Course: Rural Population in Czech Lands in Early Modern Age

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Course title Rural Population in Czech Lands in Early Modern Age
Course code KHI/KV318
Organizational form of instruction Lecture + Seminary
Level of course Master
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)
  • Koumar Jiří, PhDr. Ph.D.
Course content
The teaching of the course in the combined form includes the following topics in individual teaching blocks: 1. Introduction to the subject (development and trends of agrarian historiography, basic literature and concepts), types of source base 2. Changes in the status of the rural population in the early modern period, stratification (villages and their inhabitants) 3. Village settlement and its development. Legal conditions, especially serf family and property law, transactions with serf property 4. The agrarian cycle - the world of work and everyday life of the rural population 5. Demographic and population development of the Czech countryside, mobility of the rural population.

Learning activities and teaching methods
unspecified, unspecified, unspecified, unspecified
Learning outcomes
The content of the course should provide students of history with comprehensive information about the development of the Czech countryside and its inhabitants during the Middle Ages and the early modern period. The interest will first be oriented towards the legal and social aspects of the development of the status of the rural population in the Bohemian lands. The central theme here is the genesis of serfdom and the transformation of the status of the serfs until the abolition of serfdom. In the context of these issues, the development of the social structure of the rural population, the questions of serf self-government and the nature of the transfer of serf property, etc. will also be presented. The changes in the status of the serf population will also be complemented by the perspective of historical demography, which, in addition to the overall demographic and population development of the Czech countryside, will also outline the life cycles of the rural population, the characteristics of the rural family and the extent of the geographical mobility of the serf population. A separate chapter and the second main area of the problem will be the issues related to the knowledge of the material culture of the rural environment. Gradually, the course participants will be presented with questions related to the form and function of the medieval and early modern village and the village house. An essential part of this range of issues will be the presentation of the framework of the working activities of the serf peasant during the unchanging cycle of the agrarian year.
The graduate should gain a comprehensive picture of the development of the position of the serf rural population in the Czech lands from the establishment of serfdom to the abolition of serfdom. At the same time, he/she will have knowledge of the main areas of research interest in this topic in Czech and partly foreign historiography. Working with specific source material will also give students at least a basic idea of the types of sources that can be used to explore the rural environment.
Prerequisites
The participant is expected to have a basic knowledge of the development of Czech medieval and early modern history. With regard to working with sources, another prerequisite is at least basic palaeographical skills in the area of reading Czech early modern texts.

Assessment methods and criteria
unspecified
- regular and active participation in the seminar (discussion, active work with examples of sources) - Credit test focusing on basic concepts, analysis of selected source examples - Expert debate on a selected problem in the course
Recommended literature
  • BERANOVÁ Magdalena - KUBAČÁK Antonín. Dějiny zemědělství v Čechách a na Moravě. Praha, 2012.
  • BŮŽEK Václav a kol. Společnost českých zemí v raném novověku. Struktury, identity, konflikty. Praha, 2010.
  • ČECHURA Jaroslav. Selské rebelie roku 1680 :sociální konflikty v barokních Čechách a jejich každodenní souvislosti. Praha, 2001.
  • CHOCHOLÁČ Bronislav. Selské peníze (sonda do finančního hospodaření poddaných na západní Moravě koncem 16. a 17. století). Brno, 1999.
  • Kol. autorů. Lidová kultura. Národopisná encyklopedie Čech, Moravy a Slezska, svaz. I-III. Praha, 2007.
  • MIKULEC Jiří. Poddanská otázka v barokních Čechách. Praha, 1993.
  • PEKAŘ Josef. Kniha o Kosti (kus české historie) - 4. vydání (ed. F. Kutnar). Praha, 1970.
  • PETRÁŇ Josef a kol. Dějiny hmotné kultury. I. 1 (Vymezení kulturních dějin, kultura každodenního života od pravěku do 15. století). Praha, 1985.
  • PETRÁŇ Josef a kol. Dějiny hmotné kultury. I. 2. (Kultura každodenního života od 13. do 15. století). Praha, 1985.
  • PETRÁŇ Josef a kol. Dějiny hmotné kultury (Kultura každodenního života od 16. do 18. století), II. 1 (1995), II. 2 (1998). Praha.
  • PETRÁŇ Josef. Dějiny českého venkova v příběhu Ouběnic. Praha, 2012.


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