Thread by @Irkutyanin1

Translation of a very important chronicle of Henricus de Lettis

This monk chronicles the initiation of the Baltic Crusade and also details the first 40 years of relations with Novgorod and Pskov as well as the first Mongol Invasion of Rusia.

The Novgorodians sent armies to help allied pagan (or perhaps quasi Orthodox) tribes, the system of alliances and suzerainty over non Slavic ethnic groups was first manifested at Novgorod, who also had colonies and dominion over Samoyeds and some Finnic tribes.

The Russians did not force subjected peoples to convert to Orthodoxy, a fact right-Eurasianist Historian George Vernadsky later talks much about when he describes Kievan Rus as a “Khaganate.”

Later, with the destruction of Rusian power, pagan them Catholic Lithuania did likewise

However at this juncture, while paganism could be tolerated, conversion to the Latin rite over the Greek/Slavic could not in the face of shifting political momentum in the Baltic in favor of the German Knights.

Mstislav of Novgorod prepares to open a massive war against the knights but is interrupted by the fall of Galicia to the Hungarians.

This is extremely important historical evidence against those who claim no ties existed between geographically disparate Rusian princes.

The Novgorod king and most of his army were killed by the Mongol invasions, securing the knights from their biggest northern enemy, who was so thoroughly destroyed they would launch the famous attempt at Novgorod itself just after the completion of the chronicle’s story.