Lithuanian Chronicles

The Lithuanian Chronicles (Lithuanian: Lietuvos metraščiai; also called the Belarusian-Lithuanian Chronicles)[a][1][2] are three redactions of chronicles compiled in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. All redactions were written in the Ruthenian language and served the needs of Lithuanian patriotism.[3] The first edition, compiled in the 1420s, glorified Vytautas the Great and supported his side in power struggles. The second redaction, prepared in the first half of the 16th century, started the myth of Lithuanian Roman origin: it gave a fanciful genealogy of Palemon, a noble from the Roman Empire who founded the Grand Duchy. This noble origin of Lithuanians was important in cultural rivalry with the Kingdom of Poland. The third redaction, known as the Bychowiec Chronicle, elaborated even further on the legend, but also provided some useful information about the second half of the 15th century. The three redactions, the first known historical accounts produced within the Grand Duchy, gave rise to the historiography of Lithuania.[4] All medieval historians used these accounts, that survived in over 30 known manuscripts,[5] as basis for their publications and some of the myths created in the chronicles persisted even to the beginning of the 20th century.


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ Ioffe, Grigory; Jr, Vitali Silitski (15 August 2018). Historical Dictionary of Belarus. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 64. ISBN 978-1-5381-1706-4.
  2. ^ Maiorov, Alexander V.; Hautala, Roman (25 August 2021). The Routledge Handbook of the Mongols and Central-Eastern Europe. Routledge. p. 341. ISBN 978-1-000-41745-6.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference tar was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference zi was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference garsk was invoked but never defined (see the help page).