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The earliest Chronicle in existence is
"Povest'"' Vremenikh' Let," also known as "Nachal'naya
Letopis. "It was written by Nestor, the monk of the famous Kievo-Pechersk
Monastery in Kiev in 1113 and it contained a compilation of events that had
occurred before 1110. Nestor lived approximately between 1056 and 1114 and was
known first of writing the lives of St. Boris and St. Gleb and of some other
Russian martyrs and saints. When Svyatopolk Izyaslavich, grand duke of Kiev,
learned about Nestor, he requested him to write the Chronicle. We do not know
if Svyatopolk had an opportunity to read it since he died the same year the
Chronicle was terminated, after prolonged princely feuds on the partition of
his grandfather's lands, (Yaroslav). Though Nestor's Chronicle is also called
"Nachal'naya Letopis'," which means "first," it is commonly
accepted that several others preceded it, and that Nestor very nicely edited it
and brought it up to date. Unfortunately Nestor's Chronicle and all those
written by his predecessors were lost.
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