Publication details
Problémy formování církevní správy v českých zemích v raném středověku
| Title in English | The Problems of Forming an Ecclesiastical Administration in the Czech Lands in the Early Middle Ages |
|---|---|
| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2016 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Studia Medievalia Bohemica |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | History |
| Description | The beginnings of Christianity in the Czech lands are associated with the spread of the Frankish Empire’s cultural and power influence, but soon also domestic elites contributed to the development of the ecclesiastical organization. The dukes and magnates did not hesitate to support the construction of new cloisters and churches, but it is not possible to observe the dimensions of this process. An important milestone was the establishment of a bishopric in Prague in 976 and the subsequent restoration of the bishopric in Moravia (perhaps permanently from 1063), which gave the church in the Přemyslid lands a more solid organizational framework, which depended not only on the growing network of castles but apparently also on “rural” churches, the role of which has not yet been firmly profiled. Those that had an archpriest at their head undoubtedly had a more significant position. Unfortunately, they are mentioned only once in Cosmas’s Chronicle, which attributed to them the role of co-workers of the castle administrators. The picture of the beginnings of archdeacons is more clear, which we date roughly to the middle of the twelfth century. “Parish churches” are first mentioned in 1100–1150, but while the baptismal and burial features of these churches are beyond doubt, the extent of the parishes’ boundaries didn’t have to be clearly defined and it is impossible to rule out a reciprocal hierarchy among different churches with the same functions. The dynamics of building cloisters (until 1140, eleven in 160 years, and then twenty-two in 65 years), however, clearly copies also the dynamic of building the network of rural churches (as well as society’s increasing literacy at that time). It is not appropriate to connect their emergence only with the regulations of the duke or bishop, who could have at the most played the role of a motivating element, but rather with the local elites, who tried to imitate the duke and support his efforts to claim allegiance to him. Although we usually look at the lowest level of the church organization through the lens of economic losses and gains, we should not overlook the fact that already in the Early Middle Ages strong pressure was evident on a certain independence of the priests and their ability to perform the tasks of shepherds properly |