The March and the Ultra-March Styles in Novgorod and Rostov in the Second Half of the 13th Century

As it has been shown by N. V. Stepanov and N. G. Berezhkov, the Rus annals used two variants of the March style: the March style proper (the year started six months later than the September year with the same number from the Creation of the World) and the ultra-March style (the year started six month earlier than the September year). The paper is dedicated to the usage of those two styles in Novgorod and Rostov in the second half of the 13th century. It is argued that, in the 1260s — 1270s, the episcopal annals of those two cities at the same time turned from the March style to the ultra-March one, and, a few years later, turned back from the ultra-March to the March style. Those two simultaneous turns are a remarkable phenomenon, and some ideas can be expressed concerning the context of this probable discussion on chronology in the Rus church. Another ultra-March stripe can be observed slightly later, in the late 1270s and the early 1280s, in the annals of Novgorod only. That time the annals of Rostov continued to use the March style.