The Mobilized Middle Ages in Historical Memory

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The Mobilized Middle Ages in Historical Memory

D.V. Bodnarchuk

PhD in History, Postdoctoral Fellow, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation

This article summarizes and reviews the intermediate results of one of the modern projects on the study of historical memory in the Eastern European and Balkan regions called “The Mobilized Middle Ages”. The author identifies strengths and weaknesses of the project, the extent to which the goals originally stated in the project have been achieved. The author pays special attention to the criteria for the selection of subjects for the articles of the project, to the research methods, to the selection of sources, and to the applicability of these sources to the problems of the project. The article compares the project “The Mobilized Middle Ages” and other projects on the study of historical memory in Russia at the beginning of the 21^st century, provides a brief analysis of the historiography of recent years on the perception of the era of both early and late Russian Middle Ages in the memory of Russian society in different historical periods. The article defines the general aspects and specific features of the project “The Mobilized Middle Ages” and of its previous research projects, articles, monographs. The author draws attention to the importance of involving sociological scholarly methods in such studies, and comes to the conclusion that projects similar to “The Mobilized Middle Ages” enable to examine the existence and the transformation of the plots in the historical memory of the people.

Keywords: Historical memory, “Mobilized Middle Ages”, Nationalism, Modern era, Research projects.

Мобилизованное Средневековье в исторической памяти

Д. В. Боднарчук mobilized middle ages balkan plot

канд.ист.наук, постдок, Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет, Российская Федерация, Санкт-Петербург

Статья посвящена обзору и подведению промежуточных итогов проекта по изучению исторической памяти в Восточноевропейском и Балканском регионах «Мобилизованное Средневековье».Автор указывает сильные и слабые стороны проекта, степень достижения целей, изначально в нем заявленных.Особое внимание уделено критериям выбора сюжетов для статей проекта, методов исследования, подбору источников и применимости этих источников для решения задач проекта. Проект «Мобилизованное Средневековье» сравнивается с другими проектами по исследованию исторической памяти в России в начале XXI в., приводится краткий анализ историографии последних лет, посвященной восприятию эпохи русского раннего и позднего Средневековья российским обществом в разные исторические периоды. В статье определяются общие стороны и специфические черты проекта «Мобилизованное Средневековье» и предшествующих ему исследовательских проектов, статей, монографий.Автор обращает внимание на важность для подобных исследований социологических методов анализа и приходит к выводу, что проекты, подобные «Мобилизованному Средневековью», позволяют изучить бытование и трансформацию того или иного сюжета в исторической памяти народа. Но из-за слабости социологической составляющей остается неясным, насколько сюжеты, рассматриваемые в рамках проекта исследователями, значимы, актуальны и в силу этого могут влиять на повседневность, ценностные установки общества, служить ориентиром при прогнозировании дальнейшего развития и изменения его исторической памяти. В связи с этим особо остро встает проблема отсутствия обобщающей «карты исторической памяти» российского общества, которая позволяла бы определить действительную значимость той или иной исторической эпохи в рамках общих представлений жителей Российской Федерации о прошлом своей страны. Составление именно такой карты определяется автором как одно из перспективных направлений изучения исторической памяти в России.

Ключевые слова: историческая память, «Мобилизованное Средневековье», национализм, Новое время, исследовательские проекты.

The collapse of the Soviet Union and the death of Yugoslavia, the emergence of new states actualized the task of building of the appropriate nations for the territories whose population often either did not have their statehood at all, or had experienced periods of its loss for a long time. One of the main tools of nation-building is the creation of national myths based on historical material. These processes provide rich material for the researches on historical memory. However, the specificity of the study of this problem in Russia lies in the fact that despite the substantial historiography on the issue On the issue ofhistorical memory in general and its study of the Russian case, see: Halbwachs M. Sot- sialnye ramki pamiati. M., 2007; Assmann J. Kul'turnaia pamiat'.Pis'mo, pamiat' o proshlom i politicheskaia identichnost' v vysokikh kul'turakh drevnosti.M., 2004; Anderson B. Voobrazhaemye soobshchestva.M., 2001; Riker P Pamiat', istoriia, zabvenie.M., 2004; Frantsiia -- Pamiat' / ed. by P. Nora.SPb., 1999; Obrazy proshlogo i kollektivnaia identichnost' v Evrope do nachala Novogo vremeni. M., 2003; Obrazy Rossii v nauchnom, khudozhestvennom i politicheskom diskursakh. (Istoriia, teoriia, pedagogicheskaia praktika): materialy nauchnoi konferentsii / ed. by I. O. Ermachenko. Petrozavodsk, 2001; Istoriia i pamiat': istorich- eskaia kul'tura Evropy do nachala Novogo vremeni / ed. by L. P. Repina. M., 2006; Obrazy vremeni i istorich- eskie predstavleniia: Rossiia -- Vostok -- Zapad / ed. by L. P. Repina. M., 2010; Vremia -- Istoriia -- Pa-miat': problemy istoricheskogo soznaniia / ed. by L. P. Repina. M., 2007; Buganov A. V.: 1) Russkaia istoriia v pamiati krestian XIX veka i natsionalnoe samosoznanie. M., 1992; 2) Lichnosti i sobytiia istorii v massovom soznanii russkikh krest'ian XIX -- nachala XX vv.: istoriko-etnograficheskoe issledovanie. M., 2013; Kul'tur-naia pamiat' v kontekste formirovaniia natsional'noi identichnosti Rossii v XXI veke. M., 2015; Rossiiskoe obshchestvo: istoricheskaia pamiat' i sotsial'nye realii: materialy Mezhregionalnoi nauchno-prakticheskoi konferentsii. XIV Adlerskie chteniia.Krasnodar, 2008 etc., the vast majority of works are not related to one other. As it has already been mentioned in the literature, the research in the history of memory is an example of a “crumbled historiography” Rostovtsev E. A., Sosnitskii D. A. Napravleniia issledovanii istoricheskoi pamiati v Rossii // Vestnik of Saint-Petersburg University. History. 2014. Iss. 2. P. 117., which does not give a systematic amount of knowledge. Such projects include fundamental works and collective researches: “Images of the past and collective identity in Europe before the beginning of the Modern time” Obrazy proshlogo i kollektivnaia identichnost' v Evrope do nachala Novogo vremeni. M, 2003., “History and memory: historical culture of Europe before the beginning of the Modern time” Istoriia i pamiat'..., “Time -- History -- Memory: problems of historical consciousness” Vremia -- Istoriia-- Pamiat'..., “Images of time and historical representations in the civilizational context: Russia-East-West” Obrazy vremeni i istoricheskie predstavleniia: Rossiia-- Vostok-- Zapad., “Crises of critical epochs in historical memory” Krizisy perelomnykh epokh v istoricheskoi pamiati / ed. by L. P. Repina.M., 2012..

