Udmurt Federal Research Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Izhevsk, Russian Federation, [email protected] ABSTRACT Introduction: fragmentary information about early epic forms and their samples has been preserved in monographs and articles by foreign and Russian scholars, collectors from the XIX – early XX centuries. These are the epic narrative “Kalmez Bakatyryos” (The Kalmez Knights), recorded by the Hungarian scholar Bernát Munkácsi in 1885. There is scant and scattered information about the informant from whom this text was recorded and about the history of its recording. Generalizations of these data are made in this work, as well as the role of the analyzed epic narrative and other similar texts in the creation of their author’s epics by Udmurt poets is revealed. Objective: to present the history of recording the fragment of the Udmurt epic narrative “Kalmez Bakatyryos”. Research materials: the fragment of the Udmurt folk epic “Kalmez Bakatyryos”, recorded by the Hungarian scholar in the end of the XIX century. Results and novelty of the research: the relevance of the research theme is due to the fact that the epic creativity of the Udmurt people still remains the least studied area of the Udmurt humanities. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the fact that for the first the systematization of the material, related to the history of recording by Bernát Munkácsi of the sample of the Udmurt epic “Kalmez Bakatyryos” is carried out. As a result of the conducted research, new data were introduced into scientific circulation, including updated information about the Udmurt seminarian N. Ivanov escorting the Hungarian scientist throughout the expedition. Ivanov was the editor of folklore texts. The reconstruction of the history of the recording of the epic fragment “Kalmez Bakatyryos” allowed us to conclude that N. Ivanov edited this work. This proposition is justified by many researchers. These arguments allowed us to put forward the hypothesis that the text is literary processed. It cannot be considered purely folklore, but at the same time its authentic character cannot be ignored. It is summarized that in the future the theme of the heroic epic found its continuation in the works of Udmurt poets. Key words: Udmurt folklore, epos, “The Kalmez Knights”, history of recording folklore text For citation: Kamitova A. V. The history of recording the fragment of the Udmurt epic narrative “The Kalmez Knights” // Vestnik ugrovedenia = Bulletin of Ugric Studies. 2024; 14 (1/56): 34–42.