The official Burgundian historiographer Georges Chastellain (perhaps 1415-1475) left an extensive work of various genres behind. We also find in the Chronicle noteworthy Bohemicalia and Luxemburg passages, concerning particularly the origin of Hussitism. Chastellain saw the roots of this revolution in the lascivious alliance of Prague girls and the monks of one monastery there. To be able to sleep with their lovers, the girls cut their hair and wore monk´s cowls. It was the beginning of absolute chaos and reversal of the established hierarchies in Bohemia. We do not know the direct source of the author´s inspiration, but ideologically the story is close to a number of works of anti-Hussite propaganda, emphasising the destructive role of women in the revolution. It is also not an accident that Chastellain included the chapter on the Prague girls just before the narrative on Joan of Arc, for whom as an author from Burgundy he did not sympathize. Also she changed into men´s clothing and her behaviour led to wars and chaos according to the author. The parallel was to be obvious. At the time when he wrote the passage on Hussitism, Georges Chastellain also considered the mission of historians and their place in the period society. He ascribed a place to them almost on the same level as aristocrats. It was a parallel: like aristocrats use the sword, the tongue must serve men of the quill for the elimination of the injustice of this world. and Martin Nejedlý.
This article examines the administration of rescue operations to save people from drowning and the distribution of rewards to rescuers in Bohemia during the 1780s and 1790s. Based on documented interrogations and official records, the article looks at the investigatory process, the conditions rescuers had to fulfil in order to apply for a reward from the Bohemian Gubernium, and the role of other actors in this process, such as witnesses and doctors. The study departs from the concept of biopolitics developed by French philosopher Michel Foucault and shows how the state authorities tried to foster mutual solidarity among town dwellers. While Enlightenment thinkers continued to stress the role of "love for human beings" (Menschenliebe), i.e. universal interpersonal solidarity, the elites held the view that the biggest motivation for anyone to save a person from drowning was monetary reward. The aim of the enlighteners, however, was to encourage people to embrace the ideal of "Menschenliebe" and to fully identify with it - hence their emphasis on cases of selfless acts, especially in newspapers and popular literature. Besides that, the article analyses the trend towards the medicalization of society in the Enlightenment period and changes in attitudes to death., Ondřej Hudeček., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
The declared aim of enlightened administrative reforms was to provide security and aid the whole population, i.e., all social classes. Executive powers of the newly introduced police institutions covered - and defined - the whole public sphere and measures such as census or obligation to have a passport applied, at least in theory, to persons from all walks of life. This article examines how and to what extent were these ambitions applied in practice and whether these measures had an equalising effect on the society. The author concludes that unequal, in this case preferential, administrative treatment of especially the aristocracy was still widespread at the beginning of the nineteenth century. On the one hand, persons of a higher social status - who often held public offices - were supposed to embody the new civil virtues and set an example. On the other hand, however, it was feared that any public punishment or police treatment of such persons would undermine public authority and social order in general., Pavel Himl., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
This article deals with the representation of literary culture in the Bohemian lands in late 18th and early 19th century travelogues as an influential literary genre of the late Enlightenment period. Against the background of their authors’ (mostly North and Central German travellers’) views on the Habsburg monarchy, the Bohemian lands and Prague in particular, as well as their education and art, the article seeks to analyse the variety of perspectives and the clash of external and domestic perspectives, as well as their description strategies. It draws attention both to the ideologisation and interconnection of the travelogue discourse and to the reactions of domestic authors to the travellers’ generalizing criticisms and their forms. To summarize, the article argues that the traditional classification of travelogues as predominantly pro- or anti-Slavic does not exactly hit the mark in this period, for travelogues do reflect the discussion on Czech literary culture in the Bohemian lands in statu(re-)nascendi in the context of local history and the enlightenment of the common folk., Dalibor Dobiáš., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
The Black Death plague constituted a major disruption of the ordinary pace of life of the society in early modern period. As such it attracted interest and drew attention. The Black Death menace caused panic and fear, and therefore various measures and actions which were supposed to prevent the outbreak of the plague or at least considerably limit its consequences were defined and carried out. Such practices were shaped by contemporary ideologies and mentalities and reflected everyday experience. The study of various means of dealing with the Black Death menace may be like looking in a mirror in which the curves of the quotidian lifestyle of the period are reflected. The present paper which analyses the last Black Death plague of 1713-1714 in the environment of a southBohemian town offers one such view. The mechanisms which the inhabitants of the regional capital Písek formulated and applied in the attempt to confront the iimpending Black Death menace, are specifically examined. The bearing of these mechanisms on contemporary devoutness is also problematized at the level of socalled semifolk discourse., Zdeněk Duda., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy