One ligature is one of the most interesting directions in the decorative use of the Slavic charter. By definition, V.N. Shchepkina: “Elm is Cyril’s decorative writing, which aims to tie a string into a continuous and uniform ornament. This goal is achieved by various cuts and embellishments. The system of writing in ligature was borrowed by the southern Slavs from Byzantium, but much later than the appearance Slavic writing and therefore it is not found in early monuments. The first accurately dated monuments of South Slavic origin date back to the first half of the 13th century, while those of the Russians date back to the end of the 14th century. And it was on Russian soil that the art of knitting reached such a flowering that it can rightfully be considered a unique contribution of Russian art to world culture.

Two factors contributed to this phenomenon:

1. The main technique of tying is the so-called mast ligature. That is, two vertical lines of two adjacent letters are combined into one. And if the Greek alphabet has 24 characters, of which only 12 have masts, which in practice allows no more than 40 two-digit combinations, then the Cyrillic alphabet has 26 characters with masts, of which about 450 commonly used combinations were made.

2. The spread of the tie coincided with the period when weak semivowels began to disappear from the Slavic languages: ъ and ь. This led to the contact of a variety of consonants, which were very conveniently combined with mast ligatures.

3. Due to its decorative appeal, ligature has become widespread. She was decorated with frescoes, icons, bells, metal utensils, used in sewing, on tombstones, etc.

In parallel with the change in the form of the statutory letter, another form of font is developing - the initial letter (initial). Borrowed from Byzantium, the method of highlighting the initial letters of especially important text fragments has undergone significant changes among the southern Slavs.

Initial letter - in a handwritten book, emphasized the beginning of the chapter, and then the paragraph. By the nature of the decorative appearance of the initial letter, we can determine the time and style. In the ornamentation of headpieces and capital letters of Russian manuscripts, four main periods are distinguished. The early period (XI-XII century) is characterized by the predominance of the Byzantine style. In the XIII-XIV centuries, the so-called teratological, or "animal" style is observed, the ornament of which consists of figures of monsters, snakes, birds, animals, intertwined with belts, tails and knots. The 15th century is characterized by South Slavic influence, the ornament becomes geometric and consists of circles and lattices. Influenced by the European style of the Renaissance, in the ornamentation of the 16th-17th centuries we see wriggling leaves intertwined with large flower buds. With the strict canon of the statutory letter, it was the initial letter that made it possible for the artist to express his imagination, humor, and mystical symbolism. An initial letter in a handwritten book is an obligatory decoration of the first page of the book.

The Slavic style of drawing initials and headpieces - teratological style (from the Greek teras - monster and logos - teaching; monstrous style - a variant of the animal style, - the image of fantastic and real stylized animals in ornament and on decorative items) - originally developed among the Bulgarians in the XII - XIII century, and from the beginning of the XIII century began to move to Russia. “A typical teratological initial is a bird or beast (four-legged), throwing leaves out of its mouth and entangled in weaving coming from the tail (or, in a bird, also from the wing).” In addition to the unusually expressive graphic design, the initials had a rich color scheme. But the polychromy that makes up feature of the 14th-century book-writing ornament, in addition to artistic, it also had an applied value. Often, the complex design of a hand-drawn letter with its numerous purely decorative elements obscured the main outline of the written sign. And for its quick recognition in the text, color highlighting was required. Moreover, by the color of the selection, you can approximately determine the place where the manuscript was created. So, Novgorodians preferred a blue background, and Pskov masters - green. A light green background was also used in Moscow, but sometimes with the addition of blue tones.

Another element of the decoration of a handwritten, and subsequently a printed book, is a headband - nothing more than two teratological initials, located symmetrically one opposite the other, framed by a frame, with braided knots at the corners.

Thus, in the hands of Russian masters, ordinary letters of the Cyrillic alphabet turned into a wide variety of decorative elements, introducing an individual creative spirit and national color into books. In the 17th century, the semi-ustav, having passed from church books into office work, was transformed into civil writing, and its italic version - cursive - into civil cursive.

