The Centre for Classical Studies, IP CAS, and The Department of Comenius Studies and Early Modern Intellectual History, IP CAS
invite you to the lecture entitled
Quid Vratislaviense exemplum Horti sanitatis anni 1491 ad cognitionem sermonis et historiae litterariae Boëmorum conferat
(A Wrocław Copy of the Hortus sanitatis (1491) as a Witness to the Czech language and literary History)
by
Dr Antoine Haaker
(Wrocław University)
The aim of the presentation, which will be delivered in Latin, is to examine a copy of the Hortus sanitatis (Mainz, 1491) currently housed in the Wrocław University Library. This late medieval encyclopaedia of the natural world survives in numerous copies. What renders this one particularly interesting are the copious annotations entered in the margins by its first owners during the Renaissance. They include many translations of names of rare plants, animals or insects, that could be valuable for Czech lexicography. One of the annotators, Adam Lewharticzenus of Hradec Králové, also added at the end and at the beginning of the incunable extra leaves containing a handwritten copy of his correspondence (26 letters, some of them quite lengthy), as well as various historical or autobiographical notes in Latin. They offer valuable insights into the life of a burgher from Hradec Králové in the 16th century, as well as into broader aspects of education, patronage, and religious history of the period. At the same time, because Lewharticzenus maintained contacts with noted scholars and writers – including Matthaeus (Matouš) Collinus, his teacher, the poet Matthaeus Hosius (Matouš Hozius) and Adalbert (or Vojtěch) Bouzek, the first Czech to enter the Jesuit Society, his letters shed new light on certain aspects of the literary history of the Czech lands.
Monday, 24 August, 16:30, conference room of the Czech Academy of Sciences,
Institute of Philosophy, Jilská 1, Praha 1
