The web portal of Czech medieval sources in translation has been created since 2018 within the framework of KREAS project at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University. Its aim is to make available selected Bohemian works of the 14th and 15th centuries with parallel English translations into contemporary English or other world languages to both the international medievalists and the general public.
A selection of works
The selection of texts took into account the criteria of origin and genre: texts without a (known) exemplar were preferred so that the rich thematic register of Czech late medieval writing (chronicles and chronicle records, religious prose, theological commentaries, natural and medical literature, satirical compositions, travelogues, legal writings, etc.) was covered. Preference was also given to texts that had not yet been translated.
Editorial treatment of Old Czech texts
A large part of the transcribed editions of Old Czech texts was produced in cooperation with the Department of Language Development of the Czech Language Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences. The editions present the text of one source, i.e. a manuscript or a first printing, while textual variants from other surviving sources are presented only selectively. Therefore, for each edited text, two dates are given, the first one refers to the supposed time of creation of the given work, the second one refers to the time of creation of the edited source. In view of the anonymous nature of medieval literature, often only the title of the work is given, which is often traditional, based on the first words of the text or referring to its content. Editions are accompanied by an editorial note and a brief preface, placing the text in a broader literary and historical context.
Translation process
The translations are the result of the collaboration of renowned national and international translators.
Parallel portal view
In addition to the Czech text and its translation, the “Notes” tab can also be viewed in parallel, which contains a two-part notes section: the first section provides comments on the criticism of the basic text, the second section is for factual comments, or textual variants from other sources, and the “Facsimile” tab, which provides digital photographs of the text.
How to cite, copyright & licensing
The texts are provided free of charge and citation information is provided in the details of each text.