ABSTRACT
62 Our main source for Konchak is the Kievan Chronicle , which mentions him a number of times in the entries from 1172 to 1187 as an adversary of the Rus′. The chronicler also employs invective in referring to him as an “evil leader,” “despised by God,” “accursed,” and the “accursed, godless, and thrice-cursed Konchak.” The Tale of Igor’s Campaign , an epic poem reputedly from the late twelfth or early thirteenth century, also mentions him prominently and at one point calls him a “pagan slave.” Yet, when one reads what Konchak was actually described as doing in these sources, his actions hardly seem to justify those epithets. He and Igor′ Sviatoslavich, for example, at one point escape together in a boat when they are fighting Riurik Rostislavich together. Konchak’s daughter subsequently marries Igor′’s son. And Konchak seems to treat Igor′ well when Igor′ becomes his prisoner after the battle on the Kaiala River in 1185. So, how “thrice-cursed” could he be?
