Abstrakt
The paper is devoted to the development of historiography in the Czech lands in the late Middle Ages, a time when the focus of historiographical activity shifted from church institutions to the laity, to the court of the monarchy and partly to the courts of the nobility, and in the 15th century mainly to the towns. In the same way, the audience for which historical writings were intended changed: from royal courtiers to the burghers.
In connection with this, the concept of historiography was changing: from writings promoting the monarchical ideology intended for political propaganda written during the reign of the Roman Emperor and Czech King Charles IV, through the entertaining and mostly retrospective history intended for royal courtiers under Charles IV's successor Wenceslas IV, to the current contemporary history reflecting mainly events in the cities and promoting their politics, intended primarily for city dwellers, but also for foreigners interested in events in Bohemia. The environment in which historical writings were produced, their function and their intended readers also determined the language of historical writings: Latin writings and their Czech and possibly also German translations in the first phase, Czech translations of Latin and German writings at the court of Wenceslas IV, Latin histories explaining the attitudes of the Hussites and dealing with revolutionary events, intended for intellectuals in the Czech lands and abroad, and finally original Czech, possibly German, contemporary histories written in the urban environment for the burghers.