Rus and Russian History

Andrews, Peter. The Rulers of Russia. Chicago: Stonehenge Press, 1983. [SEO]

Carmichael, Joel. An Illustrated History of Russia. New York: Reynal, 1960.

The Christianization of Ancient Russia. Edited by Yves Hamant. Paris: UNESCO, 1992. [EM]
Collection of papers presented on the millennium of Christianization (988 - 1988 AD).

Dimitrova, Ekaterina. The Gospels of Tsar Ivan Alexander. London: The British Library, 1994. [EM]
Nice presentation of period religion, originally commissioned in 1355.

Dmytryshyn, Basil. Medieval Russia: A Source Book, 850-1700, Third Edition. Fort Worth TX: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1991. [PWT]

England and the North: The Russian Embassy of 1613-1614. Edited by Maija Jansson and Nikolai Ragozhin. Translated by Paul Bushkovitch. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1994. [OKB]

Fennell, J. The Crisis of Medieval Russia: 1200-1304. London,1983. [MSR]

Franklin, Simon and Jonathan Shepard. The Emergence of Rus: 750-1200. New York: Longman Publishing, 1996. [IMR]
It's a really good history of Rus from the Varangians through just before the Mongol invasion. The authors do a really good job analyzing trade, politics, and religion in Rus throughout early Kievan Russian history.

Gajesky, George. The Cossack Administration of the Hetmanate. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Research Institute, 1978. Two Volumes.[SHD]
Starts in early 1600s. Lists officers of numerous regiments and companies along with a citation as to source for each listing. Includes maps as well as some historical background of each military grouping.

Halperin, Charles J. Russia and the Golden Horde. Bloomington IN: Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 1985. [EM]
The Mongol impact on Medieval Russian history (c.13th-15th centuries).

_____________. The Tatar Yoke. Columbus OH, 1986. [MSR]

Hollingsworth, P. The Hagiography of Kievan Rus. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1992. [MSR]

Kirchner, Walther. Commercial Relations Between Russia and Europe, 1400 - 1800. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1966.

_____________. The Rise of the Baltic Question. Newark, 1954.[MSR]
An English translation of Soloman Hennings 1594 work Lieffandische Chronica on the Russian viewpoint of the Livonian Order.

_____________. Russian History. New York: Harper Perennial, 1991.[EM]

Knysh, George. Rus and Ukraine in Mediaeval Times. Winnipeg: Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences in Canada, 1991.

Lamb, Harold. The March of Muscovy, 1400-1618. New York: Doubleday and Co., 1948. [SEO]

The Land and Government of Muscovy: A 16th Century Account. Stanford CA: Stanford University Press, 1967.

Lawrence, John. A History of Russia. New York: Penguin Books,1993. [EM]

Lister, R. P. Genghis Khan. New York: Dorset Press, 1989. [AY]
Based on "The Secret History of the Mongols," a period secondary source, written about thirteen years after the Great Khan's death. Very readable.

Martin, Janet. Medieval Russia. 980-1584 New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Milton, Joyce. Frontiers of Europe: Russia of the Czars. New York: HBJ, 1980. [SEO]

Nicolle, David. Lake Peipus 1242: Battle on the Ice. London: Osprey Books, 1996. [PAN]

The Nikonian Chronicle. Edited and translated by Serge A. and Betty J. Zenkovsky. Princeton NJ: Kingston Press, Inc., 1984-9.
Five volumes, in which Volume One covers "the beginning" to 1132, Volume Two does 1132-1240, Volume Three includes 1241-1381, Volume Four covers 1382-1425, and Volume Five covers 1425-1520.

A Picture History of Russia. Edited by John Stuart Martin. New York: Crown, 1956. [TNV]
Pretty decent general history book from pre-Rurik to late 1930s. Lots of pictures, but they're all black and white.

Porshnev, B. F. Muscovy and Sweden in the Thirty Years War 1630-1655. Edited by Paul Dukes. Translated by Brian Pearce. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996. [OKB]

Readings in Russian Civilization, Vol I. Edited by Thomas Riha. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1964. [EM]

Riasanovsky, Nicholas V. A History of Russia. New York: Oxford University Press, 1968.

