Помор Антип Панов в исторической памяти российского общества

Abstract

This article turns to the episode of the rescue of Peter I by a local peasant Antip Panov during a storm on the White Sea in June 1694 and covers its reflection in the historical memory of Russian society. This incident is confirmed by several written sources, the most valuable being the story of the Arkhangelsk merchant M.A. Mamonov retold by I.I. Golikov, which contains information about the conflict between the tsar and Panov. Until the mid-19th century, all Peter the Great’s biographers mentioned his rescue in a storm in 1694, but kept silent about the conflict. N.G. Ustryalov rejected I.I. Golikov’s information about Panov, who “boldly shouted at the terrible tsar”, considering it an “invention”. At the same time, a complex of historical legends about Panov had been formed, recorded by S.V. Maksimov in 1855. In fact, Antip Panov became one of the central figures in the historical memory of the Pomors about Peter I and his era. The 19th-century legends contain fictional details and migratory subjects. By the early 20th century, Panov had been viewed by society as both a real historical character and a folk hero. This happened because Panov was mentioned in written historical sources as well as in oral history, which after several generations was transformed into historical legends. These folk traditions have influenced regional historical descriptions as well as Russian historiography. Using the legend about the rescue of Peter I by Antip Panov as an example, the article concludes that collective historical memory is formed on the basis of oral history, which is eventually converted into historical legends, which, in turn, affect both regional historical descriptions and national historiography