Processes of Cultural Exchange in Central Europe, 1200–1800
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Processes of Cultural Exchange in Central Europe, 1200–1800 Processes of Cultural Exchange in Central Europe, 1200–1800 Veronika Čapská in collaboration with Robert Antonín and Martin Čapský 2014 European Social Fund – Silesian University in Opava Projekt: HISTORIZACE STŘEDNÍ EVROPY (CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0031) This publication is a result of the project Historicising Central Europe as a Subject Matter for Sustaining the Development of Human Potential in Research, Innovation, Education and Integration of Current and Future Research Workers in International Research Activities (CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0031). The project was financed by the European Social Fund and by the state budget of the Czech Republic within the operational programme Education for Competitiveness. Project website: http://www.slu.cz/su/slu/cz/projekty/webs/historizace Refereed by: Doc. Mgr. Antonín Kalous, MA, PhD Mgr. Elizabeth Woock, BA Foreword © Veronika Čapská Chapters © Robert Antonín, Alessandra Becucci, Veronika Čapská, Martin Čapský, Jan Hrdina, Jitka Komendová, Janine Christina Maegraith, Marcin R. Pauk, Pavla Slavíčková, Lucie Storchová, Dana Štefanová, Przemysław Wiszewski © European Social Fund, Silesian University in Opava, 2014 Cover and Typesetting: Tomáš Rataj Print: Z+M Partner, spol. s r.o., Ostrava All Rights reserved ISBN 978-80-7510-128-0 CONTENTS Foreword . 7 Introduction . 9 Dana Štefanová Cultural Transfer, Regional History and Historical Comparison as Research Concepts. Comparing Research Between Western and Eastern Europe . 11 Between Texts and Social Practices . 33 Lucie Storchová The Role of (Trans)National (Meta)Narratives in Represen - tations of Cultural Transfers: The Case of European and Bohemian Renaissance Humanism(s) . 35 Veronika Čapská Cultural Transfers by Means of Translation. Bohemian Lands as a Space of Translation Flows During the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries . 77 Pavla Slavíčková The Double-Entry Accounting System Before 1800 as an Example of a Cultural Transfer Failure . 129 Cultural Intermediaries . 149 Alessandra Becucci A Merchant, a Secretary and a Captain: Cultural Go-Betweens in Early Modern Europe . 151 Janine Christina Maegraith Medical Surveys in Central Europe and the Role of the ‘Enlightened’ Physician . 179 The Challenge of Histoire Croisée . 207 Martin Čapský Urban History Between Cultural Transfer and Historical Comparison: On the Formation of Late Medieval Urban Identities in Prague and Wrocław from the Perspective of Histoire Croisée . 209 Przemysław Wiszewski Conceptions of the Thirteenth Century Piast Power and Communi cation Between Dukes and their People: Histoire Croisée and Medieval Sources . 241 Social Elites and the Processes of Cultural Transmission . 275 Robert Antonín Pater et filius iustitiae. The Ideal of Sovereign’s Rule in Processes of Cultural Transfer by the End of the Thirteenth Century . 277 Marcin R. Pauk Castrensis Satane servit: Castles as a Factor of Social Change in Bohemian Narrative Sources at the Turn of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries . 315 East Meets West – Patterns of Cultural Transmission . 329 Jitka Komendová Ritual in Intercultural Communication in Medieval Eastern Europe . 331 Jan Hrdina Papal Indulgences During the Era of the Great Western Schism (1378–1417) and the Cultural Foundation of Their Reception in Central Europe. 345 Bibliography . 389 List of Authors . 431 7 FOREWORD The publication of this book was made possible by the European Social Fund and its Operational Programme Education for Competitiveness. Within this Operational Programme the Institute of Historical Studies at the Silesian University in Opava (Czech Republic) held a project entitled “Historicising Central Europe” as a Subject Matter for Sustaining the Development of Human Potential in Research, Innovation, Education and In- tegration of Current and Future Research Workers in International Research Activities (CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0031). Within this project a workshop was held in Opava on 5–6 December 2012 which brought together most of the contributors of our volume to explore and discuss the concepts and processes of cultural transmission in Central Europe across a long time span reaching from approximately 1200 to slightly beyond 1800. The volume features a diversity of scholarly styles of work and ap- proaches to the processes of cultural exchange. Some texts follow the Central European, often heavily theoretically laden, research traditions; others are closer to the Anglophone scholarly streams and, even more typically, they draw on several established practices. All of them merge certain models and individual styles of work. In this way the