COSMA da PRAGA. - Bohemian priest and chronicler, b. c. 1045 in Praga, d. there in 1125. He was in Liegi, then in Germany, and subsequently, in 1092, in Rome. He wrote a Chronica Bohemorum from the earliest times down to 1125, in three books. For the earliest part he could rely solely on tradition:
thereafter he drew upon monuments, documents, and direct testimonies. He is a conscientious historian and a lively, pleasing writer. He was called the Herodotus of Bohemia.
The Chronica was published several times: Script. rer. Bohem., Hannover 1602, pp. 1-14; 1607, pp. 1-172; 1620, pp. 1-172; Script. rer. Saxonicarum, I, Lipsia 1728, pp. 1967-2132; Script. rer. Bohem., Praga 1874, new series, II, pp. 1-282; PL, 166, cols. 9-388; Scriptores rer. Germanicarum, II, Berlino 1923, edited by B. Bretho'z.