BALBIN

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that he wrote with so much reflection that he did not wish to award superiority to any one religion, nor to

condemn any. Of Balbin's many works we may mention the Miscellanea, a vast compilation into which he admitted writings of earlier authors ; the Epitome Rerum Bohemicarum, his most valuable work; the Bohemia Docta; and a curious work in defence of the Bohemian language entitled Disertatio Apologetica Linguce Slovenicce. The difficulties which Balbin encountered when he attempted to publish his works have already been alluded to. Great objections were raised, in particular, against the Epitome Rerum Bohemicarum; but after long negotiations, influential friends of Balbin induced the Emperor Leopold I. in 1677 to give his consent to the publication of the book. The Diserlatio Apologetica, on the other hand, was totally condemned by the Austrian authorities, and was, indeed, only published a century after the author's death. Another Catholic priest whose historical labours were valuable for his country was Tomas Pesina, who was ennobled and granted the title of Cechorod (born 1629, died 1680). The Latin works of Pesina, who was a friend of Balbin, treat principally of Moravia, and are still of interest. To the eighteenth century belong the German works of Joseph Bienenberg, which deal with the archaeoIn 1778 Bienenberg published his logy of Bohemia, AlterthUmer in Konigreiche Bohmen, and two years later The latter work his History of the Town of Kbniggrdtz. has a far wider interest than its name suggests. Bienenberg gives many interesting details concerning Zizka's wars, and he prints the celebrated "Articles of war" of the great Bohemian general. The fact that these and other writers who sympathised