Commemorative Traditions of the Kurbsky Princes

This article discusses the possibilities of expanding the available information about the activities of certain historical characters of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries with reference to commemorative sources. The study of these sources makes it possible in several cases to evaluate, among other things, the historical and ideological preferences operating in a family of investors. As a typical example, the article draws upon the sources that reflect the commemorative traditions of the Kurbsky princes. The most famous representative of this family was Prince A. M. Kurbsky, an opinion writer. Several records of the Kurbskys have been preserved in the synodikons of various monasteries and cathedrals. The most complete text is the record of the “Kurbsky family” in the synodikons of the Yaroslavl Transfiguration Monastery. This entry was compiled after A. M. Kurbsky fled to Lithuania. The initiator of its creation, most likely, was his mother Maria (Marfa) Mikhailovna, which helps find analogies between this memory and the works of A. M. Kurbsky himself, where the same historical characters often appeared. An analysis of the names noted there shows the long-term preservation of ancestral memory among the Kurbsky traditions, as well as the historical preferences and sympathies operating in their circle. Additional information about the Kurbsky family ties with the most prominent aristocratic families of the early sixteenth century presents a memorial entry for Princess Vasilisa (Barsanuphia) Kholmskaya from the synodikon of the Moscow Assumption Cathedral. A separate aspect of the study is the question of studying the role of women as keepers of ancestral memory. It was the Kurbsky princesses who initiated the compilation of family memorials, collecting and summarising data about representatives of this family who lived over two centuries. Analysis of commemorative sources shows the need for further research to study this phenomenon.