A History of Bohemian LiteratureLützow, Francis, hrabe
History
A History of Bohemian Literature
Lützow, Francis, hrabe
Czech literature -- History and criticism
When, after the battle of the White Mountain, all independent works
of an historical character were suppressed and many were completely
destroyed, Hajek's chronicle became, and continued for nearly two
centuries, the one source of information to which the few writers on
Bohemian history went. Many of the foolish, displeasing, and untruthful
tales referring to his country, which a Bohemian so often finds in the
writings of foreign lands, can be traced to Hajek. It is in his work
that we find that account of Zižka's death which has been so often
repeated, though it is as entirely contrary to all we know of that
great warrior as it is to the reports of the contemporary chroniclers.
Hajek tells us that Zižka, when dying, ordered that his body be flayed
and then thrown to the wild beasts, and that his skin should be used
as a drum.[124] This and so many other foolish tales have greatly
contributed to the totally false interpretation of ancient Bohemian
history that is current up to the present day.
The _Hussitenkrieg_ of Theobaldus, and Lenfant in his _Histoire des
Guerres Hussites_ (George Sand's authority for her _Jean Zǐžka_ and her
_Comtesse de Rudolstadt_), both borrow extensively from Hajek. As the
works of Theobaldus and Lenfant were recognised authorities on Bohemian
history up to the end of the eighteenth century, Hajek's tales have
been repeated by many writers (for instance, Carlyle), who had probably
never heard of his name.
Since the beginning of the present century it has become possible
to study freely the documents that refer to the ancient history of
Bohemia. The result has been that the glory of the "Bohemian Livy," as
Hajek was formerly called, has been completely obscured. It has been
proved that Hajek's work is totally untrustworthy, and that he not only
copied from earlier writers without any attempt at criticism, but that
he was often intentionally mendacious, and for party purposes distorted
his account of historical events. The great Bohemian historian
Palacký's judgment on Hajek has often been quoted. Palacký wrote:
"Hajek is the most narrow-minded slyboots, the most naïve humbug, and
the apparently most innocent calumniator whom I have met in the course
of my historical studies."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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