Daniel the Traveller, known also asDaniel the Pilgrim (Russian:Даниил Паломник),Daniel of Kiev, orAbbot Daniel, was the first travel writer from theKievan Rus'.[1][2][3][4] He is known for travelling to theHoly Land in the aftermath of theFirst Crusade and his descriptions are important records of the region during that time. Some have identified him with a certain Daniel, bishop ofYuryev [ru;uk] between 1115 and 1122.[5]
Archimandrite[dubious –discuss] Daniel journeyed to the West from the Rusmonastery where he lived as anigumen. This monastery was probably nearChernigov.[6] Daniel's narratives begin at Constantinople.[7] He began his travels in the early 12th century and was likely inConstantinople around 1106 to 1108.[3][6][7][8] Daniel stayed in theJerusalem area for over a year and took various trips aroundPalestine[6] andSyria. During this time he explored theDead Sea,Hebron, andDamascus. He learned much of the regions from his three major excursions to the Dead Sea and Lower Jordan (which he compares to theSnov River),Bethlehem and Hebron, andDamascus.[6] Daniel wrote his journeys in narratives he titledPuteshestive igumena Daniila ("Pilgrimage of Daniel").[8][6]
When coming to Jerusalem from Jaffa, he mentions that this was where ‘Saracens sally forth and kill travellers’, he also attested to several venerable sites that were ‘destroyed by the pagans’. When going toLake Tiberias, he dodged ‘fierce pagans who attack travellers at the river-fords’ and lions that roamed the countryside in ‘great numbers’. He prayed for his life when he walked unescorted on the narrow pass betweenMount Tabor andNazareth as he was warned that local villagers do ‘kill travellers in those terrible mountains’. He survived the trip, returning toKiev with a small piece of the rock from Christ’s tomb kept by him as a relic.[9]
Daniel's description of the Holy Land preserves a record of conditions that are peculiarly characteristic of the time.[7] He describes theSaracen raiding almost up to the walls ofChristian Jerusalem and the friendly relations between Roman and Eastern churches inSyria. Daniel visited Palestine in the reign ofBaldwin I of Jerusalem and apparently soon after the crusader capture ofAcre in 1104. He claims to have accompanied Baldwin on an expedition against Damascus (c. 1107).[5][7] Daniel's narratives show that Baldwin treated him with much friendliness.[6] Daniel records that several of his friends from Kiev andNovgorod were present with him at theEaster Eve miracle in theChurch of the Holy Sepulchre.[7]
Daniel's account ofJerusalem is descriptive and accurate.[7] His observant and detailed record of Palestine is one of the most valuable medieval documents that exist.[7] Daniel had some knowledge of both Greek and Latin and so was able to use interpreters. He writes,It is impossible to come to know all the holy places without guides and interpreters. He writes of a holy man of great learning, well advanced in years, who had lived in the Galilee for thirty years and had accompanied him in Palestine,[6] however he made some major mistakes in topography and history.[7] Daniel visited about sixty places in the area.[6]
While Daniel was not the first traveller to leave the Rus, his travels were the first which there are written records of.[6] There were warriors, merchants, and earlier pilgrims who had travelled from theKievan Rus' to the outside world before the twelfth century; however, none left written records that have come down to the present day.[6] Daniel was one of the first European travellers to travel long distances on foot and keep a written account of his travels – atravelog.[6]
Daniel's narratives are also important in the history of theOld East Slavic language and in the study ofritual andliturgy of the time (i.e. description of the Easter services in Jerusalem and the Descent of theHoly Fire).[7]
There are seventy-six manuscripts of Daniel's narratives of which only five are before the year 1500.[7] The oldest of his narratives is dated 1475[dubious –discuss] of which three editions still exist inSaint Petersburg at the Library of Ecclesiastical History.[5]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Beazley, Charles Raymond (1911). "Daniel of Kiev". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 808.