The Invention of Rus(sia)(s): Some Remarks on Medieval and Modern Perceptions of Continuity and Discontinuity

Abstract

In myths of national identity the past is the present. A story of the past suggests a sense of coherence which becomes perceived as a constant, as an immanent and defining quality regardless of temporal, external vicissitudes. That, at any rate, would be a simple version. Problems – conceptual and actual – arise either when more than one nation share the same stories, or when those who would notionally count themselves as part of the same nation have to choose between or haggle over a range of alternative stories. Both types of issue are prominent in modern Russian perceptions of medieval Russian identities. The aim of the present survey (far too broad and brief to be comprehensive) is to locate some of the peculiarities of such perceptions, in themselves and in their interactions, at both ends of the chronological scale.