Chronicle of Dalimil

Illustrated manuscript of a Latin translation of the Chronicle of Dalimil

The Chronicle of Dalimil (Czech: Dalimilova kronika; Kronika tak řečeného Dalimila) is the first chronicle written in the Old Czech language.[1] It was composed in verse by an unknown author at the beginning of the 14th century. The Chronicle compiles information from older Czech chronicles written in Latin and also the author's own experiences. The chronicle finishes before 1314, but it is usually published including the entries of later authors describing events up to 1319.[1]

The Chronicle alleged that all Slavs originated "in the south", in the purported "land of Serbs and Croats" which had not been documented at the time.[2] It stated that "in the Servian nation there is a land, known as Croatia; in this country there was a chieftain whose name was Čech."[3] The validity of the events are nowadays rejected by historians as purely mythological folklore, an archetypal origin myth. The events in the chronicle seem to simply reinterpret the myth of Lech, Czech, and Rus.

The Dalimil was translated three times into Middle High German (including the recently identified translation by Merbort), and once into Latin.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Marie Bláhová (2010). "Dalimil". In Graeme Dunphy. Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle. Leiden: Brill. pp. 504–505. ISBN 90 04 18464 3.
  2. ↑ Francis Dvorník (1974). The making of central and Eastern Europe. Academic International Press. p. 295. ISBN 978-0-87569-023-0.
  3. ↑ The Czechoslovak Review. 4. Bohemian Review Company. 1920. p. 150. So Dalimil who composed a chronicle in rhymes at the beginning of the 14th century states that in the Servian nation there is a land, known as Croatia; in this country there was a chieftain whose name was Čech.
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