These projects adhere to the “traditional” research paradigm, that is, when one main topic is identified within the project, and the participants of the project develop certain/ separate issues within this topic. However, another approach is possible, when the main emphasis is on face-to-face communication between the researchers in the framework of meetings, conferences, joint visits to places of places. The study of this format involved a trialogue, three meetings between Russian, German and Czech historians in 2010-2012 Bondarev S. V., Dvornichenko A. Yu., Il'in E. V. i dr. Istoricheskaia pamiat', mezhdunarodnyi trialog i prodvizhenie k edinomu vospriiatiiu istorii // Vestnik of Saint-Petersburg University. History. 2013. Iss. 2. P. 166-176., which were held with the support of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Regensburg, St. Petersburg and Prague. In addition to the format of the trialogue, its theme is also noteworthy -- “Memories of the Second World War”. It is interesting because it is very controversial especially because it was discussed by the representatives of the peoples who took an active part in it and often have diametrically opposed views on the same events.

In general, the directions of research of historical memory in Russia are very diverse and cover different historical periods from Antiquity to Modern times. The historian A. A. Mayorov offers the concept, according to which in Ancient Rus there was an idea of geopolitical continuity between Great Moravia and Ancient Rus Maiorov A. A.: 1) Istoricheskaia pamiat' o Velikoi Moravii i Verkhovskaia istoriko-geograficheskaia provintsiia // Vestnik of Bryansk State University. History.Historical Sciences and archaeology.Literary study.Linguistics.Pedagogical science.2016. No. 4 (30). P. 71-77; 2) Prizvanie Viatko (k voprosu o sozdanii viatichskogo plemennogo soiuza) // Ibid. 2015. No. 3 (26). P. 101-104.. The reason for this concept was the possible appearance of the settlers from Great Moravia fleeing from the invasion of the Magyars in the upper reaches of the Oka. By the 12^th century this idea had lost its “relevance to the Kiev dynasty and was clearly not understood by the chronicler”. It is necessary to note one feature of the article: if in the middle of the text the author makes a reservation about his hypothesis (“the processes of migration of Moravians within the limits of the historical and geographical province Verkhovskaya, in the case of their reality”. -- D. B.), by the end of the article the hypothesis does not look like a hypothesis, although the author does not give any absolutely convincing arguments. In the final part A. A. Mayorov writes: “Specific reasons and real motives that forced the Moravian settlers to move to Rus and to the lands of upper reaches of the Oka, the reliable place of birth and the social status of Vyacheslav, the hypothetical first inhabitant of Vyatka, apparently, will never be established” Maiorov A. A. Istoricheskaia pamiat' o Velikoi Moravii.P. 76.. In general, this hypothesis should be recognized as an original attempt to prove the fact of the existence of historical memory of the ruling elite of Kievan Rus in the period before the Christianization. However, the author does not touch upon two more important points necessary for the validity of his hypothesis: 1. It seems to us quite difficult to prove that in Rus in the period before the Christianization there was an idea of the linear duration of time, the change of epochs and kingdoms, so that Ancient Rus could be someone's heir; 2. It is also difficult to prove that the old Russian elite needed historical examples to justify their military campaigns. The data of archeology and linguistics used by the author do not reflect the level of development of “geopolitical” ideas that existed in the minds of Slavic tribes of the 9^th-10^thcenturies.

The article by M. V. Dmitriev “Cyril's and Methodius' tradition and the conflict of the confessional and the ethnic in the historical memory of Rus and Russia” represents a significant area of research in historical memory” Dmitriev M. V. Kirillo-Mefodievskaia traditsiia i konflikt konfessionalnogo i etnicheskogo v is- toricheskoi pamiati Rusi i Rossii // Novoe proshloe / The New Past. 2018. No. 1. P 48-62.. The author draws attention to the discrepancy between medieval and modern meanings of the concepts of “faith”, “people”, “Russianness”. The article stresses the necessity to study and to establish the meaning of the medieval notions and of the concepts of the early modern period while dealing with extensive material. The main conclusion of the article is the distinction between the statements “Russian = Orthodox”, seeming true today, almost since the time of the Christianization of Rus, and medieval Russian ideas. The second conclusion is the difference between the Eastern and Western Christian worlds in ethnic and religious terms. There is every reason to consider this area of research one of the most promising in the near future.

