Dalimil

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An illustration from the Latin translation of the Dalimil Chronicle, the so-called “Paris Manuscript”, discovered in 2005.

Dalimil († after 1315) is the name given to the author of the first Dalimil chronicle written in the Czech language . Despite numerous hypotheses, it has not yet been possible to identify the author. However, since the 17th century his work has been generally referred to as the “Dalimil Chronicle” or “Chronicle of the so-called Dalimil”.

author

For the author of the oldest Czech rhyming chronicle there are no other sources than his own work, and since he writes in the first person but hardly reveals anything about himself, all attempts to equate him with a real historical person remain hypotheses.

Even the name Dalimil is a learned invention. The rhyming chronicle remained anonymous in the first few centuries. In the 16th century Václav Hájek z Libočan introduced a canon from Boleslav named Dalimil Meziříčský into Bohemian historiography, whose work he had studied for his Kronyka Czeská . The town of Boleslav is also connected to the rhyming chronicle: the unknown author states in the foreword that he used a “Chronicle from Boleslav” as the main source, and some more recent copies even refer to the whole work as Kronika Boleslavská . In the 17th century, the historian Tomáš Pešina z Čechorodu combined both clues into a whole and gave the author of the rhyming chronicle the name Dalimil.

The "Chronicle from Boleslav", Dalimil's template, could be identified with the help of textual criticism as an apparently not preserved copy of the Chronica Boemorum des Cosmas of Prague . The canon Dalimil Meziříčský , on the other hand, is only known to Václav Hájek, who also simply invented numerous other supposedly historical people for his chronicle. It was only Josef Dobrovský who discovered the mistake, but the term, which has now become established, has remained.

Enlightenment researchers already concluded from the work that the so-called Dalimil mastered the Czech, Latin and German languages, but that his theological knowledge was limited. They interpreted this as an indication of a minor cleric or an educated nobleman. The first modern editor J. Jireček (1882) tried to establish a connection with the Ronow family , which is described in detail in the work. JV Šimák (1932) wanted to recognize Heinrich Berka von Dubá in him , the bishop of Olomouc and a member of the noble family that St. Zdislava had chosen as ancestress - she is also venerated in the chronicle. Other candidates were, for example, Havel von Lemberg (Josef Beran 1938), Franz von Prag (FM Bartoš), Johann IV. Von Dražice (Mirko Očadlík 1957), Peter I. von Rosenberg (Radko Šťastný 1991) or Heinrich von Warnsdorf, Komtur der Zittauer Johanniter coming (Edel 2000).

All hypotheses attempted to clarify the question of whether the person in question fulfills the requirements that are given in the work itself: These are above all language skills, the connection to the Czech nobility and at the same time to the clergy, the patriotic, Czech-friendly and anti-German attitude not least the temporal and spatial proximity to the events that are described in the last part of the chronicle from the perspective of an eyewitness. Based on the current sources, however, proof of one of these hypotheses is not to be expected.

Works

  • Josef Emler (Ed.): Fontes rerum Bohemicarum, Vol. 3: Dalimili Bohemiae chronicon. Annales Henrici Heimburgensis. Vita Karoli IV Imperatoris. 1882.
  • Dalimilova kronika. pařížský zlomek latinského překladu. Prague 2005, ISBN 80-86644-64-2 .
  • Vlastimil Brom (ed.): Di tutsch kronik von Behem lant. The rhyming German translation of the old Czech Dalimil Chronicle. rýmowaný německý prěklad staročeské Dalimilovy kroniky. Brno 2009, ISBN 978-80-210-4794-5 .
  • Alena Ježková: Stories from the Dalimil Chronicle. The Parisian fragment of the Latin translation. Prague 2006, ISBN 80-86644-77-4 .

literature

  • Tomáš Edel: Příběh johanitského komtura řečeného Dalimil . Kapitola z dějin české politiky. Prague 2000, ISV nakladatelství, ISBN 80-85866-61-7 .
  • Radko Šťastný: Tajemství jména Dalimil . Melantrich, 1991, ISBN 80-7023-072-X .

Web links

Wikisource: Dalimil's Chronicle of Bohemia (Middle High German translation)  - sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Radko Šťastný: Tajemství jména Dalimil. Melantrich, 1991, ISBN 80-7023-072-X , pp. 7-37.
personal data
SURNAME Dalimil
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czech chronicler
DATE OF BIRTH 13th Century
DATE OF DEATH after 1315