True, it should be noted that the first collection of beretta literals collected back at the end of the XIX century Novgorod collector Basil Stepanovich Perevsky (1833-1907). It was he who, by spending independent excavations, found out that in Novgorod there is a well-preserved cultural layer. Found or redeemed from the peasants Berbristian letters exposed to the first in the city of the private museum built on his own money, Berevian diplomas, according to him, were the "writers of our ancestors." However, it was impossible to disassemble anything on old scraps of Berriest, so historians spoke about the hoax or considered the "writers of the ancestors" the doodles of the illiterate peasants. In a word, the search for "Russian Shliman" was referred to the category of County.
In the 1920s, the Museum of Rated was nationalized, and then closed. Director of the State Novgorod Museum Nikolai Grigorievich Porfirid It was a conclusion that "most things have not represented a special museum value." As a result, the first collection of bark gravity was irretrievably lost. Pure Russian history.

Sensation came with half a century late. As they say, there was no happiness, but misfortune helped ... When recovering the city in the 1950s, large-scale archaeological excavations were carried out, which opened medieval streets and squares in the thickness of the multi-meter cultural layer, kneads and houses of ordinary citizens. The first bark gradder (end of the XIV century) in Novgorod was discovered on July 26, 1951 on the Nerevsky Ekachno: it contained a list of feudal duties in favor of some thoma.

Academician Valentin Yanin in the book "Berevian Mail Centuries" described the circumstances of the find: "It happened on July 26, 1951, when a young worker Nina Fedorovna Akulov Found during the excavations on the ancient Khopinger Street Novgorod, right on the flooring of her pavement XIV century, a dense and dirty scroll of Berestov, on the surface of which through the dirt was shouted clear letters. If it were not for these letters, it would be possible to think that a fragment was found for another fishing float, which in the Novgorod collection by that time there were already several dozen. Akulova handed his find to the boss of the gun of the guide Andreevna Aduusina, and that bit Artemy Vladimirovich Arzikhovsky, whose share got the main dramatic effect. The squad found him standing on the clearing ancient faunion, which led the street with the pavement coolant into the courtyard of the manor. And standing on this facing, as on a pedestal, with a pinned finger, he could not, pronounce, pronounce a single word, making only inseparal sounds, then screamed from excitement: "I was waiting for this discount Twenty years! "
In honor of this discovery on July 26, an annual holiday is celebrated in Novgorod - "Day of Berevian diploma."

The same archaeological season brought 9 more documents on Bereste. And today they are already more than 1000. The most ancient Berchinic diploma refers to the X century (Trinity digging), the youngest "- by the middle of the XV.

The wax rammed the shovel and wrote the letters on it. The most ancient Russian book is a psalm of the XI century (approx. 1010, more than half a century ancient island of the Gospel), found in July 2000, was just such. The book of three plates of 20x16 cm, flooded with wax, carried the texts of the three Psalms of David.

Berbrist diplomas are unique in that, unlike chronicles and official documents, they gave us the opportunity to "hear" the voices of ordinary Novgorod. The bulk of the literacy is a business correspondence. But among the literactions there are love messages, and the threat to call the court to God - the test of water ...

Educational records discovered in 1956 and drawings of the Seven-year-old boy onfima received wide fame. Scratching the letters of Azbuchi, he finally depicted himself in the form of an armed warrior, riding a horse of crushing enemies. Since then, the dreams of boys have not changed much.

Genuine sensation was the Berevian gram No. 9. This is the first female letter in Russia: "What a father gave me and Raisti was given in addition, then behind him (meaning for her former husband). And now, marrying on a new wife, he does not give me anything. Having hit the hands of the new engagement, he drove me, and he took the other to his wife. " That's really, Russian dat, female dat ...

But a love letter written at the beginning of the XII century. (№ 752): "I sent three times to you. What kind of evil you are against me, that this week didn't come to me? And I treated you as a brother! Did I hurt you by sending you? And you, I see, not any. If you were any, then you would come out from under the human eye and rushed ... Do you want me to leave you? Even if I started you in my infringement, if you begin to mock me, then let God judge you and I. "
Interestingly, this letter was cut by a knife, scraps are tied to the knot and thrown into a bunch of manure. The addressee, it can be seen, another gap has started ...

There are among the birch diploma and the first hand and heart offers (the end of the XIII century): "From Mikita to Anna. Go for me. I want you, and you. And on that ambassador (witness) Ignat ..." ( №377).

Another surprise presented in 2005, when several epistles were found in the XII-XIII centuries with an obscene vocabulary - E ... (№35, XII century)., B ... (No. 531, beginning of the XIII century), p. .. (№ 955, XII century), etc .. So it was finally buried the well-established myth that we supposedly owned by the Mongol-Tataram.

Berchinic diplomas opened us a striking fact about almost the magnitude literacy of the urban population of ancient Russia. Moreover, Russian people in those days wrote almost without mistakes - according to the fault estimates, 90% of the literacy is written correctly (sorry for tautology).

