336

A HISTORY OF BOHEMIAN

LITERATURE

at Freiberg in Saxony, not very far from the frontier of

a

by

is

"),

Bohemia, to which country many of the exiles still hoped once more to return. It was here that Skila undertook his great historical works. He first wrote a Chronology of the Church. This book is a mere compilation of dates, including some that are of a very fantastic character. SkAla counts 1656 years from the creation of the world to the deluge, and 1717 thence to the foundation of the first Chaldaean monarchy. This book seems only to have been intended to be a preparation for his great historical work, the Historie Cirkevni (" History of the Church book which, in spite of its title, deals as much with This colossal political as with ecclesiastical matters. work preserved in MS. in ten enormous volumes (the largest contains 1700 pages, the others but little fewer) in the library of Count Waldstein at Dux. The part of the book that refers to the Bohemian events of the

Skdla here writes as

a

is,

It

years 1602 to 1623 has been edited and published of course, Dr. Tieftrunk in two large volumes. the most interesting part of the enormous work, as

contemporary, and sometimes

an eye-witness. Sk^la of course writes as

as

I

a

I

a

staunch Protestant and No Bohemian hisan enemy of the absolutist party. have already remarked, was torian of this period, as yet strong political and theological bias without SkAla tells us at the beginning of his account of the Bohemian movement of 1618: "I have not the intention, either here or in any part of my narrative, of writing anything whatever under the inspiration of partiality or of good-will or ill-will towards this party or Neither will personally endorse the praise or that.