Několik poznámek k (ne)kosmovskému pojetí českých dějin

• Authors: Jan Zelenka

Title variants

EN

Some remarks on the so-called “non-Cosma‘s conception” of Czech history

• Languages of publication: CS

Abstracts

EN

The Chronica Boemorum, written by Prague‘s Dean Cosmas, plays a pivotal, crucial role in studying the early medieval history of the Czech lands. However, the uniqueness of the work is matched by the range of problems associated with its interpretation. In 1967, when František Graus published a study in the “Československý časopis historický” dedicated to the topic of the so-called “Necrologium Bohemicum” and “Martyrologium Pragense”, accompanied by the subtitle “Traces of a Non-Cosma‘s Conception of Czech History”, it seemed that a entirely new chapter in the field of domestic medieval studies was about to commence. The Necrologium, or rather the commemoration of persons hostile to the ruling House of Přemyslid, preserved here, was to be not only a proof of the bias of the chronicler Cosmas but also of the existence of a contemporary different, “unofficial” opinion towards the events depicted in his work. Although Graus devoted only a small part of his study to the problems outlined, it was the subtitle and especially the phrase “non-Cosma‘s conception” that became the key message of the text, which seemed to offer new possibilities of studying older Czech history. An approach that was to have the potential to at least partially liberate research from the single and unique narrative of Cosmas, which for a large part of domestic early medieval history lacked any similar counterpart and corrective. The “non-Cosma‘s conception” took even up to the form of a methodical approach, revealing and reconstructing history and historical events, whether unintentionally or intentionally, hidden or distorted by the Dean. The following study not only returns to Graus‘s initial premise, but also tries to point out the actual problem of the “Cosma‘s conception” as a starting point for considering the existence of the “non-Cosma‘ s” one.

Keywords

EN

Chronica Boemorum; Chronicler Cosmas; Czech medieval history; historiography; František Graus

Discipline

• HISTORY: HISTORY

• Publisher: Institute of History, Czech Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Český časopis historický (The Czech Historical Review)
• Year: 2024
• Volume: 122
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 7-28
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Jan Zelenka

• Historický ústav AV ČR, v. v. i., Prosecká 809/76, 190 00 Praha 9, Czech Republic