collection of papers reflects not only the current state of cultural transmission re- search on (East) Central Europe but necessarily also the situation in the academic field. We literally dealt with the problem of transferring the texts which are embedded in Central European contexts into English and thus into a different academic milieu. Some authors submitted their texts in Eng- lish (Alessandra Becucci, Veronika Čapská, Janine Christina Maegraith, Marcin R. Pauk, Dana Štefanová, Przemysław Wiszewski), other au- thors had their texts translated (Robert Antonín, Martin Čapský, Jan Hrdina, Jitka Komendová, Pavla Slavíčková) or co-translated (Lucie Storchová) and at this place I would especially like to thank our transla- tor Sean Mark Miller for his effort and cooperation and Janine Chris- tina Maegraith for sharing her expertise, particularly in consulting the early modern contributions and investing her time in reading and cor- recting them. 8 Foreword Facing the difficulties of multilateral translations between several languages (Czech-English, Polish-English, Slovak-English, Hungari- an-English etc.) and in order to acknowledge rather than conceal the linguistic diversity of the region, we have maintained the passages in the historically prominent major languages of Central and East Central Europe (Latin, German, Russian) in the original and have made use of long established Latin terms in the references (Ibidem, idem etc.). We also had to decide on the most appropriate terminology for the histori- cal Lands of the Crown of Bohemia. In order to prevent ethnocentrism we decided against the commonly used term Czech lands (which ex- cludes non-Czech inhabitants) and preferred neutral and more integrat- ing terms such as the Lands of the Bohemian Crown or Bohemian lands. I would also like to express our gratitude to both reviewers of this volume for their kind willingness to donate their time and for their valu- able suggestions and comments. The professional layout and cover of the book are the result of the careful work of Tomáš Rataj to whom I particularly wish to extend our special thanks. Last but not least, it is a pleasure to thank our authors for their collaboration and patience while this volume was being prepared for print. Moreover, Robert An- tonín kindly contributed with the concluding bibliography and Martin Čapský with checking the references. I am convinced that the essays in our volume change perspectives on Central and Eastern Europe and beyond as they explore this area as an open socio-cultural space in motion with shifting boundaries, moving historical actors and transforming discourses. The research on cultural transmissions has recently been moving from its focus on lin- ear or bilateral exchanges towards more attention paid to multilateral contacts, entangled histories and towards an intensive dialogue with comparative history. I believe our book shows how the mosaic of schol- arly approaches and outcomes across Europe in many ways overlaps and invites discussions. There is much higher potential for international cooperation than is actually taken advantage of and the creative use of it can significantly empower the dynamics of European research. The international collaboration for this book challenged hitherto perceived academic borders and I do hope that projects like this help to overcome the barriers in the European academic field which is characterized by profound inequalities. Veronika Čapská London, 23 October 2014 Introduction 11 Cultural Transfer, Regional History and Historical Comparison as Research Concepts. Comparing Research Between Western and Eastern Europe Dana Štefanová The concept of cultural transfer and exchange (histoire croisée) as well as recent advances in comparative and regional history offer challenges and opportunities for comparative research between historical develop- ments in Western and Eastern Europe. In the following, I will discuss cultural transfer and comparative history in three steps: (i) I will outline recent definitions of processes of cultural transfer; (ii) I will introduce the question of conceptualizing space in recent regional history; (iii) fi- nally, I will compare research using the concept of cultural transfer with comparative approaches. One could understand research in cultural transfers as a connection between geographical areas and socio-cultural practices. Taking the current understanding of cultural transfer further, I would like to show that a combination of various methodological approaches, such as those of modern regional history, comparative research and historical anthro- pology, is essential for an analysis of processes of cultural transfer. Cultural Transfer The concept of cultural transfer in historical research can be first and foremost understood as a critique of comparative approaches which built on a concept of culture or ‘memory of culture’ as