Tsarstvennaia Kniga

Tsarstvennaia Kniga 

(Book of the Realm), an illustrated manuscript, a copy of part of the Illustrated Codex of Chronicles that records events from the reign of Ivan IV Vasil’evich (Ivan the Terrible) as grand prince and tsar. Some researchers conjecture that the Tsarstvennaia Kniga was compiled in the 1560’s, while others date it to the 1570’s and 1580’s. It was presumably part of a grandly conceived illustrated codex. The Tsarstvennaia Kniga has 1,073 miniatures illustrating the text, which encompasses events of the period 1533–53. The text contains many corrections and notes of sharp political content that substantially change the initial description of events. It has been suggested that these changes were made by Ivan IV himself.

REFERENCES

Polnoe sobrame russkikh letopisei, vol. 13, part 2. St. Petersburg, 1906.
Presniakov, A. E. Tsarstvennaia kniga, ee sostav i proiskhozhdenie. St. Petersburg, 1893.
Podobedova, O. I. Miniatiury russkikh istoricheskikh rukopisei: K istorii russkogo litsevogo letopisaniia. Moscow, 1965. [28—1306–1]