From personal experience: when my wife and I worked with students, the 1986 season on the Trinity Etch was found, a graveyard was found, which began with a broken "... Yanino". There was a lot of laughter over this message academician through the millennium.

Stunning in the Novgorod Museum, came across a diploma, which can serve as a good alternative to the title of the famous book of Janin "I sent you Beresto." "I sent you a sturgeon of sturgeon", by God, better)) ...

According to archaeologists estimates, Novgorod land keeps at least 20-30 thousand beretta literans. But since they are found on average 18 per year, they will need about one and a half thousand years to extract the whole of God all this invaluable library.

The full arch of the barking diploma was posted in 2006 on the site "Ancient Russian Berevyaniy diplomas" http://gramoty.ru/index.php?id\u003dabout_site

In the ancient Babylon, they wrote on clay signs, in Egypt - on a papyrus, in Europe - on parchment, and in ancient Russia - on the birch bark. Beresta was the main material for writing on our lands, long before the parchment and paper were brought to us.

According to the main version, the appearance of birchy diplomas refers to the period of the XI-XV centuries, but the discoverer of Novgorod Merilight A. V. Aztsikhovsky and many of his colleagues believe that the first letters were already in the IX-X centuries.

Opening of birchy diploma

Beresta as a material for writing in ancient Russia was used since ancient. Joseph Voltsky wrote that in the monastery of St. Sergius of the Radonezh "The most books are not on the charters of Pisa, but on Berestech." It has been preserved a lot to this day (truth, fairly late) documents and even entire books (mainly old-supplied) written in the stratified Bereste.

The Great Novgorod became the opening of the opening of Berchinsky Merilight. The preservation of these ancient finds contributed to the favorable natural conditions and features of the local soil.

In the 1930s, archaeological excavations were conducted in Veliky Novgorod, the expedition was headed by A. V. Artzikhovsky. Then the first edged sheets of birch crust and writing tools were found. More serious discoveries at that time did not succeed, as the Great Patriotic War began. Works continued at the end of the 40s of the XX century.

A.V. Arzikhovsky

On July 26, 1951, a bark gradder was found at one of the excavations. No. 1. It contained a list of feudal duties in favor of the three inhabitants of the city. This grader confirmed historical hypothesis about the possibility of such finds. In the future, the events of July 26 were a reason for approving the annual holiday, celebrated in Novgorod, - the day of Berchinsky diploma. On this discovery did not end. In the same year, archaeologists have found nine birch documents.

Subsequently, the discovery of birchy literacy became the usual phenomenon. The first letters in Smolensk were found in 1952, in Pskov - in 1958, in Vitebsk - in 1959. In Old Russe, the first find appeared in 1966, in Tver - in 1983. In Moscow, the first birchy diploma was discovered only in 1988, when excavations were carried out on Red Square.

Number of birchy diploma

The archaeological expedition to Veliky Novgorod is the tradition. Every year since 1951, archaeologists open their seasons. Unfortunately, the number of letters found in different years will vary greatly. There were seasons when scientists found several hundred copies, and were zero. Nevertheless, today more than 1000 beretta literals have been found.

At the end of 2017, the total number of results found is distributed as follows:

General characteristic of litera

The birch bark as a written material was widely distributed at the beginning of the XI century and was used until the middle of the XV century. With the distribution of paper, the use of this material for the letter comes to no. The paper was cheaper, and it became not prestigious to write on Bereste. Therefore, diplomas discovered by archaeologists are not written in archives, but thrown and falling into the land due to unnecessary.

When writing, the literacy was very rarely used ink, as they were very unstable, and the authors simply scratched the letters on Birch, which were well read.

Most of the diplomas found are household private letters on debt recovery, trade, etc.. There are also drafts of official acts on Bereste: These are willing, receipts, boss, judicial protocols.

Church texts (prayers), school jokes, conspiracies, riddles were found. In 1956, archaeologists have discovered the study notes of the Novgorod boy of the Outfima, which in the future received wide fame.

For the most part, the letters are concise and pragmatic. Only important information is concentrated in them, and all that is so known to the addressee is not mentioned.

The character of Berevian Merilight is the messages of uncertain people - is a vivid evidence of the dissemination of literacy among the population of ancient Russia. Citizens trained the alphabet since childhood, they themselves wrote their letters, women also knew a diploma. The fact that family correspondence was widely represented in Novgorod, talks about a high position of a woman who sent a pungent husband and entered into cash.

The value of the foundations found is huge both to explore domestic history and for Russian linguistics. They are the most important source for studying the daily life of our ancestors, the development of trade, political and social life of ancient Russia.

