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Zbraslav Chronicle

book by Peter of Zittau

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 20, 2026
Entity authorityQ10857371 ↗
Source-derived summary

Zbraslav Chronicle (also Chronicle of Zbraslav or Chronicon Aulae Regiae) is the work of two abbots of the Cistercian monastery of Zbraslav (Aula Regia), Otto of Thuringia and Peter of Zittau. It was written in Latin in 1305–1338. It encompasses the rule of five Bohemian kings, Ottokar II, Wenceslaus II, Wenceslaus III, Henry of Bohemia and John of Bohemia. Only few manuscripts of the original chronicle exist to this day, with the most prominent being the Jihlava manuscript.

Authors

The initiator of the chronicle was Otto of Thuringia. Little is known about his personal life, save what is stated in the chronicle itself. He was presumably born in Thuringia, then a German-speaking part of the Holy Roman Empire. He likely belonged to the original group of Cistercian monks from Sedlec Abbey that founded Zbraslav Abbey at the behest of King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia, and that he was 1297 elected to be its second abbot (although he resigned on his post mere two and a half years after his election). The first 51 chapters of the chronicle were written by him, but his death in 1316 prevented him from completing the work.

Peter of Zittau was, as well as his predecessor Otto, of German origin, as he was born in the city of Zittau (then a part of Bohemian Upper Lusatia, now a part of German Saxony).

Editorial summary

“Zbraslav Chronicle” enters the record as book by Peter of Zittau. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Zbraslav, Chronicle and book can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA useful identification and reception guide that helps separate the work itself from editions, performances, ownership and later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1305, 1338, 1297, 1316—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Zbraslav, Chronicle and book.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Zbraslav Chronicle” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Zbraslav, Chronicle and book provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q10857371. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1305, 1338, 1297 and 1316.

Critical limits

Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Zbraslav Chronicle”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Zbraslav Chronicle primary sources, Zbraslav Chronicle archive and Zbraslav research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Zbraslav Chronicle”?
  2. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Zbraslav Chronicle” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.