At this time, books of writing samples appeared - “The Alphabet of the Slavic Language ...” (1653), primers of Karion Istomin (1694-1696) with magnificent examples of letters of various styles: from luxurious initials to simple cursive letters. By the beginning of the 18th century, Russian writing was already very different from previous types of writing. The reform of the alphabet and font, carried out by Peter I in early XVIII century, contributed to the spread of literacy and education. The new civil font began to print all secular literature, scientific and government publications. In form, proportions and style, the civil font was close to the old antiqua. The same proportions of most of the letters gave the font a calm character. Its readability has improved a lot. The forms of the letters - Б, У, Ь, Ъ, "ЯТ", which were higher in height than the rest of the capital letters, are a characteristic feature of the Peter's font. The Latin forms "S" and "i" began to be used.

In the future, the development process was aimed at improving the alphabet and font. In the middle of the 18th century, the letters “zelo”, “xi”, “psi” were abolished, the letter “ё” was introduced instead of “i o”. New type designs appeared with a high contrast of strokes, the so-called transitional type (fonts of the printing houses of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences and Moscow University). Late XVIII- the first half of the 19th century was marked by the appearance of classic type fonts (Bodoni, Dido, printing houses of Selivanovskiy, Semyon, Revillon).

Starting from the 19th century, the graphics of Russian fonts developed in parallel with Latin ones, absorbing everything new that originated in both writing systems. In the field of ordinary writing, Russian letters took the form of Latin calligraphy. Designed in “copybooks” with a pointed pen, Russian calligraphic writing of the 19th century was a true masterpiece of handwritten art. The letters of calligraphy were significantly differentiated, simplified, acquired beautiful proportions, a rhythmic structure natural to the pen. Among the drawn and typographic fonts, Russian modifications of grotesque (chopped), Egyptian (squared) and decorative fonts appeared. Together with Latin, Russian font in late XIX- at the beginning of the 20th century, it also experienced a decadent period - the Art Nouveau style.

January 9th, 2015 , 10:35 pm

The beginning of the year brought a new experience to my creative piggy bank.
I managed to visit the master class "Russian ligature" by Olga Peregoedova. Magnificent master from Novosibirsk.
Impressions were the best. Very interested in this area.
Some information found on the Internet

What is it?

Russian vyaz is a special decorative letter used since the 15th century mainly to highlight titles, sometimes for utilitarian purposes, for example, the first font letters. Elm - a type of writing in which letters approach or connect with one another and are connected in a continuous ornament.

Elm originated in Byzantium in the 11th century, from where in the 13th century. moved to Bulgaria and Serbia and in the 14th century. showed up in Russia. The oldest example in Russia is the Stichar of 1380. In the 15th century. The main centers for the distribution of ligature were the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, Novgorod and Pskov. In the 16th century, the school, which was led by Metropolitan Macarius of the time of Ivan the Terrible, was famous for its ligature. Byzantine script had two varieties: vegetable (where the letters took the form of floral patterns; arabesque style) and geometric (moresque style), in which the letters took shape geometric shapes, as if reflecting the growing role of the state. The letters stretch out like Gothic cathedrals. The latter type of ligature prevailed in the Moscow principality, and the first - in Western Russia (for example, in Ukraine).

There are simple, complex and patterned knitting. The usual techniques when working with ligature are:

Ligature: a combination of two or more letters that have a common (merged) part;
- reduction of individual letters and their distribution in the intervals between non-diminished letters;
- subordination: writing a small letter under any part or between strokes of a large one;
subordination: writing two or more reduced ones, one under the other;
- reduction of parts of letters in order to bring them closer to each other.

The ligature appeared in the Russian book at the end of the 14th century. By the end of the 15th century, ligature became a favorite calligraphic technique in the design of Russian manuscript books. At that time, Pskov and Novgorod became hotbeds of the art of knitting, and in the center of Russia - the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. Best Samples ligatures were created in the middle of the 16th century in Moscow under Ivan IV in a calligraphy workshop led by Metropolitan Macarius, as well as in Novgorod. Books published by the Russian pioneer Ivan Fedorov are famous for their printed ligature.

