Festivities, Ceremonies, and Rituals in the Lands of the Bohemian Crown in the Late Middle Ages

Rituals and ceremonies played a significant role in medieval society by both establishing continuity with previous generations and their legacy, and temporarily allowing individuals to step out of their everyday routine. This is true for local communities, villages, convents, castles and cities, but also, for kingdoms and empires. Despite its importance, ritual in medieval Central Europe has not yet been studied to a great extent.

In this volume, seven contributions deal with various examples and aspects of rituals in the late medieval Bohemian lands. The individual contributions explore particular rituals (coronation, wedding, funeral) or environments (cities, nobility, court, church). They share innovative interpretations and newly elaborated sources.

Contributors are: Antonín Kalous, František Šmahel, Martin Čapský, Martin Nodl, Robert Šimůnek, Tomáš Borovský, and Václav Žůrek.

František Šmahel, Ph.D. (1965), Charles University (Prague), is Professor in Centre for Medieval Studies at Charles University and the Czech Academy of Sciences. He has published monographs and articles on medieval history including Hussitische Revolution I-III (Hannover, 2002).

Martin Nodl, Ph.D. (2013), Masaryk University (Brno), is Associate professor in Centre for Medieval Studies at Charles University and the Czech Academy of Sciences. He has published monographs and articles on medieval history including Das Kuttenberger Dekret von 1409. Von der Eintracht zum Konflikt der Prager Universitätsnationen (Köln, 2017).

Václav Žůrek, Ph.D. (2014,) Charles University (Prague) and EHESS (Paris), is Research fellow in Centre for Medieval Studies at Charles University and the Czech Academy of Sciences. He has published monographs and articles on medieval history including Přenos vědění. Osudy čtyř bestsellerů v pozdně středověkých českých zemích (Prague, 2021)