Book Review: Chronicle of the Czechs by Cosmas of Prague

Translated by: Lisa Wolverton

This is meant to be a history of the Czech people, from its origins (via legend about the land’s native inhabitants, the Lucane) until Cosmas’s death. It’s broken up into 3 ‘books’. The first deals with the “deeds of antiquity”, that is, information Cosmas got from outside sources to tell of events he wasn’t alive for. Book 2 begins with the reign of Duke Bretislav in 1038 and ends with the crowning of Duke Bretislav the Younger in 1092. The last book goes until the death of Cosmas in 1125, and tells more detailed stories of deception as brothers and cousins fight for the Dukedom. It also mentions several notable weather events (eclipses, floods, heavy snows, etc).

It’s an interesting chronicle, especially after reading the introduction and with the explanatory notes. There were times when I thought it was a really interesting piece of history only to learn that the author inserted a story from a Chronicle of earlier times, simply changing the names to fit the current protagonists. That is, a decent amount of the 1st book is made up or recycled stories rather than an attempt to tell legitimate history as we understand the term. There were also sections that got confusing, so if you’re not paying close attention you can get very lost regarding who’s who and what people are fighting over.

The entries vary from being dry and frankly boring to being lively and interesting. It also goes from in depth stories with dialogue and description to a single line saying someone previously unmentioned has died.

For the most part the page notes were very helpful. There were times when I wanted more information from them. They generally gave clarifying information (this is king ‘x’ of country, who lived date to date) or give a citation of what text Cosmas is quoting. Sometimes the text mentioned interesting side information that I wanted to know more about. A few times I looked up people mentioned to learn more about them, like Matilda of Tuscany.

Cosmas’s view of heroic and villainous is often not what I would have expected for a cleric. He praises the goodness of one man who abducts a noblewoman from a convent and marries her. He has a real disregard for the land’s original inhabitants and the Poles, who come up a lot. Sometimes he calls men using deception to gain power wolves among sheep. Other people who do similar things get praised for being clever. There are a few anti-semitic passages.

It’s always interesting to see what people in the middle ages thought worth preserving in terms of history - especially when it comes to nation building. While this won’t be for everyone, it’s great to have such resources translated into English to learn more about the history of the Czech region.