In February 2022, I started working as a PostDoc assistant for Austrian History at the Institute for Austrian Historical Research at the University of Vienna. In my habilitation project, I intend to study late medieval Central European towns and their inhabitants as military actors. I am interested in the social and financial, but also the cultural history of late fourteenth to early sixteenth century urban warfare and feuding in the Lands of the Bohemian Crown and the Duchy of Austria. Recently, I have become particularly intrigued by the question how armed conflict opposed, but also connected townspeople and their rural neighbours and why at certain points in time violence was chosen by some actors over other, less bellicose modes of conflict resolution.
The monograph is accessible in open access on the page of Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, https://www.vr-... more The monograph is accessible in open access on the page of Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, https://www.vr-elibrary.de/doi/pdf/10.7767/9783205209416.
It deals with the embargo, which was imposed by the papacy and the Catholic lay powers upon all trade and commerce with the Czech Hussites between 1420 and 1436. On the one hand, this embargo was a means of economic warfare to subdue the Hussite “heresy“. On the other hand, its ideas and concepts stem from the papal bans on trade and commerce between Christians and Muslims, which started in the 12th century and evolved over the centuries into a general embargo on all trade with non-Christians. In the process, commercial relations with non-Christians, and especially with heretics, became increasingly stigmatized as a sin. Trading with the Czech Hussites therefore was not only an act of collaboration with a political enemy but also gravely endangered the immortal soul of those engaging in such acts.
The author explores this anti-Hussite embargo by showing how it was enforced and how the political agents involved used it as a tool of governance and propaganda. For this purpose a wide variety of sources are studied, covering different source genres (papal and royal charters, letters issued by town magistrates, chronicles, municipal accounts, records of criminal proceedings against alleged black marketeers, etc.) and a wide geographical area, embracing the Lands of the Czech Crown and all of their neighbouring territories. These sources are examined using a twofold methodological approach: firstly, the anti-Hussite trade embargo is considered as an instrumental means of warfare. Secondly, it is surveyed as a communicative process and cultural practice. These two aspects are then brought together, as the anti-Hussite embargo is studied as practical rule (“Herrschaftspraxis“), in which intricate top-down- and bottom-up-processes converged. Based on this twofold methodological approach, the commercial relations between Hussites and Catholics are described as a complex social interaction, which was accompanied by various discourses, both on the level of power politics and Christian morality.
This approach yields results in various fields. It identifies structures and agents of international long-distance and regional trade, adding to our knowledge of Central European trade patterns in the Hussite era, which clearly involved the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Bohemia, including those of the Hussite denomination. Simultaneously, this trade is investigated on the level of everyday life to shed light on the mindsets of those involved in it, allowing for glimpses on the mentalities and the self-fashioning of individuals and groups coming from all social strata. Thus, a whole new micro-historical perspective is added to the current view on the anti-Hussite embargo in Czech economic and political history. Furthermore, special emphasis is placed on source criticism and the thorough reflection of the sources’ heuristic limitations. This allows the author to re-evaluate the somehow contradictory, but so far hardly questioned assumptions in existing literature on the embargo and its alleged (in-)efficiency, and to add new perspectives that go beyond the unanswerable question of the embargo’s actual effects.
In conclusion, the up-coming monograph presents a new, holistic view of the anti-Hussite trade embargo as a complex historical phenomenon, thus contributing to the political, economic and cultural history as much as to the history of everyday life in early-15th-century Central Europe.
Von den Socken. Ein Beitrag zur Kulturgeschichte der Politik am Beispiel des Einzugs König Sigism... more Von den Socken. Ein Beitrag zur Kulturgeschichte der Politik am Beispiel des Einzugs König Sigismunds zum Konzil in Basel 1433. Mit der Edition eines Sigismundbriefes und einiger Einträge im Basler Fronfastenrechnungsbuch, in: Kaiser Sigismund (1368?1437). Zur Herrschaftspraxis eines europäischen Monarchen (Forschungen zur Kaiser- und Papstgeschichte des Mittelalters. Beihefte zu J. F. Böhmer, Regesta Imperii 31), hg. v. Karel Hruza und Alexandra Kaar, Wien/ Köln/ Weimar (Böhlau) 2012, S. 385-409.
Karel Hruza is among the few historians who effortlessly switch between Medieval Studies and 20th... more Karel Hruza is among the few historians who effortlessly switch between Medieval Studies and 20th Century History, unimpeded by national borders. His work, informed by an open-minded, truely Central European spirit, has inspired a number of colleagues and friends, who wish to honour his scholarly work with this Festschrift.
The ninth volume in the series Regesta Bohemiae et Moraviae aetatis Venceslai IV. [RBMV] presents... more The ninth volume in the series Regesta Bohemiae et Moraviae aetatis Venceslai IV. [RBMV] presents 127 documents, held today in the State regional archive in Zámrsk, the State district archives of eastern Bohemia and the parish archive of Kłodzko. Most of these documents were issued by king Wenceslas IV. Other issuers include the city council of Kłodzko, the royal captain of Kłodzko, duke John II of Opava and Racibórz, the Archbishop of Prague, and the bishops of Litomyšl and Wrocław.
This article examines the various modes of conflict management used by the free city of Regensbur... more This article examines the various modes of conflict management used by the free city of Regensburg and the local nobleman Hans I Staufer of Ehrenfels during a prolonged dispute over revenues from 1413 to 1418. In the early years of this feud, both parties utilized nonviolent methods such as legal action and arbitration, which were occasionally accompanied by minor military interventions. In April 1417, however, the Regensburg councilors broke with convention and decided to escalate the conflict with their feud opponent by capturing his ancestral castle, Ehrenfels, near Beratzhausen in the Upper Palatinate region. Using both urban account books and documentary evidence, the case study investigates the reasons behind the councilors' decision to launch this ostentatious military attack, their objectives in seizing Ehrenfels castle, and the impact of their show of force on the ongoing conflict. It portrays late medieval Central European towns as potent military actors and argues for a more systematic integration of economic considerations and cost-benefit calculations into our picture of late medieval feuding.
The Crusades Against the Hussites in Bohemia (1419–1436), in: Crusading Against Christians in the Middle Ages, ed. Mike Carr, Nikolaos Chrissis and Gianluca Raccagni , 2024
In this book chapter I give an overview of the history of the crusades against the Hussites, with... more In this book chapter I give an overview of the history of the crusades against the Hussites, with particular focus on the interaction between the crusaders and the Hussites, as well as the religious, political, and social dynamics of the wider region. Between 1420 and 1431, the papacy in collaboration with the lay powers of the Holy Roman Empire undertook five large-scale crusades against the allegedly heretic followers of the Czech reformer Jan Hus. Despite the international scale and remarkable mobilizing power of these campaigns they failed ingloriously, as did the so-called “daily war” on the alleged heretics. Indeed, from the mid-1420s onwards the Hussites themselves went on the offensive and raided the neighbouring kingdoms in a series of penetrating incursions. The military conflict was only settled in 1436, when the Council of Basle and the Emperor officially acknowledged Hussite religious practice. With this agreement, an allegedly heretical movement had for the first time successfully held its ground against the crusading efforts of the church. As well as providing an overview of events, this chapter also includes a historiographical survey that gives Anglophone readers a synoptic view of the extensive non-English-language literature on the topic. Finally, the chapter discusses why the crusades against the Hussites were highly significant for contemporaries, regardless of their evident military failure.
Martin Čapský et al., Reprezentace a praxe sociální kontroly v pozdně středověkých městských komunitách (Representation and Practice of Social Control in Late Medieval Towns) , 2023
In this book chapter I give a short overview over the emergence and development of two closely re... more In this book chapter I give a short overview over the emergence and development of two closely related types of sources, which historians can use to study the exercising of social control in late medieval towns.
This study investigates how the council of the Free City of Regensburg reacted to and tried to co... more This study investigates how the council of the Free City of Regensburg reacted to and tried to cope with the challenges posed by the so-called Town War (1387–1389) to everyday life in a late medieval city. 141 ordinances (‘Ratsverordnungen’) issued by the Regensburg council between 1381 and 1389 are surveyed, investigating how the councillors sought to regulate human interaction in a city threatened by war, how they tried to implement their regulatory measures, and which means they used to encourage the urban population to comply with their precepts. Furthermore, the study explores the Town War’s effects on the council’s standing and authority, and elucidates the delicate political negotiations necessary to legitimise the surveyed regulations. Overall, the paper sheds light on the Town War as a crisis during which governmental social control accelerated, thus contributing to long-term processes of late medieval ‘Herrschaftsverdichtung’.
