The Annals of Jan Dlugosz

An abridged edition in English of the great medieval chronicle

Annales seu cronicae incliti regni Poloniae

A contemporary history of the half-forgotten lands between the rivers Oder and Dnieper: Byelorus, Bohemia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland and the Ukraine from A.D. 965 to A.D. 1480

Jan Dlugosz wrote his great chronicle in Latin in the later years of his life. Copies were made, but it was not until A.D. 1511 that the text was printed. Annales seu cronicae incliti regni Poloniae was translated into German in 1594 and into Polish in 1868 and a new edition was started in 1960 (though the crucial final Book 12 has yet to appear). Thus this English abridgement makes Dlugosz' great work available for the first time to others than specialist scholars.

Because of the enormous length of the Annales even those able to read the original will find The Annals a useful introduction and guide for further study. Dlugosz' great work is now considered as important as the famous chronicles of Froissart and de Commines. It is certainly an essential, if not the most important, source book for medieval East European studies today, which hitherto have been hampered by the lack of translations of this basic material and thus lacking the different perspectives provided by The Annals.

Hitherto our knowledge of what happened in the lands between the Rivers Oder and Dniepr during the 500 years from A.D. 965 to A.D. 1480 has come largely from western sources. This abridgement, the first in any major language, of Jan Dlugosz' great contribution to medieval history, Annales seu cronici incliti regni Poloniae, tells us how the peoples of Belorus, Bohemia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland and the Ukraine experienced and reacted to the events of those years, so providing a new dimension to the history of medieval Eastern Europe.

Jan Dlugosz, author of this great chronicle started adult life as secretary to the Bishop of Cracow, one of the great medieval prelate/diplomats. The young Dlugosz' ability soon attracted the attention of his King, who employed him on numerous diplomatic missions and, eventually, made him tutor to his two sons.

The Annals provide a fascinating insight into how people in Eastern Europe lived during the five hundred years that start in the twilight of paganism and end while the smell of burned heretic is still acrid in the reader's nostrils. They give a vivid picture of Tatars sweeping through the land, leaving the survivors to starve or turn cannibal; of how a bad harvest so often meant famine, though there are records of wise kings having the surplus of bumper years stored so that later they were able to provide 'humanitarian aid' to neighbours in need.

Here are 'thriller' stories such as that of the ragged tramp whom death revealed to have been a royal courier carrying highly compromising documents; tales of assassination and the ruthless use of poison and torture; as well as tales of heroism and chivalry. These were the days when those who won contests at major games and tourneys had begun to expect prizes that had some intrinsic value. There are moving pictures of the desolation left by the Black Death, but gentler pictures, as well, such as how one late Spring people opened their houses so that the storks which had come north too early could find shelter inside.

This is the time when gunpowder first made its appearance on the battlefields of Europe, though, according to Dlugosz, it was never a great 'breakthrough', the weapon that would decide the fate of kings. The Annals brings home to one how almost all fighting on the medieval battlefield was hand-to-hand and thus so 'physical' that often groups scattered about the battlefield would have to declare 'half-time' and pause to rest, refresh themselves and even exchange prisoners, before fighting was resumed. Yet major wars were frequently prevented or settled by shuttle diplomacy and international arbitration, in which Dlugosz himself was often employed.

He comments entertainingly on the manners, morals and political wisdom of kings and queens, their machinations and sharp practice. Racial and other prejudices were as rife then as now, and peoples' preferences no less individualistic.

The text of The Annals is accompanied by a commentary written by Paul Smith, a graduate of Oxford and London who has studied and carried out original research in Lublin, Prague and Marburg, and by a detailed index of some 60 pages.

The Annals provides a unique insight into medieval times in Eastern Europe. The Annals is illustrated with some 50 pages of contemporary maps and illustrations, and is available at a price of £60.To place your order, please print out the Order Form and fax or send it with your payment to Tel: +44 (0)134, Fax: +44 (0)134, E-mail: .

A sample of one year of The Annals including two illustrations is available in HTML format. We apologise that we are unable to reproduce the correct accented characters due to limitations of HTML (or our implementation of it!).


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