UDC

Authors

Abstract

This article focuses on the role and importance of Little Rus’ as a territory traditionally inhabited by Russians, a consolidation centre for southwestern Russian lands in the 12th – 14th centuries and an integral part of Russian statehood. Special attention is paid to the history and use of the term Little Rus’, closely linked to the Russian national consciousness. This topic today is not just of historical interest due to the objective need to trace epistemological roots of the Russian people. Its relevance and practical value derive from the intensifying foreign-policy struggle over the issues of Russian statehood, traditions and culture. Unfortunately, because of the conflict in Ukraine, the questions raised in this article are widely used today by nationalists of various stripes and political speculators. This paper describes key approaches that defined the scholars’ interpretation of the term Little Rus’ starting from the 18th century. Historians and linguists tried to analyse this notion using historical analogies: Little and Great Rus’ – Lesser and Greater Armenia, and so on. At the same time, they turned to documents of that period and looked at the similar place names in the south, southwest and northeast Rus’. The author of this study believes that the notion of Little Rus’ appeared on the national grounds as a result of settlement of new Russian territories. Moreover, the Principality of Galicia–Volhynia is seen as the main carrier of Russian national traditions and a political successor to the principality of Kiev.

Keywords

References

1. Tatishchev V. Istoriya Rossiyskaya: v 5 kn. [The History of Russia: In 5 Books]. Moscow, 1768. Book 1.
   
2. Musin-Pushkin A.I. Istoricheskoe issledovanie o mestopolozhenii Rossiyskogo Tmutarakanskogo knyazheniya [Historical Research on the Location of the Russian Tmutarakan Principality]. St. Petersburg, 1794.
   
3. Maksimovich M.A. O nazvanii Kievskoy Rusi Rossiey [The Naming of Kievan Rus’ Russia]. Kievskie eparkhial’nye vedomosti, 1868, no. 1, pp. 5–9.
   
4. Lamanskiy V.I. Belaya Rus’ [White Rus’]. Zhivaya starina, 1891, no. 3, pp. 245–250.
   
5. Klyuchevskiy V.O. Sochineniya: v 8 t. T.
   
6. Spetsial’nye kursy. Terminologiya russkoy istorii [Works: In 8 Vols. Vol. 6. Special Courses. Terminology of Russian History]. Moscow, 1959, pp. 135–136. 6. Grushevs’kiy M.S. Іstorіya Ukraїni – Rusi [The History of Ukraine – Rus’]. Kiev, 1992.
   
7. Lappo I.I. Ideya edinstva russkogo naroda v Yugo-Zapadnoy Rusi v epokhu prisoedineniya Malorossii k Moskovskomu gosudarstvu [The Idea of Unity of the Russian People in the South-West Rus’ During Little Rus’ Accession to the State of Muscovy]. Prague, 1929.
   
8. Storozhenko A.V. Malaya Rossiya ili Ukraina? [Little Russia or Ukraine?]. Rostov-on-Don, 1919.
   
9. Derzhavin N.S. Proiskhozhdenie russkogo naroda – velikorusskogo, ukrainskogo, belorusskogo [The Origin of the Russian People: Great Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians]. Moscow, 1944.
   
10. Solov’ev A.V. Velikaya, Malaya i Belaya Rus’ [Great, Little and White Rus’]. Voprosy istorii, 1947, no. 7, pp. 24–38.
    
11. Trubachev O.N. V poiskakh edinstva: vzglyad filologa na problemu istokov Rusi [Searching for Unity: A Philologist’s View on the Origins of Rus’]. Moscow, 2005.
    
12. Khrapachevskiy R.P. Rus’, Malaya Rus’ i Ukraina: proiskhozhdenie i stanovlenie etnonima [Rus’, Little Rus’ and Ukraine: The Ethnonym’s Origin and Development]. Rossiyskie i slavyanskie issledovaniya: sb. nauch. st. [Russian and Slavic Studies: Collected Papers]. Ed. by O.A. Yanovskiy. Minsk, 2004. Iss. 1, pp. 34–43.
    
13. Klimov I.G. K proiskhozhdeniyu sostavnoy khoronimiki Rusi (Belaya, Chernaya, Krasnaya, Velikaya, Malaya Rus’) [On the Origin of Compound Toponyms of Rus’ (White, Black, Red, Great, and Little Rus’)]. Issledovanie slavyanskikh yazykov v rusle traditsiy sravnitel’no-istoricheskogo i sopostavitel’nogo yazykoznaniya [A Study of Slavic Languages in the Traditions of Comparative and Contrastive Linguistics]. Moscow, 2001, pp. 49–52.
    
14. Rybakov B.A. Kievskaya Rus’ i russkie knyazhestva XII–XIII vv. [Kievan Rus’ and Rus’ Principalities of the 12th and 13th Centuries]. Moscow, 1982.
    
