Supplication of Daniel the Exile
Supplication of Daniel the Exile
(Molenie Daniila Zatochnika), a 13th-century Russian literary work written in the form of an epistle to laroslav Vsevolodovich, prince of Pereiaslavl’ and Suzdal’. The author, having fallen on hard times, asks the prince for help and depicts him as the protector of his subjects.
Some scholars consider the Supplication to be the first example of Old Russian noble publicistic writing. The work mingles quotations from biblical books, chronicles, and other literary sources with expressions from the vernacular and satire directed against the boyars and clergy. The Supplication was apparently inspired by the 12th-century Tale of Daniel the Exile (Slovo Daniila Zatochnika). However, scholars have not resolved questions concerning the chronological and literary relationships between the two texts, as well as the problem of their authorship.
REFERENCES
Slovo Daniila Zatochnika po redaktsiiam XII i XIII vv. i ikh peredelkam. Leningrad, 1932.Rybakov, B. A. “Daniil Zatochnik i Vladimirskoe letopisanie kontsa XII v..” In the anthology Arkheograficheskii ezhegodnik za 1970god. Moscow, 1971. (Bibliography.)
A. N. ROBINSON