In modern Russian humanities attention is paid to such a popular phenomenon as historical reenactment Bykova E. V., Mokerova E. Yu. Reprezentatsiia “Istoricheskoi pamiati” v deiatelnosti klubov rekon- struktsii Srednevekov'ia // Formirovanie grazhdanskoi ustoichivosti kak faktor protivodeistviia ideologii ekstremizma i terrorizma. Sb. materialov konferentsii.Kazan', 2017. P. 59-66., to its role in the formation of historical memory in Russian society. Thus, the authors E. V. Bykova and E. Yu. Mokerova give a list of the main reenactment festivals in modern Russia, and provide a brief description of each of them. The researchers note that the “Viking age” is of particular interest to domestic reenactors. This interest is explained by “the problem of finding one's identity, which became particularly relevant in Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union” Ibid. P 61.. The search for identity leads to the early Middle Ages, the paganism and the Viking culture. It should be noted that the statement about the special popularity of the Viking age in the reenactment movement is not supported by the authors. Therefore, it does not look convincing enough. Moreover, large-scale reenactments are also carried out on the Patriotic war of 1812, the First World war and the Civil war, the Great Patriotic war. The assertion that the participants of the reenactment movement are carrying out such a “search of themselves” is partly true, of course.

Archpriest K. Kostromin in the article “Folklore and legend -- from the plot to the meaning: on the question of the nature of the chronicle legend of St. Andrew the Apos- tle”attempts to explain the insertion of the fragment about the sermon of St. Andrew First- called Apostle in Rus as an instrument in politics of historical memory in Ancient Rus). The “Roman” saint, St. Pope Clement was replaced by the “Byzantine” saint, Andrew the Apostle Konstantin (Kostromin), prot. Folklor i legenda -- ot siuzheta k smyslu: k voprosu o kharaktere letopisnogo skazaniia ob apostole Andree // Drevniaia Rus': vo vremeni, v lichnostiakh, v ideiakh. 2016. No. 6. P 294-300.. This is an original hypothesis that requires further development as there haven't been studies which compare the degree of veneration of these saints in Ancient Rus. Such a work could be relevant to the confirmation or refutation of the hypothesis proposed by Archpriest K. Kostromin.

One of the relevant, relatively new areas of study of historical memory is the study of the representation of the same historical figures in the historiographies of the three Eastern Slavic States: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus. An example here is the article “Vladimir Monomakh in the Russian and Ukrainian historical memory” by A. S. Ischenko Ischenko A. S. Vladimir Monomakh v rossiiskoi i ukrainskoi istoricheskoi pamiati // Novoe prosh- loe. The New Past.2016. No. 2. P 173-189.. The author traces the attitude to the personality of this old Russian ruler in two East Slavic historiographies and shows the motives of his perception in each of them. During the “Great schism” Martyniuk A. V. “Velikii raskol” vostochnoslavianskoi medievistiki: sem' tezisov k diskussii // Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana. 2017. No. 1 (21). P. 146-153. of East Slavic historiography, such area of research of historical memory can become dominant.

The project which has been carried out for nine years by the historians Yu.V. Kri- vosheev and R. A. Sokolov seems to be unique with regards to the study of the historical memory of Prince Alexander Nevsky. They have published several works: “Alexander Nevsky: the era and memory. Historical essays” Krivosheev Yu.V., Sokolov R. A. Aleksandr Nevskii: epokha i pamiat'.Istoricheskie ocherki. SPb.,

2009., “Alexander Nevsky”: creation of a film masterpiece. Historical research” Krivosheev Yu.V., Sokolov R. A. “Aleksandr Nevskii”: sozdanie kinoshedevra. Istoricheskoe issledo- vanie.SPb., 2012., “Alexander Nevsky.Research and researchers”. Krivosheev Yu.V., SokolovR.A. Aleksandr Nevskii. Issledovaniia i issledovateli.SPb., 2018. No other figure in Russian history has been so much specially researched. Yu.V. Krivosheev and R. A. Sokolov have studied in detail the memory of Alexander Nevsky in the Russian society of Modern and Contemporary times.

The original perspective on the development of the historical memory of Russian society is presented in the article of O. B. Leonteva “The Personality of Ivan the Terrible in the historical memory of the epoch of Great reforms. Scholarly knowledge and artistic image” Leonteva O. B. Lichnost' Ivana Groznogo v istoricheskoi pamiati rossiiskogo obshchestva epokhi Velikikh reform. Nauchnoe znanie i khudozhestvennyi obraz // Dialog so vremenem. 2007. No. 18. P. 19-34.. The author of the article refers to the study of historical memory in the period of Modern times, when scientific historical knowledge and artistic images of the past coexisted. The author comes to the conclusion that the artistic image of Ivan the Terrible was borrowed from the image of the Terrible tsar in the “Russian history” of N. M. Karamzin. This image was so stable that no remarks from professional historians could cast any doubt on it. Moreover, among them were even those who supported the artistic image of the tsar created by Karamzin. The development of the study of historical memory in the direction suggested by O. B. Leonteva could shed light on the mechanisms of the formation of the “folk-history”.

One of the active participants in the creation of historical memory in modern Russia is the Russian Orthodox Church. Its role in this process is highlighted in the article “The Russian Orthodox Church as an actor of the modern policy of memory: the canonization discourse” by R. V. Belyaeva and A. A. Linchenko Batischev R. Yu., Beliaev E. V., Linchenko A. A. Russkaia Pravoslavnaia Tserkov' kak aktor sovremen- noi politiki pamiati: diskurs kanonizatsii // Studia Humanitatis: elektronnyi zhurnal. 2018. No. 1. URL: http://st-hum.ru/en/node/649 (accessed 26.08.2018).. The article shows how the

Church (consciously or unconsciously) participates in the formation of historical memory in modern Russian society. The authors single out a group of personalities from the period of Modern times (the Family of the abdicated Emperor Nicholas II and the new Martyrs) and the Middle Ages (Vladimir the Saint, Alexander Nevsky, Cyril and Methodius). The authors draw attention to an attempt by some Church scholars hierarchs to present the history of Russia beginning in 988, since the Christianization, thus revising the traditional point of view, according to which the history of Russia started in 862. It should be noted here that there is an important difference between the approach to the formation of historical memory carried out by the Church and the same work conducted by the State. The Church is aware of what kind of historical memory should be formed. It is difficult to say if it is done consciously or not, whereas no general direction in the state policy of formation of historical memory can be traced.