In Russia, during the XV-XVI centuries, ornamental ligature quickly evolved. Lower case the strings stretched out so that the height of the letters began to exceed their width by 10 times. In the 17th century, Moscow scribes knew hundreds of different combinations of letter styles, but since the end of this century, further changes in the field of ligature occurred only in the Old Believer environment, especially in the schools of Pomor writing, which evolved noticeably even in the 19th century.

The second part of the master class was devoted to the creation of a Christmas card.

That's what I did

Many thanks to the master for sharing his skill.

As far back as the Paleolithic period, mankind has known the art of ornamentation. Valuable information was invested in a repeating pattern. Such an image is capable of evoking associations that are intertwined with each other, helping to understand the full depth of the work.

Ancient Slavic culture in patterns and ornaments

They have absorbed many sacred, magical meanings, have a special energy. Magi used signs for sacraments and rituals. With their help, shamans could erase the boundaries between worlds and travel to a dark or light world, communicate with the gods, pay tribute and respect to the forces of nature. A man who lived among nature continuously watched her, transferred her lines to fabric, dishes, household items. Each line was non-random and endowed with its own meaning. The ornament helped the ancient Slavs to protect their homes, themselves and their families; for this, patterns were applied to window and entrance openings, clothes, towels.

Traditional colors in symbolism

The ornament was applied to clothes with special trepidation, as it protected the one who wears it from evil spirits. The ritual pattern was applied to vulnerable parts: neck, collar, hem, sleeves.

Red

Most of the embroidery was red, as a symbol of life and love. This color protects the living. Red is also a sign of energy, fire, that is, the sun. He gives a healthy body, warmth, removes any evil eye.

It is not for nothing that ordinary phenomena were endowed with the epithet “red”: the red sun, which gives life to all living organisms; spring is red - the personification of the beginning of life; red summer - dawn, life triumphs; red girl - beautiful girl, healthy, full of energy etc.

Black

In combination with red, it enhanced the protective effect of the ornament. Black is the fertile Mother Earth, this color was assigned the role of protecting a woman from infertility.

The sign, embroidered in a black zigzag, means an unplowed field, it was worn by girls who need to be fertilized. Wavy black lines - a plowed field, ready for the grains to germinate, that is, for fertilization.

Blue

The blue color protected from bad weather and natural elements. It was used mainly on men's clothing, because it was the man who was often away from home, getting food or being at war. Blue water is the sky on earth, its reflection. The blue embroidered ornament on the man's dress tells us that he embarked on the spiritual path of self-improvement.

Male color, a sign of readiness to protect a woman. If a young man gave a girl a blue embroidered handkerchief, this meant that he had the most serious intentions, he was ready to protect his chosen one for the rest of his life. An important point: the man himself necessarily tied a gift on the head of the girl, thereby confirming his intentions.

Green

The green color was endowed with the power of plants and helped protect the body from wounds. Symbol of the Forest, youth and rebirth. Green depicted the World Tree, sown fields and young shoots.

The Slavs had names: - a green garden meant blooming life; - the deep sea is green, the same as "beyond distant lands", very far away; - green wine had a negative connotation - strong alcohol intoxication. But, at the same time, this color denoted the space of a stranger, places inhabited by evil spirits.

In the southern area, the Slavs had conspiracies that helped drive out evil spirits on the “green grass”, “green tree”, “on the green mountain”. Mythological heroes also had green parts of the body: the hair and eyes of a mermaid and a goblin, and the merman himself was all the color of sea mud.

White

The dual color is white. It is associated with everything pure, bright, holy, but at the same time it was considered mourning. Any other color is combined with this color, so white is a symbol of harmony, reconciliation. Also, white light is the space that is intended for human life.

People with pure thoughts and bright thoughts were described as follows: white hands, white face, white birch tree. Everything that is sincere, bright and kind in the world, everything is reflected in white: - white tablecloths protect guests from evil thoughts; - white sheets protect from death; - white underwear creates a barrier to grief and illness; - a white apron is able to protect the female organs from the evil eye.

