A History of Bohemian Literature. hrabe Francis Lützow
moaning of the woods, their noise and crashing ceases; The game flees, the birds scream; Everything tells us, everything shows That the night has vanished.
Above us the morning star has disappeared, For into the distance it has vanished, Hastily retiring behind the hills. It does not stop, It wishes to rise higher. It is time for us, my beloved, to take leave.
The heart of my beloved was aggrieved When, rising, she perceived the daybreak; Then spake my beloved: 'Why have we two slept so long? Hasten, my beloved, Lest disgrace may overtake us.'
Clear daylight is here, I know; The sky appears light blue, The splendour of the sun is rising, Therefore my heart is in fear. Almighty Lord God, Deign Thou to guard us two.
Oh, my beloved, listen to my advice: When you are with your lover, hope in your heart That thy pleasure and mine may not be changed to grief Because of the malice of the evil gossip, For no one knows what his intentions are; Therefore it befits us to be on our guard.
The gossip is fair to all in his speech, But his heart is full of evil, false craft. I should wish that maidens and matrons Would always hate the gossip. And that man shall be my comrade Who will never be at peace with such a one (as the gossip).
For in this world there is nothing more difficult Than to beware of gossips; For he is friendly with you to your face, But, like a snake, he bites you from the back; His speech is sweet as honey And his heart is as cruel poison.
Dear God, do not grant success To him who troubles the comfort of lovers, As his heart is endeavouring (to find) Where the two lovers live together. Almighty Lord God, Deign Thou to guard these two."
It will be noticed that the refrain "Almighty Lord God," &c. (slightly varying in the middle of the poem), recurs three times. It has been conjectured that these Songs at Daybreak, which were discovered in the archives of Bohemian castles, were the works of knights or nobles, men somewhat similar to the "Minnesänger" of Germany. By the song which I have translated it will be seen that these songs are tainted with the peculiar views concerning conjugal fidelity which characterise so large a part of chivalrous literature, where Tristram is so often the hero and King Mark so often the knave.
A few ancient love-songs which have not the character of the Svitanicka have also been preserved. Of these, the so-called Cantio Zavisonis, written in Bohemian in spite of its Latin name, deserves notice. It was formerly falsely attributed to Zavis of Falkenstein, the lover of Queen Kunegund, and one of the most celebrated Bohemian nobles of his time. The fact that Falkenstein wrote verses in prison shortly before his death (as the historians tell us) led to this supposition, which is contradicted by the manner of the poem. Nothing except the name "Zavis" is known of the author of this strange love-song, one of the best of early Bohemian literature. I have translated a few of the best lines:—
"Now all joy has left me, Now for me all comfort has ceased, My heart swims in wistful blood, All this because of the beloved one for whom I long. By the glance of her eye She has sharply struck my heart. I live in flaming yearning, My life sickens with love, All for the sake of her dear beauty.
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My longing cannot decrease; Pity me, oh air! pity me, all creation! Carbuncles, sapphires, and all precious stones, Rays of the sun and everything on the earth, Pity me, lilies! pity me, most precious roses! My beloved wishes to take my little life[16] from me If she will not have compassion on me."
Neither the mysterious Zavis nor the author of the Song at Daybreak which I quoted before were devoid of poetical talent. But they, as well as other writers whom I have not specially noticed, were greatly deficient in the technique of versification; nor did they adhere with sufficient care to the Western metres and forms of song which they endeavoured to adopt. These verses, therefore, lose little by translation. Bohemian writers have attributed the absence of polish and finish which we find in these early writings to the fact that, while in France, Provençe, and Germany the different courts were the centres of knights' poetry, the Bohemian court at all periods had a distinctly German character, and favoured poetry in the national language but little.
The poems of a chivalrous character which I have noticed above have little distinctly national except occasional invectives against the Germans. That poetry was indeed, as noticed before, international in its very essence. With the decline of this manner of poetry (which in Bohemia took place about the middle of the fourteenth century) a different style of poetry arose, which dealt mainly with national subjects from a national point of view. It was attempted to acquaint the Bohemians with the earliest legends and traditions of their race; the satirical verses which now become numerous have a distinctly local flavour and deal principally with the faults and shortcomings of the Bohemian people.
The most important writer of this period is the author of the so-called Dalimil, a rhymed chronicle of the events of Bohemian history, which, beginning with the deluge, ends with the close of the reign of Henry of Carinthia (1310). The book was mostly written during the reign of John of Luxemburg, Henry's successor. In no prince was the cosmopolitan element inherent in chivalry so thoroughly developed as in King John. The conduct of a prince who considered that Paris was the most chivalrous city in the world, and who (anticipating the modern American) declared that he did not care to live anywhere except there, who visited Bohemia but rarely, and then only for the purpose of levying taxes, and who expressed open contempt for the national language, was bound to produce a strong national reaction in Bohemia. The beginning of the great national movement which culminated in the Hussite wars can undoubtedly be traced as far back as to the reign of King John.
The author of the so-called Chronicle of Dalimil is unknown; the researches of recent Bohemian scholars, however, prove that he was a Bohemian noble, probably belonging to the northern districts of the country. From the contents of the book, which is plentifully supplied with dates, it can be gathered that the author began writing in 1308 and finished his work in 1316; of the events from 1279 downward he writes as an eye-witness.
Dalimil's Chronicle is one of the most important works of Bohemian literature and the first historical work written in the Bohemian language. Its popularity, to which the pronounced Bohemian-nationalist views of the author no doubt largely contributed, was very great. In proof of this it may be mentioned that, in spite of the wholesale destruction of Bohemian writings, nine complete manuscript copies of the Chronicle are in existence; the oldest of them, curiously, is to be found in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge. The work was first printed in 1620, during the brief reign of Frederick of the Palatinate, but this edition was from political motives destroyed after the occupation of Prague by the Austrian troops in the autumn of the same year. The book has been several times printed and published in the present century.
The author has availed himself largely of the Chronicon Boemorum[17] of Cosmas, particularly when dealing with the most ancient records of Bohemia. He indeed in his preface refers to Cosmas as his principal authority, while stating that he also had access to the records of various monasteries, which he enumerates. The intense patriotic feeling that animated the writer shows very clearly in his preface. He writes: "Many search for historical tales—But they heed not those of their own country—Acting thus unwisely and strangely—Treating their own nation unfavourably—For had some one but sought glory there—Books about his own country he would have found—By which he could have known what is our race—Learnt from whence we came.—I have long searched for such books—Ever have I desired—That some learned man should undertake—To connect (in one work) all the deeds of the Bohemians;—Up to now have I desired this—Till I truly ascertained—That no one will undertake (to do) this—Therefore