Among researches on historical memory, the work by D. A. Sosnitsky “Historical memory of the second half of the 19^th-20^th centuries in Rus before Peter the Great” Sosnitskii D. A. Istoricheskaia pamiat' o dopetrovskoi Rusi v Rossii vtoroi poloviny XIX-XX vv.: diss... kand.ist. nauk. SPb., 2015.deserves to be mentioned. The thesis contains 41 tables of statistical data, which gives a good idea of their place in the research on the whole. This is actually extremely important, because without the statistical data it is not clear to what extent any particular story plays a crucial role in the historical memory of society in relation to others. After all, a researcher who is passionate about the subject of the research can easily make a mistake in evaluating the extent of popularity of the examined case in society, not taking statistical data into account. Another undoubted advantage of the work is the historiographical section of the Introduction, where the main domestic and foreign works on the problems of historical memory are considered in detail Ibid. P. 9-24..

The theme of “Russian Middle Ages” in Russian historical memory has been repeatedly studied by foreign researchers. In this context, it is impossible not to recall the now classical work of the German historian Frithjof Benjamin Schenk “Alexander Nevsky in the Russian cultural memory” Shenk F B. Aleksandr Nevskii v russkoi kul'turnoi pamiati.M., 2007.. In his study, the author outlines the entire history of the memory of Alexander Nevsky from the time of his death in 1263 till the year 2000. The book is based on extensive sources and can be called unique. The author traces in detail the formation of the “myth” about Alexander Nevsky in the public consciousness of Russia, shows the motives and mechanisms behind this myth See the review: Istoricheskii barometr (retsenziia naknigu F. B. Shenk “Aleksandr Nevskii v russkoi kul'turnoi pamiati”. M., 2007) // Otechestvennye zapiski. 2008. No. 5 (44). P. 125-128..

The American historian Charles Galperin Galperin C. D.: 1) Perepisyvaia istoriiu: Nikonovskaia letopis' o vzaimootnosheniiakh Rusi s Ordoi // Rossica Antiqua. 2010/2. P. 149-170; 2) Tatarskoe igo: obraz mongolov v srednevekovoi Rossii. Voronezh, 2012; 3) Russian and Mongols.Slavs and the Steppe in Medieval and Early Modern Russia.Bucure^ti, 2007. deals with the issues of historical memory in medieval Rus. The scope of scholarly interests of the author include the relationship between Rus and the Horde, the perception of the Horde yoke in Rus. In Rus, according to Galperin, it was perceived through the practice of “silence”, that is, old Russian scribes did not directly write that Rus was conquered by the Mongols. In medieval texts, much was written about the devastation brought by the Mongols to Rus, but silence was kept about the fact that they were the actual rulers of Rus. This was done to avoid creating the negative image of the Mongols due to the fact that they were pagans. This is almost the main reason why the old Russian scribes spoke negatively about them.

Of particular interest is the policy with regard to historical memory of historical memory in the Soviet epoch. A serious work on the study of this topic was conducted by the historian D. L. Brandenberger in the book “The National-Bolshevism. Stalin's mass culture and the formation of Russian national identity.1931-1956” Brandenberger D. L. Natsional-bolshevizm. Stalinskaia massovaia kul'tura i formirovanie russkogo natsional'nogo samosoznaniia.1931-1956.SPb., 2009.. For all the erudition and originality of the author's idea, his concept looks at least controversial. Two aspects of this concept seem to be the most debatable: 1. By the 30s of the 20 century, Russian identity has not yet formed and 2. Russian national consciousness emerged by chance as a side effect of Stalin's policy in the field of culture. These two statements raise the question whether the author of the monograph is familiar with the history of Russia until the 30s of the twentieth century? And if there was not an “involuntary creation of Russian national identity by Stalin” This is a reference to article: Brandenberger D. L. Stalinskii populizm i nevol'noe sozdanie russkoi natsional'noi identichnosti // Neprikosnovennyi zapas. 2011. No. 4. URL: http://www.intelros.ru/readroom/ nz/neprikosnovennyj-zapas-78-42011/11230-stalinskij-populizm-i-nevolnoe-sozdanie-russkoj-nacional- noj-identichnosti.html (accessed 27.08.2018)., when would the Russian people have found find their identity? Also, some estimates of post-war life by the author cause bewilderment. Thus, D. L. Branden- berger treats the desire of one of the listeners to expand the musical repertoire of Russian folk music, expressed in a letter to the State Committee on Radio Broadcasting, because “on a simple day you will not hear anything apart from the propaganda, but different Chuvash, Mordovian, Chinese, Albanian and similar music”, as “an artless chauvinism” Brandenberger D. L. Natsional-bolshevizm... P 253.. In other words, sometimes it seems when reading a book that its author is a conscientious and even talented specialist who just does not fully understand what exactly he writes. Among the figures of medieval Russian history, Brandenberger most often mentions Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, Ivan the Terrible. Their images were idealized, all three of them seemed to have been the fighters with external and internal enemies, advocating for prosperity of the State.

