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Internet Medieval Sourcebook

Selected Sources: East-Central and Eastern Europe

• General
• Bulgaria
• Serbia
• Rus' and Russia
• Poland and Lithuania
• Czech Lands
• Hungary
• Romanians
• Northern Crusades

• Slavonic Life of Constantine (Vita Constantini) (late 9th Century) [At UFL] [Internet Archive version here]
  Earliest text written in Old Church Slavoni, was composed some time between Constantine's death in 862 and December 885.
• The Bavarian Geographer’s description of the cities of eastern Europe. 850, very approximately: [At Salutemmundo] [Internet Archive backup of index page here]
• Bruno of Querfurt: Letter to Henry II 1008/1009 trans William North. PDF [At Carleton] [Internet Archive version here]
  Bruno writes of German missionary and diplomatic among Slavic pagans.
• 2ND: T. Živković: On The Baptism of the Serbs and Croats in thge Time of Basil I (867–886) [Internet Archive version here]
• WEB HistoGenes [European Research Council/Horizon funding]
  Integrating Genetic, Archaeological and Hsistorical Perspectivs on Eastern Central Europe 400-900 AD

• Chronicle of 811 About the Emperor Nikephoros and how he leaves his bones in Bulgaria, from Ed. I. Dujcev, Travaux et Mémoires 1 (1965), 205-54 at 210-16. [Was At Paul Stephenson, now Internet Archive]
• Pope Nicholas I: Responses to the Questions of the Bulgars A.D. 866 (Letter 99), trans. W. North, full text.
• Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja (Ljetopis' Popa Dukljanina) + Chaps 30-35 and Chap 36 , trans. Paul Stephenson [Was At Paul Stephenson, now Internet Archive] With an account of  the Battle of Kleidion, 29 July 1014.
  "Also known as the Bar Genealogy, was originally composed in Slavonic in the late twelfth century, but has been preserved only in a sixteenth-century Latin translation. It was probably the work of Grgur (Gregory), bishop of Bar from 1172 to c. 1196, who championed the rights of the bishopric of Bar to preside over all the lands south of the river Cetina. A Major source for the Balkan history of the period."

• Old Serbian Tales: Marko and the Turks, c. 1450
  A Serbian poem about the fight with the Turks.

Rus'

• WEB Primary Sources for Medieval Rus' [Was At University of Washington, now Internet Archive]
• A Hispano-Muslim Embassy to the Vikings in 845: An Account of al-Ghazal’s Journey to the North, 845, trans Mohammed Ballan [At Ballandalus] [Internet Archive version here]
• Ibn Fadlan. Risala 921 CE [At VikingAnswerLady] [Internet Archive version here]
  Ibn Fadlan was an Arab chronicler. In 921 C.E., the Caliph sent Ibn Fadlan with an embassy to the King of the Bulgars of the Middle Volga. Ibn Fadlan wrote an account of his journeys with the embassy, called a Risala. This Risala is of great value as a history, although it is clear in some places that inaccuracies and Ibn Fadlan's own prejudices have slanted the account to some extent.
• Russian Primary Chronicle: The Founding of the City of Kiev. [Was At Univ.Durham, now at Internet Archive]
• Ibn al-Athīr: Accounts of the Rūs (10th to 13th centuries) [At De Re Militari] [Internet Archive version here]
• Ibn Battuta: Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354
  Includes region north of Black Sea.
• Warfare in 12th-century Rus', according to the Kievan Chronicle [At De Re Militari] [Internet Archive version here]

