CHYTRAEUS, Dawid, (Description of, among others, Poland and Lithuania) *Chronicon Saxoniae et vicini orbis Arctoj*.

Chronicon Saxoniae et vicini orbis Arctoj.

Part One. From the Year of Our Lord 1500 to 1524, with an index. Rostock, 1590. Printed by Stephanus Myliander. Published at the expense of Laurentius Albrecht, bookseller of Lübeck. (17 x 11.5 cm), fol. [8], p. 755, fol. [14], woodcut vignettes, bound in wood with period leather.
(Estr. Vol. 14; this edition is not listed there). The first part of David Chytraeus’s monumental chronicle, covering the years 1500–1524. The work, devoted to the history of the Baltic Sea region and Northern Europe, contains numerous accounts relating to the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Royal and Teutonic Prussia, Pomerania, and Livonia. Of particular interest are the accounts concerning the reign of Sigismund I the Old, the Polish-Teutonic War of 1519–1521, the activities of Albrecht Hohenzollern, and the political role of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the Baltic region. A highly regarded source on the history of Poland and Central-Northern Europe during the first decades of the 16th century, it is considered a classic work of humanist historiography. David Chytraeus (1530–1600) was a German Lutheran theologian and historian. From his real surname, Kochhafe—which in Classical Greek means “chitra”—he adopted the Latinized pseudonym Chytraeus. He graduated from Tübingen with a “magister artium” degree. This edition is particularly interesting because Chytraeus drew, among other sources, on the works of Martin Cromer, and his account of Poland is significantly more factual and comprehensive than that of many contemporary German chroniclers. Traces of browning and slight moisture damage. Binding: pigskin on wood, with blind-stamped heraldic motifs; traces of clasps. Scuffing and slight soiling on the binding. Rare.