The Russian Primary Chronicle, Laurentian Text. Edited and Translated by S. H. Cross and O. P. Sherbovitz- Wetzor. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1953. [AY]

Rybakov, Boris. The Early Centuries of Russian History. Moscow, Progress, 1965.

_____________. Kievan Rus. Moscow: Progress, 1984.

Solovev, Sergei Mikhailovich. The Reign of Ivan the Terrible: Kazan, Astrakhan, Livonia, the Oprichnina, and the Polotsk Campaign. Gulf Breeze, FL: Academic International Press, 1995. [MSR]
Reprint of a 1904 original and translated into English.

Troyat, Henri. Ivan the Terrible. New York: Dorset Press, 1987.[EM]

Vernadsky, George. Ancient Russia. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1943.

_____________. A History of Russia, Sixth Edition. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1969.

_____________. Kievan Russia. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1973. [EM]

_____________. The Mongols and Russia. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1953. [MSR]

_____________. Origins of Russia. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1959.

Volnoi, Bogdan Illich [Kurt S. Laidlow]. "Criticism of an Elephant." Tournaments Illuminated 70 (Spring 1984): 8-10. [PWT]
About Ivan IV and why he was known as "the terrible."

Volkoff, Vladimir. Vladimir, the Russian Viking. Woodstock NY: Overlook Press, 1985. [PV]
Very nice reading, sort of the Shogun of Kievan Russia. However, don't base your research on it, and don't use it as your only source. Volkoff is a novelist, not a historian. He gives a few sources, but he is no proof of the accuracy or the validity of these sources. But it IS fun reading.

Wallace, Robert. Rise of Russia. New York: Time-Life Books, 1967.[EM]
History and picture essays covering 945-1697, including parts of the original text from the Primary Chronicle.

Willan, T. S. The Early History of the Russia Company: 1553-1603. Manchester, England: Manchester University Press, 1956. [PWT, SEO]

Polish History

The Cambridge History of Poland. New York: Cambridge University Press. [KS]

Davies, Norman. God's Playground, Vol I. New York: Oxford University Press, 1981. [KC, KS]
This is a very good history of Poland in English. VolumeI deals with Polish history to 1795, so it's good for our period.

_____________. Heart of Europe. New York: Oxford University Press, 1984. [KC, KS]
Unless you are interested in all of Polish history, I'd skip this in favor of the aforementioned.

Dlugosz, Jan. Annals or Chronicles of the Glorious Kingdom of Poland. 1961. Two Volumes. [KS]

Dzieciol, W. The Origin of Poland. [KS]

Funke, Phyllis Ellen. Contemporary Krakow: This Medieval City.[KS]

Halecki, O. A History of Poland. New York: Barnes & Noble Inc., 1993. [KS]

Hoffman, Richard C. Land, Liberties, and Lordship in a Late Medieval Countryside. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1989. [KS]

Knoll, Paul. The Rise of the Piast Monarchy. [KC, KS]
Scholarly work about the reign of Kazimierz the Great. A little dry and he concentrates almost exclusively on Kazimierz's foreign policy.

Manteuffal, Tadeusz. The Formation of the Polish State. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1982. [KC]

Milosz, Czeslaw. The History of Polish Literature. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969. [KS]

Pennington, Kenneth. Popes and Bishops. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1984. [KS]

Polish Armies: 1569-1683. Two volumes. [KC-Volume I only]
Part of the Osprey Man at Arms series. Volume One has lots of pictures and the information is supported by an article in A Republic of Nobles. The second volume has a reference list.

A Republic of Nobles. Edited by Maia Bogucka, J. K. Fedorowicz, and Henry Samsonowicz. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982. [KC]
A collection of essays on current Polish research. Most of the essays deal with Poland in period. They are scholarly, but readable. It also has line drawings of Polish costume in the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries.

Sienkiewicz, Henryk. Knights of the Cross, Volume Two. Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1899. [KS]

Szczesniak, Boleslaw B. The Knights Hospitallers in Poland and Lithuania. The Hague: Mouton, 1969. [KS]

The United Nations Series: Poland. Edited by B. E. Schmitt. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1945. [KS]

Urban, William. The Baltic Crusade. 1975. [KS]

Zamoyski, Adam. The Polish Way: A Thousand Year History of the Poles and Their Culture. [KC, KS]
A tertiary, introductory text. It has some good pictures and is fairly readable. No footnotes but it has a bibliography. Almost half is post-period.

