Between Prague and Stara Boleslav. Vinoř agglomeration and structural transformations of the medieval landscape between Vltava and Elbe rivers
Abstract
A key discovery is the recognition of another, hitherto neglected central agglomeration in Prague-Vinoř, which entered in the early 10th century the sparsely populated landscape above the watershed of the Rokytka river and the stream called "Vinořský". In a regional perspective, this changes the view of all the essential aspects of the research agenda we treat in the (Central) Bohemia for the period from the 10th to the early 13th century.
It is necessary to rethink the structure of early Premyslid central places and their communication interconnections. We need to question more intensively the role of the Central Bohemian fortified centres after 1000, which seems to have mostly declined already in the 11th century, and the exceptions to this rule are the centres that found a new sense of purpose by being linked to new social entities (characteristically, Prague and Stará Boleslav).
Also, the transformation of the village settlement, which had been changing from the dispersed structure of the 10th century to the high mediaeval (or preindustrial) settlement network, has obviously taken place in a much closer connection with the development of administrative, economic, communication and spiritual centres, whose frequency in the focused landscape section appears to be higher and more structured than could be judged at the beginning of the new millennium. The development of thinking about the Young Hillfort Period and High Middle Ages landscape between Prague and Stará Boleslav, the Vltava and the Elbe, is thus clearly shifting towards a vision of a poly-centric and hetero-centric complex settlement landscape.