All of the above projects, articles, monographs serve as a kind of historiographical and theoretical basis for researches on historical memory, which are currently conducted. One of these projects isthe project “The Mobilized Middle Ages”, headed by Professor, Doctor in History, head of the Department of history of Slavic and Balkan countries of the Institute of History of St. Petersburg State University A. I. Filjushkin Full name of the project: “Mobilizovannoe srednevekove”: obrashchenie k srednevekovym obrazam v diskursakh natsional'nogo i gosudarstvennogo stroitel'stva v Rossii i stranakh Tsentral'no-Vostochnoi Evropy i Balkan v novoe i noveishee vremia. Kartochka proekta, podderzhannogo Rossiiskim nauchnym fondom / Rossiiskii nauchnyi fond. URL: http://rscf.ru/prjcard?rid=16-18-10080 (accessed 20.03.2018).. The research within the project is carried out by a group of St. Petersburg historians, specialists in different areas of Slavic and Russian history. As it can be seen from the name of the project, its focus is on medieval subjects that are currently in demand and have become one of the factors of reality in the present, in one way or another manifested in the daily life of the Eastern European and Balkan regions. The evaluation of the interim results of the project is the purpose of the present article.

The project has several main areas of research: 1) Russia; 2) the Baltic States and Belarus; 3) the Balkans. One of the features of the project is the lack of unified methodological approach to the study of the issues stated in the title of the project, which can be considered both positive and negative. On the one hand, the methodological diversity enables us to see the possibilities of studying the actualization of the Middle Ages, the formation of national myths with the help of different methodological tools. And that is obviously good. On the other hand, methodological diversity leads to the co-existence of a large number of works within one project, which share only the general scholarly focus manifested in the framework of the project, and nothing more.

In the project “The Mobilized Middle Ages”, there is no work plan. At least, this is the created by the publications released during the implementation of the project. This aspect of “The Mobilized Middle Ages” can also be interpreted in two ways. On the one hand, it gives the scholars involved in the project the freedom of action, the right to choose which issues and sources should be examined in response to the questions posed in the project. The creative freedom is an important condition for academic work. At the same time, it seems fair to say that with the scope of the project's topic and a relatively small team (10 people judging by the number of the people who have published the articles within the project), the research plan of the team would be very appropriate to prevent the diversity of articles within “The Mobilized Middle Ages”. Perhaps, this drawback, if it is regarded as such, will be somehow overcome at the stage of writing monographs, which should be the outcome of the project.

Each regional subdivision of the project attempts to identify the main events of the medieval history of these regions), which are subject to mythologization in accordance with the requirements of the present. It is necessary to highlight that that “battles for history” and “wars of memory” between yesterday's close neighbours, which used to comprise one state with one history (at least with one official history), accompany modern nation-building.. It is due to these “wars” that the Middle ages are “mobilized”. The word is chosen as appropriate as possible. Until now, there have not been a single state with two official versions of history and the nations who used to share a common history and past for a long time, but now find themselves in different states with the necessity to give their once common past new meanings.

One of the “hotspots” of “memory wars” are the Balkans. Here the “battle over history” takes place for the right to “appropriate” the battles of Kleidion and of Kosovo, and to define the national identity of historical figures as Bulgarian or Macedonian, for example, the tsar Samuel. In the modern Serbian context, the image of the tsar Stephan Dusan IV the Strong is important.

The battle of Kleidion, considered a “black day” for the Bulgarian state, is now regarded as a “black day” for the Macedonian history as well, which is highly sensitive to the academic and political circles in Bulgaria. The tsar Samuel is positioned as a key figure in Bulgarian or Macedonian history. The battle of Kosovo is perceived from the perspective of the Serbian national identity as a great sacrifice for the future of Serbia, and in the Albanian national consciousness as a myth by which the Serbs claim a part of the Albanian territory -- Kosovo/Dardania Koloskov E. A. Mobilizovannaia Belasitsa: obraz bitvy na Kleidione v makedonskom i bolgarskom istoricheskom i politicheskom diskurse // XXII Derzhavinskie chteniia: Sovremennye i istoricheskie prob- lemy bolgaristiki i slavistiki. Sb. statei po materialam XLVI Mezhdunarodnoi filologicheskoi konferentsii.SPb., 2017. P. 76-80.. It is also worth mentioning the article by E. A. Kolos- kov “The Kosovo myth in modern Serbian and Albanian historiography: stages and main trends”. The article analyzes in detail the Serbian and Albanian historiography of the question in the period between 1989 and the summer of 2016. The author persuasively links different approaches to the study and understanding of the battle of Kosovo by Serbian and Albanian historians to the political life of the region, the change of generations of historians, the use of new scholarly approaches to the study of the battle as well as of the myth about it Koloskov E. A.: 1) Kosovskii mif v sovremennoi serbskoi i albanskoi istoriografii: etapy i osnovnye tendentsii // Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana, 2016. No. 2 (20).P. 183-199; 2) Kosovskii mif kak element serbo-albanskikh protivorechii v 1989-2003 gg. // Vynuzhdennoe sosedstvo -- dobrovolnoe pris- posoblenie v diplomaticheskikh i mezhnatsional'nykh otnosheniiakh v Tsentral'noi, Vostochnoi i Yugo-Vo- stochnoi Evrope XVIII-XXI vv. SPb., 2017. P. 107-118..

T. G. Chernykh analyzes the image of Stephan Dusan in children's literature in modern Serbia. The author shows how a controversial historical figure is used for creating a role model worthy of imitation Chernykh T. G. Obraz tsaria Stefana Dushana Sil'nogo v sovremennoi serbskoi detskoi literature // Problemy sovremennoi nauki i obrazovaniia. 2016. No. 34 (76). P. 53-57.. The problem of the perception of the tsar Stephan Dusan in the historical memory of the Serbian people as a whole is considered by T. G. Chernykh in a special article “The tsar Stephan Dusan IV the Strong as a father murderer and a violator of the precepts of ancestors: the negative aspect in the image of the ruler in the Serbian historical memory of the 14^th--21^thcenturies ” Chernykh T. G. Tsar Stefan Dushan IV Sil'nyi kak ottseubiitsa i narushitel zapovedei predkov: nega- tivnoe v obraze pravitelia v serbskoi istoricheskoi pamiati XIV-XXI vv. // Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petro-politana. 2017. No. 1. P. 113-127.. The author concentrates on the conflict between Stephan Dusan and his father Stephan Decanski and on ecclesiastical anathema imposed on Serbia by the Ecumenical Patriarch as a consequence of the proclamation of an independent Serbian Patriarchate. Historiographical assessments of these important scenes of the reign of Stephan Dusan are traced by T. G. Chernykh from the 14^th to the beginning of the 21^st century. Thus, an extensive historiographical material is presented in the article. However, in this case the circumstances of the emergence of any particular interpretation of these events are not explained. Given the specificity of the project, this would be appropriate. Such an analysis could be the next step in the “Serbian” direction of “The Mobilized Middle Ages”.