Russia

• Medieval Russia's epics, chronicles, and tales, ed Serge A. Zenkovsky (1963) [At Internet Archive]
• The Chronicle of Nestor.
• The Chronicle of Novgorod 1016–1471, excerpts.
• The Chronicle of Novgorod 1016–1471, full text, trans Robert Michel and Nevill Forbes [At Internet Archive]
• Privileges Granted to German Merchants at Novgorod, 1229
• The Russian Primary Chronicle Laurentian Text. Translated and edited by Samuel Hazard Cross and Olgerd P. Sherbowitz-Wetor, full text PDF [At MFH] [Internet Archive version here]
• Russian Primary Chronicle: Ruskaia Pravda. [Was At Univ.Durham, now at Internet Archive]
  An early Law code
• Nestor: The Martyrdom of Boris and Gleb, d. 1015. [Was At Univ.Durham, now at Internet Archive]
• Russian Primary Chronicle: The Christianisation of Russia, 988. [Was At Univ.Durham, now at Internet Archive]
• Russian Primary Chronicle: The Varangians (Normans). [Was At Univ.Durham, now at Internet Archive]
• Russian Primary Chronicle: Prince Oleg's Campaign Against Constantinople. [Was At Univ.Durham, now at Internet Archive]
• Daniel (1106-1107): The Pilgrimage of the Russian Abbot Daniel in the Holy Land, 1106-1107 A.D., annotated by Sir C. W.Wilson (London, 1895) [At Holy Fire [Internet Archive version here]
• Metropolitan Hilarion: Sermon on Law and Grace. [Was At Univ.Durham, now at Internet Archive]
• Russian Primary Chronicle: The Testament of Vladimir Monomakh. [Was At Univ.Durham, now at Internet Archive]
• The Lay of Igor's Raid. [Was At Univ.Durham, now at Internet Archive]
• Life, Acts, and Miracles of Sergius of Radonezh, (c.1314-1392). [Was At Univ.Durham, now at Internet Archive]
• Friar John of Plano Carpini: Description of Mongol warfare from Friar John of Plano Carpini (1247) [At De Re Militari] [Internet Archive version here]
• Description of the Tartars [Mongols], 13th century
• Filofei: Moscow as the Third Rome. [Was At Univ.Durham, now at Internet Archive]
• Prince Andrew Kurbskii: First Epistle Written to the Tsar and Grand Prince of Moscow in Consequence of His Fierce Persecution . [Was At Univ.Durham, now at Internet Archive]
• The Domostroi: How to Educate Children and Bring Them Up In the Fear of God, excerpts, mid-16th century. [Was At Univ.Durham, now at Internet Archive]
• Peter Moghila of Kiev (1596-1646): Orthodox Confession of the Faith. Perhaps the most Western "Orthodox" confession ever written. [Internet Acrhive]
• Letter from Ivan the Terrible to Elizabeth I. [At Internet Archive]
• THE LIFE OF SAINT PETER, METROPOLITAN OF MOSCOW [Internet Archive]
• The Code of Law of 1649 (Ulozhenie), excerpts. [Was At Univ.Durham, now at Internet Archive]

Poland

• Dagome iudex 991 [Wikisoure]. Alternate translation, English, Latin, Polish [Internet Archive]
  Discusses Dagome and Ote (Mieszko I and his wife, Oda von Haldensleben) and their sons in 991, placing their land (called "Civitas Schinesghe") under the protection of the Apostolic See.
• Cronica Polonorum 1285 [Internet Archive]
• The Saltworks Statutes of Casimir the Great 1368 [Internet Archive]
• The Privilege of Koszyce or Privilege of Kassa 1374.
  A set of concessions made by Louis I of Hungary to the Polish szlachta (nobility).
• Polish Sejm: Nihil novi nisi commune consensu 1505 [Wikisource]
  The law giving each member of the Polish nobility veto power over any new law.
• Nicolaus Copernicus (1473 – 1543): On the Minting of Coin Latin, English, Polish [Internet Archive]
• Jan Duglosz: The Battle of Tannenburg or Grunwald in 1410, according to Jan Dlugosz [At De Re Militari] [Internet Archive version here]
  Polish and Lithuanian forces under Ladislaus II (Wladyslaw Jagiello) halted the eastward expansion of the Teutonic Knights

Lithuania

• Union in Kreva 1385 [Internet Archive] and in Latin [Wikisource]
  Aa set of prenuptial promises made at Kreva Castle on 14 August 1385 by Jogaila, Grand Duke of Lithuania, in regard to his prospective marriage to the underage reigning Queen Jadwiga of Poland.
• Polish-Lithuania Commonwealth: Constitution of 3 May 1791 [Wikisource]

