Department of Neo-Latin Studies

Research Focus

The Department of Neo-Latin Studies focuses on the research of Latin culture, especially learning and literature, of early modern era, in the context of multilingual literary and book output of Czech provenance and central-European learning. The department further concentrates on registering and digital processing of literary works of Czech provenance. The research of Latin literary production in the Czech Lands from the 16th to the beginning of the 19th century is also carried out in individual research projects according to the focus of individual department members who interpret, analyze and publish Neo-Latin works belonging to different genres. Current research topics: humanistic poetry, humanistic literature, travel diaries, historia litteraria concept, school drama, public speaking, sermons, historiography, memorials, scholarly correspondence, etc. The results are presented in monographs, scientific studies on specific genres and authors, editions and analyses of individual works.

Current Projects

Team Projects

EARLY MODERN BOHEMIA LITTERARIA. GENRE DIFFERENTIATION OF NEO-LATIN LITERATURE (1500–1750)

The essence of the interdisciplinary project of specialists in Neo-Latin literature and culture of the early modern era in Bohemia is to synthesize the current scientific research in the field that has developed dynamically here especially in the last thirty years. The main output will be a representative synthetic monograph (volume I up to 1620, volume II after 1620) mapping the individual genre areas of Neo-Latin art literature in the Czech Kingdom from the end of the 15th century to the mid-18th century according to the classical trichotomic classification of literary species (poetry, prose, drama). Introductory chapters and partial studies on individual genre areas will present recent scientific results and interpretative approaches on specific textual material and will provide access to some hardly accessible, yet unpublished or uninterpreted literary texts. A comprehensive academic monograph summarizing the essential genres of Neo-Latin literature is still lacking in Bohemia.

Collaborations on Projects Run by Other Institutions

FORMS OF HUMANISM IN THE LITERATURE OF THE CZECH LANDS 1469–1622 (2016-2020; Czech Science Foundation - GAČR). Principal investigator: PhDr. Lucie Storchová, Ph.D., Institute of Philosophy of the CAS. Participants from the Department of the Neo-Latin Studies of the Centre for Classical Studies: Mgr. Marta Vaculínová, Ph.D., and Mgr. Vojtěch Pelc.

THE NEW TESTAMENT 1601: THE PEAK OF BIBLICAL WORK OF THE UNITY OF BRETHERN (2018–2020; Czech Science Foundation - GAČR). Principal investigator: PhDr. Robert Dittmann, Ph.D., The Charles University, Faculty of Arts. Participants from the Department of the Neo-Latin Studies: Mgr. Vojtěch Pelc.

KAREL ŠKRÉTA (1610–1674) AND THE UNIVERSITY THESES PRINTS IN THE CZECH LANDS (2019–2021; Czech Science Foundation - GAČR). Principal investigator: PhDr. Petra Zelenková, Ph.D., The National Gallery in Prague. Participants from the Department of the Neo-Latin Studies: Mgr. Vojtěch Pelc.

JAN MAREK MARCI FROM KRONLAND IN THE CONTEXT OF THE CZECH PHILOSOPHIC BAROQUE 1595–1667 (2020–2022; Czech Science Foundation - GAČR). Principal investigator: Doc. Mgr. Karel Černý, Ph.D., First Faculty of Medicine of the Charles University. Participants from the Department of the Neo-Latin Studies: Mgr. Zdeněk Žalud, Ph.D.

Individual Projects

EUROPA HUMANISTICA II. EDITING AND TRANSLATING ANCIENT CLASSICS IN THE CZECH LANDS AT THE TURN OF THE 16TH CENTURY (GAČR 19-04340S, 2019–2021, principal investigator: Mgr. Marta Vaculínová, Ph.D.).

The aim of the project is to analyze the transmission of ancient texts to the Czech lands at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries. In addition to the studies, two monographs (Brepols publishing house) will be output: the first one will deal with the humanists from West and Northwest Bohemia and the so-called Olomouc circuit (Honorius of Loket, Paulus Niavis, Johannes Dubravius); the second one will analyse translators from the classical languages into Czech (Gelenius, Václav Písecký).

IN PREPARATION

• Johann Peter Cerroni, Spisovatelé Království českého – Scriptores Regni Bohemiae, díl IV.: G–H [Scriptores Regni Bohemiae – Writers of the Czech Kingdom, tomus IV: G–H)], Praha: Filosofia.
• Martin Svatoš, Bohuslav Balbín SJ, Qvaesita oratoria (edition with a translation and an introductory study).
• Kateřina Bobková-Valentová – Josef Förster – Magdaléna Jacková (eds.), Early Modern Exemplary drama, Leiden: Brill.
• Josef Förster, Tři tragédie doby barokní (kritická edice s překladem, komentářem a úvodní studií) [Three tragedies of the Baroque period (critical edition with translation, commentary and introductory study)]
• Forms of Humanism in the Literature of the Czech Lands (1469–1622) – with participation of Marta Vaculínová a Vojtěch Pelc
• Marta Vaculínová – Martina Šárovcová – Alena Nachtmannová, Portréty předbělohorských intelektuálů [Portraits of Early Modern Intellectuals], Praha: Academia.
• Antologie novolatinské literatury v Českém království 1500–1750 [Anthology of Neo-Latin Literature in the Czech Lands 1500-1750].

Databases

Bohuslai Balbini Bohemia docta

Clavis nigra

Dictionary of Czech and Slovak book printers

Fontes rerum Regni Bohemiae

Hymnorum thesaurus Bohemicus

J. P. Cerroni Database

Knihopis Digital

LIMUP: Database of contents of Utraquist liturgical manuscripts from the 15th-16th century

Repertory of incunabula in Czech

Involvement in the Strategy AV21

Detailed information is available at the webpage dedicated to the Strategy AV21.

• Christian Culture and Education in the Czech Lands from the Middle Ages to Comenius (Coordinator: Mgr. Ondřej Podavka, Ph.D., 2020)
• Portraits of Early Modern Intellectuals (Coordinator: Mgr. Marta Vaculínová, Ph.D., 2019)
• Digital Archive of the Handbook of Humanistic Poetry (Coordinator: Mgr. Marta Vaculínová, Ph.D., 2018)
• Zdeněk Brtnický of Wallenstein – A Learned Nobleman and His Journey through the Europe (Coordinator: Mgr. Ondřej Podavka, Ph.D., 2017)
• Digital Photograph Archive of the Centre for Classical Studies (Coordinator: PhDr. Josef Förter, Ph.D., 2017)
• The Correspondence of Nicolaus Adauctus Voigt with Gelasius Dobner (Coordinator: PhDr. Josef Förter, Ph.D., 2017)

Educational Activities

The Department cooperates with the Institute for Greek and Latin Studies at the Faculty of Arts of the Charles University, Prague, in organising the PhD study programme Medieval Latin and Neo-Latin Studies. For more information, click here.

Completed Projects and Selected Important Publications

PROJECTS

JOHANN PETER CERRONI AND THE HISTORIA LITTERARIA OF HIS AGE I (GA ČR P406/12/2254, 2012–2018, principal investigator: PhDr. Martin Svatoš, CSc.)

The aim of the project was to make accessible the Latin dictionary of writers from the Czech Kingdom, Scriptores regni Boemiae, written by the Moravian collector and historian of the Age of Enlightenment Johann Peter Cerroni, and to put it into the context of thinking and writing about the history of learning (so-called historia litteraria) in Czech Lands of the epoch. Because Cerroni included writers in his dictionary regardless of their works’ language, the project required a participation of specialists in Latin, German, Czech and Hebrew from several research institutions. The main part of the project consisted in preparing a commented edition of Cerroni’s work (which has so far been hidden in a manuscript) supplemented with translated bio-bibliographical entries of the authors (3 volumes covering letters A-F have been published). The introductory part of the project was transformed into the collective monograph Historia litteraria v českých zemích od 17. do počátku 19. století [Historia Litteraria within the Bohemian Lands during the 18th and in the Beginning of the 19th Century], edited by Josef Förster, Ondřej Podavka and Martin Svatoš, published in 2016 at the publishing house Filosofia. It includes studies about J. P. Cerroni and his contemporaries who wrote down similar dictionaries of savants in the Czech Lands. These are analysed from the viewpoint of history of learning and history of literature. Apart from this monograph, partial studies were published in scholarly periodicals.

DATABASES

A bibliography of Czech and Slovak printed books since the oldest times until the end of the 18th century. For more information, click here.

BOOKS

• Förster, Josef (ed.), Admodum Reverende, Religiosissime ac Eximie P. Rector! Korespondence mezi Mikulášem Adauktem Voigtem a Gelasiem Dobnerem [Admodum Reverende, Religiosissime ac Eximie P. Rector! The Correspondence from Nicolaus Adauct Voigt to Gelasius Dobner], Praha: Scriptorium 2018, 144 pp. ISBN 978-80-88013-68-6.
• Förster, Josef – Podavka, Ondřej – Svatoš, Martin (eds.), Historia litteraria v českých zemích od 17. do počátku 19. století [Historia Litteraria within the Bohemian Lands during the 18th and in the Beginning of the 19th Century]. Praha: Filosofia 2016, 362 pp. ISBN 978-80-7007-444-2.
• Johann Peter Cerroni, Scriptores Regni Bohemiae – Spisovatelé Království českého, díl I: A–B [Scriptores Regni Bohemiae – Writers of the Czech Kingdom, tomus I: A-B], (eds.) Jana Ciglerová-Desenská – Josef Förster – Jan Kvapil – Jiří Matl – Václav Petrbok – Ondřej Podavka – Daniel Polakovič – Václav Pumprla – Martin Svatoš – Jiří Žůrek. Praha: Filosofia 2016, 498 pp. ISBN 978-80-7007-448-0.
• Johann Peter Cerroni, Scriptores Regni Bohemiae - Spisovatelé království českého, díl II: C‒D [Scriptores Regni Bohemiae – Writers of the Czech Kingdom, tomus II: C-D], (eds.) Josef Förster – Jan Kvapil – Jiří Matl – Vojtěch Pelc – Václav Petrbok – Ondřej Podavka – Daniel Polakovič – Václav Pumprla – Václav Smyčka – Martin Svatoš – Marta Vaculínová – Jiří Žůrek. Praha: Filosofia 2019, 478 pp. ISBN 978-80-7007-514-2.
• Johann Peter Cerroni, Spisovatelé Království českého – Scriptores Regni Bohemiae, díl III: E–F [Scriptores Regni Bohemiae – Writers of the Czech Kingdom, tomus III: E-F], (eds.), Josef Förster – Jiří Matl – Vojtěch Pelc – Václav Petrbok – Ondřej Podavka – Daniel Polakovič – Václav Pumprla – Václav Smyčka – Martin Svatoš – Jiří Žůrek. Praha: Filosofia 2017, 243 pp. ISBN 978-80-7007-507-4.
• Podavka, Ondřej, Zdeněk Brtnický z Valdštejna. Učený šlechtic a jeho deník z cest Evropou [Zdeněk Brtnický of Wallenstein – A Learned Noble and His Travel Diary]. Praha: Vyšehrad 2018, 292 pp. ISBN 978-80-7429-900-1.

