Abstract
The contribution is focused on the history of the Benešov brewing industry after 1872. It seeks a context for the failure of the joint-stock company which in Benešov in 1872 established a large malting plant that was later partially converted into a brewery.
Its operation is viewed from the broader perspectives of the transformation of society in the second half of the 19th century, including development of the brewing sector. The first aspect to be described is the origin of the joint-stock company, the mechanisms of its operation and a breakdown of the motivation behind its management's actions.
Also examined is the context of the local characteristics given by the development of the relationship between the once servile Benešov and the nobility at the nearby Konopiště Castle, including the complicated relationship between the city's elites and the lord of Konopiště. In the second part, the background of the personnel and institutional linkages between the company and the local Civic Credit Union is revealed in detail.
The credit union's operation in the period under review is immediately connected with the operation of the joint-stock company and, in the end, led to its definitive downfall. The contribution does not end with the decision to sell the failing enterprise to the new lord of Konopiště, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, 1887, but it rather focuses on the subsequent years, when the definitive bankruptcy of the Civic Credit Union and the joint-stock company itself occurred.