Slavic symbols and their meaning

Alatyr Another name is the cross of Svarog, an eight-petal star. This is the Eye of the Family. It was applied to the clothes of people in charge, the sign acted as a talisman on a dangerous and long journey. The cross combines all svargas, two-headed and triglavic and many other sacred symbols, as it is the basis of all things.

Bereginya

This symbol has many names: Rozhanitsa, Mother of the world, Goddess of the house and others. She protects her entire family, family, hearth, children. Beregina is allowed to host in heaven, in nature, she was responsible for fertility. The female image was embroidered with raised or lowered hands as a sign of a talisman and blessing.

The embodiment of the Universe, the center and axis of the world, the personification of the entire Genus. Women, so that the family is strong and healthy. In the minds of the Slavs, the place of the World Tree was given in the center of the world, in the middle of the ocean on an island of land. Branches stretch to the sky, gods and angels sit in the crown. And the roots go deep underground, to the Underworld, where demonic entities, demons live. Bereginya and the Tree of Knowledge were interchangeable. Often the Goddess of the house was depicted with roots instead of legs - a sign of the earth.

Kolovrat

The well-known sign of the swastika originates from the Slavic peoples (it acquired a negative meaning thanks to Hitler and the Nazi army). Kolovrat, or Solstice, is the most ancient and deeply revered pagan amulet. It was considered the most powerful protective sign, which personifies the unity of the Family, its continuity, the Rotation of everything and everything. Thus, the idea of ​​the Eternal Revival received a symbolic embodiment.

In the direction of rotation of the swastika (salting / anti-salting) determine the Sun in summer and winter. The aspiration along the course of the sun (Reveal) is bright, it is a Creative force, a kind of symbol of energy control, superiority over existing matter. She is opposed to the left-sided swastika (Sun of Navi), this is the triumph of everything earthly, the superiority of the material essence and instinctiveness of things.

Undoubtedly, the most common were the symbols that brought happiness. Orepey (or Arepey) is one of them. The comb rhombus received this name in the Ryazan region. In other regions, it is known as oak, well or burdock. The rhombus itself in the Slavic ornamental tradition has many interpretations: agriculture, fertility, it was believed that it was also feminine, the sun.

A sign with a dot in it meant land planted with seeds. On the robe of a woman in the shoulder area, Orepey denoted the World Mountain, Alatyr-stone with a god sitting on it. Gates to another world were embroidered on the hem. On the elbow means ancestor. Often the rhombus pattern ended with crosses. So the Slavs believed that they spread happiness and good on all four sides. The symbol of a sown field brought prosperity, success, wealth to the Slavs, increased vitality, gave a person self-confidence.

Thunderbolt

The sign of Perun (the god of thunder) was depicted as a cross with six ends, which was inscribed in a hexagon or circle. At first, only men could use it and exclusively in a military environment; it was depicted on the weapons and armor of warriors. It was believed that Thunderbolt had a detrimental effect on female energy. Later, the ornament began to be applied to simple clothes and dwellings in order to protect themselves from destructive lightning. Often this sign was decorated with shutters and door jambs.

Makosh

The Heavenly Mother of God is the arbiter of destinies. With her daughters, Shares and Nedolya, she weaves the threads of fate for gods and people. Those who adhere to a righteous lifestyle, honor the saints, know the canons, draw a good lot, and Makosh gives them a Share, good fortune. For those people who follow their desires and selfishness, Nedolya will be the mistress of fate. Makosh patronizes fertility, women's handicrafts, on her shoulders is the responsibility for the crossroads of the Interworld.

The symbol helps to call for help the power of the gods, it protects, heals, helps to find harmony and happiness. A noose-like sign is able to connect torn, confused and broken parts into a single whole.

Water

Water acted not only as an element, it is knowledge, the beginning of which is in the Interworld. The personification of the Currant River, which serves as the border between Yavu and Naviu, a river that carries the knowledge of ancient ancestors, oblivion and death. The river Ra is a bright road to God. Brings knowledge top level and the milk river in Iria grants immortality.

