The Břevnov Manuscript of The Chronicle of Cosmas of Prague

On the occasion of the National Library’s exhibition project Kosmas 900, the Břevnov manuscript of The Chronicle of Cosmas of Prague has been digitised! It is the youngest known manuscript of Cosmas’s work, newly dated to the turn of the 17th century. In addition to The Chronicle, it also contains its first continuation by the so-called Canon of Vyšehrad. As evidenced by a copperplate ex libris on the front pastedown, one of the manuscript’s owners was the Brno burgher and bibliophile Wilhelm Alexander Balaus (1711–1752). Later, it came into the possession of the Břevnov Monastery, from which the manuscript takes its traditional name. After the Břevnov monastic community was forcibly dissolved by the communist regime in 1950, the manuscript was transferred to the National Library, where it remains to this day—though, following the restitution of property to the Břevnov Benedictines, now only as a deposit.

You can view the digitised manuscript here.