Of great interest are the works by D. E. Alimov devoted to the theme of “gothic heritage” in the proto-national discourse of the Croatian people Alimov D. E.: 1) Gotitsizm v Khorvatii: ot srednevekov'ia k Novomu vremeni // Science Journal of VolSU. History.Area Studies.International Relations. 2018. Vol. 22, no. 2. P. 25-34; 2) “Gotsko-slavianskoe” korolevstvo: rannesrednevekovyi Illirik v diskursivnom prostranstve etnopoezisa // Vestnik of Udmurtsk University. Ser. History and Filosofy. 2017. Vol. 27, no. 4. P. 516-525.. The author reconsiders the role of “Gothicism” in the ethnopolitical history of the Croatian people and State. The dynamic of changes in the mythical “Gothic and Slavic” Kingdom, which once existed in the early Middle Ages on the territory of Illyric, are shown in detail. In the article “The Origin of Transcarpathian Rusins in the discursive space of the national narrative: between migrationism and autochthonism” Alimov D. E. Proiskhozhdenie rusinov Zakarpat'ia v diskursivnom prostranstve natsionalnogo nar- rativa: mezhdu migratsionizmom i avtokhtonizmom // Rusin. 2017. No. 4 (50).P. 179-197. the author on the basis of the research case of Transcarpathian Rusins demonstrates the struggle between two competing, in essence, “myths” of explanation of the origin of the ethnic group.

The participation of art historians in the project should be noted. It enables to explore the development of medieval subjects topics in works of art, such as painting and jewelry. N. N. Mutya in her articles devoted to the image of Ivan the Terrible in the Russian art of the 16-21 centuries, clearly showed how the image of the “Terrible” tsar in the works of art depended on its perception in the Russian society in different periods of history Mutia N. N.: 1) Interpretatsiia obraza Ivana Groznogo v zhivopisi Rossii vtoroi poloviny XVI -- na- chala XXI veka // Istoricheskie, filosofskie, politicheskie i iuridicheskie nauki, kul'turologiia i iskusstvove- denie. Voprosy teorii i praktiki. 2016. Vol. 2, no. 12 (74). P. 101-107; 2) Obraz russkogo tsaria i epokhi Sred- nevekovia v iuvelirnom iskusstve (k probleme “russkogo stilia” v predmetakh iz kollektsii muzeia Faberzhe) // Ibid. 2017. No. 7 (81). P 139-143; 3) Vneshnie otnosheniia Ivana Groznogo kak tema i obraz v russkom iskusstve vtoroi poloviny XIX veka // Nauchnye trudy Instituta im. I. Repina. Vol. 43.SPb., 2017. P 120-132.. What is more important is that the researcher was able to show the potential of works of art as sources for the study of national myths. The author puts forward his method of analysis of the artistic image of the historical character in the works of art Mutia N. N. Interpretatsiia obraza Ivana Groznogo... P 102., which in the article is applied to the image of Ivan the Terrible, but may well be also applicable to any other historical figure. However, although the author demonstrates how the image of the tsar in painting reflected the views of the artists on the actual problems for them, the impact of the artistic image on the emergence of the corresponding historical myth in society is almost not analysed. This makes us turn to the problem of the applicability of artistic sources for researches on historical memory.

On the one hand, artistic sources can certainly be involved in the work on this issue. On the other hand, how much can an artistic image, represented in painting or art in general, affect public consciousness? Even more, if such images contradict each other? The issue of the quantitative reproduction of artistic images, i.e. paintings and engravings, is also important. How many were there reproductions and lithographs of paintings depicting Ivan the Terrible made in the 19-20 centuries? How much attention did they receive? Once again, there is no doubt that artistic images expressed a certain view on a particular historical character, but how strong was the influence of these images on the consciousness of the society?

It would be appropriate to mention that the channels that have the greatest influence on mass consciousness and form the myths of all kinds are television and the Internet. The information provided therein is accepted without any criticism. This makes television and the Internet an ideal field for the creation and the dissemination of all kinds of myths, including national and historical. Some work in the study of this area is underway, but the potential of these sources is not fully disclosed Volkov I. V., Ponomareva E. V. Igrovoe kino kak istochnik dlia izucheniia kul'turnoi pamiati // Vest- nik of South Ural State University. Ser. Humanities and Social Sciences.2012. No. 10 (269). P 22-26..

