Pamiatniki, Izdannye Vremennoiu Komissieiu Dlia Razbora Drevnikh Aktov

Pamiatniki, Izdannye Vremennoiu Komissieiu Dlia Razbora Drevnikh Aktov 

(full title, Monuments Published by the Temporary Commission for the Selection of Ancient Documents, Imperially Established Under the Kiev Military Governor-General and the Podolia and Volyn’ Governor-General), a collection of documents on the history of the Ukraine, Byelorussia, and to some extent Lithuania. The documents were published in four volumes in Kiev between 1845 and 1859. Some of the documents were culled from monastic and church archives, the Lithuanian chancellery records, the registers of the grand duke’s local courts, and other official books of the 16th century. Others were obtained from private collections, such as the Sanguszko Slawuta archives, the Khrebtovichi’s manuscript collections, and the Matsievich and Świdzyński collections.

The material in the Pamiatniki was divided into three sections. The first section contained church documents belonging to the Lutsk Exaltation of the Cross Fraternity, the Kiev Fraternity of the Epiphany, the L’vov and Starosel’e fraternities, and the Der-man, Pochaev, and other monasteries. The second section included documents on feudal land tenure and farming: the manorial Regulations on the Pokhozhie Liudi in the Wojewódz-twos of Polotsk and Vitebsk (with a supplement), the Postal Regulations, inventories of the manor houses and farm implements of various estates, and inventories of the fortresses of Kremenets, Vladimir, and Lutsk. The third section contained documents on the history of the mid-17th century liberation war of the Ukrainian and Byelorussian peoples and the Russian-Polish War of 1654–57.

A second edition of Volumes 1, 2, and 3 was published in Kiev in 1897–98. In this edition some documents were corrected, and new material was included in the third volume. The Pamiatniki are an important source for the study of the socioeconomic development, class and national liberation struggle, and culture of the Ukraine and Byelorussia from the late 15th to the 18th century.

V. D. NAZAROV