The russian Bylina

Bylina (Russian: были́на) is a traditional epic, heroic narrative poetry of early East Slavs of Kievan Rus, the tradition continued in Russia and Ukraine.

Bylina comes from the Russian "byl'" (быль), a word which signifies a story of real events, as opposed to a fictional one and a cognate of the English verb to be.

Bylinas are kind of poetry without rhyme (blank verse), but with a characteristic rhythm, a kind of free verse. Most of bylinas were preserved in northern regions of Russia, and their style was imitated by several famous Russian poets.

In Russia, stories of ancient legendary heroes like the merchant-musician Sadko are preserved in such epic ballads.

Originally composed by minstrels between the 10th and 16th centuries, they are recited today by talented peasant “narrators,” mostly in the remote Russian northwest. Reciting is often accompanied by the gusli, a psaltery of twelve or more strings.

Though byliny-singing is a dying art, stories drawn from the ballads are known to every Russian schoolchild and form an important part of Russia’s national heritage. Most popular of all is the Sadko legend, made known internationally as well by Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera, Sadko.

Sadko’s story is set in Novgorod, the greatest commercial center of medieval Russia. Novgorod was built on both banks of the River Volkhov, a major trade route bringing ships and merchants from Scandinavia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Turkey, Arabia, and Persia.

Sadko himself is probably based on the merchant Sotko Sytinich, who in 1167 erected the city’s largest church, according to official chronicles.

Novgorod occupies an important place in Russian political history as well. In 862 it was conquered and made the capital of the Viking prince Rurik, whose heirs founded the Kievan dynasty and ruled most of European Russia until 1598. More importantly, Novgorod became the only medieval Russian city to win independence from princely rule.

From 1136 until its defeat by Moscow in 1478, Novgorod was a republic, and though far from perfect, it was the closest that Russia was to come to a democracy until recent years.

For Russian visionaries of later centuries, it became a symbol of liberty.