Editing Primary Chronicle (section)

=== Authorship ===
[[File:The_Historian_Nestor.jpg|thumb|upright|''The Historian Nestor'' by [[Leo Mol]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://uartlib.org/downloads/VitrajiLeoMol_uartlib.org.pdf|title=Mol, Leo}}</ref>|alt=]] 
Tradition long regarded the first compilation as the work of a monk named [[Nestor the Chronicler|Nestor]] ({{circa}} 1056 – {{circa}} 1114), known to have written other works such as ''Life of the Venerable Theodosius''.{{sfn|Cross|Sherbowitz-Wetzor|1953|p=6}} Writers of the time spoke of the ''Chronicle of Nestor'',{{sfn|Cross|Sherbowitz-Wetzor|1953|p=3}} and of the author as Nestor "the Chronicler". Based on the 1661 ''[[Kyiv Caves Patericon|Paterik]]'' of the [[Kyiv Pechersk Lavra|Kyiv Monastery of the Caves]], late 17th-century writers began to assert that Nestor "the Chronicler" wrote many of the surviving [[Rus' chronicle]]s,{{sfn|Tolochko|2007|p=31}} including the ''Primary Chronicle'', the ''[[Kievan Chronicle]]'' and the ''[[Galician–Volhynian Chronicle]]'',{{sfn|Tolochko|2007|p=47}} even though many of the events they described took place in the 12th and 13th century, long after Nestor's death {{circa}} 1114.{{sfn|Tolochko|2007|p=47}} Another reason given for belief in Nestorian authorship was the word нестера in the opening lines of the ''[[Khlebnikov Codex]]'' (discovered in 1809{{sfn|Maiorov|2018|p=339}}), which some readers took to refer to Nestor "the Chronicler".{{sfn|Cross|Sherbowitz-Wetzor|1953|p=17}}{{sfn|Ostrowski|1981|p=28}} But as Ostrowski (1981) pointed out: "The word нестера was added in the ''[[Khlebnikov Codex]]'', and thus cannot be used as evidence for the name of the compiler of the PVL."{{sfn|Ostrowski|1981|p=28}} The word is not found in any of the other five main versions of the PVL,{{sfn|Ostrowski|1981|p=28}}{{efn|The often careless [[Vasily Tatishchev]] (1686–1750) claimed that three ''Chronicle'' texts that were somehow "lost" later also identified "Nestor" as the author.{{sfn|Cross|Sherbowitz-Wetzor|1953|p=17}} Modern scholars distrust all such "[[Tatishchev information]]" unless they are supported by another extant source.{{sfn|Tolochko|2005|pp=458–468}}{{sfn|Ostrowski|2018|pp=36, 38, 47}}}} and is thus an [[Interpolation (manuscripts)|interpolation]] inserted into the text by an editor, perhaps guessing at the author's name.{{sfn|Ostrowski|2003|pp=xvii–xviii}} From the 1830s to around 1900, there was fierce academic debate about Nestor's authorship, but the question remained unresolved, and belief in Nestorian authorship persisted.{{sfn|Tolochko|2007|pp=32–33}} The [[internal evidence]] of the PVL and the known works of Nestor often contradict one another, while the contents barely coincide in places where they seemingly should, so modern scholars have concluded that Nestor was not the author.{{sfn|Cross|Sherbowitz-Wetzor|1953|pp=6–12}}{{efn|'In any case, the internal evidence of the ''Povest{{'}}'', along with the lack of coincidence of its contents with Nestor's works wherever the two are related, is distinctly opposed to the tradition of Nestorian authorship.'{{sfn|Cross|Sherbowitz-Wetzor|1953|p=12}}}}

A more likely candidate as author is [[Sylvester of Kiev]], [[hegumen]] ([[abbot]]) of the [[Vydubychi Monastery|St. Michael's Monastery in Vydubychi]] (a village near [[Kyiv]]), who may have compiled several sources in the year 1116.{{sfn|Ostrowski|2003|p=xvii}} This attribution is based on the fact that the ''[[Laurentian Codex|Laurentian]]'' text ends on page 286, lines 1 to 7, with the [[Colophon (publishing)|colophon]] "I wrote down (''napisakh'') this chronicle",{{sfn|Ostrowski|2003|p=xvii}}{{efn|{{langx|cu|Игуменъ силивестръ стаг михаила· написах книгы си лѣтописець·|Igumenʺ silivestrʺ stag mikhaila· napisakh knigy si lětopisecʹ·|Abbot Silivestr" of St. Michael's Abbey – I wrote this chronicle [lit. "book of year writings"].{{sfn|Ostrowski|Birnbaum|2014|loc=286.1–2}}}}}} after which he requests the readers to remember him in their prayers.{{sfn|Ostrowski|2003|p=xvii}} Alternately, the real author may have been some other unnamed monk from the [[Kyiv Pechersk Lavra|Kyiv Monastery of the Caves]] mentioned in the title, and Sylvester completed his work, or was a very early editor or copyist of the PVL.{{sfn|Ostrowski|2003|p=xvii}}