The study dealt with the problem of the other European identity as reflected in the English travel writing of the seventeenth century. The crucial question was if any coherent whole, in cultural terms, was distinguished on the mental map of the 17th century English traveller in the area of “Trans-Rhenic Europe”. The mental map was understood here as a sort of image which is not related to sensory experience. It is considered as Creative construction of unknown based on what was read, what was heard, and on past experience. The viewpoints defining units and drawing borders were of cultural character. Firstly, it was interested in traveller’s division of known and unknown Europe. Secondly, it was looking for the borders of learned part of Europe drawn on the traveller’s mental map. Thirdly, it was focused on characteristics of people given by travellers. Finally, the borders of “civilization” and “barbarism” on the mental map of a 17th century traveller were questioned.
The Memorial Book of the central Bohemia town of Velvary started in 1576, ranks among noteworthy early modern age memorial books. A number of municipal scribes took part in its production. Besides official records it contains a number of chronicle entries that portray the town´s life until the last quarter of the 18th century. It comprises the oldest depiction of the Velvary town coat of arms dating from 1807.