Zadonshchina

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Zadonshchina («Задонщина» in Russian; could be translated as "the region beyond the Don River") is a Russian literary monument of the late 14th century, which tells of the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380.

Russian historians believe that Zadonshchina was written no later than in 1393. All that is known about the author is that his name was Sofoniy and he was born in Ryazan. It appears that Sofoniy borrowed some material from The Tale of Igor's Campaign, which can be explained by the similar ideological orientation of both works. The author tried to depict the endless struggle for the unification of the Russian principalities in the face of an external enemy. Russian historians also believe that Sofoniy's borrowing was not just a formal imitation, but an attempt to pick out and creatively re-interpret the events and poetic images in The Tale of Igor's Campaign.