• WEB Czech Medieval Sources Online [Center for Medieval Studies, Czech Academy]
• Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085): Hujusmodi salutationis nostrae 1080, [Wikisource]
  Letter written by Pope Gregory VII to Vratislaus II of Bohemia refusing to authorize the use of Old Church Slavonic in the Bohemian church.
• Prague
  • Charter of the Charles University of Prague 1348
• Hussites
  • Jan Hus (1372/73-1415): Final Declaration, July 1, 1415
• Petr Chelčický (c.1390-c.1460: The Net of Faith - Book I: The Corruption of the Church, Caused by Its Fusion and Confusion with Temporal Power 1443, trans Enrico C. S. Molnár (1947) PDF [Internet Archive]
• Jan Žižka (c.1360-1424): Regulations of War 1423 [Wikisource]
• Jan Žižka (c.1360-1424): Oration of Zisca to His Soldiers 1424 (ascribed), from Foxe's Book of Martyrs [Wikisource]

• Viking and Hungarian Raiders late 9th Cent. [Internet Archive, was at Hillsdale]
• Liudprand of Cremona (c.920-972): The Battle of Lechfeld 910 from Antapodasis, Book II, Chaps. 1-5
• Widukind (c. 925 - after 973): The Battle of Lechfeld 955, from Deeds of the Saxons, or Three Books of Annals
• Bishop Hartvic: The Life of King Stephen of Hungary, was written under King Coloman (1096-1116) [At UFL] [Internet Archive version here]
• The Gesta Hungarorum, the Anonymous Notary of King Bela (c. 1200), trans. Martyn Rady, full text [AT UCL] [Internet Archive version here] The oldest extant chronicle of Hungary.
• The Battle of Stillfried, 1278, from the Gesta Hungarorum [At De Re Militari] [Internet Archive version here]
• Warfare in Fourteenth Century Hungary, from the Chronica de Gestis Hungarorum [At De Re Militari] [Internet Archive version here]
• Chronicon Pictum (Illuminated Chronicle or Vienna Illuminated Chronicle) (14th Centuy) [Wikipedia]. Facsimile [At Internet Acrhive]
  A illustrated chronicle from the Kingdom of Hungary from the 14th century and the court of King Louis I of Hungary
• WEB Online Decreta Regni Mediaevalis Hungariae. The Laws of the Medieval Kingdom of Hungary [At Utah State] [Internet Archive backup here]
  This is the online, revised and updated edition of the five volumes of DRHM published between 1989 and 2013. It contains the complete corpus of statute law of Hungary from 1000 to 1526 AD, and the collection of customary law of 1517 (Tripartitum) for the first time in the Latin original with an annotated English translation.

• Letter of Neacşu (1521) [At Cimec] [Internet Archive version here]
  The first example of writing in Romanian.

• The Rule and Statutes of the Teutonic Knights, 1264
  
• The Baltic Crusade 1199-1266
• Documents Relating to the Baltic Crusade (1199-1266) [At De Re Militari] [Internet Archive version here]
• Descriptions of Warfare in The Rhyme Chronicle of Livonia (13th Century) [At De Re Militari] [Internet Archive version here]

The Internet Medieval Sourcebook is part of the Internet History Sourcebooks Project. The Internet History Sourcebooks Project is located at the History Department of  Fordham University, New York. The Internet Medieval Sourcebook, and other medieval components of the project, are located at the Fordham University Center for Medieval Studies.The IHSP recognizes the contribution of Fordham University, the Fordham University History Department, and the Fordham Center for Medieval Studies in providing web space and server support for the project. The IHSP is a project independent of Fordham University.   Although the IHSP seeks to follow all applicable copyright law, Fordham University is not the institutional owner, and is not liable as the result of any legal action.

© Site Concept and Design: Paul Halsall created 26 Jan 1996: latest revision 15 November 2024 [CV]