Annals of Jan Długosz

Jan DĹugosz's great Polish chronicle, Annals seu cronicae incliti regni Poloniae, written in Latin, is now ranked on a par with those of Froissart and de Commynes.The Annals provide a fascinating insight into how people in Eastern Europe lived during these 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. This is the time when gunpowder first made its appearance on the battlefields of Europe. Major wars were often prevented or settled by shuttle diplomacy and international arbitration, in which DĹugosz himself was often employed. This translation and abridgement makes this fascinating work available to a wide audience for the first time.