Abstrakt
The 15th century, which was in Bohemian kingdom marked by the religious struggle between the
Utraquist majority and the Catholic minority, saw an unprecedented spread of literature intended for the daily use of the laity. Among them were prayer books designed for private devotion. These small books provide an interesting insight into the private religious practice of the elites. An exquisite example is the prayer book of King George of Poděbrady commissioned in 1466 by Queen Johanna of Rožmitál as a Christmas gift for her husband. The manuscript, now kept at the Morgan Library and Museum, New
York, under signature M.921, was decorated in the anonymous painters' workshop active in Prague. The contribution analyses the visual as well as the textual aspects of King George's prayer book. It demonstrates the connections between the manuscript and the older projects such as the prayer book of King Ladislaus the Posthumus as well as the connections to contemporary prints, such as the oeuvre of Master E.S. As for the textual part, it is evident that the texts of the prayers were shared between the
Bohemian Utraquists and the Catholics. Nevertheless, there are could be slight differences such as the omission of mentions of the Purgatory in the Utraquist commissions like King's George prayer book. The contribution thus provides a case study for the process of transformation and development of the daily religious practice among Bohemian elites during the complicated period after the end of the Hussite war.