A strong amulet, personifying the union of two Clans. This ornament was always present in wedding embroidery. The pattern means the eternal spiritual, mental and physical merging of entities: two newlyweds and two Clans. The threads of the Body, Soul, Spirit, Conscience of both Clans are intertwined into a new created Life System.

Strong and weak beginnings in the wedding are indicated by color: male - red (fire), female - blue (water). The unification of the energies of the two Elements generates a new universal energy and is a manifestation of infinite life in time and space.

fireworks

In the culture of the ancient Slavs, Ognevitsa was a strong female amulet. A beneficial effect was only on a mature female body and a formed soul. The presence of this image on the clothes of young girls and girls was not allowed. Ognevitsa effectively acted on married women who gave birth to at least one child. She protected from everything bad, starting from a random word and ending with purposeful evil deeds.

Carrying a sacred meaning, Ognevitsa was embroidered only on clothes, you will not find it on household items. This symbol is able to take away any trouble from a woman, direct her to positive aspirations. Slavets often performs in tandem with her - a swastika solar symbol that helps protect women Health. The Slavs knew that Ognevitsa enhances the action of the energy flows of the protective symbols that are next to her.

Stribozhich

Stribozhich directs his creative energy to protect against the elements (hurricane, snowstorm, storm, drought, and others). The amulet gave immunity to the entire Family and the Household of the Family. Sailors also loved this symbol. They carved signs on sailing ships, and Stribozhich gave them good weather. He was revered by farmers and farmers. Embroidered on work clothes, the pattern called for a cool breeze in the hot midday heat. There is an opinion that the blades of windmills were built in accordance with the location of the petals of the symbol. This allowed the most efficient use of wind energy.

The Slavs attached great importance to the color scheme. The red blades of the sign are solar energy, activity. The inner space of white color means unity with the Universal heavens, the place where energy originates. External blue color speaks of sacredness, higher level spiritual development. This wisdom is not given to everyone, it is given only to the elect.

Spiral

The spiral is a sign of wisdom. Pattern of blue color meant sacred wisdom. The ornament, made in other colors, was a talisman against evil forces and the evil eye. Slavic women loved to embroider spiral images on their headdresses.

The spiral itself is the oldest symbol of the Universe, because many galaxies are arranged according to this principle. And mankind since ancient times has been developing in an upward spiral.

A little more about symbols

To comprehend all the beauty of the charms Slavic symbols possible if you study their meanings. Watching the patterned embroidery, considering the bizarre interweaving of ornaments, the eye loses focus, and the picture becomes "holographic". Attention switches between dark and light signs. Where the dark is all earthly, and the light is the heavenly world.

In order to decipher the meaning inherent in the patterns, it is necessary to take into account the fact that, depending on the location of the protective symbolism on the clothes, its interpretation also changes. The Slavs accepted a three-part division of the world: Yav, Nav and the world, where a place is reserved for man. Accordingly: the neck, the shoulders are the highest divine light, the hem is the Underworld, the sleeves are the middle human world.

By placing one sign in different worlds, it took on different meanings. Masculine and feminine, light and darkness, earth and sky, top and bottom - such opposites ultimately lead to the fact that the process of movement, development occurs continuously and forever.

The ancient Slavs had to observe golden mean to keep the two sides of the force in balance. Symbols have been created and improved over the centuries, they have absorbed special sacred meanings, magic, works of ancestors. These are strong protective amulets, so their beauty and aesthetics should be judged last. For a very long time, the masters honored the canons according to which the ornament was embroidered, they knew the meaning. But by the beginning of the twentieth century, much was lost.

Modern embroiderers can no longer explain what they embroider, but somewhere in the distant outback the most ancient patterns still live and delight their admirers. There are still people who consciously wear protective clothing, delving into and comprehending the secrets of the past.

Slavic costume has always been admired by overseas merchants. Clothes skillfully emphasized external and spiritual beauty. The rhythm of geometric details plays a significant role. To know the truth, to feel harmony and splendor is possible through creativity. However, you should not look at the mysterious ornament on the run. This requires a special mood, a spiritual attitude, when a person hears his heart and is ready to follow his call.

