue not only articles on the history of the Russian North-West and its archaeological study, but also studies on the linguistic analysis of the texts of the works of medieval authors, the problems of the development of pedagogical thought on the territory of the Moscow State and the process of restoration of modern times library collections.

The issue opens with the article by Yu. Ye. Vershinina (Nizhny Novgorod) "Posteri, progenies, semen: visions of future generations in the works of early medieval authors (a case study of the works of Gregory of Tours, Bede the Venerable and Paul the Deacon)". Based on the most important works of these early medieval authors, Yu. Ye. Vershinina singled out three main Latin words that they used to designate their descendants: relatives and, in a broader sense, the generations that would replace their contemporaries, namely the word posteri (as well as the related word posteritas), progenies (as well as progenitus) and semen (possible spelling: simin). Yu. Ye. Vershinina examined in detail the context in which the above words were used and identified certain patterns of their use. Knowledge of these patterns allows us to most accurately determine the specifics of the perception of future generations by early medieval writers.

In the article by A. I. Volov (Moscow), the reader's attention is invited to the problem of insufficient knowledge of the features of the construction of sopka-like mounds in the territory of the Russian North-West. In historical science, the question of the purpose of sopkas is still open, and in order to answer it, A. I. Volov made an attempt to calculate the specifics and possible labor costs for the construction of a sopka located near the Plakun tract in Staraya Ladoga, which was excavated by the expedition under the leadership of V. A. Nazarenko and E. N. Nosov about half a century ago. Based on the data presented in domestic and foreign historiography, A. I. Volov extrapolated them to his own calculations, collected in the process of analyzing reports on the archaeological study of the above-mentioned sopka, and compared them with the results obtained. In addition to extremely interesting conclusions, the article contains illustrations, namely photographs from the excavation sites, as well as numerous diagrams, on the basis of which, and in combination with the above mathematical formulas, a detailed understanding of the methodological foundations of the study and the author's concept is formed.

The article by V. V. Penskoy (Belgorod) is devoted to the study of complex and contradictory relations between Novgorod, Tver, Moscow and the Horde at the beginning of the 14^th century. The author turned to the history of the “hungry” campaign of the Prince of Tver Mikhail Yaroslavich against Novgorod, which took place in the summer and autumn of 1316. The author inscribed these events in a broad historical context, immersing them in a complex system of relations between the ancient Russian principalities and the Horde, which made it possible to take a fresh look not only at the struggle between Tver and Moscow for a label for the great reign, but also at the role of Novgorod in this struggle. In addition, the author rightly drew attention to the reorganization in the management of the Horde itself, which made it possible to more clearly restore the historical background under study. The result of V. V. Penskoy's comprehensive analysis of the events under study is a large-scale picture of political intrigues characteristic of the development of relations between Northern and North-Eastern Rus' of the specified period.

The article by D. N. Ramazanova (Moscow) is devoted to the study of three Greek-Slavonic manuscripts identified by the author in the collections of the State Vladimir-Suzdal Museum-Reserve, the Nizhny Novgorod State Regional Universal Scientific Library and the National Library of Russia. Through a rigorous analysis of the discovered manuscripts by D. N. Ramazanova, the connection of these sources with the pedagogical activity of Joannicus and Sophronius Likhud, the founders of the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy, as well as with the activities of their disciples at the end of the 17^th – first third of the 18^th centuries, has been determined and convincingly proved. The documentary finds described and analyzed in the article greatly expand the understanding of the geography of the distribution of the Likhuds' book heritage and are extremely important for further study of this issue.

The Sources section describes the reconstruction of the book collection of Kaspar Johann Kniffiy, who lived in Dorpat in the 17^th century, prepared by N. V. Salonikov and D. I. Veber (Veliky Novgorod). The book collection was kept in the library of Theophan Prokopovich. The presented reconstruction has been made on the basis of the handwritten Inventory of the Novgorod Theological Seminary Library, compiled by V. V. Maykov in 1929/1930 in the Leningrad State Public Library. The inventory of V. V. Maykov was significantly expanded by N. V. Salonikov and D. I. Veber, thanks to the books identified by the researchers in the National Library of Russia. The result of this research is a detailed list of 168 books with the owner's notes of Caspar Johann Kniffiy, which can be extremely useful for further research on higher education in Europe in the 17^th century.

In the Chronicle section, a report on the meetings of the interregional seminar "Modes and Functions of Kinship Representation in Medieval Texts" was published, prepared by Yu. Ye. Vershinina and A. N. Maslov (Nizhny Novgorod). This event, despite its narrow thematic focus, has long become a tradition and brought together many specialists from various cities of Russia who are interested in studying the specifics of family ties characteristic of medieval Europe and Ancient Rus'. Of great importance in the framework of the seminar is the search for common and different in family-related traditions, regardless of the region and specific chronological period in the general medieval context. The format of the seminar assumes a significant timing of presentations and a lively discussion. The work contains descriptions of the reports devoted to the problem of perception by medieval society of relatives who broke the law.

The issue closes with a review by D. B. Tereshkina (Veliky Novgorod) on a collection of documents related to the activities of the Novgorod Episcopal schools, prepared and published by N. V. Salonikov and K. V. Sutorius (St. Petersburg). The chronological coverage of the published sources is from 1706 to 1727, but, according to a fair remark of the reviewer, the materials are arranged not only chronologically, but also thematically. According to the reviewer, it is worth considering the completeness of the materials presented in the collection to be exhaustive, the published sources were identified by the compilers in various Russian archives and were published according to all the requirements for scientific communities to publish historical sources of this kind. In addition, D. B. Tereshkina noted that the reference apparatus presented in the collection, in particular the nominal and geographical indexes, as well as numerous tables containing information about the disciplines taught, student performance and other useful information, is of independent value.

The editors of the journal ensure its release twice a year and provide readers with free access to the full texts of all published materials on the official website of the periodical (https://journal-caurus.ru).

B. Bessudnova, A. V. Ushakov