Alexandra Kaar: Policing a Society at War: Governmental Social Control in Regensburg before and d... more Alexandra Kaar: Policing a Society at War: Governmental Social Control in Regensburg before and during the Town War (1381–1389)
Mateusz Goliński: Cloth Merchants vs Weavers: Imposed Top-Down Solutions to a Permanent Dispute (based on examples from Polish cities and their East German analogues in the late Middle Ages)
Ondřej Vodička: Reinhard of Reims: Prague Merchant and Exile in the Shadow of the Hussite Revolution
Josef Kadeřábek: From the Cradle to the Grave: The Changing of Transitional Rituals in the Multi-Confessional Milieu of a Bohemian Town in the Seventeenth Century
Vladimír Rábik – Michal Franko: The Church and the Settlement: Church and Settlement Interaction in Medieval Pezinok
REVIEWS: ŁUPIENKO, ALEKSANDER. ORDER IN THE STREETS: THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF WARSAW’S PUBLIC SPACE IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY. BERLIN: PETER LANG, 2019, 269 PP. ISBN 978-3-631-80070-6
DURČO, MICHAL. CESTY A DIAĽNICE NA SLOVENSKU V MEDZIVOJNOVOM OBDOBÍ [ROADS AND MOTORWAYS IN SLOVAKIA IN THE INTERWAR PERIOD]. BRATISLAVA: VEDA VYDAVATEĽSTVO SAV; HISTORICKÝ ÚSTAV SAV, 2020, 230 PP. ISBN 978-80-2241868-3
GRULICH, JOSEF. MIGRAČNÍ STRATEGIE: MĚSTO, PŘEDMĚSTÍ A VESNICE NA PANSTVÍ ČESKÉ BUDĚJOVICE VE DRUHÉ POLOVINĚ 18. STOLETÍ [MIGRATION STRATEGIES: A TOWN, SUBURBS AND A VILLAGE IN THE ESTATE OF ČESKÉ BUDĚJOVICE IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 18TH CENTURY]. ČESKÉ BUDĚJOVICE: NOVÁ TISKÁRNA PELHŘIMOV, 2018, 286 PP. ISBN 978-80-7394-703-3
in: Gotteskrieger. Der Kampf um den rechten Glauben rund um Wien im 15. Jahrhundert. Begleitband zur Ausstellung, ed. Maria Theisen, 2022
In this article for the catalogue accompagning the exhibition "Gotteskrieger" (Stift Klosterneubu... more In this article for the catalogue accompagning the exhibition "Gotteskrieger" (Stift Klosterneuburg 2022) I discuss economic relations between the Duchy of Austria, the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Margraviate of Moravia at the beginning of the 15th century.
After the outbreak of the Hussite Wars (spring 1420), the Hussite capital Prague faced – at least... more After the outbreak of the Hussite Wars (spring 1420), the Hussite capital Prague faced – at least in theory – a total embargo on all trade and commerce. However, trade evidently continued in spite of this embargo. The present article systematically assesses our knowledge on this trade and highlights articles, geographical structures and agents of long-distance trade to and from the Czech metropolis during the war. Furthermore, the author uses the example of the anti-Hussite embargo to address important and hitherto largely-neglected methodological questions concerning the analysis of medieval trade prohibitions in general.
Historiker zwischen den Zeiten. Festschrift für Karel Hruza zum 60. Geburtstag, ed. Petr Elbel, Alexandra Kaar, Jiří Němec, Martin Wihoda, 2021
Emperor Sigismund (d. 1437) has a reputation for being particularly resourceful at extracting mon... more Emperor Sigismund (d. 1437) has a reputation for being particularly resourceful at extracting money from his Jewish subjects. This paper examins his repeated attempts to levy taxes from the Regensburg Jewry, the largest and most important Jewish community in medieval Bavaria.
This article deals with the embargo imposed by the papacy and the Catholic lay powers on all trad... more This article deals with the embargo imposed by the papacy and the Catholic lay powers on all trade and commerce with the Czech Hussites. It posits that this anti-Hussite embargo was simultaneously a means of economic warfare and an expression of the longer tradition of the 'papal embargo'. Based on this twofold understanding, a set of sources is interrogated both from the perspectives of economic and cultural history. To this end a research methodology is employed that differentiates between the 'instrumental' and 'symbolic' dimensions of agency. This allows for a new, holistic view of the anti-Hussite embargo, both as an instrumental means of warfare and as a communicative process. The article thus contributes to the political, economic, and cultural history as much as to the history of everyday life in fifteenth-century Central Europe. Above all, however, it offers a transferable research methodology for the study of medieval embargoes in general.
The paper studies the charters and letters originating during the Catholic trade embargo first im... more The paper studies the charters and letters originating during the Catholic trade embargo first imposed against the Czech Hussites between 1420 and 1436, and reassumed in the late 1460s and early 1470s. The different types of documents are first studied with regard to their formal characteristics and their classification in terms of late medieval diplomatics. Secondly, lost correspondences are reconstructed in order to demonstrate the great void of missing documents, preventing us from truly grasping the widespread use of the written word during the Hussite Wars. Thirdly, the publication of papal and royal mandates enforcing the anti-Hussite embargo is analysed to demonstrate both the practical use of the documents in question, and their importance for Catholic anti-Hussite policy.
Husitský Tábor. Journal for the history of reformation thought and culture from the medieval to the modern age, 2018
This study analyses a corpus of approx. 50 charters issued by Sigismund of Luxemburg as King of B... more This study analyses a corpus of approx. 50 charters issued by Sigismund of Luxemburg as King of Bohemia for the royal towns of Bohemia and Moravia that contain stipulations on trade. It argues that these economic stipulations were of considerable significance for the recipients who actively sought the confirmation of old rights or tried to acquire new privileges. Trade privileges therefore constituted a convenient instrument for the king to either reward loyal Catholic followers or to “buy” the recognition of formerly oppositional Hussite towns. Furthermore, the author uses Sigismund’s trade privileges to illustrate the practical limitations of the Catholic embargo on trade and commerce with the Hussite “heretics”. The evidence shows that the granting of these trade privileges was overwhelmingly driven by short-term needs rather than by long-term strategy; at times the king even outright counteracted his own embargo. The author therefore concludes that the studied trade privileges indirectly attest to the continuation of international trade within and without the kingdom, even though the circumstances in Hussite Bohemia were theoretically quite unfavourable to such trade.
Mitteilungen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung, 2018
The article deals with the circumvention of the embargo, which was imposed by the papacy and the ... more The article deals with the circumvention of the embargo, which was imposed by the papacy and the Catholic lay powers upon all trade and commerce with the Czech Hussites between 1420 and 1436. It scrutinises papal bulls, royal mandates, municipal correspondences, judicial sources and account books for information on trade in expensive high-end goods such as West European cloth, items of specialised high-quality craftsmanship, spices, exotic fruit, costly wine, manuscripts, and objects of art. Thereby the article identifies actors and trade routes and sheds a light on the specific political and religious circumstances that characterised commercial relations between the allegedly heretic Czechs and their Catholic neighbours during the Hussite Wars.
Heilige, Helden, Wüteriche. Herrschaftsstile der Luxemburger (1308–1437) (Regesta Imperii - Beihefte: Forschungen zur Kaiser- und Papstgeschichte des Mittelalters 14)
The monograph is accessible in open access on the page of Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, https://www.vr-... more The monograph is accessible in open access on the page of Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, https://www.vr-elibrary.de/doi/pdf/10.7767/9783205209416.
It deals with the embargo, which was imposed by the papacy and the Catholic lay powers upon all trade and commerce with the Czech Hussites between 1420 and 1436. On the one hand, this embargo was a means of economic warfare to subdue the Hussite “heresy“. On the other hand, its ideas and concepts stem from the papal bans on trade and commerce between Christians and Muslims, which started in the 12th century and evolved over the centuries into a general embargo on all trade with non-Christians. In the process, commercial relations with non-Christians, and especially with heretics, became increasingly stigmatized as a sin. Trading with the Czech Hussites therefore was not only an act of collaboration with a political enemy but also gravely endangered the immortal soul of those engaging in such acts.