15. Kotyshev D.M. Kievskaya Rus’, Drevnyaya Rus’, Russkaya zemlya (iz istorii stanovleniya vostochnoslavyanskoy gosudarstvennosti) [Kievan Rus’, Medieval Russia, Russian Land (from the History of the Formation of East Slavic Statehood)]. Prepodavanie istorii v shkole, 2013, no. 3, pp. 27–29. 
16. Isaevich Ya.D. Iz istorii kul’turnykh svyazey Galitsko-Volynskoy Rusi s zapadnymi slavyanami v XII–XIV vv. [From the History of Cultural Relations between the Principality of Galicia–Volhynia and Western Slavs in the 12th Through 14th Centuries]. Pol’sha i Rus’ [Poland and Rus’]. Moscow, 1974.
    
17. Tikhomirov M.N. Drevnerusskie goroda [Medieval Russian Towns]. St. Petersburg, 2008.
    
18. Gorskiy A.A. Russkie zemli v XIII–XIV vekakh: Puti politicheskogo razvitiya [Russian Lands in the 13th and 14th Centuries: The Ways of Political Development]. Moscow, 1996.
    
19. Vodov V. Zamechaniya o znachenii titula “tsar’” primenitel’no k russkim knyaz’yam do serediny XV veka [Comments on the Meaning of the Title “Tsar” as Applied to Russian Princes Up to the Mid-Fifteenth Century]. Iz istorii russkoy kul’tury. T. 2. Kn.1. Kievskaya i Moskovskaya Rus’ [From the History of Russian Culture. Vol. 2. Book 1. Kievan and Muscovite Rus’]. Moscow, 2002, pp. 506–510.
    
20. Pashuto V.T. Ocherki po istorii Galitsko-Volynskoy Rusi [Essays on the History of the Principality of Galicia–Volhynia]. Moscow, 1950.
    
21. Grekov I.B. Ocherki po istorii mezhdunarodnykh otnosheniy Vostochnoy Evropy XIV–XVI vv. [Essays on the History of International Relations in Eastern Europe in the 14th –16th Centuries]. Moscow, 1963.
    
22. Rzhezhabek I. Yuriy II, posledniy knyaz’ vseya Malyya Rusi [Bolesław-Jerzy II, the Last Prince of All Little Rus’]. Boleslav-Yuriy II, knyaz’ vsey Maloy Rusi: sb. [Bolesław-Jerzy II, the Prince of All Little Rus’: Collected Works]. St. Petersburg, 1907, pp. 1–66.
    
23. Andriyashev A.M. Ocherki istorii Volynskoy zemli do kontsa XIV stoletiya [Essays on the History of Volhynia Up to the Late 14th Century]. Kiev, 1887.
    
24. Constantine Porphyrogenitus. Ob upravlenii imperiey [On the Governance of the Empire]. Moscow, 1989.
    
25. Gorskiy A.A. “Vsego esi ispolnena zemlya russkaya”: Lichnosti i mental’nost’ russkogo srednevekov’ya [“All Hast the Russian Land”: Personalities and Mentality of Medieval Russia]. Moscow, 2001.
    
26. Kromm M.M. K voprosu o vremeni zarozhdeniya idei patriotizma v Rossii [On the Time of Origin of the Patriotic Idea in Russia]. Mirovozzrenie i samosoznanie russkogo obshchestva (XI–XX vv.) [Worldview and Consciousness of the Russian Society (11th –20th Centuries)]. Moscow, 1994, pp. 16–30.
    
27. Fedotov G.P. Svyatye Drevney Rusi [The Saints of Medieval Russia]. Moscow, 1990.
    
28. Kuz’min A.G. Nazvanie “Ryazan’” v svyazi s nekotorymi problemami istorii rayona Sredney Oki v X–XI vekakh [The Name “Ryazan” in Relation to Some Issues of the History of the Middle Oka Region in the 10th and 11th Centuries]. Uch. zap. T. 62. Nekotorye voprosy kraevedeniya v otechestvennoy istorii [Proceedings. Vol. 62. Some Issues of Local History in the History of Russia]. Ryazan, 1969, pp. 290–305.
    
29. Tikhomirov M.N. Spisok russkikh gorodov dal’nikh i blizhnikh [A List of Russian Far and Nearby Towns]. Istoricheskie zapiski, 1952, vol. 40, pp. 214–259.
    
30. Gorskiy A.A. Rus’. Ot slavyanskogo Rasseleniya do Moskovskogo tsarstva [Rus’. From the Slavic Migration to Muscovite Tsardom]. Moscow, 2004.
    
31. Karamzin N.M. Istoriya gosudarstva Rossiyskogo: v 12 t. [History of the Russian State: In 12 Vols.]. Moscow, 1992. Vol. 4.
    
32. Kryuchkov T.O. Prepodobnyy Sergiy Radonezhskiy i ego okruzhenie: ist. ocherk [Venerable Sergius of Radonezh and People Around Him: A Historical Essay]. Moscow, 2012.
    
33. Borisov N.S. Sergiy Radonezhskiy [Sergius of Radonezh]. Moscow, 2009.
    
34. Meyendorf I. Istoriya Tserkvi i vostochno-khristianskaya mistika [The History of the Church and Eastern Christian Mysticism]. Moscow, 2003.