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Bunyn - копия

The twelfth century saw the disintegration of feudal Russia, leading to the Mongol invasion and the 'Tartar yoke.' The Tale of the Armament of Igor, Russia's first written poetic work, reflects the warrior spirit and foreshadows the nation's defeat. Until 1480, Russia remained under Mongol tribute, hindering its cultural development and leaving a legacy of brutality and bondage.

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10 views1 page

Bunyn - копия

The twelfth century saw the disintegration of feudal Russia, leading to the Mongol invasion and the 'Tartar yoke.' The Tale of the Armament of Igor, Russia's first written poetic work, reflects the warrior spirit and foreshadows the nation's defeat. Until 1480, Russia remained under Mongol tribute, hindering its cultural development and leaving a legacy of brutality and bondage.

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distortion504
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We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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During the twelfth century, the disintegration of feudal Russia set the bitter groundwork

for the Mongol invasion of 1237 to 1240 and the imposition of the “Tartar yoke.” Slovo o
polku Igoreve (c. 1187; The Tale of the Armament of Igor, 1915) is Russia’s first written
poetic achievement, a stirring blend of the aristocratic warrior spirit and a call to self-
sacrifice in defense of the Land of Rus. The poem poignantly and accurately predicts
the great defeat to come: “O, how the Russian land moans, remembering her early
years and princes!/…in discord their pennons flutter apart.” Based on the Novgorod
Prince Igor’s unsuccessful attempt in 1185 to dislodge Turkish Polovtsian usurpers from
the lands near the Don, and startlingly modern in its complex imagery, allusion, and
symbolism, The Tale of the Armament of Igor has sometimes been considered an
imposture since its discovery in the early 1790s. Alexander Pushkin claimed, however,
that not enough poetry existed in the eighteenth century for anyone then to have written
it, and more recent scholars concur.

Until 1480, the Mongol tribute was paid by a Russia brutally severed from the West and
struggling to unite itself sufficiently to cast off the hated Tartar yoke. Little national
strength was left for poetry. Looking back from 1827, the religious philosopher Pyotr
Chaadayev observed, “At first, brutal barbarism, then crude superstition, then fierce and
humiliating bondage whose spirit was passed on to our own sovereigns—such is the
history of our youth.”

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