The author explores this anti-Hussite embargo by showing how it was enforced and how the political agents involved used it as a tool of governance and propaganda. For this purpose a wide variety of sources are studied, covering different source genres (papal and royal charters, letters issued by town magistrates, chronicles, municipal accounts, records of criminal proceedings against alleged black marketeers, etc.) and a wide geographical area, embracing the Lands of the Czech Crown and all of their neighbouring territories. These sources are examined using a twofold methodological approach: firstly, the anti-Hussite trade embargo is considered as an instrumental means of warfare. Secondly, it is surveyed as a communicative process and cultural practice. These two aspects are then brought together, as the anti-Hussite embargo is studied as practical rule (“Herrschaftspraxis“), in which intricate top-down- and bottom-up-processes converged. Based on this twofold methodological approach, the commercial relations between Hussites and Catholics are described as a complex social interaction, which was accompanied by various discourses, both on the level of power politics and Christian morality.
This approach yields results in various fields. It identifies structures and agents of international long-distance and regional trade, adding to our knowledge of Central European trade patterns in the Hussite era, which clearly involved the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Bohemia, including those of the Hussite denomination. Simultaneously, this trade is investigated on the level of everyday life to shed light on the mindsets of those involved in it, allowing for glimpses on the mentalities and the self-fashioning of individuals and groups coming from all social strata. Thus, a whole new micro-historical perspective is added to the current view on the anti-Hussite embargo in Czech economic and political history. Furthermore, special emphasis is placed on source criticism and the thorough reflection of the sources’ heuristic limitations. This allows the author to re-evaluate the somehow contradictory, but so far hardly questioned assumptions in existing literature on the embargo and its alleged (in-)efficiency, and to add new perspectives that go beyond the unanswerable question of the embargo’s actual effects.
In conclusion, the up-coming monograph presents a new, holistic view of the anti-Hussite trade embargo as a complex historical phenomenon, thus contributing to the political, economic and cultural history as much as to the history of everyday life in early-15th-century Central Europe.
Von den Socken. Ein Beitrag zur Kulturgeschichte der Politik am Beispiel des Einzugs König Sigism... more Von den Socken. Ein Beitrag zur Kulturgeschichte der Politik am Beispiel des Einzugs König Sigismunds zum Konzil in Basel 1433. Mit der Edition eines Sigismundbriefes und einiger Einträge im Basler Fronfastenrechnungsbuch, in: Kaiser Sigismund (1368?1437). Zur Herrschaftspraxis eines europäischen Monarchen (Forschungen zur Kaiser- und Papstgeschichte des Mittelalters. Beihefte zu J. F. Böhmer, Regesta Imperii 31), hg. v. Karel Hruza und Alexandra Kaar, Wien/ Köln/ Weimar (Böhlau) 2012, S. 385-409.
Karel Hruza is among the few historians who effortlessly switch between Medieval Studies and 20th... more Karel Hruza is among the few historians who effortlessly switch between Medieval Studies and 20th Century History, unimpeded by national borders. His work, informed by an open-minded, truely Central European spirit, has inspired a number of colleagues and friends, who wish to honour his scholarly work with this Festschrift.
The ninth volume in the series Regesta Bohemiae et Moraviae aetatis Venceslai IV. [RBMV] presents... more The ninth volume in the series Regesta Bohemiae et Moraviae aetatis Venceslai IV. [RBMV] presents 127 documents, held today in the State regional archive in Zámrsk, the State district archives of eastern Bohemia and the parish archive of Kłodzko. Most of these documents were issued by king Wenceslas IV. Other issuers include the city council of Kłodzko, the royal captain of Kłodzko, duke John II of Opava and Racibórz, the Archbishop of Prague, and the bishops of Litomyšl and Wrocław.
This article examines the various modes of conflict management used by the free city of Regensbur... more This article examines the various modes of conflict management used by the free city of Regensburg and the local nobleman Hans I Staufer of Ehrenfels during a prolonged dispute over revenues from 1413 to 1418. In the early years of this feud, both parties utilized nonviolent methods such as legal action and arbitration, which were occasionally accompanied by minor military interventions. In April 1417, however, the Regensburg councilors broke with convention and decided to escalate the conflict with their feud opponent by capturing his ancestral castle, Ehrenfels, near Beratzhausen in the Upper Palatinate region. Using both urban account books and documentary evidence, the case study investigates the reasons behind the councilors' decision to launch this ostentatious military attack, their objectives in seizing Ehrenfels castle, and the impact of their show of force on the ongoing conflict. It portrays late medieval Central European towns as potent military actors and argues for a more systematic integration of economic considerations and cost-benefit calculations into our picture of late medieval feuding.
The Crusades Against the Hussites in Bohemia (1419–1436), in: Crusading Against Christians in the Middle Ages, ed. Mike Carr, Nikolaos Chrissis and Gianluca Raccagni , 2024
In this book chapter I give an overview of the history of the crusades against the Hussites, with... more In this book chapter I give an overview of the history of the crusades against the Hussites, with particular focus on the interaction between the crusaders and the Hussites, as well as the religious, political, and social dynamics of the wider region. Between 1420 and 1431, the papacy in collaboration with the lay powers of the Holy Roman Empire undertook five large-scale crusades against the allegedly heretic followers of the Czech reformer Jan Hus. Despite the international scale and remarkable mobilizing power of these campaigns they failed ingloriously, as did the so-called “daily war” on the alleged heretics. Indeed, from the mid-1420s onwards the Hussites themselves went on the offensive and raided the neighbouring kingdoms in a series of penetrating incursions. The military conflict was only settled in 1436, when the Council of Basle and the Emperor officially acknowledged Hussite religious practice. With this agreement, an allegedly heretical movement had for the first time successfully held its ground against the crusading efforts of the church. As well as providing an overview of events, this chapter also includes a historiographical survey that gives Anglophone readers a synoptic view of the extensive non-English-language literature on the topic. Finally, the chapter discusses why the crusades against the Hussites were highly significant for contemporaries, regardless of their evident military failure.
Martin Čapský et al., Reprezentace a praxe sociální kontroly v pozdně středověkých městských komunitách (Representation and Practice of Social Control in Late Medieval Towns) , 2023
In this book chapter I give a short overview over the emergence and development of two closely re... more In this book chapter I give a short overview over the emergence and development of two closely related types of sources, which historians can use to study the exercising of social control in late medieval towns.
This study investigates how the council of the Free City of Regensburg reacted to and tried to co... more This study investigates how the council of the Free City of Regensburg reacted to and tried to cope with the challenges posed by the so-called Town War (1387–1389) to everyday life in a late medieval city. 141 ordinances (‘Ratsverordnungen’) issued by the Regensburg council between 1381 and 1389 are surveyed, investigating how the councillors sought to regulate human interaction in a city threatened by war, how they tried to implement their regulatory measures, and which means they used to encourage the urban population to comply with their precepts. Furthermore, the study explores the Town War’s effects on the council’s standing and authority, and elucidates the delicate political negotiations necessary to legitimise the surveyed regulations. Overall, the paper sheds light on the Town War as a crisis during which governmental social control accelerated, thus contributing to long-term processes of late medieval ‘Herrschaftsverdichtung’.