ElmOld Russian

Orthodox arabesques

ELIM- a special decorative type of writing, linking a line into one continuous ornament in the style arabesque.

Used since the 15th century. mainly for highlighting titles, sometimes for utilitarian purposes (for example, the first type bookplates, almost a century ahead of the appearance of book signs in Western Europe). Elm has also been used to shorten the length of headings or to deliberately make reading difficult (i.e. as cryptography). It is also found in inscriptions on dishes, bells, and also embroidered on fabrics. Occasionally, lengthy texts were written in ligature, and not just headlines.

Elm is very compact and does not tolerate free space, which evenly tends to be filled with additional decorations. The direction of the letters in the line is shifted from horizontal to vertical (as a rule, the letter located at the top left is read first).

Elm originated in Byzantium in the 11th century, from where in the 13th century. moved to Bulgaria and Serbia and in the 14th century. showed up in Russia. The oldest example in Russia is the Stichar of 1380. In the 15th century. The main centers for the distribution of ligature were the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, Novgorod and Pskov. In the 16th century, the school, which was led by Metropolitan Macarius of the time of Ivan the Terrible, was famous for its ligature. Byzantine script had two varieties: vegetable (where the letters took the form of floral patterns; style arabesques) and geometric (style seafarers), in which the letters took on the outlines of geometric figures, as if reflecting the growing role of the state. The letters stretch out like Gothic cathedrals. The latter type of ligature prevailed in the Moscow principality, and the first - in Western Russia (for example, in Ukraine).

With the fall of Byzantium, the Greek and South Slavic ligature degrades, in Muscovy, on the contrary, its development continued. Moscow ligature is distinguished by lapidarity and strict proportions. It must be said that the angular Cyrillic alphabet, due to the greater number of letters with vertically oriented elements (Ts, Ch, Sh, Shch, b, b, s), is better than the Greek script and the Latin script was suitable for building up ligatures.

The concept of tie is based on the combination of several letters into one complex sign - a ligature. Ligatures can be: 1. Mast, when the letters are united by one common "mast" (trunk). 2. Ascribed and subordinate, i.e. smaller letters are separately or together attributed to the larger one. 3. Bunk - the letter is written under the letter. 4. Closed when one letter is inside another. 5. Semi-closed. 6. Dotted - a group of letters touch at a single point. 7. Crossed - two letters intersect each other. 8. Title ones, when a special sign “titlo” ҃ is placed at the place where the letters are skipped. Titles abbreviate the most commonly used words. The spelling of title ligatures, as a rule, did not allow variations: bg - god, btsa - virgin, dh - spirit, tsr - king, sty - saint, numbers 71 - oa, etc. Moscow calligraphers brought some innovations to the theory of tie, which predetermined its further development; 9. Crushing of the common mast, 10. Hanging letters, i.e. the letter acquired additional elements, filling the space surrounding it as much as possible. 11. Spaced letters - the letters were stretched, and their horizontal elements were shifted to the edges of the mast. At the same time, the horizontal lines of the letters were much thinner (almost invisible) compared to the vertical ones. 12. The violation of symmetry changed some letters beyond recognition. Remote signs were widely used in knitting (see. Cursive).

The letters of Russian ligature, as it developed, gradually stretched out. The ratio of their length and width could be 3:1 (Byzantine script), 15th century. and 12:1 to con. 17th century Such proportions of the ligature significantly hampered reading, which was sometimes used in ancient Russian cryptography, since it no longer demonstrated just decorative techniques, but revealed the properties of a puzzle.

