As an eyewitness he could describe only the reigns of Vsevolod I and Svyatopolk II (1078–1112), but he could have gathered many interesting details from the lips of old men, two of whom could have been Giurata Rogovich of Novgorod, who could give him information concerning the north of Rus', Pechora River, and other places, and Yan Vyshatich, a nobleman ninety years of age, who died in 1106.