Chronicle of the Czechs

For nine centuries, Cosmas has been telling us the “grand story” of the Czech lands – now in a new translation by Ondřej Koupil.

Cosmas's Chronicle of the Czechs (Chronica Boëmorum, 1125) – the oldest surviving narrative about the settlement of Bohemia, the lives of its saints, and the rule of the first Přemyslid dynasty – has for centuries been regarded as the fundamental factual source for all treatises on early medieval Czech history. Today, we also value it as a literary monument, as Cosmas's Latin text is highly stylised, full of learned allusions and rhetorical figures, as well as puns, wit, and irony. The main contribution of this edition of Cosmas's Chronicle, prepared for the 900th anniversary of both its creation and the author's death, is the modern Czech translation by Ondřej Koupil. It deliberately avoids the historicising diction of older translations and focuses on Cosmas's original authorial intent – to inform, instruct, and entertain. The goal, therefore, is not to objectively and with due dignity reconstruct the earliest Czech history, but rather to listen to the “grand narrative” of the old chronicler, letting him vividly depict an anxious time through sophisticated rhetorical devices. The scholarly commentary, extensive explanatory notes, and index were prepared by the historian David Kalhous together with Ondřej Koupil.

Josef Jungmann Award 2025 – shortlist nomination

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“This is it! This is the land […] a land dependent on no one, full of wild beasts and birds, steeped in the nectar of honey and milk, and, as you can see for yourselves, with a climate pleasant to inhabit. […] Here you will want for nothing, because no one will throw obstacles in your path.”