Prague Papers on the History of International Relations (Dec 2017)
Das Herrscherideal in Ottokars Österreichischer Reimchronik und Jansen Enikels Weltchronik: Zur Machtauffassung des Herrschers im Rahmen der politischen Handlung || The Royal ideal in the chronicle of Otokar of Styria and in the world chronicle of Jans Enikel: View of the royal power in a political action
Abstract
The subject of this Article are chronicles of 13th and 14th Century — Chronicle of Otokar of Styria (Ottokars Österreichische Reimchronik) and World Chronicle of Jans Enikel (Jansen Enikels Weltchronik). These sources seem similar to each other, e.g. due to the poetic form, Middle High German language and a similar social position of the chroniclers, who were probably the secular people. The Chronicle of Otokar of Styria is not a simple World Chronicle. Otokar’s text contains his description of the divided Central European region between 1246 and 1309. World Chronicles usually covered the tales of Holy Scripture, history of Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome up to the present days of chroniclers. These are not to be found read in Otokar’s Chronicle. We can find different models of a royal ideal in both of the sources. For example, in The World Chronicle of Jans Enikel, King David is presented as a perfect ruler of biblical times, Alexander the Great as a brave, but later haughty and depraved one, and Charlemagne as a quick-witted and keen king and emperor. Many rulers are mentioned in the Chronicle of Otokar of Styria, on the top there are Ottokar II. of Bohemia and Rudolf I. of Habsburg. Both Chroniclers, Otokar of Styria and Jans Enikel, used the same terms for royal ideals. But only from The Enikel’s World Chronicle is it obvious, that these qualities had an example in the Bible and in The Ancient Times.
