The study is based on an analysis of content and themes of the correspondence of the wellknown Enlightenment Era "provincial intellectual", a bank clerk from Čáslav Jan Ferdinand Opiz (1741-1812), with a country priest from the highlands on the border of Bohemia and Moravia, Karel Killar (1745-1806). Their correspondence - in most part hitherto unstudied - is deposited in the National Museum in Prague. It consists of more than 300 letters, written over a long period of 16 years (1793-1806), and it is fascinating for several reasons: it is conducted in French, which represents one of the very rare testimonies of a good knowledge of French in some members of other classes than the nobility in the 18th and 19th centuries; in this case, the use of French can be read as an implicit adherence to (French) Enlightenment, and perhaps even to the principles of the French Revolution. And it is the Enlightenment, the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars around which the entire correspondence revolves. Thanks to this we may not only form a deeper and more nuanced insight into Opitz, a wellknown sympathizer of the French Revolution, but also into the lesser known figure of Killar, a man of universal education and an Enlightenment era priest of Josephine stamp, who tried to integrate both the Enlightenment and the French Revolution within his firm Christian (Catholic) worldview., Daniela Tinková., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
This essay aims to describe hitherto unknown notes of aesthetics lectures given by August Gottlieb Meißner (1753-1807) at Prague University. It compares these notes (made by a certain Wagner, and deposited in the Wienbibliothek im Rathaus) with notes deposited in Czech libraries, and seeks to determine their place chronologically amongst notes made by others attending Meißner’s lectures over the years. The most important difference in content between the earlier known notes and Wagner’s is Meißner’s negative attitude towards the Schlegel brothers. This attitude slightly alters our existing notion of his views on the relationship between literature and morality. Taken alone, the collections of notes in Czech libraries had led one to conclude that this Prague ordinarius was an ardent libertine, who dared, even at a conservative Austrian university, to push for the autonomy of art, including a thorough split between art and morality, regarding not only works of art, but also, to a certain extent, the artists themselves. By contrast, the Vienna MS as a matter of priority restricts this split to art, and limits it to the higher, moral aims of the artist as citizen. His approach to questions of morality and to the Schlegel brothers demonstrates that while Meißner considered himself part of the liberally enlightened current of contemporaneous literature, which made moving the emotions the central aim of art, he was no longer an adherent of upandcoming Romanticism with its extreme conviction about unlimited authorial liberty, which stemmed from the philosophical Idealism of the times. This attitude to the Schlegel brothers also suggests that Wagner attended Meißner’s lectures in aesthetics and rhetoric in the winter of 1800/1., Tomáš Hlobil., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
The study examines the life of a Tuscan nobleman Luigi Angiolini. He was a writer, traveller and diplomat. He was active in the period of the Habsburg reforms, the French Revolution, Napoleonic rule and the restoration in Italy. His travelogue about England and Scotland (Lettere sopra l’Inghilterra, Scozia e Olanda) reflects his education and background which was strongly influenced by Tuscan Enlightenment. During the subsequent Napoleonic rule in Italy, he turned his attention to diplomacy in the services of Napoleon Bonaparte and grand duke Ferdinand III in Paris. The article shows how Angiolini was marked by ideas and trends of the eighteenth and early nineteenth century during his chequered life and how the breakthrough period formed him., Oldřiška Prokopová., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
This study aims to present the problems of the perspective of Catholic theology and Catholic historiography on the Enlightenment. In its first part it attempts to find an answer to the question: is the Church History rather theological or historical discipline? Then it shows some specifics of the Catholic perspective in the Church History discipline before and after the 2nd Vatican Council. In its second part it shows reflection of the problems of Enlightenment in the Catholic theology. In the next part this study dwells on discussion about understanding of Enlightenment in history since 1908 till now. In its last part shows reflection of theological and historical research in the Bohemian area before and after the 2nd Vatican Council., Rudolf Svoboda., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
Count Joseph of Auersperg (1767-1829) was a lawyer, the president of the Bohemian Land Court and a member of the Prague Masonic lodge "At the Truth and Unity at the three Crowned Pillars" (Zur Wahrheit und Einigkeit zu den drei gekrönten Säulen). After the so called Jacobin trials (1794-1795) the Masonry was forbidden in the Habsburg monarchy and the Masonic lodges stopped their activities in order to avoid the state persecution. Despite the official proscription of Masonic lodges count Auersperg attempted to renew this lodge. Auersperg made use of the atmosphere of the illusive political thaw after the defeat of the Austrian army in 1809. He managed to succeed in his efforts until 1812 when the Austrian police traced this activity on the grounds of opening and controlling his correspondence. The count was then punished by transfer to Brno to serve there as the president of the Appellate Court in Moravia. In Brno he entered the environment influenced by local masons who after the dissolution of their lodge channelled their activities to philanthropy, culture and organization of science. They initiated a plan to found the Moravian museum in Brno after the example of Joanneum in Graz in Styria. In the person of Auersperg these men found an ardent supporter of this idea. Auersperg participated in presenting the programme of the new museum to the MoravianSilesian Gubernium. The plan was approved by the authorities and Auersperg thus became one of the founders of this prominent institution. The harassment he suffered from the police regime and his overall case are illustrative of the methods used by the Austrian state against its real as well as supposed opponents. In his private correspondence with friends Auersperg made critical remarks about the situation at the Land Court in Prague, which was also revealed by the police and reported to the emperor. Moreover, the contacts Auers, Dušan Uhlíř., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
Theatrical activities of Václav Mihule (1758 - after 1808) are documented at his various positions in 19 European cities. Born in Prague Mihule left his home at a young age. His earliest experience was as an actor (1781-89), traveling to distant places such as Warszawa (1781), St. Peterburg (1784-86), Königsberg (1787-88), Mainz and Frankfurt a. M. (1788-89). His first Prague ensemble (1789) was a collaboration with Jean Butteau, the company played at ThunPalace Theatre at the Lesser Town of Prague. Later he directed the ensemble Vlastenské divadlo (Patriotic Theatre) in the Theatre U Hybernů (in summer in Karlovy Vary) and the German company at the Nostitz Theatre. After his abrupt departure from Prague in mid 1793 he became a theatre director in Augsburg (1793-94), in Nürnberg, Ansbach, Erlangen, Ulm and Nördlingen (1794-97), Stuttgart (1797), Wiener Neustadt (1797/98), Olomouc (1800-02), Opava (1802-04), Prešov (1805) a Košice (1804-08). He seems to have ended his career in Košice, where he may have died. In the time from 21. 12. 1796 till 13. 9. 1797 he led on lease the Court Theatre Company of Friedrich Eugen II. of Württemberg in Stuttgart. It was in Stuttgart for the first time, when the Court Theatre was rented to a theatre entrepreneur. The Duke tryed in this way to keep the theatre running in the bad economic situation in the course of the War of the First Coalition (1792-1797). For the director Mihule was the offered contract for 6 years - after experience with various theaters in the cities - an extraordinary occasion to achieve a firmly established place of work with above standard conditions. It is possible to describe and characterize the Stuttgart period of the entrepreneur Mihule on the basis of archive documents and account books (aspect of organization) and periodicals (theatre repertory). Some features of the abilities of actors an, Alena Jakubcová., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy