Exhibit of the Month - November 2024
November 13 - December 10, 2024 Ante-room to the General reading Room (gate A), open Monday to Saturday 9 am - 7 pm (see opening hours of the NL)
Admission 20 CZK (free for the NL readers)
The Crown of Exultation upon the Head of a Wise Man, or the Consolation of philosophy, once presented in five books by Anicius Manlius Torquatus Severinus Boëthius to all worshipers of true wisdom, whether disciples or professors. Now again ascribed and dedicated to the honour, love, and consolation of the most illustrious, highborn, venerable, noble, and most learned masters of liberal arts and philosophy. In the year and on the day when they were awarded the highest philosophical crown at the University of Prague – 1675.
NL Prague 49 G 7, 1675, title page
The congratulatory print with a typical period Latin title with a flowery style and the chronogram, was issued for the graduation ceremony at Prague Charles-Ferdinand University in 1675. In addition to a list of names of 26 new masters of philosophy (6 pages), a dedicatory preface (9 pages), and a brief biography of Boëthius (6 pages), it includes a complete Latin edition of Boëthius' most famous work De consolatione philosophiae (250 numbered pages). The text has been known in Czech under various titles, such as O útěše philosophie [On the Consolation of Philosophy] (1929), or Filozofie utěšitelkou [Philosophy the Consolator] (1942, 1995), or Filozofie utěšitelkou [Philosophy the Consolator] (1983, 2012). Corona exultationis is the only original Latin edition of this work by Boëthius printed in the Czech lands.
A Mournful Sigh of a Soul, Afflicted with Sickness, Sorrow, Misfortune, Fleeing to the Lord God Almighty, Its Comforter. To All Visited with Sorrows, Sickness, Misfortunes for the Consolation.
NL Prague XVII G 53, f. 12r
A unique notated song added by Fr. Jiří Josef Čapek (Georgius Josephus Cžapek), S.J. (1648-1680), to his Czech anthology of Boëthius’ writing De consolatione philosophiae. The manuscript of the small format and scope (14 fols.) bears the title Potěšení zarmoucených, s kterým všichni v zármutku, v neštěstí, v bídách, v chudobě, v nemocích, v soužení postavení lidé potěšiti se a vyraziti mohou. K potěšení urozený a statečný paní Eleonory Polexyny Lydmyly Smilkovský rozený z Blauvensteinu z knížky Anicia Manlia Severina Boëthia de Consolatione Philosophica sebraný a na česko vyložený letha 1678 [The Consolation of the Sorrowful, with which All People in Sorrow, in Misfortune, in Miseries, in Poverty, in Diseases, in Tribulations Can Rejoice and Overcome. To the Solace of the Noble and Brave Lady Eleonora Polexyna Lydmyla Smilkovský Born of Blauvenstein, from the book by Anicius Manlius Severinus Boëthius, De Consolatione Philosophica collected and translated into Czech in 1678].
This is the only known pre-modern Czech translation of Boëthius. It originated during Čapek’s mission at the Jesuit residence in Golčův Jeníkov. The text of the song at the end of the work closely aligns with the poetics of the greatest poet of Czech Baroque, Fridrich Bridel (1619-1680). Hypothetically, we might even attribute the song’s authorship to Bridel, as he was Čapek’s uncle, and the two collaborated as Jesuit missionaries in the Čáslav region at the end of the 1670s.
