The short Russian prose ballad, “The Tale…

The short Russian prose ballad, “The Tale of Igor's Campaign”, composed in 1187, vividly describes a military episode of the period.

The poem gives an account of a failed raid of Igor Svyatoslavich (d. 1202) against the Polovtsians, or Cumans, of the Don River region.

While some have disputed the authenticity of the poem, the current scholarly consensus is that the poem is authentic and dates to the medieval period (late twelfth century).