Premodern History and Art through the Prism of Gender in East-Central Europe

0556572 - ÚČL 2023 RIV US eng M - Část monografie knihy
Soukupová, Věra
Allegory in Service of Gendered Body Politics: Kingdom of Bohemia in a Time of Crisis.
Premodern History and Art through the Prism of Gender in East-Central Europe. Lanham: Lexington Book, 2022 - (Rywiková, D.; Antonín Malaníková, M.), s. 129-159. ISBN 978-1-66690-523-6
Výzkumná infrastruktura: CLB II - 90136
Institucionální podpora: RVO:68378068
Klíčová slova: allegory * gender * Bautzen manuscript * Hussite revolution * Kingdom of Bohemia * Sigismund of Luxembourg
Obor OECD: Specific literatures

The study provides a literary analysis of several texts produced at the beginning of the Hussite revolution in 1420 and preserved in the so-called Bautzen manuscript which is their only extant copy (dated to 1448). Whereas scholars have so far paid attention mainly to the political and religious messages which these polemical texts were intended to carry, this study focuses on their allegorical level. The use of female personification of the Czech Crown allowed to the author/s to formulate a complaint about the current state of affairs, and about Sigismund of Luxembourg’s policies above all. While this articulation represents an undeniable emulation of Biblical models, it cannot be dismissed as meaningless consequence of a literary tradition. The allegory of a woman, either in the role of a mother, daughter or wife, makes reference to supposed female fragility, helplessness and also the absence of order, which is provided by a man in patriarchal society. The comparison with older historiographical sources of Czech provenance shows that the metaphorization of political bonds between the ruler and the kingdom made its appearance in moments equally perceived as a political crisis by the contemporaries (i.e. in the so-called Dalimil’s Chronicle, Chronicon Aulae regiae). The paper argues that the use of gender images by means of reference to well-known social categories was likely to strike the readership and thus allowed for an eloquent and meaningful argumentation and criticism of current political relations, while providing a concrete political (and religious) programme.
Trvalý link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0330733