History sources found in the

libraries

General Secondary School

“Angel Karaliychev”

People startedinteresting in their ancestors’ lives long time ago. At first they simply wrote the event and the time it happened. It was also important to remember their past and to know about other countries.As a founder of the contemporary history is considered Herodotus (484-425 BC)

Many things can be used as history sources- coins, seals, documents, literature etc. They are different in origin, material, genre and period.We chose to present Old- Bulgarian literal works. In general they consists of 3 levels:1.History-giving historical facts;2. Religious- gives the Christian point of view;3.Ideological- serve for the needs of the state and its people.

“Full passional of St Cyril “was created between 869 and 881. It is assumed the author is Cyril’s student Clement of Ohrid as the writer knew well Cyril and its work and the aim was to praise his deed. The passional is one of the most importarnt sources for the creation of Slavic alphabet. It give a lot of information about social- political life in the Byzantium Empire and the Slavic countries at the end of IX and the beginning of X century.

Advantages:-Author is a witness of the events;- author gives his personal point of view;-The passional contains information about people and events from that period of time;

Disadvantages:-The work is rather subjective as the author knew Cyril personally;-Because of the inherit modesty of the medieval writers a lot of details are not mentioned;

“An Account of Letters” was written in 893 by Chernorizec Hrabur. It contains information for the creation of the Slavic alphabet and it is the only Medieval source mentioning the year of its creation.

It consists of 2 parts: 1. introduction which presents the history of the creation of the alphabet; 2. polemic which defend the created by the two brothers alphabet.

Advantages:

-The author is witness of the events;;

-Gives detailed information about the creation development of the alphabet;

-The work contain specific information about people and events of the time;

Disadvantages: -Subjectivism of the author;-The identity behind the name Chernorizets Hrabur is unknown.. He was probably a monk or Cyril’s student;

“Sermon Against the Heretics “ movement” was written in X century by Cosmas the Priest. It is recognized as the earliest and most complete work to tell of the nature of Bogomilism . The work is divided into two sections: 1. presents details about various aspects of the Bogomil heresy; 2. contains Cosmas' criticism on contemporary Bulgarian society, with particular attention to the religious and social issues of the time

It also gives information about the position of the Orthodox church about the Bogomil’s movement.

Disadvantages:- The author shows strong personal opinion about the subject;- The tone of the work is too edifying;

Advantages: -The author is witness of the events;-Gives detailed information about the Bogomilism;-He gives some advice about the attitude towards the heresy;

THANK YOU!

This project has been funded with support from the European

Commission.This publication reflects the views

only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held

responsible for any use which may be made of the information

contained therein.