{{Short description|Estonian writer}} {{Other uses|Russow (disambiguation){{!}}Russow}}

[[File:RussowChronicle.jpg|thumb|''The Chronicle of Livonia'' by Balthasar Russow, published in 1578]] '''Balthasar Russow''' (1536–1600) was one of the most important Livonian and Estonian chroniclers.<ref>{{cite book |title=Historical Dictionary of Estonia |last=Miljan |first=Toivo |year=2004 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=0-8108-4904-6 |page=426 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XKWRct15XfkC&pg=PA426 }}</ref>

Russow was born in Reval, Livonia (now Tallinn, Estonia). He was educated at an academy in Stettin, Pomerania (now Szczecin, Poland). He was the Lutheran pastor of the Estonian congregation at the Holy Spirit Church in Reval from 1566 until his death.

Russow is most famous for his Low German-language chronicle ''{{lang|gml|Chronica der Provinz Lyfflandt}}'' describing the history of Livonia, especially the decline of the Livonian Order and the period of the Livonian War (1558–83). The chronicle was first printed in Rostock in Mecklenburg in 1578 and quickly sold out. The revised edition was printed in 1584.

In his work Russow was highly critical of the squander and immorality of the Livonian upper classes. He also complained about the superstitious beliefs and pagan traditions of the Estonian peasants <ref>{{cite book |title=Ritual in Early Modern Europe |last=Muir |first=Edward |year=2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-84153-4 |pages=102–03 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sLsJm5tp-AwC&pg=PA102 }}</ref> and the venality of mercenary armies during the wars. He praised the rule of the new regional power, Sweden.

Russow is the main character in ''Kolme katku vahel'' (''Between Three Plagues''), a four-part historical novel by modern Estonian writer Jaan Kross, the first part published in 1970.<ref>{{cite book |title=Culture and Customs of the Baltic States |last=O'Connor |first=Kevin |year=2006 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=0-313-33125-1 |page=135 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IpR0-OrrwssC&pg=PA135 }}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}} * Balthasar Russow, ''Cronaca del Baltico in fiamme. Chronica der Prouintz Lyfflandt (1584)'', complete Italian translation, with introduction and notes by Piero Bugiani, Ed. Vocifuoriscena, Viterbo 2021, pp.&nbsp;584

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Russow, Balthasar}} Category:1536 births Category:1600 deaths Category:Writers from Tallinn Category:Chroniclers Category:Baltic-German people Category:Historians of Estonia Category:Historians of Latvia Category:16th-century Swedish people Category:16th-century historians Category:Estonian non-fiction writers Category:16th-century Estonian people