Newly discovered copy of the Siberian chronicle by I.L. Cherepanov: composition and features of textual tradition

Context and relevance. The late stage of regional chronicles, including that of Siberia, spanning the mid-18^th to the 19^th centuries, remains insufficiently studied. This period was marked by a visible transformation of traditional historical narrative genres shaped by the influence of an emerging academic and scientific discourse with its principles regarding critical approaches to source and special understanding of the past. Objective. The purposes of this study are to introduce into scientific circulation a new, previously unexamined Archival copy of the 18^th-century Siberian Chronicle written by the Tobolsk coachman Ivan Leontievich Cherepanov, to provide its brief archaeographical description, and to determine its place within the manuscript tradition of the chronicle. Hypothesis. Integrating the newly discovered Archival copy into the textual study of Ivan Cherepanov’s Chronicle helps clarify the stages of the scribe's work, the sources utilized, and the level of his authorial self-awareness. Methods and materials. By applying a comprehensive set of specialized methods from archeography (including codicological, paleographical, and filigranological analyses) and those of literary source studies (specifically textual criticism), this study conducts a multifaceted examination of the Archival copy. This analysis is contextualized through its relationships with other copies – namely the Perm, Museum, and Mazurin ones – as well as monuments of Irkutsk chronicle tradition. Results. The study establishes the date of the manuscript's creation and reconstructs its editing process. It highlights the narrative features of the copy regarding Yermak's genealogy, positioned at the exposition of the entire narrative. Furthermore, the paper examines the compilation of 17^th-century accounts, determines the trajectory of their textual revision through comparative analysis, and identifies a specific complex of 18^th-century Irkutsk accounts. Conclusions. The analysis demonstrates that this newly introduced copy functions as a draft manuscript that underwent targeted authorial revision – a phenomenon that finds no analogy in other early copies of the oeuvre.

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