Radziwiłł Chronicle


The Radziwiłł Chronicle is one of the Old East Slavic illuminated manuscript held by the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Saint Petersburg. It is a 15th-century copy of a 13th-century original. Its name is derived from the Princes Radziwiłł of Grand Duchy of Lithuania, who kept it in their Nesvizh Castle in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The work reveals the history of Kievan Rus' and its neighbors from the fifth to the early 13th century in pictorial form, representing events described in the manuscript with more than 600 colour illustrations. Among East Slavic chronicles, the Radziwiłł is distinguished for the richness and quantity of its illustrations, which may derive from the 13th-century original. The chronicle includes the Tale of Bygone Years and extends it with yearly entries until 1206.