Alexandra Kaar: Policing a Society at War: Governmental Social Control in Regensburg before and d... more Alexandra Kaar: Policing a Society at War: Governmental Social Control in Regensburg before and during the Town War (1381–1389)
Mateusz Goliński: Cloth Merchants vs Weavers: Imposed Top-Down Solutions to a Permanent Dispute (based on examples from Polish cities and their East German analogues in the late Middle Ages)
Ondřej Vodička: Reinhard of Reims: Prague Merchant and Exile in the Shadow of the Hussite Revolution
Josef Kadeřábek: From the Cradle to the Grave: The Changing of Transitional Rituals in the Multi-Confessional Milieu of a Bohemian Town in the Seventeenth Century
Vladimír Rábik – Michal Franko: The Church and the Settlement: Church and Settlement Interaction in Medieval Pezinok
REVIEWS: ŁUPIENKO, ALEKSANDER. ORDER IN THE STREETS: THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF WARSAW’S PUBLIC SPACE IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY. BERLIN: PETER LANG, 2019, 269 PP. ISBN 978-3-631-80070-6
DURČO, MICHAL. CESTY A DIAĽNICE NA SLOVENSKU V MEDZIVOJNOVOM OBDOBÍ [ROADS AND MOTORWAYS IN SLOVAKIA IN THE INTERWAR PERIOD]. BRATISLAVA: VEDA VYDAVATEĽSTVO SAV; HISTORICKÝ ÚSTAV SAV, 2020, 230 PP. ISBN 978-80-2241868-3
GRULICH, JOSEF. MIGRAČNÍ STRATEGIE: MĚSTO, PŘEDMĚSTÍ A VESNICE NA PANSTVÍ ČESKÉ BUDĚJOVICE VE DRUHÉ POLOVINĚ 18. STOLETÍ [MIGRATION STRATEGIES: A TOWN, SUBURBS AND A VILLAGE IN THE ESTATE OF ČESKÉ BUDĚJOVICE IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 18TH CENTURY]. ČESKÉ BUDĚJOVICE: NOVÁ TISKÁRNA PELHŘIMOV, 2018, 286 PP. ISBN 978-80-7394-703-3
in: Gotteskrieger. Der Kampf um den rechten Glauben rund um Wien im 15. Jahrhundert. Begleitband zur Ausstellung, ed. Maria Theisen, 2022
In this article for the catalogue accompagning the exhibition "Gotteskrieger" (Stift Klosterneubu... more In this article for the catalogue accompagning the exhibition "Gotteskrieger" (Stift Klosterneuburg 2022) I discuss economic relations between the Duchy of Austria, the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Margraviate of Moravia at the beginning of the 15th century.
After the outbreak of the Hussite Wars (spring 1420), the Hussite capital Prague faced – at least... more After the outbreak of the Hussite Wars (spring 1420), the Hussite capital Prague faced – at least in theory – a total embargo on all trade and commerce. However, trade evidently continued in spite of this embargo. The present article systematically assesses our knowledge on this trade and highlights articles, geographical structures and agents of long-distance trade to and from the Czech metropolis during the war. Furthermore, the author uses the example of the anti-Hussite embargo to address important and hitherto largely-neglected methodological questions concerning the analysis of medieval trade prohibitions in general.
Historiker zwischen den Zeiten. Festschrift für Karel Hruza zum 60. Geburtstag, ed. Petr Elbel, Alexandra Kaar, Jiří Němec, Martin Wihoda, 2021
Emperor Sigismund (d. 1437) has a reputation for being particularly resourceful at extracting mon... more Emperor Sigismund (d. 1437) has a reputation for being particularly resourceful at extracting money from his Jewish subjects. This paper examins his repeated attempts to levy taxes from the Regensburg Jewry, the largest and most important Jewish community in medieval Bavaria.
This article deals with the embargo imposed by the papacy and the Catholic lay powers on all trad... more This article deals with the embargo imposed by the papacy and the Catholic lay powers on all trade and commerce with the Czech Hussites. It posits that this anti-Hussite embargo was simultaneously a means of economic warfare and an expression of the longer tradition of the 'papal embargo'. Based on this twofold understanding, a set of sources is interrogated both from the perspectives of economic and cultural history. To this end a research methodology is employed that differentiates between the 'instrumental' and 'symbolic' dimensions of agency. This allows for a new, holistic view of the anti-Hussite embargo, both as an instrumental means of warfare and as a communicative process. The article thus contributes to the political, economic, and cultural history as much as to the history of everyday life in fifteenth-century Central Europe. Above all, however, it offers a transferable research methodology for the study of medieval embargoes in general.
The paper studies the charters and letters originating during the Catholic trade embargo first im... more The paper studies the charters and letters originating during the Catholic trade embargo first imposed against the Czech Hussites between 1420 and 1436, and reassumed in the late 1460s and early 1470s. The different types of documents are first studied with regard to their formal characteristics and their classification in terms of late medieval diplomatics. Secondly, lost correspondences are reconstructed in order to demonstrate the great void of missing documents, preventing us from truly grasping the widespread use of the written word during the Hussite Wars. Thirdly, the publication of papal and royal mandates enforcing the anti-Hussite embargo is analysed to demonstrate both the practical use of the documents in question, and their importance for Catholic anti-Hussite policy.
Husitský Tábor. Journal for the history of reformation thought and culture from the medieval to the modern age, 2018
This study analyses a corpus of approx. 50 charters issued by Sigismund of Luxemburg as King of B... more This study analyses a corpus of approx. 50 charters issued by Sigismund of Luxemburg as King of Bohemia for the royal towns of Bohemia and Moravia that contain stipulations on trade. It argues that these economic stipulations were of considerable significance for the recipients who actively sought the confirmation of old rights or tried to acquire new privileges. Trade privileges therefore constituted a convenient instrument for the king to either reward loyal Catholic followers or to “buy” the recognition of formerly oppositional Hussite towns. Furthermore, the author uses Sigismund’s trade privileges to illustrate the practical limitations of the Catholic embargo on trade and commerce with the Hussite “heretics”. The evidence shows that the granting of these trade privileges was overwhelmingly driven by short-term needs rather than by long-term strategy; at times the king even outright counteracted his own embargo. The author therefore concludes that the studied trade privileges indirectly attest to the continuation of international trade within and without the kingdom, even though the circumstances in Hussite Bohemia were theoretically quite unfavourable to such trade.
Mitteilungen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung, 2018
The article deals with the circumvention of the embargo, which was imposed by the papacy and the ... more The article deals with the circumvention of the embargo, which was imposed by the papacy and the Catholic lay powers upon all trade and commerce with the Czech Hussites between 1420 and 1436. It scrutinises papal bulls, royal mandates, municipal correspondences, judicial sources and account books for information on trade in expensive high-end goods such as West European cloth, items of specialised high-quality craftsmanship, spices, exotic fruit, costly wine, manuscripts, and objects of art. Thereby the article identifies actors and trade routes and sheds a light on the specific political and religious circumstances that characterised commercial relations between the allegedly heretic Czechs and their Catholic neighbours during the Hussite Wars.
Heilige, Helden, Wüteriche. Herrschaftsstile der Luxemburger (1308–1437) (Regesta Imperii - Beihefte: Forschungen zur Kaiser- und Papstgeschichte des Mittelalters 14)
This paper deals with an episode of early 15th century Bohemian history. During the so-called Hus... more This paper deals with an episode of early 15th century Bohemian history. During the so-called Hussite wars, a coalition of Catholic powers tried to establish a far-reaching blockade on trade and commerce against the kingdom of Bohemia, which then was considered to be a hotbed of heresy, and to be rebellious against its legitimate ruler and the papal church. Following a period of fruitful interaction and economic integration during the reign of the German and Bohemian king Charles IV, this isolation supposedly brought about a general decline and a temporary economic and cultural “backwardness” of the – allegedly – once progressive, politically and economically leading kingdom.
In a first step the paper deals with questions arising from the contemporary understanding of the Anti-Hussite-blockade. Three 15th century documents are discussed, which show how the blockade was promoted, translated into practice, and used as an argument in the process of practical and ideological dissociation from a religious adversary. Secondly, the paper deals with the treatment of the blockade in 19th and 20th century historiography. It studies how modern historians appraised its realization and efficiency. The paper further discusses which rhetorical and ideological mechanisms worked together in historiography’s understanding of the blockade, and which unconscious perceptions made up the blockade’s attractiveness for the explanation of various other phenomena. Thus the paper mainly examines how the Anti-Hussite-blockade was interpreted and put to (argumentative) use, both by its contemporaries and by modern historiography. It nevertheless also attempts to discuss it as a real historical phenomenon.
Both levels of analysis reveal different but arguably interlinked processes of boundary-making, the one taking place in the late Middle Ages, the other in modern historiography today. Therefore they serve as a case study in how contemporaries and historians have engaged and still engage in the making of space through the making of boundaries.
Pro Civitate Austriae. Informationen zur Stadtgeschichtsforschung in Österreich, 2011
In this article I examine a late medieval town book from the Upper Austrian market town of Grein ... more In this article I examine a late medieval town book from the Upper Austrian market town of Grein using, among others, palaeographical and art historical methods. The lavishly decorated manuscript assembles the traditional privileges of the inhabitants of Grein, together with a register of the town's property. Previous scholarship has argued that the manuscript was compiled at the behest of the Grein burghers in order to secure their traditional rights and privileges when their lord, Emperor Frederick III, donated the town to two of his most important creditors from the noble Prüschenk family in 1489. Through a thorough examination of both the historical context and the manuscript itself, I come to the opposite conclusion and argue that it was in fact the Prüschenk brothers themselves who commissioned this prestigious object. As social climbers from the meddling nobility, they wanted to mark their social ascent with status symbols such as the acquisition of a prosperous town and the subsequent establishment of a princely residence in the same town. The manuscript must therefore be read in this context, rather than as a token of an alleged antagonism between noble town lords and their bourgeois subjects. The case study shows how urban history in Central Europe cannot be written without considering the town lords, and how an object from an urban context can be key to interpreting the social history of the late medieval noble family.
