Daniel Of Kiev

Daniel Of Kiev (flourished 1107) was the earliest known Russian travel writer, whose account of his pilgrimage to the Holy Land is the earliest surviving record in Russian of such a trip. As the abbot of a Russian monastery, he visited Palestine probably during 1106–07. His narrative begins at Constantinople; from there he traveled along the west and south coasts of Asia Minor to Cyprus and the Holy Land. Despite his credulity and errors in topography and measurement, his description of Jerusalem, where he lived for more than a year, is detailed and accurate. His account of Easter services there sheds light on the liturgy and ritual of the time. Daniel made three excursions, to the Dead Sea, to Hebron, and to Damascus, where he claims to have accompanied Baldwin I, the Latin king of Jerusalem.

There are 76 manuscripts extant of his account, only five of which are dated earlier than 1500. The work, in an English translation, annotated by C.W. Wilson, is in the Library of the Palestine Pilgrims’ Text Society, vol. 4 (1895).