Publication details
In ambitu sepulta est: Sepulkrální témata ve středověkých mendikantských ambitech a pokus o jejich interpretaci
| Title in English | In ambitu sepulcra est: Sepulchral themes in medieval mendicant cloisters and an attempt at their interpretation |
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| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2022 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Keywords | sepulchral monuments, mendicant cloisters, Bohemia, Moravia, 13th–17th centuries |
| Description | The sepulchral function of mendicant cloisters as well as chapter houses and garths, offers a wider range of topics in connection with the memory of the individual, the whole family, the functioning of the monastic community within the cloister and in relation to the lay public. For mendicant orders, their connection with the urban milieu plays an important role. The influence and popularity of the mendicants was reflected in disputes with the parish clergy, inter alia other conflicts over the powers connected with the place of burial of the deceased. Knowledge about the funerary contexts of the cloister and adjacent spaces can be drawn – depending on their preservation – from material (tombstones, murals, skeletal remains, etc.) and written sources (donation and foundation deeds, testaments, necrologies, lists of anniversaries, etc.). An important part of the monastery operation was various “processions of the dead”, including, for example, a procession with the deceased to a prepared grave, visiting the place of burial or honouring the memory of the deceased. For the joint monastery of the Minorites and Poor Clares in Český Krumlov, the necrology is an important source for the studied issue, informing not only about the funerals there, social ties, but also the showing of holy relics in the friary’s cloister. In addition, the sepulchral theme is connected with the medieval and Renaissance murals, Gothic and Baroque crypts, as well as tombstones. A similar situation and type of monuments can be found in the Dominican friary in České Budějovice. The tombstone of Prior Ondřej comes from the chapter house of the Brno Friary of the Dominican Order, which corresponds to the custom of burying superiors of the convent in this important space. In the cloister, there is a medallion painted in the Middle Ages informing about the passing of Lady Cecilia and her sister Judith. The examples presented clearly demonstrate the continuity of the sepulchral function of these spaces practically from the beginnings of the individual convents until the later Modern Period, and a great potential for increasing the knowledge of the entire network of ties from the point of view of the functioning of the individual friaries in the wider context of the urban milieu and their relations with the individuals buried there. |