Огляд джерел до історії францисканських місій на Русі в ХІІІ – першій третині XV ст.

Abstract

The purpose of the article is the historical and archeographic analysis of the main group of written sources for the study of Franciscan missions in Rus` in the 13th – the fi rst third of the 15th century. Th e research methodology involves the application of the principles of scientifi c objectivity and historicism, a civilizational approach and non-legalism, which made it possible to study the problem without ideological or religious bias. During the studies, general scientifi c methods were used: logical, structural, classifi cation, statistics, as well as special meth- ods of historical science: comparative, systematic, chronological. Th e scientifi c novelty consists in the source-scientifi c analysis of a group of written monuments in order to reproduce as fully as possible the missionary activity of the Order of Friars Minor (lat. Ordo Fratrum Minorum, hereinaft er – OFM), refl ected in the political, social, economic and cultural life of Rus` in the 13th – the fi rst third of the 15th centuries . Conclusions. Th e source base of the research consists of a complex of various types, mostly published documents, which will require a comprehensive critical analysis in the future. Th e main body of sources of the proposed topic are archival and published documents, conventionally divided into act and narrative. Most of the act materials were published in archeographic publications of the 18th – 21st centuries. Th ese are mainly documents of a church and secular nature, narratives of minorites and “non-minorites” origin. Among descriptive sources, numerous Franciscan annals, chronicles, geographical, biographical and hagiographical works should be singled out, on the pages of which information about Rus` came through the empirical experience of the authors or people close to them. A signifi cant number of sources from the 16th to the 17th century, which oft en leaned towards the “tradi- tion of the order,” should be critically examined. Despite the considerable number of diverse archeographical publications outlined in this source-based review, it is worth noting that similar studies on the history of Franciscan missionary work in Rus` of the 13th – the fi rst third of the 15th centuries. need constant heuristic attention and critical analysis, taking into account the well-known “traditions” and “legends” of the order.