World History as Conceived in the Russian Historiographic Tradition (12th-18th Centuries)

Abstract

The process whereby the historical discipline comes into being has two aspects: the shaping of historical conceptions and the establishment of the basis for historical knowledge in source materials. Early stages in the acquisition of historical knowledge are characterized by the relative independence of these aspects, which developed in a parallel fashion for a long time. The first conception of world history, which was found in Russian chronicle-writing (the same concept was dominant among medieval chroniclers throughout Europe) was the Biblical, set forth in the Primary Chronicle [Povest' vremennykh let] at the beginning of the 12th century. This was an effort to establish a providentialist regularity of world history, which was thought to flow in accordance with unitary laws set forth by the single creator of all that is. The chronicler did not derive it from his documentary material, but introduced it from without into world and Russian history. The history of Rus was regarded as one of the branchings...