CHAPTER II EARLY PROSE WRITERS— THE PRECURSORS OF HUS
In Bohemia,
as in most countries, we find the national
language employed in poetry long before an attempt is Latin was the language exmade to use it in prose. clusively used by the writers on history, legal matters, and theology. The writers indeed were generally ecclesiastics, to whom the Latin language was necesEven as late as the second half of sarily familiar. the fourteenth century Thomas of Stitny was blamed for using the Bohemian language in his theological and philosophical works. A few very early Latin prayers and lives of saints originated in Bohemia, but the earliest prose work which possesses general interest is the Latin Chronicon Boemorum of Cosmas, commonly called Cosmas Pragensis. Cosmas, "the father of Bohemian history, has always enjoyed a great and well-deserved reputation, and has often been called "the Bohemian Herodo" tus by his countrymen. We are better informed as to the life of Cosmas than is the case with regard to most early Bohemian writers. Writing in 1125, he calls himself an octogenarian, and it may therefore be considered as certain that he was born about the year 1045. He was probably of noble 42
