Najstaršie dejiny Slovanov v Slávy dcere Jána Kollára

The paper focuses on history and historicism in the poetry book by Ján Kollár Slávy dcera. It provides an insight into the most important elements of this work for historiography and looks at the historiography of the first half of the nineteenth century and its connection to nationalism, Romanticism and the formation of a modern nation. The paper analyses the texts of different editions (1824, 1852), focusing on the earliest history of the Slavic people. Kollár included historical elements in his sermons, poetry and pedagogical works. He considered the Slavs the only great nation, though he distinguished their several tribes. Thus, Slávy dcera contains tales, myths, figures and events from the history of all (contemporary) Slavic nations. Poetic work was provided with extensive explanatory notes and quotations from sources referred to in the work Výklad čili přímětky a vysvětlivky ku Slávy dceře (1832). A goal of the assemblage of these works was to inspire a feeling of Slavic national pride, which would have been based on and was supposed to be supported by relevant references to historiographical works and sources. Thus, Slávy dcera presents one interesting dimension of the nationalist historiography of the nineteenth century.