STUDIES

• Förster, Josef, „A Czech Contribution to the Theme of Mautitius in Neo-Latin Drama“, in: Humanistica Lovaniensia. Journal of Neo-Latin Studies 65, 2016, pp. 367–381.
• Förster, Josef, „K Rybově kritice Karla Kolčavy SJ a jeho znalostí teorie dramatu“ [Ryba’s Criticism of Carolus Kolczawa S. J. and His Knowledge of the Theory of Drama Reconsidered], in: Listy filologické 140, 2017, pp. 429–447.
• Förster, Josef, „Sources and Influences of the Dramatic Work of Johann Christian Alois Mickl,“ in: K. Czibula  – J. Demeter – M. Pintér (eds.), Theory and Practice in 17th-19th Century Theatre: Sources, Influences, Texts in Latin and in the Vernacular, Ways towards Professional Stage. Eger: Kiadó 2019, pp. 105-110.
• Podavka, Ondřej, „Leopoldus Ioannes Scherschnik, De doctis Reginae-Hradecensibus commentarius ad Doctissimum Virum Stanislaum Wydra. Komentovaná edice“ [Leopoldus Ioannes Scherschnik. De doctis Reginae-Hradecensibus commentarius ad doctissimum virum Stanislaum Wydra. A Commented Edition], in: Listy filologické 139, 2016, pp. 167–188.
• Podavka, Ondřej – Svatoš, Martin, „Kritická edice Scriptores Regni Bohemiae Johanna Petera Cerroniho“ [Critical Edition of Scriptores Regni Bohemiae by Johann Peter Cerroni], in: Folia Historica Bohemica 32, 2017, pp. 43-54.
• Podavka, Ondřej, „Leopold Jan Szersznik’s Encyclopaedia of Teschen Scholars“, in: Wieki Stare i Nowe 13, 2018, 18, pp. 67-84.
• Podavka, Ondřej, "Soužití šlechtice na studiích a jeho vychovatele v době předbělohorské na příkladu Šimona Proxena ze Sudetu a Julia Šlika z Holíče a Pasounu" [Co-existence of a Studying Nobleman and His Tutor in the Period before the Battle of White Mountain on the Example of Simon Proxenus a Sudetis and Julius Šlik of Holíč and Pasoun], in: Folia Historica Bohemica 33, 2018, pp. 397-421.
• Svatoš, Martin, „,Ars rhetorica‘ a ,ars combinatoria‘ v podání jezuitského kazatele Caspara Knittela“ [The "Ars rhetorica" and "Ars combinatoria" by a Jesuit Preacher Caspar Knittel], in: V. Chroust - Z. Buršíková - K. Viták (eds.), K.Milovníkům slova Božího k potěšení a užitečnému pobavení: Barokní jezuitské Klatovy 2016 ‒ sborník příspěvků. Klatovy: Město Klatovy 2016, pp. 130-147. Klatovy v prostoru a čase 9.
• Svatoš, Martin, „La ,Bibliotheca Bohemica‘ et la ,Nova collectio scriptorum rerum Bohemicarum‘ de Magnoald Ziegelbauer OSB. Un regard extérieur sur l’histoire et l’historiographie du royaume de Bohême, in: C. Madl - I. Monok (eds.), EX ORIENTE AMICITIA. Mélanges offerts à Frédéric Barbier à l’occasion de son 65e anniversaire. Budapest: Magyar Tudományos Akadémia Könyvtár és Információs Központ 2017, pp. 127-156.
• Vaculínová, Marta, „Mol v drahém rouše. Sbírka přísloví Jakuba Srnovce z Varvažova a její latinské prameny“ [A Moth Clad in Goodly Apparel. A Collection of Proverbs by Jakub Srnec of Varvažov and Its Latin Sources], in: Acta Musei nationalis Pragae. Historia litterarum 62, 1/2, 2017, pp. 19–25.
• Vaculínová, Marta, „Exhortatory Poems against the Turks in the Latin Poetry of the Czech Lands“, in: D. Thomas - J. Chesworth (eds.), Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History. Volume 9. Western and Southern Europe (1600–1700). Leiden: Brill 2017, pp. 1008–1019. Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History, 31.
• Vaculínová, Marta, „Emil Franzel in der Bibliothek des Nationalmuseums“, in: Bohemia. Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Kultur der böhmischen Länder 58, 2018, pp. 62–77.
• Veselá, Lenka – Vaculínová, Marta, „Die Bibliothek des Theodor Beza: Verloren oder zerstreut?“, in: Festschrift zum 550. Todestag Johannes Gutenbergs, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag 2018, pp. 208–227. Gutenberg-Jahrbuch 2018.
• Vaculínová, Marta, „Descriptio monstri. Ovidrezeption im Handschriftlichen Gedicht von Georg Bartholdus Pontanus (1550–1614)“, in: Listy filologické 142, 2019, pp. 161–181.
• Vaculínová, Marta, „Humanistennetzwerke in Prag zu Beginn des 17. Jahrhunderts“, in: M. Diefenbacher - O. Fejtová - Z. Noga (eds.) Krakau – Nürnberg – Prag. Stadt und Reformation. Krakau, Nürnberg und Prag (1500–1618), Praha: Archiv hlavního města Prahy 2019, pp. 113–125.
• Vaculínová, Marta, „De bello Pannonico: Epic on the Long Turkish War by Johannes Czernovicenus“, in: Listy filologické 141, 2018, pp. 449–483.
• Žalud, Zdeněk, „Elekční horoskop pro korunovaci Jiřího z Poděbrad“ [A Horoscope of Election for the Coronation of George of Poděbrady], in: Václav Liška (ed.), Jiří z Poděbrad – král český, Velké Přílepy: Olympia 2018, pp. 93–113.