On the attribution of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” and the inconsistency of L.V. Sokolova’s judgments

Abstract

The article gives a critical analysis of L.V. Sokolova’s judgments regarding the results of my research into the place, time and name of the author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”, set out in the book «“The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” and Its Author» (Moscow, 2020). The researcher attempted to doubt the writing of the “The Tale” in 1200 in the Vydubitsky Monastery by its Hegumen Moses, who before taking the tonsure was a warrior and participant in the ill-fated campaign of Igor Svyatoslavich against the Polovtsians in 1185. To this end, L.V. Sokolova sought to level the influence of “The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah”, which the author became acquainted with in Greek in the Vydubitsky Monastery, on the “The Tale”. An attempt to prove the existence of a translation of “The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah” into Church Slavonic in the 12th century proved untenable. The researcher was unable to refute the participation of the hegumen-chronicler Moses and the author of the “The Tale” in the campaign which they describe. Both were among the 15 Russian warriors who survived. The comparison of their fates, place and time of their creative work, allows us to conclude that it was one and the same person - a native of Galician Rus, a warrior of Igor Svyatoslavich, who took monastic vows in the Vydubitsky Monastery under the name of Moses.