Stephen of Novgorod
Stephen of Novgorod (fl. 14th century) was a Russian traveller to Constantinople who wrote an account of the city called the Wanderer.[1]
Stephen was a layman.
The title Wanderer (Странник) is known from a single manuscript. Some manuscripts leave the impression that Stephen later travelled to the Holy Land and wrote an account of it, but this is unlikely.[1] The Wanderer is written in vernacular Northwest Russian. As a layman, Stephen incorporated relatively few scriptural quotations or Church Slavonic idioms. His interests, however, were those of a pilgrim, that is, the city's shrines and relics.[2] He evidently used the service of tour guides in the city, since he remarks on the expense:
Entering Constantinople is like [entering] a great forest; it is impossible to get around without a good guide, and if you attempt to get around stingily or cheaply you will not be able to see or kiss a single saint unless it happens to be the holiday of that saint when [you can] see and kiss [the relics].[6]
Notes
- ^ a b Majeska 1984, p. 15.
- ^ a b Majeska 1984, p. 19.
- ^ a b Majeska 1984, p. 17.
- ^ a b Majeska 1984, p. 18.
- ^ Majeska 1984, p. 16.
- ^ Majeska 2002, p. 106.
Bibliography
- Carr, Annemarie Weyl (2022). "Pilgrimage to Constantinople". In Sarah Bassett (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Constantinople. Cambridge University Press. pp. 310–323.
- Koutrakou, Nike (2022). "Medieval Travellers to Constantinople: Wonders and Wonder". In Sarah Bassett (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Constantinople. Cambridge University Press. pp. 295–309.
- Majeska, George P., ed. (1984). Russian Travelers to Constantinople in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries. Dumbarton Oaks.
- Majeska, George P. (2002). "Russian Pilgrims in Constantinople". Dumbarton Oaks Papers. 56: 93–108. JSTOR 1291857.
- Ševčenko, Ihor (1953). "Notes on Stephen, the Novgorodian Pilgrim to Constantinople in the XIV Century". Südost-Forschungen. 12: 165–175.