BIRCH BARK DOCUMENTS AND PARCHMENT CHARTERS: NORTH-WEST RUS CHARTERS EVOLUTION IN 13th – 15th CENTURIES

Introduction. Since the 1950s, the question of the origin of the private documents in Rus’ has remained unresolved in historiography. Finding an answer to this question and studying the early stages of the evolution of Rus’ documentary culture are hampered by both the extreme fragmentariness of charter material before the early 15th century and the difficulty in dating some early documents that have survived in late copies. At the current stage of historiography’s development, it seems possible to use birch bark letters, whose formula is similar to the documents on parchment, to address these issues. The former number, although slowly but steadily, is growing. Methods and materials. A diplomatic formula analysis of deeds of this type is used in their development, employing paleographic techniques. The entire known collection of wills with a special type of formula – “manuscripts” – common in northwestern Rus’ in the 13th – 15th centuries is drawn upon. The analysis involves comparing birch bark letters, written entirely or partially according to a manuscript formula, with known documents of this type that have survived in parchment originals or in later paper copies. Results. The main outcome is a new concept for the evolution of manuscript formulas in Northwestern Rus’, which were brief in the 12th – 14th centuries and became more complex from the late 14th century onward. Furthermore, it has been established that the displacement of birch bark by parchment, which coincided with a change in manuscript formulas, occurred during the spread of paper in Rus’. However, as a result, unlike in Northeastern Rus’, a tradition of written documents did not develop in the Northwest. This raises questions for future research: to what extent are these two processes interconnected, and is there a specific social underpinning?