Historicka Sociologie (Jan 2017)
Autobiografie v českém středověku
Abstract
This is an overview of the first instances of the realization of personality in Bohemia, which appear in historical literature from the 12th century and lead to the essay on medieval autobiographies. Although in the Middle Ages autobiographies were rare both in Bohemia as well as in other countries within the Latin cultural circle we are able to identify three significant autobiographies from different social environments, of different literary type and with different functions within two centuries of the late medieval period: First, the autobiography of Charles IV. This was the autobiography of a monarch written as a reflection of a Prince aimed at the author’s heirs to provide an image of the upbringing and behaviour of an exemplary monarch. The second text of this type is the autobiographical letter of former Archbishop of Prague, Jan of Jenštejn, in which the author used his own destiny to explain his political failure. At the very end of the medieval period, Christoph of Tyn, a minor nobleman who gained social success in the Emperor’s army and in diplomatic services, wrote an autobiography, where he wanted to show his descendants and future heirs how to increase the family estates legally, through honest endeavour so that they would not be ashamed of their heritage and doubt its respectable provenace. All of the authors mentioned had their own particular reasons for writing an autobiography. Naturally, all of these autobiographies are subjective, the narration is tailored to its purpose – political goals, justification of one’s failure, “substantiation” for and expression of pride in legally gained property.
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