Etuda k dějinám meistersangu v Čechách

A valuable contribution to the knowledge on the existence of meistersang in Bohemia is provided by a remarkable source, the Kriegschronik from Krusne hory (Erzgebirge) region written by Christian Lehmann (d. 1688) of Scheibenberg, a Saxonian evangelical priest. In his chronicle, he included the song Cadner Scharmutzel, apparently copied from some earlier manuscript. In the song, the author, craftsman‘s apprentice Hans Zweck of Kadan, elsewhere known as Dichter and Meistersinger, recorded as an eye-wittness an event of 1520 that became important for growing self-confidence of the burghers - a military victory of the burghers over a nobleman. In its structure, the text of the song shows a trained compiler; this should be seen as an indirect proof of existence of a singers' brotherhood in Kadan. This hypothesis is supported by the existence of a silver portrait medal of Florian Gryspek that was engraved upon the order of the painter Samuel Braun of Kadan with an inscription in memory of his deceased brother Hans Braun in 1596. The inscription says that the medal was donated to the singers' brotherhood in Kadan, whose member Hans Braun used to be. The medal is another important indication that the royal town of Kadan might have been one of the centres of meistersang in the Bohemian kingdom in the sixteenth century.