Lexington Books
Pages: 448
•
Trim: 6 x 9
978-1-4985-5112-0 • Hardback • September 2018 • $152.00 • (£117.00)
978-1-4985-5113-7 • eBook • September 2018 • $144.00 • (£111.00)
Kateřina Horníčková is researcher at the University of Vienna.
Introduction: To Be Seen: The Visual Aspect in Urban Symbolic Communication, Kateřina Horníčková
List of Abbreviations
Chapter 1: Towns in Neighboring Regions, 1400–1700: Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, and the Carpathian Basin, Elisabeth Gruber
Chapter 2: The Bohemian Town as a Space for Symbolic Communication (1400–1600), Robert Šimůnek
Chapter 3: Representing bonum commune in Austrian Border-Region Towns: Seals, Fortifications, and Hospitals, Elisabeth Gruber
Chapter 4: The Topography of Justice: Symbols, Rituals, and the Representation of Urban Justice in Early Modern Northern Hungary, Blanka Szeghyová
Chapter 5: Urban Commemorative Festivities as Representations and Visualizations of Town Order, Tomáš Borovský
Chapter 6: Insiders’ Visions: Memory and Self-Representation in Bohemian Utraquist Towns, Kateřina Horníčková
Chapter 7: The Representation Practices of the Prague Painters’ Guild in the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period, Michal Šroněk
Chapter 8: The Self-Presentation of Burghers in Moravian Seigniorial Towns: Telč and Slavonice in the Second Half of the Sixteenth Century, Zdeňka Míchalová
Chapter 9: Public Expressions of Religious Transformation in Moravian Towns (1550–1618), Josef Hrdlička
Chapter 10: Reading the Prague Lesser Town Square: Topography of Change in a Residential City, Jana Doktorová
Chapter 11: Epitaphs in the Moravian Royal Cities Around 1600 and their Confessional Imagination, Ondřej Jakubec
Chapter 12: The Jesuits and their Urban Visual Presence in the Bohemian Lands, Michal Šroněk
Chapter 13: Rewriting Memory: Remodelling Churches in Seventeenth-Century Freistadt, Kateřina Pražáková
Chapter 14: Post-Face(s): On the Relationship of Visual Culture and Urbanity in Late Medieval and Early Modern Central Europe, Katalin Szende
This is a work of real significance. By bringing together an international team of historians, this impressive study succeeds thanks to innovative and previously unapplied approaches. Using comparative methods, this volume challenges traditional views of medieval and early modern urban communities in the broader territory of Central Europe, and constitutes a great example of what scholars can achieve through international cooperation. This book will definitely serve not only as a benchmark for future research, but I also expect to find it on the reading lists for university courses on premodern urban life and culture in general.
— Jaroslav Miller, Palacký University
This is a highly original approach to the rich history and culture of the towns of Central Europe and a welcome reminder that its urban landscape extended well beyond Prague, Vienna, and Buda. This collection by Kateřina Horníčková and her colleagues is a marvelous example of how a close reading of material culture can deepen our understanding of this critical region.
— Howard Louthan, University of Minnesota
The volume, edited by Kateřina Horníčková, represents a new and innovative approach to the visual aspects of Central European towns in a transitory period of the later Middle Ages and the early modern area. The contributors are representatives of a new generation of Central European historians who take a fresh look on the role of images, symbolic communication, and visual representations on the urban centers of the region. This innovative collection of essays, based on strong theoretical background, will have a secure place on university reading lists and on the bookshelves of many interested students and professors.
— Balázs Nagy, Central European University
This fascinating collection of essays provides a rich account of the changing character of Central European towns during the late medieval and early modern periods. Detailed exploration in each chapter of the visual culture of different towns across Bohemia and Moravia illuminates broader themes about the history of religious, social, and cultural life. The essays analyze how the identities of urban communities adapted in the face of turbulent political and religious changes. Peeling back the layers of Baroque embellishment, the contributors reveal evidence about the vibrant influence in Bohemian and Moravian towns of the Hussite, Lutheran, and Catholic churches, each leaving its own distinctive mark on the changing face of the region.
— Graeme Murdock, Trinity College Dublin