Deserted 'Mořina'-Roudnička and 'Žák'-Hol in the Context of Historical Knowledge

Abstract

This paper brings a report on two deserted medieval villages lying in Central Bohemia. Both villages have an uncommonly high information potential and allow distinct historical questions to be asked.

Deserted 'Mořina'-Roudnička testifies to the character of non-agricultural production in the rural milieu. The deserted 'Žák'-Hol allows in a unique way the study of the economic activities of the Prague patricians in the Late Middle Ages and further various aspects of socio-economic differentiation and of the hierarchy within the rural community.

It also carries valuable evidence on the geographically different transformations of settlement and of the intensity of agricultural production in the suburban landscape.

Keywords

• rural history
• settlement history
• regionally different socio-economical development
• peasants
• deserted medieval villages
• medieval village economy
• non-agrarian production
• social-economic differentiation of a medieval village