Paper given at the international workshop "Les lieux de l'acte: analyses spaciales des sources di... more Paper given at the international workshop "Les lieux de l'acte: analyses spaciales des sources diplomatiques", Université de Namur, October 11, 2024.
With the election of the Hungarian king Sigismund of Luxembourg as king of the Romans (1410/11), a remarkable situation arose in the late medieval Empire in which a dynast ascended the royal throne whose hereditary lands – the lands of the Hungarian Crown – were outside the Empire. Consequently, Sigismund chose to return to a more itinerant style of kingship. His intensive travelling led him back and forth between his various hereditary lands and dominions during his 27-year reign in the Empire, while his subjects also had to increasingly visit the ruler at different locations in the vast geographical area he ruled.
Under these specific conditions, the Danube took on increased importance as an axis of communication for both the king and the Empire. This particularly affected the Free City of Regensburg. Due to its favourable location (the Danube is navigable from Regensburg and offers a direct and convenient connection downstream to Hungary), the city, which traditionally had close ties with Hungary and Bohemia, developed into Sigismund's preferred 'gateway' from the Empire’s core lands to Hungary. In consequence, he held court in Regensburg several times before leaving the Empire’s core lands for longer periods in the direction of his Hungarian and Bohemian hereditary lands.
In this paper, I examine how this constellation affected the production of royal charters. On the one hand, I ask who acquired royal charters in Regensburg and what statements can be made in this regard regarding the scope and ‘appeal’ of royal rule. On the other hand, I try to offer an explanation for the striking fact that of around 200 documents issued in the name of the ruler during Sigismund's longest stay in Regensburg in autumn 1434, no less than 65 date from the last day of his stay in the city.
Paper given at the international workshop "Central Europe in the Later Middle Ages II: Patterns o... more Paper given at the international workshop "Central Europe in the Later Middle Ages II: Patterns of Conflict and Negotiation".
In this paper I study a feud fought between the free city of Regensburg and the nobleman Hans Staufer of Ehrenfels, which resulted in the seizing of Ehrenfels castle near Beratzhausen/Upper Palatinate by a Regensburg host in April 1417. The civic account books document the expenditure incurred by the city for the military expedition and its diplomatic aftermath and allow for a fascinating look into late medieval military decision making.
Paper given at the international conference "DIVERSITAS(Sigis)MUNDI. Politische, soziale, religiöse und kulturelle Vielfalt in der Zeit Sigismunds von Luxemburg (1368–1437)"
In this paper I take a look at stereotypes and prejudices held by early fifteenth-century townspe... more In this paper I take a look at stereotypes and prejudices held by early fifteenth-century townspeople and noblemen against each other. For this purpose I study documents emanating from urban chancelleries in Southern Germany and Upper Lusatia such as letters, judicial records, and account books. This allows for a fresh look at old discussions about the alleged hatred between the two social groups.
In this paper I study the Hussite Wars' effect on economy, politics, and everyday life in the Fre... more In this paper I study the Hussite Wars' effect on economy, politics, and everyday life in the Free City of Regensburg. I discuss Regensburg's political and military involvement in the Empire's war against the Hussites, which lead to the city's increased integration in the Empire as a whole. Furthermore, I show how the war effected the city's relationship with the neighbouring Wittelsbach Dukes as much as its traditional trade and communication links with Bohemia. Finally, the paper traces the fates of Hussite sympathisers in Regensburg as much as that of Catholic refugees from Bohemia in an attempt to outline everyday life in a city close to the battle lines of the Hussite Wars.
In this paper I discuss economic relations between the Duchy of Austria, the Kingdom of Bohemia a... more In this paper I discuss economic relations between the Duchy of Austria, the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Margraviate of Moravia at the beginning of the 15th century.
In this talk I discuss a verdict passed by the aldermen of Magdeburg in June 1421. This unique do... more In this talk I discuss a verdict passed by the aldermen of Magdeburg in June 1421. This unique document allows interesting insights into the everyday concerns of a Görlitz merchant active in Kutná Hora shortly before the city fell into Hussite hands in April 1421.
In this paper I analyse the anti-Hussite embargo as one of the many factors that helped stabilizi... more In this paper I analyse the anti-Hussite embargo as one of the many factors that helped stabilizing and perpetuating the prolonged conflict between Hussites and Catholics in fifteenth-century Bohemia.
The international project "Emperor Sigismund and Bavaria" joins two project teams in Vienna and M... more The international project "Emperor Sigismund and Bavaria" joins two project teams in Vienna and Munich to collect all of Sigismund's charters from the holdings of the Bavarian State Archives in Munich. We will produce modern abstracts of these charters, which will be published in the Regesta Imperii XI reedition series. The second aim of the project is to study Sigismund's relations to Bavaria as an example for Sigismund's rule in the Empire. A collective monograph will thoroughly analyse the Bavarian case. Through this analysis, we expect to challenge prevailing assumptions about Sigismund's imperial rule as inherently weak and dependent on the Prince Electors' cooperation.
Talk delivered at the online-workshop „Reprezentace a praxe sociální kontroly v pozdně středověkých městských komunitách“
Der Vortrag unternimmt eine exemplarische Untersuchung der praktischen Ausübung sozialer Kontroll... more Der Vortrag unternimmt eine exemplarische Untersuchung der praktischen Ausübung sozialer Kontrolle durch einen reichsstädtischen Rat gegen Ende des 14. Jahrhunderts. Anhand des sogenannten „Gelben Stadtbuches“ der Freien Stadt Regensburg (Bayerisches Haupstaatsarchiv, Reichsstadt Regensburg Literalien, Nr. 297) wird untersucht, wie der Regensburger Rat auf die Krisensituation des sogenannten Ersten süddeutschen Städtekrieges (1387–1389) reagierte. Das von 1370 bis 1419 geführte „Gelbe Stadtbuch“ enthält Aufzeichnungen von sehr unterschiedlicher Länge und diversem Charakter. Der Vortrag konzentriert sich auf als „Ratsverordnungen“ anzusprechende Texte aus den Kriegsjahren, die einen sozioregulativen Charakter aufweisen, und mit denen der Rat teilweise sehr tief in das Alltagsleben der Bürger eingriff. Anhand der ausgewählten Texte wird danach gefragt, wie eine Krise wie der Städtekrieg als Katalysator für die Intensivierung sozialer Disziplinierung wirkte. Mein besonderes Interesse gilt dabei den Vorstellungen des Regensburger Rates von der praktischen Umsetzung der verordneten Maßnahmen, etwa durch von ihm eingesetzte Sonderkommissionen und Ausschüsse, die sogenannten Wachtmeister (= die Vorsteher der als „Wachten“ bezeichneten Untereinheiten des Regensburger Stadtgebietes), aber auch durch bestimmte Berufsgruppen wie Schank- und Gastwirte, bis hinunter auf die Ebene der einzelnen Haushaltsvorstände. Thematisiert werden auch Anhaltspunkte für die Teilhabe anderer städtischer Kollektivorgane bzw. der Bürgerschaft an der Beschlussfassung und Umsetzung der hier interessierenden Maßnahmen. Damit soll überprüft werden, inwieweit die Krise des Städtekrieges möglicherweise auch „Demokratisierungsprozesse“ in Gang setzte, die anderen städtischen Gremien dem bis zu diesem Zeitpunkt nahezu uneingeschränkt regierenden Rat gegenüber neues Gewicht verliehen haben könnten.
The lecture deals with the embargo imposed by the papacy and the Catholic lay powers on all trade... more The lecture deals with the embargo imposed by the papacy and the Catholic lay powers on all trade and commerce with the Czech Hussites. By positing that this anti-Hussite embargo was simultaneously a means of economic warfare and an expression of the longer tradition of the 'papal embargo' it will take a look at the political, economic, and cultural history as much as at the history of everyday life in fifteenth-century Central Europe. Based on this twofold understanding, a set of sources will be interrogated both from the perspectives of economic and cultural history. This allows for a new, holistic view of the anti-Hussite embargo, both as an instrumental means of warfare and as a communicative process.
