зографските

In the history of Old Bulgarian literature, the Tale of the Zograf Martyrs currently occupies a modest place. It is usually noted as one of the works of our historical literature of the 13th century, written on a historical theme - the massacre in 1275 in the Bulgarian Zograf Monastery of 21 Bulgarian monks and 4 laymen. It is assumed that the appearance of the Tale is directly related to the existing during the Second Bulgarian Kingdom our chronicle tradition, of which the Tale is a small fragment that has come down to us with its specific, dictated by the theme and the time of its emergence, anti-Latin tendency. Both Yordan Ivanov and Petar Dinekov are of the opinion that the Tale was written almost in the wake of the events and insofar as it contains hints about the external dangers threatening the Bulgarian people, they relate to its political and state relations at the end of the 13th century. 2 As can be seen, the Tale was not left without attention by our literary historians. Yet, what has been written about it so far is relatively small, so that the true place of the Tale in the Old Bulgarian literary process can be outlined on its basis. The reason for this state of research is that this medieval historical work of ours is considered anonymous, and the question of its more certain or possible authorship has not been raised.

In the history of our old literature there are still details to be clarified, some previous assumptions to be re-evaluated, there is a great need to search for and publish new materials on individual writers or periods. But when one proceeds to re-evaluate previous conceptions, it is necessary that the argumentation be more comprehensive and more convincing, so as not to introduce unnecessary or premature disturbances into the course of our literary history, which has to solve such important tasks, to clarify more fully the content, the problematics and the significance of old Bulgarian literature.