Jan Vojtíšek et Václav Žůrek
Between Ideal and Polemic. Political Literature in Luxembourg Bohemia
Political literature flowered and progressed considerably in Fourteenth-century Bohemia : as well as in the rest of Western Europe, this literature reflected political engagement and was written in vernacular. This tendency is analysed on the basis of the genre of the mirrors for princes in two main directions. The first part deals with the role played by the image of the wise king (rex sapiens) in the ideology and self-presentation of the Emperor Charles IV of Luxembourg. The second part focuses on the political society of Bohemia reflected in the poem New Council by Smil Flaška of Pardubice, which is highly polemical and critical of the reign of his son Wenceslaus IV.
Věra Vejrychová
Figures of Queens in Czech chronicles in the Fourteenth Century : Ideal, Power, Transgressions
This paper deals with the image of queens in Czech chronicles from the fourteenth century, focusing especially on Elizabeth of Bohemia, situated at the dynastical transition between the Premyslids and the Luxembourgs. Thanks to divergent accounts of her life and its different moments, necessarily determined by her marriage, it is possible to analyse how the narrative reflects the tensions between idealized gendered behaviour, defined by prescriptive literature, and “historical reality”, described according to the objectives of each medieval historian. Elizabeth’s life, examined in parallel with those of other queens, appears ultimately as a phenomenon inscribed in a particular system of value, revealing the ideal of queenship.
Martin Šorm
Representations of Intimacy in the Czech Arthurian Romance
Two Czech Arthurian romances from the end of 14th century – Tandariáš a Floribella and Tristram and Izalda – are presented as a historical source for students of courtly culture. Literary representations of intimacy were used by the authors to cultivate and refine the manners and thoughts of their aristocratic audience. For example, the scenes where the knight Tandariáš forgets and wounds himself can be in this regard compared to some motifs introduced by Chrétien de Troyes. On the other hand, intimacy lies on the border between isolated privacy and social performance. For example the royal bed, used by the author of Tristram and Izalda as an attribute of power, demonstrates how intimacy is considered as a general interest of whole society.
Sara Vybiralova
“Listen, you faithful, the evil ploy !”. Ploy and Betrayal in Polemic Songs of the Hussite period
During the period of the Hussite riots, the polemic songs were frequently used in medieval Bohemia as a means of propaganda. The ploy and betrayal motif, already a literary topos in older Czech literature, becomes in this specific context one of the main characteristics of the enemy. Utterly opposed to fidelity and truth, the accusation of treason implies a kind of paranoia and favors an argumentation addressing the emotions : pathos overcomes logos.
Jan Biederman
Military Art contained in battle orders of late medieval Bohemia and their reflection: doctrine as a result of practice
In the fifteenth century, the dominant position of heavy cavalry on the battlefield was definitively undermined by the development of infantry tactics in several parts of Europe. This was notably the case in the kingdom of Bohemia of the Hussite wars period, when events gave birth to the new tactics of wagon fort and to a unique type of source – battle orders relating to this tactic, which give additional information on the military history of Europe in the late Middle Ages.
Vojtěch Bažant et Jaroslav Svátek – Centrum medievistických studií AV ČR, Prague
Medieval travelogues from Bohemia : products of a society characterized by its different religious communities ?
This paper analyses the question of confessional identity in the Fifteenth century Bohemian travel literature. The religious division influenced these texts and they became a medium for their authors to comment on this question. Despite the similar religious perception of the world among the Catholics, the Utraquists or the members of the Unity of Brethren (and those of unclear religious identity), the texts we analyse reflect the polemics aimed at the other religious communities.
Essais et recherches
Irène Fabry-Tehranchi
Arthur and his rebel barons. The abridgment and remaniement of the end of the Vulgate Sequel to Merlin in the Lancelot-Grail manuscript, Paris, BnF, fr. 344 (ca 1295)
The ms. Paris, BnF, fr. 344, is a manuscript produced in Lorraine at the end of the thirteenth century containing the whole Grail cycle. It presents an abridged version of the end of the Vulgate Sequel to Merlin. The rewriting of the end of the sequel glosses over the romantic episodes of the common version and focuses on the figure of Arthur, a legitimate sovereign and skilful war leader confronted by his barons’ dissidence. From the end of f° 182 to f° 184v, BnF, fr. 344, narrates the departure of Kings Ban and Bohort for the Continent, the embassy of King Loth and his sons, and the fight against the Saxons of the Christian coalition gathered at Logres for the feast of the Holy Cross. This article shows the ideological implications of the abridgement and the illustration at the end of the Vulgate Sequel in ms. fr. 344, as it exalts Arthur’s kingship and insists on the rallying, penance and submission of his rebelled vassals.
Cécile Ranvier
Le Miroir historial de Jacques d’Armagnac : un monument bibliophilique pour un prince ambitieux
When Jacques d’Armagnac ordered the first piece of his coming library – a monumental Miroir historial composed of almost 1350 folios – he is at the summit of his political carrer, supported by King Louis the XIth who turned him into the most powerful lords of his time. This triple manuscript is far more than the expression of his power; it enlightens us as to the life and the figure, so manhandled by history, he has aspired to be. The luxury of this work is developed through five hundreds miniatures which enliven it. Made during the fifteenth century by particulary productive illuminators, pictures of this Miroir historial illustrate with some kind of banality the working method of the workshops from that time. Nevertheless, it gives important clues on the identity of the illuminators who worked on this great manuscript and reopens again the debate on the attribution of this pictures, an ongoing debate for more than a century.
C. Christensen-Nugues
Clandestine Marriages in the Synodal Statutes of Medieval Sweden
According to medieval canon law, mutual consent was sufficient to create a valid marriage. A marriage contracted secretly could thus be perfectly valid. Such marriages, i.e. clandestine marriages, did however entail major practical difficulties when the Church’s marriage legislation was applied. This was particularly apparent at the local level, and practically all synodal statutes in medieval Europe contained multiple prohibitions against such marriages. In this context, Swedish synodal statutes constitute an exception by the relatively modest place accorded to this problem.
This article compares the references to clandestine marriages in Swedish and French synodal statutes, analyzes their differences and explores the Swedish legal tradition to determine possible explanations for them. Swedish secular laws contained detailed rules for the formation of marriage that guaranteed a certain publicity. This made clandestine marriages, in the sense of marriages contracted secretly without witnesses, relatively scarce. Swedish synodal statutes reflect this situation, shows the implications of the Swedish matrimonial tradition, and how canon law was adapted to the Swedish context.