The historians of the present century, who have had access to many formerly unknown sources of information, have to a considerable extent reconstructed the history of Bohemia; and many of the older writers have to be studied with great caution. I have, however, not entirely neglected to consult the old chroniclers, such as Cosmas, Weitmil, Pulkava, Hajek, and many others. The latter historians, Habernfeld, Skála and Slavata, are still of the greatest value for the history of Bohemia, and I have carefully studied their works. I have given a short notice of some of the old historians of Bohemia in the eighth chapter, which deals with the literature of the country.
Though the purpose and scope of my book almost appear to exclude original research, I was very glad of the opportunity afforded me during a visit to Venice, at the beginning of the year 1895, of examining some of the documents referring to Bohemia preserved in the State Archives at Sta. Maria de' Frari. I take this occasion to thank Commendatore Stefani, Director of these Archives, for his great attention, and I have been able in several passages to refer to some of the more interesting documents which I examined. I also wish to express my thanks to the Hon. Madame Wiel, who has very kindly assisted me in correcting the proofs of this book, and to Messrs. Chapman & Hall, to whom I am indebted for the two sketch-maps.[1]
In Chapter VIII I have included a few notes on matters that occurred to me in the course of a rather extensive study of the old Bohemian writers, both in Čech and in Latin. These notes have, of course, no pretension to be considered as a history of ancient Bohemian literature. I should in no case consider myself as competent to undertake such a work, nor would, I think, a large book on this subject be of much interest to English readers. In the chapter of his work on Slavonic Literature which treats of Bohemia, Mr. Morfill has given a short but lucid and trustworthy notice of all the more important Bohemian writers, from the earliest period to the decline of the language
- ↑ As these sketch-maps did not in my opinion add to the value of my book, they have not been reproduced in the present edition.