Some letters (A, C, O) could change beyond recognition:

In ligature, techniques were developed that largely freed from the duality of reading:

1. Mast crushing:

Such crushing made it possible to increase the number of ligatures:

2. Suspended ligature, when the letter seems to hang between the upper and lower limits on several "legs".

3. Letter spacing. To bring two graphemes as close as possible, oblique or horizontal elements are flattened to the bottom and top:

In this case, side elements can freely move vertically, sometimes taking unusual shapes. Compare metamorphosis L:

Sometimes the symmetry of letters can be broken:

Knitted letters were sometimes decorated with decorative elements such as a knot, a cross, a leaf, an arrow, a figure eight, dashes, curls, dots, rhombuses, proboscis, hangings, etc. Here are some types of patterned elements that were used by craftsmen for beauty.

1. A knot (it can also be hollow), which was usually placed in the thinnest places of the grapheme:

2. Oblique cross:

4. Leaves (symmetrical and lateral):

5. Arrow:

6. Eight:

7. Dashes can be used two, three or more, as well as in combination with other elements (for example, with a knot):

8. Curl: moreover, the curl may be accompanied by dashes or dots

10. Double Diamond:

11. Cross in a rhombus:

12. Curls in a circle:

13 Triangle:

14. Web:

Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish patterns that mean nothing and serve only to fill the free space from elements of letters (or even letters themselves) made in the form of patterns.

Here the curl is undoubtedly a continuation of the letter.

And here the whole letter is entirely made in the form of a complex curl.

Calligraphers especially like to decorate Ѡ, V, ȣ

After the church reform of Nikon and the Europeanization of the country by Peter I, the ligature is going through a period of decline and today it is actively used only among Old Believers, in particular Pomors(Arkhangelsk region) in their books of the 18th-19th centuries. They brought some new elements to the knitting technique. There are no circles in the Pomeranian script, it is even more angular, which allows the formation of previously unthinkable ligatures resembling a web (they are barely accessible to parsing).

Today, primitive variants of knitting are used by the national-patriotic movements of Russia, for example, "Memory".

1 - bookplate; 2 - Synodik, 1659 ("the spelling of the senadic was collected"); 3 - Russian gospel of the 15th century, from the Serbian original ("in the holy and great week ... the gospel"); 4 - Ukrainian ligature ("preface and fairy tale to..."); 5 - Letter of the 14th century. Bulgarian Tsar John Shishman. Royal title ("Ioan Shishman. In Christ, both the tsar and the autocrat of all the Bulgarians and the Greeks are faithful"); 6 - Novgorod Gospel of the 16th century. ("from John the holy gospel").

Pskov Chrysostom 16th century ("the book is said to be instructive Gold ...")

Maxim Grek, 1587 ("this word was created by a monk")

Life of Valaam Khutynsky, 1689 ("at the great party...")

Apocalypse con. 19th century ("the revelation of the fourth seal is in the water...")

Secret writing 19th century

Let's analyze the superscripts in the inscription “Russian-headed Code of Laws on Rose Courts” 1 - accent mark; 2 - a separating sign placed between two consonants; 3 - the letter "k", covered with a title-like sign; 4 - the letter "s", covered with a title (5); 6 - title; 7 - combined sign "th"; 8 - separating sign (see 2); 9 - stress; 10 cm 2; 11-pronged letter "x"; 12-accent; 13 cm eleven.

The technique of "tying" decorative ligatures is inherent not only in Cyrillic, but also in many other oriental writing systems. Following the example of the Byzantines, ligature ornaments were used in Georgian, Armenian, Coptic scripts, as well as in Glagolitic manuscripts and runic cryptography.

The elm is widely used in Arabic, Syriac, and some Indian (Nepali Ranja) scripts. Korean writing is originally based on ligature-syllabic spellings

Selishchev A.M. , Old Slavonic language, M., 1951; Cherepnin L.V. , Russian paleography, M., 1956; Shchepkin V.N. , Russian paleography, M. ,

Elm - a type of writing in which letters come together or connect one to another and are connected in a continuous ornament

There are simple, complex and patterned knitting. The usual techniques when working with ligature are:

Ligature: a combination of two or more letters that have a common (merged) part;
reduction of individual letters and their distribution in the intervals between non-diminished letters;
subordination: writing a small letter under any part or between strokes of a large one;
subordination: writing two or more reduced ones, one under the other;
reduction of parts of letters in order to bring them closer to each other;

These techniques were largely known in Byzantium and among the southern Slavs, but they were especially widely used in Russian writing. The ligature was used in order to shorten the letter in case of lack of space (record of 1512 along the border of the embroidered shroud of the Ryazan Museum), even entire manuscripts were sometimes written with it (for example, the Code of Chudovsky collection No. 13).

