HERBALS AND HERBARIA IN THE CZECH LANDS

HERBALS AND HERBARIA IN THE CZECH LANDS

The first herbals we know about appeared in the Czech Lands already in the fifteenth century. Most were written in Latin (e.g., the Herbarius of Christian of Prachatice from 1416). An important milestone is Czech-written herbal by Jan Černý (approx. 1456–1530) Knieha lékarská, kteráž slove herbář aneb zelinář (1517), which was intended mainly for the less wealthy strata of society who relied on home remedies. Later work by Pietro Andrea Mattioli (1500–1577 or 1578) became famous around all of Europe and was translated into many European languages.

In the sixteenth to eighteenth century, dynamic development of the natural sciences led to a widespread creation of herbals and herbaria in all of Europe; there appeared numerous works written in hand, printed, illustrated, or based on dried specimens. In our territory, one of the oldest surviving herbaria is the Broumov herbarium (1595). Several notable eighteenth-century herbaria survive from the monastic environment of the Brothers of Mercy: Ramschissel’s Herbarium vivum in two volumes, Norbertus Boccius’s herbarium in three volumes (1731–1806), and so-called Fekéte’s herbarium.

In the eighteenth and nineteenth century, the creation of herbaria was extraordinarily varied and reflected not only scientific progress but also the cultural atmosphere and interest in collecting in various strata of the society. Early Modern encyclopaedic herbals which aimed at encompassing most known plants were gradually giving way to specialised works focused, for instance, on particular families of plants or defined localities. At this time, herbaria with their dried specimens became an important instrument of botanical research and found their place at universities but also museums or in private collections. Herbaria thus had not only a scientific function but were also a cultural phenomenon. Plant collecting became a popular activity among scholars, teachers, but also the lay public who viewed it as a way of bringing together education, aesthetics, and nature. Nevertheless, herbaria also served as practical guides for medical treatment and even the nobility were interested in them. In our territory, an important personage in this context was Kaspar Count of Sternberg (1761–1838), one of the most prominent Czech natural scientists of the nineteenth century. In the course of his life, Sternberg created extensive collections of herbarium items which laid the foundations to collections of the National Museum.