Strach z cizinců v nejstarším písemnictví středověké Rusi

This study is focused on the fear of foreigners in the oldest East Slavic chronicles and hagiography. Among texts written in different settings, at different times, and in different genres, there are deep differences in how they viewed contact with foreigners. In general, however, the existence and actions of foreign ethnic groups were not inherently important to the authors of the earliest East Slavic literature. They were only considered worthy of recording if they were directly related to the history of Rus'. The image of fearsome foreigners thus served primarily as a counterpoint to the construction of the collective identity of the inhabitants of medieval Rus'.