Autobiografie v českém středověku

which appear in historical literature from the 12th century and lead to the essay on medieval autobiographies.
Although in the Middle Ages autobiographies were rare both in Bohemia as well as in
other countries within the Latin cultural circle we are able to identify three significant autobiographies
from different social environments, of different literary type and with different functions
within two centuries of the late medieval period: First, the autobiography of Charles IV. This was
the autobiography of a monarch written as a reflection of a Prince aimed at the author’s heirs to
provide an image of the upbringing and behaviour of an exemplary monarch. The second text of
this type is the autobiographical letter of former Archbishop of Prague, Jan of Jenštejn, in which
the author used his own destiny to explain his political failure. At the very end of the medieval
period, Christoph of Týn, a minor nobleman who gained social success in the Emperor’s army
and in diplomatic services, wrote an autobiography, where he wanted to show his descendants
and future heirs how to increase the family estates legally, through honest endeavour so that they
would not be ashamed of their heritage and doubt its respectable provenace. All of the authors
mentioned had their own particular reasons for writing an autobiography. Naturally, all of these
autobiographies are subjective, the narration is tailored to its purpose – political goals, justification
of one’s failure, “substantiation” for and expression of pride in legally gained property.