The approach to the study of the project problems by E. A. Rostovtsev and D. A. Sos- nitsky is characterized by a wide coverage of the sources. Their works are based on a detailed analysis of such sources as commercial advertising Rostovtsev E. A., Sosnitskii D. A. Russkoe srednevekove v kommercheskoi reklame: postanovka problemy i perspektivy issledovaniia (vtoraia polovina XIX -- nachalo XXI v.) // Drevniaia Rus' vo vremeni, v lichnostiakh, v ideiakh. 2017. Vol. 7. P 290-308., Soviet tear-off calendars Rostovtsev E. A., Sosnitskii D. A. Srednevekovye sobytiia i geroi v sovetskikh otryvnykh kalendariakh // Noveishaia istoriia Rossii. 2017. No. 3 (20). P 163-181., textbooks Rostovtsev E. A., Sosnitskii D. A. “Voiny uchebnikov”: srednevekovye siuzhety v postsovetskom obrazovatel'nom prostranstve // Klio. 2016. No. 11 (119). P. 207-215., Internet resources Rostovtsev E. A., Sosnitskii D. A. Srednevekovye geroi i sobytiia otechestvennoi istorii v setevykh resursakh // Istoricheskaia ekspertiza. 2018. Iss. 1. P. 41-58.. The advantage of this type of sources is that they form the image of a historical figure or of an event in the mass consciousness. Also, several articles are devoted to the image of individual historical personalities -Yaroslav the Wise Rostovtsev E. A., Sosnitskii D. A. Zabytyi zolotoi vek: Iaroslav Mudryi i Rus Iaroslava -- pereosmys- leniia XIX -- nachala XXI v. // Rusin. 2016. No. 4 (46). P. 26-43., Dmitry of the Don Rostovtsev E. A., Sosnitskii D. A. “Kulikovskii plen”: Dmitrii Donskoi v istoricheskoi pamiati rossiis- kogo obshchestva vtoroi poloviny XIX -- nachala XX v. // Quaestio Rossica. 2017. Vol. 5, no. 4. P. 1149-1163., prince Vladimir Rostovtsev E. A., Sosnitskii D. A. Vladimir Sviatoi kak natsionalnyi geroi // Dialog so vremenem. 2018. Iss. 65. P 150-164. -- in the consciousness of modern Russian society. The methodology used by researchers and the sources with which they work are well suited to the research of the problems of historical memory.

However, the project does not follow the research program. Instead, there are several interesting but diverse articles that can be divided into two groups: articles that focus on the sources and articles that focus directly on the plot of the study (in this case, there are historical figures). Within these two groups, the articles are also not connected to one another so as to serve as components of the single whole in general terms. On the contrary, they are independent in relation to one another. Perhaps, the general analysis of the material collected by E. A. Rostovtsev and D. A. Sosnitsky will be made in a corresponding part of the monograph, which should be the main outcome of the the whole project.

A. V. Sirenov and D. E. Diligul in their articles cover the history of the existence of medieval historical subjects in Russia in the period of Modern times. The researchers are studying the ideas about the past through the history of the veneration of Orthodox shrines, such as the relics of the princes of Vladimir Sirenov A. V. Relikvii vladimirskikh kniazei // Drevniaia Rus' vo vremeni, v lichnostiakh, v ideiakh. 2016. Vol. 5. P 286-296., the relics of Alexander of the Neva Sirenov A. V. The Legitimation of the Image of the Saint: on the Issue of the Authenticity of the Relics of Alexander of the Neva // Studia Slavica etBalcanica Petropolitana. 2016. No. 1 (19). P 100-109., the icon of the Mother of God of Tikhvin Diligul E. S.Biblioteka Tikhvinskogo Uspenskogo monastyria XVII veka i pochitanie Tikhvinskoi ikony Bogomateri // Peterburgskaia bibliotechnaia shkola. 2016. No. 4(56). P 35-41.. A. V. Sirenov also addresses the issue of the origin and existence of nicknames of medieval princes in Modern times Sirenov A. V. O prozvishchakh drevnerusskikh kniazei // Peterburgskii istoricheskii zhurnal: issle- dovaniia po rossiiskoi i vseobshchei istorii. 2017. No. 2. P 184-193.. This area of research within the framework of the project raises the issue of the role of the Church and religious practices in this process, significant for national myth-making.

The works of the project manager A. I. Filjushkin differ from other articlesby the variety of methodological approaches and the number of the examined issues. They explore the “mobilization” of medieval plots in modern Baltic States, Russia and Belarus. It should be noted that A. I. Filjushkin refers to the theme of the project not only through written sources, but also through other forms of manifestation of the public interest in the Middle ages, such as the erection of the monuments to historical figures Filjushkin A. I. Kogda i zachem stali stavit pamiatniki istoricheskim personazham Drevnei Rusi? // Drevniaia Rus' vo vremeni, v lichnostiakh, v ideiakh. 2017. Vol. 7, no. 7. P 382-397., the memorialization of the sites of important historical events Fijushkin A. I. Mesta pamiati ili pamiat' mesta? Dve bitvy Aleksandra Nevskogo v istoricheskoi pamiati // Dialog so vremenem. 2017. No. 60. P. 25-44. (or rather historical events that have acquired importance in the subsequent periods, the role of museums in the “mobilization” of medieval subjects Fijushkin A. I. Kak izobrazhat proshloe natsii? Dva podkhoda v muzeinykh ekspozitsiiakh (na primere Estonii i Belorussii) // Voprosy muzeologii. 2016. No. 1 (13). P. 3-8.. He provides concrete examples of the use of medieval material in the nation-building in the Eastern European republics Fijushkin A. I.: 1) “Mobilizatsiia srednevekovia” kak poisk identichnosti: kakimi putiami Belorussi- ia khochet uiti ot istoricheskogo naslediia Rossiiskoi imperii i SSSR // Quaestio Rossica. 2017. Vol. 5, no. 2. P. 569-590; 2) “Militarizirovannoe srednevekove” kak faktor natsionalnogo stroitelstva (primer Estonii) // Novoe proshloe / The New Past. 2016. No. 3. P. 50-67., and lists a number of publications devoted to the existence of various medieval images in the Modern and Contemporary times Fijushkin A. I.: 1) Zavoevaniia Ivana Groznogo v pamiati potomkov // Drevniaia Rus' vo vreme- ni, v lichnostiakh, v ideiakh. 2016. Vol. 5. P. 213-223; 2) “Kievskaia Rus' “v akademicheskom i kul'turnom diskurse Vostochnoi Evropy poslednikh let: istoriograficheskie i kul'turnye perspektivy // Gosudarstva Tsentral'noi i Vostochnoi Evropy v istoricheskoi perspektive. Pinsk, 2016. P. 10-15; 3) Sotvorenie Groznogo tsaria: zachem N. M. Karamzinu byl nuzhen “tiran vseia Rusi”? // Tetradi po konservatizmu. 2016. No. 4. P. 123-130; 4) “Otkrytie srednevekovia”: kak v Rossii formirovalis' znanie i pamiat' o drevnerusskom pro- shlom (na primere Pskova) // Drevniaia Rus': voprosy medievistiki. 2017. No. 3. P. 149-150; 5) “Mobiliza- tsiia Srednevekov'ia” kak instrument formirovaniia predstavlenii o slavianskom edinstve // Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana. 2017. No. 2. P. 22-39; 6) Simvolicheskoe znachenie Pravdy russkoi v otechestven- noi istorii // Sborniki Prezidentskoi biblioteki. Ser. “Istoricheskoe pravovedenie”. 2017. Vol. 5.Tysiacheletie Pravdy Russkoi: istoriia i perspektivy izucheniia drevneishego pamiatnika otechestvennogo prava. P. 82-93; 7) Strana, oprokinutaia v proshloe?Pochemu obshchestvo obrashchaetsia k belletristike i “mobilizuet sred-nevekove”? // Liudi i teksty. Istoricheskii almanakh.2017. No. 10. P. 132-143. in Russia and in Eastern Europe as a whole. It would be appropriate to say here that although the project is considered to be dedicated to the “Eastern European” theme, studies on the “mobilization” of the Russian Middle Ages in modern Russia prevail.

