The Czech Lands in Medieval Transformation

Jan Klápstě (1949), is professor of Medieval Archaeology at Charles University in Prague. His work is published widely in local and international journals and volumes. He is editor of the proceedings of Ruralia (1996 onwards).

The book on the Medieval transformation that impacted the Czech lands in the 13th century, focussed on the onset of landed nobility, the transformation of the rural milieu, and the early urban history. The explanation is anchored in a broad European context.

Introductory Note ... vii Petr Sommer Foreword ... ix David A. Warner Acknowledgements ... xxi List of Figures ... xxiii Map ... xl Places Index ... xli Chapter One The Middle Ages-Distant and Close ... 1 1. The Wedding Picture of Saint Hedwig ... 4 2. An Invitation to Wiprecht of Groitzsch ... 8 Chapter Two Transforming the Might of the Mighty ... 13 1. Great Moravian Beginnings ... 14 2. Epilogue of the 'Warrior Graves' ... 28 3. The Residences of Dukes and Bishops, as well as of the Other Elite ... 36 4. Quod autem mea ecclesia hodie habet, auferendi dux potestatem non habet ... 43 5. The First Evidence of the Property of the Nobles ... 46 6. Travels with Bishop Daniel ... 58 7. Kin-Group Beginnings in Prcice ... 64 8. Hroznata of Tepla and His Property Declaration ... 68 9. Leo de Klobuc or an Official's Path to Property ... 76 10. Zbraslav, Pincerna Regis, and His Guests ... 80 11. Seeking the Right Address ... 89 12. The Residences of the Lords in the Environs of the Castle Centres ... 103 13. Twice at Kojata's from the Hrabise Family ... 111 14. Hageno de Zvethiz and the Others ... 119 15. The Spectacular Pride of the Aristocratic Castles ... 126 16. Fortified Manors or a Eulogy to Ingenuity ... 154 Chapter Three The Frail Certainties of the Rural Milieu ... 171 1. The Long Slow Course of Medieval Settlement ... 171 2. The Villages of the Early Middle Ages ... 185 3. This World and the Other World ... 197 4. The Improvement of Land as a System ... 210 5. The Henrykow Book and Its Report on the Colonisation Period ... 227 6. Transformations of the Central European Village in the Archaeological Evidence ... 236 7. Seeking the Legal Framework for the Transformation of the Village in the Czech Lands ... 242 8. Where the Place Name 'Lhota' Came From ... 271 9. The Multifarious Forms of the Medieval Village ... 274 10. The Interplay of Innovations ... 305 Chapter Four The Long Journey to the Town ... 325 1. The Beginnings of Production Specialisation ... 327 2. For a Theory of Service Organisation and Back Again ... 344 3. The Beginnings of Market Exchange ... 350 4. Centrality and Its Legacy ... 358 5. Litomerice or Zatec ... 367 6. Prague under Prague ... 379 7. Modest and Yet More Modest Centres ... 396 8. The Unobviousness of Locational Towns ... 403 9. The Beginnings of the Urban Establishment ... 406 10. The Kaleidoscope of Urban Beginnings ... 410 11. Life in One House and One Town ... 443 12. The Town and Its Region ... 448 Chapter Five Change in Change ... 459 1. Causes in the System ... 463 2. The Czech Lands, Central Europe, Europe ... 467 Bibliography ... 471 Index ..