Literacy

Thus, the competent Russian XI century. He knew much of the fact that writing and book culture of Eastern Europe, Byzantium. Frames of the first Russian diploma, correspondencers, translators were formed in schools that were opened at churches since Vladimir I and Yaroslav Wise, and later in monasters. There are a lot of certificates of widespread literacy in Russia in the XI_HII centuries. However, it was distributed mainly only in the urban environment, especially in the circle of rich townspeople, princely-boyars, merchants, wealthy artisans. In rural areas, in distant, deaf places, the population was almost completely illiterate.

From the XI century In rich families, not only boys, but also girls began to learn. Sister Vladimir Monomakh Yanka, the founder of the female monastery in Kiev, created a school in it to teach girls.

Thanks to the alphabet, literacy rate in the ancient Russia XI-XII centuries. It was very high. And not only among the highest layers of society, but also among ordinary citizens. This is evidenced by, for example, numerous birchy diplomas found by archaeologists in Novgorod. These are personal letters, and business entries: debt receipts, contracts, orders of Mr. His servants (which means, the servants were able to read!) And finally, student exercises in the letter.

There is also another curious certificate of literacy in Russia's so-called graffiti inscriptions. They were painted on the walls of churches lovers to pour their soul. Among these inscriptions, reflections on life, complaints, prayers. The famous Vladimir Monomakh, being another young man, during the church service, lost in the crowd of the same young princes, scared on the wall of the Sophia Cathedral in Kiev "Oh a heavy me" and signed by his Christian name "Vasily".

Bershey diplomas

Exceptionally important was the discovery in 1951 by Professor A.V. Artsikhovsky in Novgorod Berevyanian diploma XI-XV centuries. A whole new world has opened researchers when studying these literands. Trade deals, private letters, hurried notes sent with a narrative, reports on the implementation of business work, reporting on the campaign, invitation to commemorate, riddles, poems and much, much more reveal to us these wonderful documents, again confirming the widespread literacy development among Russian citizens.

A vivid evidence of widespread literacy in cities and suburbs is the so-called birchy diplomas. In 1951, during archaeological excavations in Novgorod, an employee of the expedition of Nina Akulov removed from the Earth Beresto with the letters well preserved on it. "I waited for this find twenty years!" - exclaimed the head of the expedition Professor A.V. Arzikhovsky, which has long assumed that the level of literacy of Russia's time was to be reflected in the mass letter, which could be in the absence of writing paper in Russia, or on wooden planks, as foreign evidence, or on Bereste. Since then, hundreds of birchemia, speaking that in Novgorod, Pskov, Smolensk, other cities of Russia have been introduced into the scientific turnover, people loved and knew how to write each other. Among the letters business documents, information sharing, invitation to visit, and even a love correspondence. Someone Mikita wrote his beloved Ulyana on Bereste "from Mikita to Uralniki. Pooie for me ... "

Beresta is a very convenient material for the letter, although it required a certain preparation. Birch liking was cooked in water so that the bark was more elastic, then removed the rough layers. A sheet of barks from all sides cut off, giving him a rectangular shape. They wrote on the inside of the cortex, squeezing the letters with a special stick - "wrote" - from bone, metal or wood. One end wrote sharpened, and the other was done in the form of a shoulder blade with a hole and suspended to the belt. The technique of letters on Bereste allowed the texts to persist in the land of centuries.

The manufacture of ancient handwritten books was a matter of expensive and time consuming. The material for them served the parchment - the skin of a special dressing. The best parchman was obtained from soft, thin skin lambs and calves. It was purified from wool and washed thoroughly. Then stretched on the drums, sprinkled with chalk and cleaned pimples. After drying in the air from the skin, the irregularities were cut and re-grinded with pimples. The selected skin was cut into rectangular pieces and stitched in the notebook to eight sheets. It is noteworthy that this ancient order of the brochure has been preserved to this day.

Stitched notebooks were collected in the book. Depending on the format and number of sheets, one book was required from 10 to 30 animal skins - whole herd! Wrote books usually goose feathers and ink. The privilege of writing a swan and even Pavlinim Feom had a king. The manufacture of written accessories required a certain skill. The feather was removed from the left wing of the bird to be bend to be comfortable for the right, writing hand. Feather degreased, stick in hot sand, then tip. Employed cut off, cleavened and sharpened with special, pearnous knife. They also scratched errors in the text.

Ink, unlike habitual blue and black and black, was brown, since they were made on the basis of glazed compositions, and simply put, rust. Slices of old iron lowered into the water, which, rust, stained it in a brown color. Ancient ink manufacturing recipes have been preserved. As components, in addition to iron, used oak or olhovy boron, cherry glue, kvass, honey and many other substances that attached the ink needed viscosity, color, stability. Centuries later, these inks have retained brightness and color strength. The scribe washed ink with small sand, sprinkling him on a leaf of parchmen from the sandbox - a vessel like a modern list.

Unfortunately, very few of the oldest books have been preserved. There are only about 130 copies of invaluable evidence of XI_HII centuries. reached us. There were them a little and in those times.