tribe of Russians who lived in Galicia and were called Croats in the east in the 10th century, and Rugami in the west *). But these opinions, despite the fairness of the difficulties in recognizing a fact recorded in Western chronicles, can hardly be accepted. The story we have presented from the successor of Reginon is furnished with details and indications that can only be attributed to our Grand Duchess in Kievan Rus'. Moreover, all Western chroniclers, more or less close at this time, mentioning the fact conveyed by the successor of Reginon, attributed this fact specifically to Rus', the word Вп§і was replaced by the word Вѧі or Вѧі, and the testimony of Thietmar, who attributed the story specifically to Kievan Rus' 9), is especially important. As for the historical significance of this evidence, it withstands all the requirements of the strictest criticism. The initial evidence of the fact belongs to contemporaries and, moreover, to persons very close to the narrated event. Namely: the successor of Reginon, the first to record this fact in the chronicle, was not only a contemporary of the event, but also an eyewitness of it, so to speak: he was a monk of the same Trier monastery of St. Maximin, in which the Russian missionary Adalbert lived and, as can be seen from
About See at Regikh'a vol. 1, Sopiipoaiog Ke^shoshv ay ap. 959 - 962.
*) Representative of the first opinion is Assemani, the second is Belevsky.
8) A collection of Western evidence about Olga’s embassy to Emperor Otto can be read from Schletser. Nestor, part 3, pp. 447 - 452.
ABOUT THE LATIN PREACHERS IN THE ROUON OF Kyiv.
chronicles EGC *), was on friendly terms with him. It is difficult, impossible to imagine that a person so close to the story and the main character of the story would allow inaccuracy in his testimony, especially in relation to a fact so important and regardless of the author’s friend - Adalbert 2). Further, Emperor Otto I himself, in a letter to the Saxon princes about the enthronement of Adalbert, who he later appointed to the Magdeburg archbishopric see, calls him “a former bishop and preacher in Rugia.” Finally, Pope John XIII, in the document confirming the approval of the Magdeburg archbishopric, says, according to Adalbert, “the province of Rigia was first appointed bishop” *). If later chronicles, such as the Quedlinburg, Lambert, Gijdesheimsvaya, the annalist Saxo, the Corvey chronicle, repeating this news, could simply rewrite from Regnon’s successor, then one cannot help but pay attention to the testimony of Tntnar the Evyaskop of Merzeborg, who wrote his chronicle at the beginning of the 11th century ■ knew the history Slavs: he also says about Adalbert that he was first appointed Bishop of Russia and was expelled from there by the pagans. Moreover, the story of Regnon’s successor and the story of his later retellers is distinguished by such objectivity, so free from any tendency to praise the emperor and the German missionary, that it inspires complete confidence. So the story cannot be rejected; But is it possible to take it in the literal sense, the way it is conveyed in Western chronicles? Scholars who attributed this story to Kievan Rus say that Emperor Otto sent Bishop Adalbert to Rus' as Grand Duchess Olga, but they deny that this missionary was sent to Rus' at the request of Olga herself. Based on
') Sopi Kertvopiya u Regig'a Mopshpepia Segtapiae I. I, ad ap. 961 and 962. Si. Zertz's preface ibid. p. 613.
*) There is even an opinion that Reginon’s successor was Adalbert himself. In this case, the legend is even more certain. You're skinny, Oyashi. beyaobioYafiyeiien, (. I, 270.
[fragment illegible in the scan of the first edition]