Rumanian History

Brinkle, Lydia. Hippocrene Companion Guide to Romania. New York: Hippocrene Books, 1990. [VCIT]

Chronological History of Romania. Bucharest: Editura Enciclopedica Romana, 1972. [VCIT]

Clark, Charles Upson. United Roumania. New York: Arno Press, 1971. [VCIT]

Ghyka, Matila. A Documented Chronology of Roumanian History. 1941. [VCIT]

The History of the Romanian People. Edited by Andrei Otetea and translated by Eugenia Farca. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1970. [VCIT]

Iorga, Nicolae. A History of Roumania. London: T Fisher Unwin, 1925. [VCIT]

Mackenzie, Andrew. Dracula Country: Travels and Folk Beliefs in Romania. London: Barker, 1977. [VCIT]

Myles, Douglas. Prince Dracula: Son of the Devil. New York: McGraw, Hill, 1988. [VCIT]

Romania Between East and West: Historical Essays in memory of Constantin C Giurescu. Edited by Stephen Fischer, Galati, Radu R Florescu & George R Ursul. Boulder: East European Monographs, 1982. [VCIT]

Romanian Review of Military History: The Entire People's Struggle. Bucharest: Romanian Commission of Military History, 1985. [VCIT]

Sheehan, Sean. Romania. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 1994. [VCIT]

Other Histories

Attila: The Man & His Image. Edited by Franz H. Bauml and Marianna D. Birnbaum. Budapest: Corvina, 1993. [OKB]

Benbassa, Esther. The Jews of the Balkans: The Judeo-Spanish Community, 15th-20th Centuries. Cambridge MA: Blackwell Press, 1995. [MSR]

Brown, L. Carl. The Imperial Legacy: The Ottoman Imprint on the Balkans and the Middle East. New York: Columbia University Press, 1996. [MSR]
Very good analysis of Ottoman influences on the Balkans during the 16th century. Nice illustrations.

Browning, Robert. Byzantium and Bulgaria. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975. [IF]

Byzantine Studies: Essays on the Slavic World and the 11th Century. Edited by Speros Vryonis, Jr. New Rochelle NY: A. D. Caratzas, 1972. [MSR]

Cambridge Medieval History Vol 4: The Byzantine Empire. London: Cambridge University Press, 1966. [VCIT]

Cambridge Medieval History Vol 4: The Eastern Roman Empire. London: Cambridge University Press, 1966. [VCIT]

Chirovsky, Nicholas L. An Introduction to Ukrainian History, Vol. 1: Ancient and Kievan-Galician Ukraine-Rus'. New York: Philosophical Library, 1981.

Cresson, W. P. The Cossacks: Their History and Country. New York: Brentano's, 1919. [BP]

Durham, Thomas. Serbia: The Rise and Fall of a Medieval Empire. York: W. Sesions, 1989. [MSR]
Overview of Serbian Imperial history to 1456.

Ferluga, Jadran. Byzantium on the Balkans: Studies on the Byzantium Administration and the Southern Slavs from the VIIth to the XIIth Centuries. Amsterdam: A.M. Hakkert, 1976. [MSR]
Few illustrations but a good overview of the time period.

Fine, John V. A. The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Twelfth Centuries. Ann Arbor MI: University of Michigan Press, 1983. [MSR]
Very informative but prose is dry and academic.

___________. The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. Ann Arbor MI: University of Michigan Press, 1987. [MSR]

Forbes, Toynbee, Mitrany & Hogarth. The Balkans: A History of Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Rumania, Turkey. London: Oxford, 1915. [VCIT]

Florescu, Radu R. Dracula: Prince of Many Faces. Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1989. [KA]
Recommended popular history of Vlad the Impaler. Useful for anyone interested in Hungary, Transylvania, Ottoman Empire. Good orientation for history of the time.

Glaskow, W. G. History of the Cossacks. New York: Robert Speller & Sons, 19??. [BP]
Limited edition book about the cossacks from their point of view.

