Gostomysl

Gostomysl depicted on the first plate of the book Illustrated Karamzin (1836), depicting the history of Russia.

Gostomysl (Russian: Гостомысл, Russian pronunciation: [ɡəstɐˈmɨsl]) was a legendary 9th-century prince or posadnik of Novgorod, who was introduced into Russian historiography by Vasily Tatishchev (1686–1750).

Legendary account

According to Tatishchev, who claimed to have derived his information from the now-lost Ioachim Chronicle, Gostomysl was elected by the Ilmen Slavs as their supreme ruler and expelled the Varangians from what is now northwestern Russia. But the alleged Ioachim Chronicle is considered by researchers to be the most dubious part of the so-called "Tatishchev information", and widely believed to be a later fabrication, perhaps by Tatishchev himself.

Use in nationalist narratives and rejection of his historicity

The legend of Gostomysl was much aired by the writers and composers working in the nationalist milieu of Catherine II's reign. However, the historians Gerhardt Friedrich Müller and Nikolay Karamzin gave no credit to Tatischev's story, believing that the very name of Gostomysl resulted from a misinterpretation of two Slavic words - gost' ("guest") and mysl' ("thought"). Gostomysl's existence is doubted by virtually every modern historian.