The paper studies the publication and propagation of the anti-Hussite trade embargo in the Lands ... more The paper studies the publication and propagation of the anti-Hussite trade embargo in the Lands of the Czech Crown and its neighboring territories, as well as evidence for the internalization of the moral dimension of this embargo by the merchants supposed to implement it.
The paper studies the embargo imposed by the papacy and the Catholic lay powers upon all trade an... more The paper studies the embargo imposed by the papacy and the Catholic lay powers upon all trade and commerce with the allegedly heretic Czechs. This embargo was first introduced as a means of anti-heretic warfare during the Hussite Wars of the 1420s and ‘30s. After being de facto abandoned with the Jihlava Compacts it remained dormant, before being reprised during the reign of George of Poděbrady. The paper aims at placing this anti-Hussite embargo in the wider context of economic sanctions against heretics, and at discussing the similarities and differences between its two successive manifestations.
Talk at the international workshop "Urban Military Matters in the Late Middle Ages: Warfare, Trade and its Organization“, 11-12 June 2018, Institut für Wirtschafts- und Sozialgeschichte, University of Vienna
The Hussite Wars (1420–1434) were one of the largest armed conflicts of late medieval Central Eur... more The Hussite Wars (1420–1434) were one of the largest armed conflicts of late medieval Central European history. As always, the accessibility of weapons and strategic goods was key for success or failure of both parties involved. The paper deals with the Catholic embargo on trade in arms and strategic goods with the allegedly heretic Hussites. Sources, which either tried to enforce this anti-Hussite embargo or attest to its failure are scrutinized in order to shed a light on actors and structures of Central European arms trade in the first half of the 15th century. Prime examples for such sources come from the towns of Nuremberg and Vienna, which are therefore given special attention. In addition to this strategic dimension of the anti-Hussite embargo the paper discusses the particular morale issues, which were raised by the selling of arms to heretics, and examine contemporary perceptions of war profiteering and infidelity, which came into play, once possible black marketeers were caught.
Der Vortrag nimmt den bis zu einem gewissen Grad paradoxen Befund in den Blick, dass die Regierun... more Der Vortrag nimmt den bis zu einem gewissen Grad paradoxen Befund in den Blick, dass die Regierung des letzten Luxemburgers auf dem böhmischen Thron, Sigismund, in der Oberlausitz als durchaus erfolgreich bezeichnet werde kann, dieser sich jedoch Zeit seiner Herrschaft als König von Böhmen (1420–1437) nie persönlich in diesem Kronland aufhielt. Dadurch stand ihm auch keines der mit der physischen Anwesenheit eines Herrschers vor Ort verbundenen Mittel der Präsentation und Repräsentation von Herrschaft zur Verfügung.
Verantwortlich für Sigismunds dauerhafte Abwesenheit waren verschiedene wohlbekannte Gründe, allen voran die politischen Turbulenzen der Hussitenkriege, die es dem König bis 1436 verunmöglichten, dauerhaft in Böhmen Residenz zu nehmen. Weniger bekannt ist hingegen die Tatsache, dass Sigismund offensichtlich immer wieder einen Aufenthalt in der Oberlausitz in Erwägung zog. Diese Pläne belegen, dass der König seine Anwesenheit in diesem Kronland nicht prinzipiell für überflüssig hielt, und sehr wohl beabsichtigte, vom Herrschaftsmittel der persönlichen Präsenz vor Ort Gebrauch zu machen, auch wenn es in Endeffekt nie dazu kam.
Der Vortrag wirft einerseits einen Blick auf die Nachrichten über diese geplanten königlichen Besuche und deren historischen und politischen Kontext. Andererseits wird diskutiert, wie Sigismund und dessen Untertanen trotz des wiederholten Scheiterns dieser Pläne miteinander kommunizierten, und so abseits der physischen Präsenz des Königs Herrschaft praktizierten. Dabei wird besonderes Augenmerk auf die Reisen der Oberlausitzer an den Königshof gelegt, stellte doch ein abwesender König nicht nur den Herrscher, sondern auch die Beherrschten vor besondere Herausforderungen. Auf dieses Weise soll erhellt werden, wie Sigismund durch die praktische Ausübung von Königsherrschaft dauerhaft in der Oberlausitz präsent bleiben konnte, obwohl er der König war, der niemals kam.
When on 17 March 1420 the first of a series of crusades against the allegedly heretic Czech Hussi... more When on 17 March 1420 the first of a series of crusades against the allegedly heretic Czech Hussites was solemnly proclaimed, this meant not only that from that moment on every true Christian was to fight the alleged heretics. By force of canon law every Christian was as well forbidden to further entertain commercial relations with his “heretic” Czech neighbours. This paper intends to present a complex view of this anti-Hussite trade embargo and to assess its role in the wider picture of 15th century Central European economic history: How did the embargo effect and transform Bohemia’s traditional position in the economic and social system of Central Europe? How does it relate to changing patterns of international trade such as the shifting of trade routes? Furthermore, special attention will be given to the question what effects – if any effects at all – the embargo had on the ground. Given the limits of pre-modern statehood, a total blockade was virtually unattainable. As previous research has shown, the embargo was in all likelihood continuously compromised. If this was the case, why did Catholic ecclesiastical and lay authorities not cede to propagate it? What advantages did they draw from promoting the embargo against the Czech Hussites? And how did those, who were expected to execute it on the ground, see the embargo?
When on 17 March 1420 the first of a series of crusades against the allegedly heretic Czech Hussi... more When on 17 March 1420 the first of a series of crusades against the allegedly heretic Czech Hussites was solemnly proclaimed, this did not only mean that from that moment on every true Christian was to fight these men and women. Canon law ordered it that every Christian was forbidden to entertain commercial relations with his “heretic” Czech neighbours. This paper intends to study the connection between the crusades and the trade ban against the Hussites. It will examine how ecclesiastical and lay authorities fostered both, and how those propagating the trade ban and those executing it perceived the interplay of commerce and crusading. The analysis of this interaction will demonstrate the anti-Hussite trade ban’s dual nature, both as an instrumental means for economic warfare and as a symbolic-communicative process.
This paper deals with methodological issues that arise from the author’s attempt to study in her ... more This paper deals with methodological issues that arise from the author’s attempt to study in her PhD dissertation the trade ban against the Czech Hussites, 1420 – ca. 1436. Regardless of the ecclesiastical and secular authorities’ efforts to block trade and commerce with the allegedly “heretic” Hussites during the Hussite Wars, trade most likely continued throughout the period. This illicit, secret trade naturally is even harder to trace in the sources than the regular trade of the age. Nevertheless, the author suggests that sources produced in the context of the anti-Hussite trade ban can enhance our knowledge about regular trade between late medieval Germany and the Kingdom of Bohemia. The interpretation of the sources emanating from the anti-Hussite trade ban, though, raises a number of methodological problems, such as the following: What can we learn from the enumerations of contraband goods given in documents that deal with the implementation of the ban about actual illicit trade? To which degree are the continuous reinforcements of the ban a testament to its failure? What credibility own the letters that municipal councils wrote to whitewash their burghers, whose goods had been confiscated for illicit trade and how does these letters’ intentionality influence the interpretation of these letters?
To appear in the proceedings to the conference "Kutná Hora a Husitství", which took place in Kutn... more To appear in the proceedings to the conference "Kutná Hora a Husitství", which took place in Kutná Hora in May 2022.
In this paper I discuss a verdict passed by the aldermen of Magdeburg in June 1421. This unique document allows interesting insights into the everyday concerns of a Görlitz merchant active in Kutná Hora shortly before the city fell into Hussite hands in April 1421.
To appear in: Strukturbildungen in langfristigen Konflikten des späten Mittelalters (1250-1500), ed. Klara Hübner, Pavel Soukup
This contribution analyses the anti-Hussite embargo as one of the many factors that helped stabil... more This contribution analyses the anti-Hussite embargo as one of the many factors that helped stabilizing and perpetuating the prolonged conflict between Hussites and Catholics in fifteenth-century Bohemia.
