Once Again about the Cognomen of Ivan Kalita

About the author:

Abstract:

The article is devoted to the etymology of the Moscow Prince Ivan Danilovich Kalita’s cognomen. The cognomen “Kalita” was first recorded around 1446 in the appendix to the Komissionnyj copy of the Novgorod First Chronicle. However, the article “Genealogy of the same princes” with this cognomen could be created in 1415-1439 and have a North-Eastern Rus’ origin. Thus, Ivan Kalita first received the cognomen only 100 years after his death. With the gradual spread of princely genealogies in Russia, the cognomen was perceived by three (or four) scribes of the 16^th century. By chance, almost all the texts of the 16^th century with the mention of “Kalita” — the appendix of the Voskresenskaya Chronicle, The Book of degrees of the royal genealogy and the Volokolamsk Paterik (through the “Core of Russian History”) — were published in the second half of the 18^th century and became available to historians, including N. M. Karamzin. The authority and fame of N. M. Karamzin played a decisive role in securing the cognomen “Kalita” for Prince Ivan Danilovich in the minds of most historians and ordinary readers alike. The historians of the 19^th century followed the hagiographic tradition and believed that Ivan Kalita got his cognomen for the fact that he wore a purse (kalita) filled with money on his belt, which he distributed to beggars. The historians of the 20^th-21^th centuries usually perceive the cognomen “kalita” in a figurative sense and see in its carrier not an owner of a purse on a belt, but a ruler with certain character traits — thrift, unscrupulousness, etc. This prevents an objective assessment of the policy and personal qualities of Ivan Danilovich.

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