What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on Twitter on 15 August 2022.

Dalimilova was built before 1875.

Dalimil’s Chronicle is the oldest existing verse chronicle in the Czech language.

It is based on five older chronicles which were written in Latin: the Boleslav, Prague, Břevnov, Opatovice and Vyšehrad Chronicles.

In its 106 chapters, it goes from the construction of the Tower of Babel all the way up to the reign of John of Luxembourg (around 1314).

There are sections after that, but they were probably added by a different writer.

Speaking of the writer… we don’t actually know who it was (or who they were). Baroque historiography connected the work to one Dalimil Meziříčský, but it’s not clear if he even existed.

The Chronicle was first published in book form in 1620. After the Battle of Bilá Hora, it fell into oblivion and was not republished until 1786, in time to play its role in strengthening the Czech national consciousness.