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It deals with the embargo, which was imposed by the papacy and the Catholic lay powers upon all trade and commerce with the Czech Hussites between 1420 and 1436. On the one hand, this embargo was a means of economic warfare to subdue the Hussite “heresy“. On the other hand, its ideas and concepts stem from the papal bans on trade and commerce between Christians and Muslims, which started in the 12th century and evolved over the centuries into a general embargo on all trade with non-Christians. In the process, commercial relations with non-Christians, and especially with heretics, became increasingly stigmatized as a sin. Trading with the Czech Hussites therefore was not only an act of collaboration with a political enemy but also gravely endangered the immortal soul of those engaging in such acts.
The author explores this anti-Hussite embargo by showing how it was enforced and how the political agents involved used it as a tool of governance and propaganda. For this purpose a wide variety of sources are studied, covering different source genres (papal and royal charters, letters issued by town magistrates, chronicles, municipal accounts, records of criminal proceedings against alleged black marketeers, etc.) and a wide geographical area, embracing the Lands of the Czech Crown and all of their neighbouring territories. These sources are examined using a twofold methodological approach: firstly, the anti-Hussite trade embargo is considered as an instrumental means of warfare. Secondly, it is surveyed as a communicative process and cultural practice. These two aspects are then brought together, as the anti-Hussite embargo is studied as practical rule (“Herrschaftspraxis“), in which intricate top-down- and bottom-up-processes converged. Based on this twofold methodological approach, the commercial relations between Hussites and Catholics are described as a complex social interaction, which was accompanied by various discourses, both on the level of power politics and Christian morality.
This approach yields results in various fields. It identifies structures and agents of international long-distance and regional trade, adding to our knowledge of Central European trade patterns in the Hussite era, which clearly involved the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Bohemia, including those of the Hussite denomination. Simultaneously, this trade is investigated on the level of everyday life to shed light on the mindsets of those involved in it, allowing for glimpses on the mentalities and the self-fashioning of individuals and groups coming from all social strata. Thus, a whole new micro-historical perspective is added to the current view on the anti-Hussite embargo in Czech economic and political history. Furthermore, special emphasis is placed on source criticism and the thorough reflection of the sources’ heuristic limitations. This allows the author to re-evaluate the somehow contradictory, but so far hardly questioned assumptions in existing literature on the embargo and its alleged (in-)efficiency, and to add new perspectives that go beyond the unanswerable question of the embargo’s actual effects.
In conclusion, the up-coming monograph presents a new, holistic view of the anti-Hussite trade embargo as a complex historical phenomenon, thus contributing to the political, economic and cultural history as much as to the history of everyday life in early-15th-century Central Europe.
Papers by Alexandra Kaar
Mateusz Goliński: Cloth Merchants vs Weavers: Imposed Top-Down Solutions to a Permanent Dispute (based on examples from Polish cities and their East German analogues in the late Middle Ages)
Ondřej Vodička: Reinhard of Reims: Prague Merchant and Exile in the Shadow of the Hussite Revolution
Josef Kadeřábek: From the Cradle to the Grave: The Changing of Transitional Rituals in the Multi-Confessional Milieu of a Bohemian Town in the Seventeenth Century
Vladimír Rábik – Michal Franko: The Church and the Settlement: Church and Settlement Interaction in Medieval Pezinok
REVIEWS:
ŁUPIENKO, ALEKSANDER. ORDER IN THE STREETS: THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF WARSAW’S PUBLIC SPACE IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY. BERLIN: PETER LANG, 2019, 269 PP. ISBN 978-3-631-80070-6
DURČO, MICHAL. CESTY A DIAĽNICE NA SLOVENSKU V MEDZIVOJNOVOM OBDOBÍ [ROADS AND MOTORWAYS IN SLOVAKIA IN THE INTERWAR PERIOD]. BRATISLAVA: VEDA VYDAVATEĽSTVO SAV; HISTORICKÝ ÚSTAV SAV, 2020, 230 PP. ISBN 978-80-2241868-3
GRULICH, JOSEF. MIGRAČNÍ STRATEGIE: MĚSTO, PŘEDMĚSTÍ A VESNICE NA PANSTVÍ ČESKÉ BUDĚJOVICE VE DRUHÉ POLOVINĚ 18. STOLETÍ [MIGRATION STRATEGIES: A TOWN, SUBURBS AND A VILLAGE IN THE ESTATE OF ČESKÉ BUDĚJOVICE IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 18TH CENTURY]. ČESKÉ BUDĚJOVICE: NOVÁ TISKÁRNA PELHŘIMOV, 2018, 286 PP. ISBN 978-80-7394-703-3
Temporary free download of the entire article under https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/XZDSK7UFGNMYPK4SDDZ4/full?target=10.1080/03044181.2020.1762113
It deals with the embargo, which was imposed by the papacy and the Catholic lay powers upon all trade and commerce with the Czech Hussites between 1420 and 1436. On the one hand, this embargo was a means of economic warfare to subdue the Hussite “heresy“. On the other hand, its ideas and concepts stem from the papal bans on trade and commerce between Christians and Muslims, which started in the 12th century and evolved over the centuries into a general embargo on all trade with non-Christians. In the process, commercial relations with non-Christians, and especially with heretics, became increasingly stigmatized as a sin. Trading with the Czech Hussites therefore was not only an act of collaboration with a political enemy but also gravely endangered the immortal soul of those engaging in such acts.
The author explores this anti-Hussite embargo by showing how it was enforced and how the political agents involved used it as a tool of governance and propaganda. For this purpose a wide variety of sources are studied, covering different source genres (papal and royal charters, letters issued by town magistrates, chronicles, municipal accounts, records of criminal proceedings against alleged black marketeers, etc.) and a wide geographical area, embracing the Lands of the Czech Crown and all of their neighbouring territories. These sources are examined using a twofold methodological approach: firstly, the anti-Hussite trade embargo is considered as an instrumental means of warfare. Secondly, it is surveyed as a communicative process and cultural practice. These two aspects are then brought together, as the anti-Hussite embargo is studied as practical rule (“Herrschaftspraxis“), in which intricate top-down- and bottom-up-processes converged. Based on this twofold methodological approach, the commercial relations between Hussites and Catholics are described as a complex social interaction, which was accompanied by various discourses, both on the level of power politics and Christian morality.
This approach yields results in various fields. It identifies structures and agents of international long-distance and regional trade, adding to our knowledge of Central European trade patterns in the Hussite era, which clearly involved the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Bohemia, including those of the Hussite denomination. Simultaneously, this trade is investigated on the level of everyday life to shed light on the mindsets of those involved in it, allowing for glimpses on the mentalities and the self-fashioning of individuals and groups coming from all social strata. Thus, a whole new micro-historical perspective is added to the current view on the anti-Hussite embargo in Czech economic and political history. Furthermore, special emphasis is placed on source criticism and the thorough reflection of the sources’ heuristic limitations. This allows the author to re-evaluate the somehow contradictory, but so far hardly questioned assumptions in existing literature on the embargo and its alleged (in-)efficiency, and to add new perspectives that go beyond the unanswerable question of the embargo’s actual effects.
In conclusion, the up-coming monograph presents a new, holistic view of the anti-Hussite trade embargo as a complex historical phenomenon, thus contributing to the political, economic and cultural history as much as to the history of everyday life in early-15th-century Central Europe.
Mateusz Goliński: Cloth Merchants vs Weavers: Imposed Top-Down Solutions to a Permanent Dispute (based on examples from Polish cities and their East German analogues in the late Middle Ages)
Ondřej Vodička: Reinhard of Reims: Prague Merchant and Exile in the Shadow of the Hussite Revolution
Josef Kadeřábek: From the Cradle to the Grave: The Changing of Transitional Rituals in the Multi-Confessional Milieu of a Bohemian Town in the Seventeenth Century
Vladimír Rábik – Michal Franko: The Church and the Settlement: Church and Settlement Interaction in Medieval Pezinok
REVIEWS:
ŁUPIENKO, ALEKSANDER. ORDER IN THE STREETS: THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF WARSAW’S PUBLIC SPACE IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY. BERLIN: PETER LANG, 2019, 269 PP. ISBN 978-3-631-80070-6
DURČO, MICHAL. CESTY A DIAĽNICE NA SLOVENSKU V MEDZIVOJNOVOM OBDOBÍ [ROADS AND MOTORWAYS IN SLOVAKIA IN THE INTERWAR PERIOD]. BRATISLAVA: VEDA VYDAVATEĽSTVO SAV; HISTORICKÝ ÚSTAV SAV, 2020, 230 PP. ISBN 978-80-2241868-3
GRULICH, JOSEF. MIGRAČNÍ STRATEGIE: MĚSTO, PŘEDMĚSTÍ A VESNICE NA PANSTVÍ ČESKÉ BUDĚJOVICE VE DRUHÉ POLOVINĚ 18. STOLETÍ [MIGRATION STRATEGIES: A TOWN, SUBURBS AND A VILLAGE IN THE ESTATE OF ČESKÉ BUDĚJOVICE IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 18TH CENTURY]. ČESKÉ BUDĚJOVICE: NOVÁ TISKÁRNA PELHŘIMOV, 2018, 286 PP. ISBN 978-80-7394-703-3
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In a first step the paper deals with questions arising from the contemporary understanding of the Anti-Hussite-blockade. Three 15th century documents are discussed, which show how the blockade was promoted, translated into practice, and used as an argument in the process of practical and ideological dissociation from a religious adversary. Secondly, the paper deals with the treatment of the blockade in 19th and 20th century historiography. It studies how modern historians appraised its realization and efficiency. The paper further discusses which rhetorical and ideological mechanisms worked together in historiography’s understanding of the blockade, and which unconscious perceptions made up the blockade’s attractiveness for the explanation of various other phenomena. Thus the paper mainly examines how the Anti-Hussite-blockade was interpreted and put to (argumentative) use, both by its contemporaries and by modern historiography. It nevertheless also attempts to discuss it as a real historical phenomenon.
Both levels of analysis reveal different but arguably interlinked processes of boundary-making, the one taking place in the late Middle Ages, the other in modern historiography today. Therefore they serve as a case study in how contemporaries and historians have engaged and still engage in the making of space through the making of boundaries.
With the election of the Hungarian king Sigismund of Luxembourg as king of the Romans (1410/11), a remarkable situation arose in the late medieval Empire in which a dynast ascended the royal throne whose hereditary lands – the lands of the Hungarian Crown – were outside the Empire. Consequently, Sigismund chose to return to a more itinerant style of kingship. His intensive travelling led him back and forth between his various hereditary lands and dominions during his 27-year reign in the Empire, while his subjects also had to increasingly visit the ruler at different locations in the vast geographical area he ruled.
Under these specific conditions, the Danube took on increased importance as an axis of communication for both the king and the Empire. This particularly affected the Free City of Regensburg. Due to its favourable location (the Danube is navigable from Regensburg and offers a direct and convenient connection downstream to Hungary), the city, which traditionally had close ties with Hungary and Bohemia, developed into Sigismund's preferred 'gateway' from the Empire’s core lands to Hungary. In consequence, he held court in Regensburg several times before leaving the Empire’s core lands for longer periods in the direction of his Hungarian and Bohemian hereditary lands.
In this paper, I examine how this constellation affected the production of royal charters. On the one hand, I ask who acquired royal charters in Regensburg and what statements can be made in this regard regarding the scope and ‘appeal’ of royal rule. On the other hand, I try to offer an explanation for the striking fact that of around 200 documents issued in the name of the ruler during Sigismund's longest stay in Regensburg in autumn 1434, no less than 65 date from the last day of his stay in the city.
In this paper I study a feud fought between the free city of Regensburg and the nobleman Hans Staufer of Ehrenfels, which resulted in the seizing of Ehrenfels castle near Beratzhausen/Upper Palatinate by a Regensburg host in April 1417. The civic account books document the expenditure incurred by the city for the military expedition and its diplomatic aftermath and allow for a fascinating look into late medieval military decision making.
The second aim of the project is to study Sigismund's relations to Bavaria as an example for Sigismund's rule in the Empire. A collective monograph will thoroughly analyse the Bavarian case. Through this analysis, we expect to challenge prevailing assumptions about Sigismund's imperial rule as inherently weak and dependent on the Prince Electors' cooperation.
Das von 1370 bis 1419 geführte „Gelbe Stadtbuch“ enthält Aufzeichnungen von sehr unterschiedlicher Länge und diversem Charakter. Der Vortrag konzentriert sich auf als „Ratsverordnungen“ anzusprechende Texte aus den Kriegsjahren, die einen sozioregulativen Charakter aufweisen, und mit denen der Rat teilweise sehr tief in das Alltagsleben der Bürger eingriff. Anhand der ausgewählten Texte wird danach gefragt, wie eine Krise wie der Städtekrieg als Katalysator für die Intensivierung sozialer Disziplinierung wirkte.
Mein besonderes Interesse gilt dabei den Vorstellungen des Regensburger Rates von der praktischen Umsetzung der verordneten Maßnahmen, etwa durch von ihm eingesetzte Sonderkommissionen und Ausschüsse, die sogenannten Wachtmeister (= die Vorsteher der als „Wachten“ bezeichneten Untereinheiten des Regensburger Stadtgebietes), aber auch durch bestimmte Berufsgruppen wie Schank- und Gastwirte, bis hinunter auf die Ebene der einzelnen Haushaltsvorstände.
Thematisiert werden auch Anhaltspunkte für die Teilhabe anderer städtischer Kollektivorgane bzw. der Bürgerschaft an der Beschlussfassung und Umsetzung der hier interessierenden Maßnahmen. Damit soll überprüft werden, inwieweit die Krise des Städtekrieges möglicherweise auch „Demokratisierungsprozesse“ in Gang setzte, die anderen städtischen Gremien dem bis zu diesem Zeitpunkt nahezu uneingeschränkt regierenden Rat gegenüber neues Gewicht verliehen haben könnten.
Verantwortlich für Sigismunds dauerhafte Abwesenheit waren verschiedene wohlbekannte Gründe, allen voran die politischen Turbulenzen der Hussitenkriege, die es dem König bis 1436 verunmöglichten, dauerhaft in Böhmen Residenz zu nehmen. Weniger bekannt ist hingegen die Tatsache, dass Sigismund offensichtlich immer wieder einen Aufenthalt in der Oberlausitz in Erwägung zog. Diese Pläne belegen, dass der König seine Anwesenheit in diesem Kronland nicht prinzipiell für überflüssig hielt, und sehr wohl beabsichtigte, vom Herrschaftsmittel der persönlichen Präsenz vor Ort Gebrauch zu machen, auch wenn es in Endeffekt nie dazu kam.
Der Vortrag wirft einerseits einen Blick auf die Nachrichten über diese geplanten königlichen Besuche und deren historischen und politischen Kontext. Andererseits wird diskutiert, wie Sigismund und dessen Untertanen trotz des wiederholten Scheiterns dieser Pläne miteinander kommunizierten, und so abseits der physischen Präsenz des Königs Herrschaft praktizierten. Dabei wird besonderes Augenmerk auf die Reisen der Oberlausitzer an den Königshof gelegt, stellte doch ein abwesender König nicht nur den Herrscher, sondern auch die Beherrschten vor besondere Herausforderungen. Auf dieses Weise soll erhellt werden, wie Sigismund durch die praktische Ausübung von Königsherrschaft dauerhaft in der Oberlausitz präsent bleiben konnte, obwohl er der König war, der niemals kam.
This paper intends to study the connection between the crusades and the trade ban against the Hussites. It will examine how ecclesiastical and lay authorities fostered both, and how those propagating the trade ban and those executing it perceived the interplay of commerce and crusading. The analysis of this interaction will demonstrate the anti-Hussite trade ban’s dual nature, both as an instrumental means for economic warfare and as a symbolic-communicative process.
Regardless of the ecclesiastical and secular authorities’ efforts to block trade and commerce with the allegedly “heretic” Hussites during the Hussite Wars, trade most likely continued throughout the period. This illicit, secret trade naturally is even harder to trace in the sources than the regular trade of the age. Nevertheless, the author suggests that sources produced in the context of the anti-Hussite trade ban can enhance our knowledge about regular trade between late medieval Germany and the Kingdom of Bohemia.
The interpretation of the sources emanating from the anti-Hussite trade ban, though, raises a number of methodological problems, such as the following: What can we learn from the enumerations of contraband goods given in documents that deal with the implementation of the ban about actual illicit trade? To which degree are the continuous reinforcements of the ban a testament to its failure? What credibility own the letters that municipal councils wrote to whitewash their burghers, whose goods had been confiscated for illicit trade and how does these letters’ intentionality influence the interpretation of these letters?
In this paper I discuss a verdict passed by the aldermen of Magdeburg in June 1421. This unique document allows interesting insights into the everyday concerns of a Görlitz merchant active in Kutná Hora shortly before the city fell into Hussite hands in April 1421.