Syllabus
* Mandatory: DYER, Ch. Standards of living in the later Middle Ages.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989. Selected chapters. KLÁPŠTĚ, J.
The Archaeology of Prague and the Medieval Czech Lands, 1100-1600. Sheffield, Equinox, 2016.
Selected chapters. BOEHM, B. D. and FAJT, J.
Prague-The Crown of Bohemia, 1347-1437. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005.
Selected chapters. * Recommended: LÜDTKE, A. The History of Everyday Life.
Reconstructing Historical Experiences and Ways of Life. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995.
Selected chapters. ŠMAHEL, F. The Parisian Summit, 1377-78.
Emperor Charles IV and King Charles V of France. Prague: Karolinum, 2015. ZAORAL, R.
Silver and Glass in Medieval Trade and Cultural Exchange between Venice and the Bohemian Kingdom, In: Český časopis historický/The Czech Historical Review Vol. 109, 2011, pp 235-261.
Annotation
The aim of the course is to acquaint students with the discourse of everyday life history on the example of medieval Prague. The attention is paid to all aspects of everyday life in medieval Prague. Required conditions of certification: Students will be supposed to participate in the mid-term roundtable discussion and to write a final essay. Lectures:
1. Everyday life history: questions, methods, sources
2. Demography and topography of medieval Prague
3. Prague Castle in the 14th century: courts of Charles IV and Wenceslaus IV
4. Social structure and administration of medieval Prague
5. Crafts and trade in medieval Prague, prices, and wages
6. Mid-term roundtable discussion
7. Building the Cathedral. Everyday life at the medieval construction site
8. Everyday life of Prague burghers (house, family, diet, fashion) in the written sources (accounts, itineraries, and testaments)
9. Henry of Derby in Prague: shopping at the market
10. Festivities in late medieval Prague: coronations, royal weddings, and funerals
11. Cathedral vs. municipal schools, the University of Prague
12. Work with the maps of medieval Prague, Bohemia and Central Europe
13. Final essay