Course: Nobility:Its Formation, Development and Role

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Course title Nobility:Its Formation, Development and Role
Course code KHI/KV104
Organizational form of instruction Lecture + Seminary
Level of course Bachelor
Year of study not specified
Semester Winter and summer
Number of ECTS credits 4
Language of instruction Czech
Status of course Compulsory-optional
Form of instruction Face-to-face
Work placements This is not an internship
Recommended optional programme components None
Lecturer(s)
  • Velímský Tomáš, doc. PhDr. CSc.
Course content
The teaching of the course in the part-time form includes the following topics in individual teaching blocks: 1. On sources and literature. An overview of the general issue of the emergence of nobility in medieval European society. 2. The gradual emancipation of the warrior princely and official classes during the 11th-12th centuries, from landed benefices to the emergence of hereditary land tenure, the settlement of the districts and the process of territorialisation. 3. Reflection of the process of territorialisation of the nobility: private ecclesiastical donations and foundations, early use of predicates, Romenesque tribunal churches and early feudal settlements. Other individual study of required and recommended readings and lecture texts.

Learning activities and teaching methods
unspecified, unspecified, unspecified
Learning outcomes
The aim of the course is to present students with an up-to-date view of the origins of the Bohemian medieval nobility (from the early Slavic elites, through the companions in the early medieval state of the Premyslids, to the constitution of the high medieval landed nobility) and to point out the difficulties of its study and the diversity of opinions historians dealing with this problem.
The student will learn about the development of elites in the Czech environment from the early Slavic period to the High Middle Ages (13th-14th century). He/she will get an idea of the sources available to medievalists for the studi of this issue and will understand that their testimony is not unambiguous and also leads to different interpretations. They will learn that the development of the elites in the environment of the first state formations in our territory (Great Moravia and then the Bohemian Přemyslid state) cannot be traced without taking into account the influences from the environment of the Frankish Empire and later the restored Roman Empire under the rulers of the Ottonian, Saxon and Staffa dynasties. They will get acquainted in detail with the process of transformation of the retinue elites, whose leaders and rank-and-file members were recruited mainly from the family clans and derived their status both from their authority within the clans and especially from their service to the ruler, not only as warriors but also in court offices or in the castle administration. With the gradual increase in land tenure during the internal colonisation of the country in the 11th and especially 12th centuries, members of the elite began to build their own residences - manors, also equipped with proprietary churches. The process of transformation into the medieval nobility cluminated during the 13th century, when a gradual division into the upper and lower nobility also took placce.
Prerequisites
Czech and general history of Middle Ages

Assessment methods and criteria
unspecified
In order to be awarded credit, a two-page written test is required, testing elementary knowledge from the lectures. In addition, a short interview will be conducted to test knowledge of two titles of recommended reading.
Recommended literature
  • BOK, V. Moravo, Čechy, radujte se! (němečtí a rakouští básníci v českých zemích za posledních Přemyslovců). Praha, 1998.
  • CARDINI, F. Válečník a rytíř, in: Středověký člověk a jeho svět, eds. J. Le Goff, (s. 69-99). Praha, 1999.
  • KLÁPŠTĚ, J. Proměna českých zemí ve středověku. Praha, 2005.
  • M. BLÁHOVÁ, J. FROLÍK, N. PROFANTOVÁ. Velké dějiny zemí koruny české I. (do roku 1197). Praha-Litomyšl, 1999.
  • MACEK, J. Česká středověká šlechta. Praha, 1996.
  • SEDLÁČEK, A. Atlasy erbů a pečetí české a moravské středověké šlechty, ed. Vladimír Růžek, sv. 1-5. Praha, 2001.
  • TŘEŠTÍK, D. Počátky Přemyslovců. Praha, 1997.
  • TŘEŠTÍK, D. Vznik Velké Moravy - Moravané, Čechové a střední Evropa 791 - 871. Praha, 2001.
  • VANÍČEK,V. Velké dějiny zemí České koruny III.. Praha-Litomyšl, 2002.
  • VANÍČEK,V. Velké dějiny zemí České koruny II.. Praha-Litomyšl, 2000.
  • VELÍMSKÝ, T. Hrabišici. Páni z Rýzmburka. Praha, 2002.
  • VELÍMSKÝ, T. Páni ze Svojšína. Praha, 2013.
  • VELÍMSKÝ, T. Trans montes, ad fontes! K roli újezdů při středověké kolonizaci středních a vyšších poloh na území severozápadních Čech. Most, 1998.
  • WOJCIECH, I. Po stopách rytířských příběhů. Praha, 2001.
  • ŽEMLIČKA, J. Čechy v době knížecí 1034 - 1198. Praha, 1997.
  • ŽEMLIČKA, J. Počátky Čech královských 1198-1253. Praha, 2002.


Study plans that include the course
Faculty Study plan (Version) Category of Branch/Specialization Recommended year of study Recommended semester