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Legenda Christiani and Modern Historiography focuses on the long history of the discussion over the authenticity of Legenda Christiani, a crucial text for the medieval history of the Czech lands. First, this study shows the birth and development of a critical historiography in the era of nationalism (19th-20th C.). Second, it explains the different textual strategies used by historiography in the modern era. Third, comparison with similar discussions about the consistency in or the age of medieval texts is offered. This book will be of interest for medievalists and for those studying the historiography of the Middle Ages.
This selection of articles, published for the 50th anniversary of the author's doctorate at Göttingen, opens with studies on his teacher, Percy Ernst Schramm, and his contribution to the study of the medieval state and continues with examples of state symbology from Central Europe. Questions of legitimization and representation of kings and queens through texts and Herrschaftszeichen as well as the development of 'coronation studies' are addressed in a comparative framework. The second part contains articles on social and political history mainly of the kingdom of Hungary in the fifteenth century, also attempting to place the issues into a wider context. Finally, two pieces present and discuss the 'use' or 'abuse' of the Middle Ages in the political discourse and display of our times.
Power and Exploitation in the Czech Lands in the 10th-12th Centuries: A Central European Perspective offers a unique analysis of the history of early medieval Czech society. It draws new attention to the role of serfdom and slavery in the early period of the Přemyslid dynasty in the Czech lands, and the organization of land and property access and ownership. The provocative conclusions reached by the author in this study shed new light on the oldest period of Czech history. Petráček analyses these issues comparatively, also taking into account Poland and Hungary; this is an approach unique to this book.
In this book, Ondřej Schmidt offers a critical biography of John of Moravia, illegitimate son of the Moravian Margrave John Henry from the Luxembourg dynasty. Earlier research has confused John with another son of the Margrave, but here, the author argues that John actually became provost of Vyšehrad (1368–1380), bishop of Litomyšl (1380–1387), and eventually patriarch of Aquileia (1387–1394). The study provides a detailed account of John’s life and his assassination in the wider context of princely bastards’ careers, the Luxembourg dynasty, and Czech and Italian history. Schmidt also explores the development of the “second life” of John of Moravia in the historical memory of the following centuries. First published in Czech by Vyšehrad Publishers Ltd as Jan z Moravy. Zapomenutý Lucemburk na aquilejském stolci, Prague, 2016
The historic myths of a people/nation usually play an important role in the creation and consolidation of the basic concepts from which the self-image of that nation derives. These concepts include not only images of the nation itself, but also images of other peoples. Although the construction of ethnic stereotypes during the "long" nineteenth century initially had other functions than simply the homogenization of the particular culture and the exclusion of "others" from the public sphere, the evaluation of peoples according to criteria that included "level of civilization" yielded "rankings" of ethnic groups within the Habsburg Monarchy. That provided the basis for later, more divisive ethnic characterizations of exclusive nationalism, as addressed in this volume that examines the roots and results of ethnic, nationalist, and racial conflict in the region from a variety of historical and theoretical perspectives.
In the summer of 2002 the third international conference on the medieval chronicle was held, again in the vicinity of Utrecht, the Netherlands. There are several reasons why the chronicle is particularly suited as the topic of an international conference. In the first place there is its ubiquity: all over Europe and throughout the Middle Ages chronicles were written, both in Latin and in the vernacular, and not only in Europe but also in the countries neighbouring on it, like those of the Arabic world. Secondly, all chronicles raise such questions as by whom, for whom, or for what purpose were they written, how do they reconstruct the past, what determined the choice of verse or prose, or what kind of literary influences are discernable in them. Finally, many chronicles have been beautifully illuminated, and the relation between text and image leads to a wholly different set of questions. This third volume of conference papers again aims to provide a representative survey of the on-going research in the field of chronicle studies, illustrated by examples from specific chronicles from a wide variety of countries, periods and cultural backgrounds.
Presenting the history of the Slavs in the Middle Ages in a new light, this study shows how the 'Slavs' were treated as a cultural construct and as such politically instrumentalized, and describes the real structures behind the phenomenon.
A political, cultural, and socioeconomic history of the Habsburg empire, discussing the rise of Habsburg power, its subsequent status and action as a great power, and its dissolution.
Medieval East Central Europe in a Comparative Perspective draws together the new perspectives concerning the relevance of East Central Europe for current historiography by placing the region in various comparative contexts. The chapters compare conditions within East Central Europe, as well as between East Central Europe, the rest of the continent, and beyond. Including 15 original chapters from an interdisciplinary team of contributors, this collection begins by posing the question: "What is East Central Europe?" with three specialists offering different interpretations and presenting new conclusions. The book is then grouped into five parts which examine political practice, religion, urban...
Promissory Notes on the Treasury of Merits is a volume of 12 essays by a distinguished team of international scholars dealing with the place of indulgences in the religious life of Europe between roughly 1250 and the outbreak of the Reformation. Some of the articles offer regional analyses, stretching from Spain to the Netherlands, from England to Bohemia and Italy. Others deal with the theology and theological and practical controversies provoked by indulgences, or with thematic issues like the place of indulgences in fifteenth-century crusades, in pilgrimage, and the early exploitation of print in their distribution. The complementary nature of the articles builds into a fuller picture of the central, but hitherto neglected, role which indulgences had in late medieval European religious life.