Antikrist v Českých zemích raného novověku
The Antichrist in the Czech Lands of the Early Modern Period

Summary/Abstract: The article deals with the Czech manuscript translation of one of the works of Dionysius of Luxemburg, German Capuchin, preacher, writer and a fellow brother of another famous writer, Martin of Cochem. This book, first published under the title Leben Antichristi, oder Ausfuhrliche, grundliche und historische Beschreibung von den zukunftigen Dingen der Welt in 1682 in Frankfurt am Main, was in the German speaking Catholic countries quite popular (till 1771, it was published at least eleven times, including five Vienna editions and one edition localized in Vienna and Brno) and in a way represents a counterpart to Cochem’s well-known work Leben Christi oder Ausfuhrliche, andachtige und bewegliche Beschreibung des Lebens und Leydens unsers Herrn Jesu Christi (1st published 1677), which went through many editions both in original German version and in Czech translation (Veliky život Pana a Spasitele našeho Krista Ježiše, 1st edition 1698) until the beginning of the 20th century. Unlike Cochem’s book, Dionysius’s Leben Antichristi was probably never published in Czech. Still, it was apparently well received among the Czech speaking population, as at least three manuscript versions of its Czech translation and two versions of an extract from it are extant, all of them most probably dating back to the 18th century (though some of the preserved in copies from the early 19th century). As no academic attention has been paid to them so far, these translations may represent the most extensive hitherto unknown texts of Czech Baroque literature. The article aims at providing a first, preliminary report about Leben Antichristi, its author and its Czech translation; first, it summarizes the facts known about the life of Dionysius of Luxemburg (paying attention also to his fellow brother Martin of Cochem), and then it provides a list of full titles of all his works (not available so far in any work of reference) and a list of German editions of Leben Antichristi. Consequently, it describes all the extant versions of manuscript Czech translations of the work and extracts from it originating from Czech Lands (both Czech and German). Finally, based on partial analyses of these texts it formulates several hypotheses, namely how many distinct Czech translations of the work were created and when, whether it is possible to identify the printed edition the translator(s) used, what do we know about the translator(s) and their motivations etc. Finally, it briefly sketches possible directions of further research.

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