However, in addition to business purposes, ligature was used - especially among Russians - for aesthetic purposes. Knitting elements are combined with purely ornamental motifs in the style of arabesques. The voids in the knitting line are usually filled with decorations. Of these, the following are distinguished: branch, arrow, eye, curl, cross, leaf, rays, curl, antennae, proboscis, spike. In this, often difficult to read, coherent letter, the semantic side recedes into the background.

Ornamental ligature developed in Byzantium as early as the middle of the 11th century, but it was an easily readable letter, rather wide, with simple techniques. From the first half of the 13th century, Byzantine ligature formed the basis of the ligature of the southern Slavs, who by the end of the 14th century - the time of the South Slavic influence on Russian writing - had developed styles of this artistic writing. The South Slavic ligature is also not difficult to read and does not present much complexity in the composition of its constituent parts.

The ligature appeared in the Russian book at the end of the 14th century. By the end of the 15th century, ligature became a favorite calligraphic technique in the design of Russian manuscript books. At that time, Pskov and Novgorod became hotbeds of the art of knitting, and in the center of Russia - the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. The best examples of tie were created in the middle of the 16th century in Moscow under Ivan IV in a calligraphic workshop led by Metropolitan Macarius, as well as in Novgorod. Books published by the Russian pioneer Ivan Fedorov are famous for their printed ligature.

In Russia, during the XV-XVI centuries, ornamental ligature quickly evolved. The lowercase letters of the tie stretched out so that the height of the letters began to exceed their width by 10 times. In the 17th century, Moscow scribes knew hundreds of different combinations of letter styles, but since the end of this century, further changes in the field of ligature occurred only in the Old Believer environment, especially in the schools of Pomor writing, which evolved noticeably even in the 19th century.

Ornamental ligature was widely used on objects closely related to the life and social life of Russia: it often wrote the titles of articles and individual parts in books, it is common in gravestone inscriptions, on objects of religious worship, is found on domestic metal and wooden utensils, furniture, etc. The evolution of tie depended on the development and nature of the technique of working on different materials: ligature written in books, carved on stone or bone, sewn on fabrics, written on wood has peculiar differences. In this regard, in different cultural centers we find significant differences in this letter. The extensive development of production technology in Moscow in the 16th-17th centuries explains to us to a large extent the extreme complexity of Moscow ornamental knitting in the 17th century.

The result is the prayer “It is worthy to eat,” which is still valid in the church service to this day:

“It is worthy to eat as truly to blyat Thee, the Mother of God, the Blessed and Immaculate and the Mother of our God. The honorable Cherubim and the glorious Seraphim without comparison, without the destruction of God the Word, who gave birth to the real Mother of God, we praise You.

Parsing the ligature of the banner of Yermak
In the collection of relics of the Armory there are three blue banners of Yermak, under which he conquered the Siberian Khanate of Kuchum in 1582.

The panels of the banners are more than 3 arshins (2 meters) long. One is embroidered with images of Joshua and St. Michael (see Fig. 1). On the other two - a lion and a unicorn, ready for battle.

Image plot - scene from Old Testament. After the death of Moses, Joshua becomes the leader of Israel. On the eve of the capture of Jericho, he sees a man with a sword in his hand - the leader of the heavenly host. “Take off your shoes, for the place on which you are standing is holy,” says the celestial. The image is just the moment when Jesus takes off his shoes.

The same scene is depicted on the banner of Dmitry Pozharsky (see. The ligature of the banner of Dmitry Pozharsky) with slight differences in details, of which the most significant is that on the banner of Yermak Joshua is depicted as an ordinary person (without a halo), and on the banner of Dmitry Pozharsky he already a saint (with a halo).