Conceptualizing History in Pavel Skála’s “Church Chronology”. Encyclopaedic Approach and Eschatological Framework

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F67985955%3A_____%2F24%3A00635749" target="_blank" >RIV/67985955:_____/24:00635749 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://www.digitalniknihovna.cz/knav/view/uuid:21eee58f-bbec-4ec1-a85f-ad525c4ed2f9?article=uuid:c236fd11-ac4f-4033-b8cb-ba1f6694e2a1" target="_blank" >https://www.digitalniknihovna.cz/knav/view/uuid:21eee58f-bbec-4ec1-a85f-ad525c4ed2f9?article=uuid:c236fd11-ac4f-4033-b8cb-ba1f6694e2a1</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

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Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Conceptualizing History in Pavel Skála’s “Church Chronology”. Encyclopaedic Approach and Eschatological Framework

Original language description

This article deals with a manuscript of the Chronologie církevní (“Church Chronology”) written by Pavel Skála of Zhoř (1583 – after 1640) between 1628 and 1630. Skála is well known as the author of Historie církevní (“Church History”), one of the most extensive early modern historio- graphical treatises by a Czech author. The Chronologie has always lain in the shadow of the much more comprehensive Historie církevní. After an introductory summary of Skála’s life and a brief discussion of the literature devoted to his life and work, this article provides an overview of the Chronologie’s structure and contents. The 47 thematic chronologies/ chapters have very little to do with the work of the founder of modern chronology, Joseph Justus Scaliger. Instead, approximately three quarters of Skála’s chapters are thematically identical to its main source, the extensive Thesaurus chronologiae (1624) by Johann Heinrich Alsted (1588–1638). While many chapters and passages are literal translations from Alsted, comparison of some of them show that Skála added much new material, sometimes using Czech sources, such as Veleslavín’s Kalendář historický (1590, “Historical Calendar”). His textual strategies include adding explanatory passages that were intended for a broad audience reading in Czech, supplementing the material and data related to Bohemian history, and including recent topical events that related his chronology to his period and the dramatic developments in which he and his potential readers lived. As regards his broad encyclopaedic approach to historical chronology, it was derivative of Alsted but not unusual for that time. One of the most interesting features of Skála’s Chronologie are the passages and chapters which deal with eschatology, apocalyptic schemes and millenarian speculation. The analysis shows that Skála translated from Alsted several key passages based on the exegesis of Daniel and Revelation and created in such a way an important conceptual framework for his chronological and historical enterprise. A real key to understanding the encyclopaedic and eschatological concept of the Chronologie is a synoptic table entitled Zrcadlo světa aneb srovnání trojí knihy veliké (“The Mirror of the World, or the Comparison of the Three Great Books”) which Skála translated from Alsted’s Speculum mundi diagram, printed in his Thesaurus chronologiae. This table and its commentary identified the fourth monarchy with the north and mentioned the role of the Lion of the North in a historical scenario which opened up possibilities for various speculations and political propaganda closely related to developments in the Thirty Years’ War. This context is also important for understanding why Skála copied from Alsted the calculation of the beginning of the millennium. The analysis shows that Skála’s conceptual approach to history and chronology has been underestimated. It is the task of future research to re-evaluate to what extent Skála’s conceptual chronological framework played a role in the voluminous historical narrative of his Historie církevní.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

60101 - History (history of science and technology to be 6.3, history of specific sciences to be under the respective headings)

Project

<a href="/en/project/GA20-11795S" target="_blank" >GA20-11795S: Historiam videre. Testimony, Experience and the Empirical Evidence in the Early Modern Historiography of the Bohemian Lands</a><br>

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2024

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Listy filologické

ISSN

0024-4457

e-ISSN

2570-9410

Volume of the periodical

147

Issue of the periodical within the volume

3/4

Country of publishing house

CZ - CZECH REPUBLIC

Number of pages

33

Pages from-to

315-347

UT code for WoS article

001455236600005

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-105000889134