Hermeneutics of Old Russian Literature Hermeneutics of Old Russian Literature 1607-6192 2713-2226 IWL RAS https://doi.org/10.22455/HORL.1607-6192-2025-24-439-450 Research Article Articles ALL-CONQUERING LOVE: STRUCTURAL AND ARTISTIC FEATURES OF THE TALE OF THE SECOND MARRIAGE OF BASIL THE THIRD Pervushin Mikhail V. old-rus@imli.ru 2025 24 439 450 Copyright © 2026, IWL RAS 2026 Abstract: The Tale of the Second Marriage of Basil the Third was written in the second half of the 20s of the 16th century. If we look at the work from the point of view of the content of the monument, the historical reality that it sets out is absolutely biased. This work, according to historians, is biased and aimed at justifying Grand Duke Basil III in his moral iniquities, an attempt to glorify him as an ideal autocrat, etc. At the same time, The Tale of the Second Marriage of Basil the Third was written in an extremely realistic manner. Even though it diverges from the historical reality, it still corresponds to the author’s ideas about the world, and those realities, the truth in it, which is not rejected when reading as something fantastic, but strictly corresponds to the reader’s life experience and expectations. In the process of researching the artistic form of comprehension and presentation of material by the author of this work, a completely unexpected image of the Grand Duke is revealed — very natural and lively, warm and human, and, at the same time, so unusual. The literary portrait of Basil III fits surprisingly harmoniously into the author’s conception of reality. Equally perfect is the way of presenting it to the reader. The artistic value of the work is great and indisputable. Agafonov, I.S. “Obraz ideal’nogo gosudaria v letopistse Pafnut’evo-Borovskogo monastyria i Povesti o vtorom brake Vasiliia III” [“The Image of the Ideal Sovereign in the Chronicle of the Paphnyevo-Borovsky Monastery and the Tale of the Second Marriage of Basil III”]. Istoricheskii biulleten’, vol. 6, no. 4, 2023, pp. 24–30. (In Russian) Bulanin, M. “‘Vypis’’ o vtorom brake Vasiliia III — dokument ili literaturnaia stilizatsiia?” [“‘Extract’ on the Second Marriage of Basil III - Document or Literary Stylisation?”]. Problemy istoricheskoi poetiki, vol. 19, no. 4, 2021, pp. 171–189. DOI: 10.15393/j9.art.2021.9782 (In Russian) Zimin, A.A. Russkie letopisi i khronografy kontsa XV–XVI v. [Russian Chronicles and Chronographs of the End of the 15th–16th Century]. Moscow, 36 p. (In Russian) Kapitsa, S. “‘Bogatyrskaia golova’ v ‘Povesti o Eruslane Lazareviche’: proiskhozhdenie obraza” [“‘Bogatyr’s Head’ in ‘The Tale of Eruslan Lazarevich’: Origin of the Image”]. Vestnik slavianskikh kul’tur, vol. XXV, no. 3, 2012, pp. 58–63. (In Russian) Nasonov, N. “Materialy i issledovaniia po istorii russkogo letopisaniia” [“Materials and Studies on the History of Russian Chronicle Writing”]. Problemy istochnikovedeniia, vol. 6, 1958, pp. 248–249. (In Russian) Pervushin, V. “Imagologicheskie  kontrasty  drevnerusskoi  literatury” [“Imagological  Contrasts  of  Old  Russian  Literature”].  Germenevtika drevnerusskoi literatury [Hermeneutics of Old Russian Literature]. Issue 23. Ed.-in-chief O.A. Tufanova. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2024, pp. 179–200. https://doi.org/10.22455/HORL.1607-6192-2024-23-179-200 (In Russian) Pervushin, V. “‘Skazanie o Magmet-saltane’ Ivana Peresvetova: uroki dlia russkogo tsaria” [“‘The Legend of Magmet-Saltan’ by Ivan Peresvetov: Lessons for the Russian Tsar”]. Germenevtika drevnerusskoi literatury [Hermeneutics of Old Russian Literature]. Issue 22. Ed.-in-chief O.A. Tufanova. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2023, pp. 407–418.  https://doi.org/10.22455/HORL.1607-6192-2023-22-407-418 (In Russian) Tikhomirov, N. “K voprosu o Vypisi o vtorom brake tsaria Vasiliia III” [“On the Question of the Extract on the Second Marriage of Tsar Basil the Third”]. Sbornik statei v chest’ akademika A.I. Sobolevskogo [Collection of Articles in Honour of Academician A.I. Sobolevsky]. Leningrad, Academy of Sciences of the USSR Publ., 1928, pp. 21–94. (In Russian) Tikhomirov, N. “Novyi pamiatnik moskovskoi politicheskoi literatury XVI veka” [“A New Monument of Moscow Political Literature of the 16th Century”]. Moskovskii krai v ego proshlom [Moscow Region in Its Past]. Moscow, 1930, pp. 105–114. (In Russian) Usachev, A.S. “‘Belyi tsar’’ v russkikh pis’mennykh istochnikakh XVI v.” [“‘White Tsar’ in Russian Written Sources of the 16th Century”]. Sibirskie istoricheskie issledovaniia, 4, 2020, pp. 261–273. DOI: 10.17223/2312461X/30/13 (In Russian) Shmidt, O. “O vremeni sostavleniia ‘vypisi’ o vtorom brake Vasiliia III” [“On the Time of Compilation of the ‘Write-up’ on the Second Marriage of Basil the Third”]. Novoe o proshlom nashei strany [New about the Past of Our Country]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1967, pp. 110–122. (In Russian)