berkovec

[Michael Flier]

Dear Prof. Cleminson:

According to Omeljan Pritsak (_The Origins of the Old Rus' Weights and
Monetary Systems: Two Studies in Western Eurasian Metrology and
Numismatics in the Seventh to Eleventh Centuries_. Cambridge, Mass.:
Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, 1998, pp. 58-60), the _berkovec_
equalled 10 _pud_s, i.e. weighed 163,800g or 400 great _grivenka_s.


Sincerely,

Michael Flier

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                                PROF. MICHAEL S. FLIER
                                ======================

Dept. of Slavic Languages and Literatures  OR   Dept. of Linguistics
Harvard University                              Harvard University
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On Tue, 22 Jun 1999, Ralph Cleminson wrote:

> Can anyone help with the weights and measures of mediaeval Rus'?
> In the Kievan Chronicle we find, s.a.6654, that when Izjaslav
> Mstislavich plundered Svjatoslav Ol'govich's property at Putivl',
> vpogrebekh bylo 500 berkovezk' medu, a vina 80 korchag'.  Now,
> according to all the reference books that I can find, a
> berkovesk/berkovec is equal to ten puds, that is to say 400 Russian
> pounds.  500 berkovec would therefore be over eighty tons, or nearly
> 82,000 Kg.  Did Svjatoslav really have this much honey in his cellar,
> or did the berkovec not always weigh this much?
>
> R.M.Cleminson,
> Professor of Slavonic Studies,
> University of Portsmouth,
> Park Building,
> King Henry I Street,
> Portsmouth PO1 2DZ
> tel. +44 1705 846143, fax: +44 1705 846040
>