Gordan, Linda. Cossack Rebellions: Social Turmoil in Sixteenth Century Ukraine. [KS]

Guldescu, Stanko. History of Medieval Croatia. The Hague: Mouton, 1964. [MSR]

History and Society in Central Europe, Vol II: Nobilities in Central and Eastern Europe: Kinship, Property and Privilege. Edited by Janos M. Bak. Budapest: Hajnal Istvan Alapitviny; Krems: Medium AEvum Quotidianum Gessellschaft, 1994. [KS]
Although the editors' original intention was to initiate an annual publication series, the second volume under review had to wait three years and has to be published with the help and cooperation of the Medium AEvum Quotidianum Society of Krems, Austria. Being about twice as bulky as its predecessor, this volume contains eight studies that stretch over nine centuries and cover a wide variety of topics concerning the social history of Hungarian, Czech, Polish, Bulgarian, and Austrian nobilities during the medieval and early modern periods.

History of the Peoples of Hungary from the Palaeolithic to the Hungarian Conquest. Budapest: Hungarian National Museum, n.d. [KA]
Exhibit guide. Includes photo of Hunnish sacrificial cauldron.

Hosch, Edgar. The Balkans: A Short History from Greek Times to the Present. London: Faber, 1972. [VCIT]

Inalchik, Halil. The Middle East and the Balkans Under the Ottoman Empire. Bloomington IN: Indiana University Turkish Studies, 1993. [MSR]

Jenkins, Romilly. Byzantium: The Imperial Centuries: AD 610-1071. New York: Vintage Books, 1969. [BDH]

Kosovo. Edited by Thomas A. Emmet. Minneapolis MN: University of Minnesota, 1991. [MSR]
Famous 1389 battle explored in depth.

Krekic, Barisa. Dubrovnik, Italy and the Balkans in the Late Middle Ages. London: Variorum Reprints, 1980. [MSR]
An interesting look at period Croatia under manipulation of the Venetians against the Hungarians and the Ottomans.

Lang, David Marshall. Armenia: Cradle of Civilization. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1980. [KR]
Clearly written overview of church and civil history with chapters on literature and the arts.

MacDermott, M. A History of Bulgaria. 1962.

Magdalino, Paul. The Empire of Manuel I Komnenos, 1143-1180. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993. [IF]

Magosci, Paul Robert. A History of Ukraine. Seattle WA: University of Washington Press, 1996. [BDH]
Covers history up to 1991 and includes non-Ukrainian cultures resident in Ukraine.

Miller, William. The Balkans: Roumania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro. Freeport NY: Books for Libraries, 1972. [VCIT]

Moravcsik, Gyula. Byzantium and the Magyars. Budapest: Akademiai Kiado, 1970. [KA]

Nicolle, David. Hungary and the Fall of Eastern Europe: 1000-1568. London: Osprey Publishing Ltd, 1989. [KA]
Part of the Men at Arms series.

Ostrogorsky, George. A History of the Byzantine State. Rutgers University Press, 1957. [IF, BDH]

Papadakis, Aristeides. The Christian East and the Rise of the Papacy: The Church 1071-1453 AD. Crestwood NY: St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1994. [MSR]
Well-respected source for Balkan history and translated publications. Worth a look.

Rowell, S. C. Lithuania Ascending: A Pagan Empire Within East-Central Europe, 1295-1345. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
First English-language history of the glory years of the Lithuanian empire. Extremely well documented. Focuses exclusively on political history and a bit too heavily on foreign affairs.

Runciman, Steven. A History of the First Bulgarian Empire. G. Bell & Sons, 1930. [IF]

Sedler, Jean W. East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000-1500. Seattle WA: University of Washington Press, 1994. [OKB]

Spinka, Matthew. A History of Christianity in the Balkans. Hamden CT: Archon Books, 1968. [MSR]
The spread of the Byzantine culture among the Slavs.

Subtelny, Orest. Ukraine: A History, Second Edition. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1994. [BDH]
Covers from prehistory to breakup of Soviet Union. Meshes well with Davies' God's Playground and Billington's Icon and the Axe.

Urbansky, Andrew B. Byzantium and the Danube Frontier. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1968. [MSR]
A very good overview of Byzantine influence in the Balkans during the reign of Manuel I Commenus, 1120-1180.

Vasiliev, A. A. History of the Byzantine Empire. Madison WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1952. [BDH]

Zlatar, Zdenko. Our Kingdom Come: The Counter-Reformation, the Republic of Dubrovnik, and the Liberation of the Balkan Slavs. Boulder CO: East European Monographs, 1993. [MSR]