One of the features that distinguish “The Mobilized Middle Ages” from the previous works on the historical memory of Russia at different stages of its existence Erusalimskii K. Yu.: 1) Istoriia na posolskoi sluzhbe: diplomatiia i pamiat v Rossii v XVI v. // Istoriia i pamiat'. Istoricheskaia kul'tura Evropy do nachala Novogo vremeni. Moscow, 2006. P. 609-634; 2) Poniatie “Istoriia” v russkom istoriopisanii XVI veka // Obrazy proshlogo i kollektivnaia identichnost v Evrope do nachala Novogo vremeni / ed. by L. P. Repina. Moscow, 2003. P. 365-401; Usachev A. S.: 1) Drevneishii pe-riod russkoi istorii v istoricheskoi pamiati Moskovskogo tsarstva // Istoriia i pamiat'. Istoricheskaia kul'tura Evropy... P. 609-634; 2) Obraz iazycheskoi Rusi v Stepennoi knige // Obrazy proshlogo i kollektivnaia iden- tichnost v Evrope. P. 349-364; Vediushkina I. V.: 1) Istoricheskaia pamiat' domongolskoi Rusi: religioznye aspekty // Istoriia i pamiat'. Istoricheskaia kul'tura Evropy. P. 554-608; 2) Samonazvanie i “chuvstvo-my”: formy proiavleniia kollektivnoi identichnosti v “Povesti vremennykh let” // Kul'tura istoricheskoi pamiati: materialy nauchnoi konferentsii (19-22 sentiabria 2001 g.). Petrozavodsk, 2002. P. 18-25; Floria B. N. O ne- kotorykh osobennostiakh razvitiia etnicheskogo samosoznaniia vostochnykh slavian v epokhu Sredneveko-via -- rannego Novogo vremeni // Rossiia -- Ukraina: istoriia vzaimootnoshenii. M., 1997. P. 9-27. is the desire of the participants of the project to determine the role of “mobilized” medieval stories in the present. One can cite an example of the project of the German Institute in Moscow “Ancient Rus after Ancient Rus: discourse of East Slavic (non-)unity” Drevniaia Rus' posle Drevnei Rusi.: diskurs vostochnoslavianskogo (ne) edinstva / comp., ed. by A. V. Doronin. M., 2017., dedicated to the historical memory of Ancient Rus among the population of Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages and early modern time. The project involves an international team of researchers (historians from Russia, the Baltic States, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Germany). The modernity presents interest for the participants of the project only in terms of the possibility of preserving the unity of historiography, a consistent understanding of the key points of the history of Ancient Russia, which will enable scholars to continue joint research work, to exist in the same research paradigm. That is, the historical memory itself acts simply as one of the objects of interest of historians. In this sense, the works on the history of memory were not much different from other works on the history of ideas. In the “Mobilized Middle Ages”, although the authors are engaged in subjects from Ancient Rus to the 17^th century, much attention is paid to the role of medieval topics in the modernity and to the determination of their relevance to the present. Thus, the results of the project “Mobilized Middle Ages” are already gaining practical and even applied value, given that the processes of nation-building actively taking place in Eastern Europe.

In an interview to the electronic magazine “Gefter” A. I. Filjushkin said: “A professional historian should act as a doctor, as a diagnostician: he sees the situation, identifies the symptoms of certain processes and makes a diagnosis: what is happening to the nation, to the country, to the people, to the society, to history; what are the prospects? Our project is concerned with this to some extent, we want to complete it in a year, and in conclusion of the monograph that is planned, we are going to give some specific recom- mendations” Kak nam privlech Ivana Vasilievicha Nevskogo // El. Zhurnal “Gefter”. URL: http://gefter.ru/ar- chive/23407 (accessed 20.03.2018). on how to avoid mistakes similar to those made at the sunset of the Russian Empire, when the appeal “to the origins” led the country to `turn to the past”. And then the political force which offered a clear plan of actions aimed at the future won. It is important to understand that it is useful to look back at the past, but it cannot provide a guide. Of course, the question arises: “To whom are these recommendations addressed?” To which A. I. Filjushkin answers: “To those who will hear.” That is, there is no specific addressee, the results of the project are important for all contemporaries who are thinking about the problems of the project.