Most of the articles of this issue were written on the basis of reports and messages heard at the international conference "Medievalists of the older generation: fate, society, power, science," dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the Honored Professor of Saratov State University named after N.G. Chernyshevsky S.M. Stam (Moscow (November 24) - Saratov (December 1-3) 2003).