The aim of the article is to characterise for the first time ever the role of book culture in building the confessionality of post-Hussite society and subsequent generations. For such an extensive research goal, it was necessary to choose a broad interdisciplinary approach, making it possible to place social phenomena previously assessed in isolation into the context of the day. The individual passages of the article are therefore devoted to editorial models, to the archaeology of the printed text and the basics of reading, to the history of illustration and book printing, to language and bookbinding. It has been confirmed that book culture - created by the reception of manuscript and printed products - can be understood as a faithful mirror of a religiously pluralistic society. However, where modern historiography ends with the research of confessionality, the study of book culture may begin to reveal the much more general mechanisms of the individual and social mentality in which the religious-political process took place. The mentality of the readers (burghers and partly the lesser aristocracy) for whom the copied and printed books were intended, was negatively impacted by the remnants of Hussitism and by contemporary Utraquism, which coexisted in a dualistic symbiosis with minority Catholicism. These influences, which at the time were commonly referred to as “renaissance”, bound readers to the Middle Ages. The more massive growth of their intellectual potential was made possible only by the cultural restart brought about by the change in the political situation after the Schmalkaldic War of 1547, which met with a somewhat negative response in both earlier and modern historiography. However, through the study of book culture, we are becoming convinced that the bourgeoisie began to compensate for the privileges which the monarch had deprived them of through various forms of self-education and self-presentation, by means of which it revived itself from these medieval residuals and at the same time competed with the aristocracy., Petr Voit., Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy, and Stuart Roberts [překladatel]
The aim of the article is to characterise for the first time ever the role of book culture in building the confessionality of post-Hussite society and subsequent generations. For such an extensive research goal, it was necessary to choose a broad interdisciplinary approach, making it possible to place social phenomena previously assessed in isolation into the context of the day. The individual passages of the article are therefore devoted to editorial models, to the archaeology of the printed text and the basics of reading, to the history of illustration and book printing, to language and bookbinding. It has been confirmed that book culture - created by the reception of manuscript and printed products - can be understood as a faithful mirror of a religiously pluralistic society. However, where modern historiography ends with the research of confessionality, the study of book culture may begin to reveal the much more general mechanisms of the individual and social mentality in which the religious-political process took place. The mentality of the readers (burghers and partly the lesser aristocracy) for whom the copied and printed books were intended, was negatively impacted by the remnants of Hussitism and by contemporary Utraquism, which coexisted in a dualistic symbiosis with minority Catholicism. These influences, which at the time were commonly referred to as “renaissance”, bound readers to the Middle Ages. The more massive growth of their intellectual potential was made possible only by the cultural restart brought about by the change in the political situation after the Schmalkaldic War of 1547, which met with a somewhat negative response in both earlier and modern historiography. However, through the study of book culture, we are becoming convinced that the bourgeoisie began to compensate for the privileges which the monarch had deprived them of through various forms of self-education and self-presentation, by means of which it revived itself from these medieval residuals and at the same time competed with the aristocracy., Petr Voit., Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy, and Jan Pulkrábek [překladatel]
Small typographic elements such as pilcrows, pointing fingers, and type-ornaments optically separated the typeset and helped the reader to grasp the text. The latter also boosted the aesthetic quality of the printed work. However, whether such material occurs in a book and to what extent varies with time, genre, and printing house. Any specific use reflects not only the typesetter practice but can also indicate the intentions of the particular printer (printing house) or reading habits of the intended readership. Considering that the Brethren bishops carefully scrutinised and supervised every edition printed in their illegal printing house in Ivančice (South Moravia), one can assume a thoughtful and discreet attitude towards the content, likewise the typography. The present study explores the visual practices adopted by the Brethren for the typesetting of hymnbooks, Bibles, and confessions. The aim is to provide a detailed account of the design and function of the Brethren pilcrows and printers’ ornaments based on a typography analysis of all known pieces printed between 1562-1578 on the Brethren press. The results provide strong evidence that the Brethren developed a sophisticated typographical system to strengthen and partly to reform the Brethren liturgy. The unique way of the Brethren for marking stanzas and repetition within the printed hymns using pilcrows and “trefoil” is an entirely new finding. Whatsmore, a comparison of the Brethren’s book with similar production published by the local printers indicates unprecedented precision of the Brethren’s typesetters devoted to the graphic design of the liturgical texts (hymnbooks, Bibles). Considering the extant historical sources, the outcomes presented here indicate a systematic effort to implement a unified order into Brethren liturgy urged by the leading Brethren bishops., Veronika Sladká., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
The historical Unity of Brethren produced a relatively large amount of literature, mainly intended for the clergy and members of this community. From the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, the diversity of genres increased, and after 1609, when Rudolf II issued the Letter of Majesty granting religious freedom, the censorship measures were relaxed in Bohemia. As a result, the printing house that the Unity ran in the Moravian town of Kralice nad Oslavou was falling short of production capacity. The Unity’s leadership thus had to approach commercial printing companies, especially in the capital of the kingdom (Prague), but also in Hradec Králové, to satisfy the growing demand of Brethren literature. This study seeks to explore the main reasons for choosing specific printing enterprises to produce publications with Brethren religious texts and the extent to which these preferences were influenced by the printers’ confessional attitudes. The findings of this study show that what played an important role was not only the printers’ confessional affiliation, or their inclinations for the Unity of Brethren, but also their personal ties to the authors of the published texts, or to the contractors of the publication production. Especially noteworthy for this research is the preserved correspondence from the archive of a Unity of Brethren bishop Matouš Konečný, who worked in Mladá Boleslav between 1609 and 1620 and was responsible for the entire literary production of the community as well as its dissemination among the followers. The archive of Matouš Konečný was discovered quite recently in 2006 and is now gradually being released in a scholarly edition. The main contribution of this study is the analysis of the ties between the commercial printers who printed books for the Unity of Brethren in the early 17th century and this relatively small in number but culturally and socially influential confessional community.