1124, and several others of the clergy,
continued Nestor's annals;[8] while Hegumen Daniel wrote his travels
to Palestine in the beginning of the twelfth century.
The theological productions of the early portion of this period, are
of less value than the historical. It was however this field, that was
cultivated most diligently. There are several sermons, or rather
synodal _oraisons_, still extant; some of which, by another Cyril,
metropolitan of Kief, A.D. 1281. are said to be not without real
eloquence. Most of the productions of this early period, which belong
indeed more to the history of the Slavonic than of the Russian
literature, perished in the devastations and conflagrations of the
Mongols.
From A.D. 1238 to 1462, the Russian princes, as we have seen, were
vassals of the Mongol Tartars, or the _Golden Horde_.[9] In the course
of these two centuries, nearly every trace of cultivation perished.
No school existed during this whole time throughout all Russia. The
Mongols set fire to the cities; sought out and destroyed what written
documents they could find; and purposely demolished all monuments of
national culture. The convents alone found in their policy a sort of
protection. Science therefore became more than ever the exclusive
possession of the monks.
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