Hastening Toward Prague: Power and Society in the Medieval Czech Lands

Description

This is the first comprehensive study in English of Czech society and politics in the High Middle Ages. It paints a vivid portrait of a flourishing Christian community in the decades between 1050 and 1200. Bohemia's social and political landscape remained remarkably cohesive, centered on a throne in Prague, the Premyslid duke who occupied it, a society of property-owning freemen, and the ascendant Catholic church. In decades fraught with political violence, these provided a focal point for Czech identity and political order. In this, the Czechs' heavenly patron, Saint Vaclav, and the German emperor beyond their borders too had a role to play. An impressive, systematic dissection of a medieval polity, 'Hastening Toward Prague' is based on a close rereading of written and material artifacts from the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Arguing against a view that puts state or nation formation at heart, Wolverton examines interactions among dukes, emperors, freemen, and the church on their own terms, asking what powers the dukes of Bohemia possessed and how they were exercised within a broader political community. Evaluating not only the foundations and practice of ducal lordship but also the form and progress of resistance to it, she argues in particular that violence was not a sign of political instability but should be interpreted as reflecting a dynamic economy of checks and balances in a fluid, mature political system. This also reveals the values and strategies that sustained the Czech Lands as a community. The study honors the complexity and dynamism of the medieval exercise of power. List of Maps, Figures, and Tables ix Introduction 1 PART I: THE STRUCTURE OF POWER 1. Ducal Lordship 17 2. The Freemen 42 3. Interdependence 79 4. The Church 111 PART II: DYNAMICS AND STRATEGIES 5. Politics and the Divine: The Meaning and Mobilization of Saint Václav 147 6. Dynastic Relations, Moravia, and the Progress of Revolt 186 7. Manipulations of Imperial Authority 228 Conclusion: Leadership and Community 265 Appendix A: Selected Magnate Genealogies 277 Appendix B: Names and Language 281 Abbreviations 285 Notes 287 Bibliography 385 Index 399 Acknowledgments 405