Anatomy of a duchy : : the political and ecclesiastical structures of early Přemyslid Bohemia / / David Kalhous.

• Superior document: East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450-1450, v. 19
• Author: Kalhous, David.
• Year of Publication: 2012
• Language: English
• Series: East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450-1450 ; 19.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (334 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

An analysis of the early Přemyslid realm provides an opportunity for recognizing the importance of different factors involved in the formation of stable social structures in the early medieval regnum. The contemporary narrative emphasizes the importance of violence, where the Přemyslid princes and their powerful retinues imposed princely will on elites and freemen in Bohemia and Moravia. However, our attention also turns to the problematic evidence of assumed powerful cavalry armies and the importance of communication between prince, elites and church, somewhat problematizing the role of violence as the primary tool of governance. Furthermore, an analysis of “otherness” in Saxon chronicles and a comparison of different traditions of St. Wenceslas and Great Moravia confirm the importance of the “Identitätsbildung”-process and “ideology” as stabilising factors in the new Přemyslid regnum.

Table of Contents

Maps -- pt. I. "Weak" Bohemia : A Non-State Retinue-Based Polity in Central Europe? -- Preconditions of the Genesis of the Premyslid Realm -- Appendix: Building Hillfort -- Territorial Extent and Development of Premyslid Realm -- The Premyslid Aristocracy and the Relationship between Centre and Periphery -- The Origins of Ecclesiastical Organisation in the Czech Lands -- pt. II. A Premyslid Strength-Forging Common Identity -- Image of Premyslids in Tenth-Century Sources -- Legenda Christiani as a Tenth-Century Source -- Christian and Great Moravia -- Old Church Slavonic Literature and Liturgy in the Tenth and Eleventh Century Premyslid Realm -- Christian and St. Wenceslaus.