EAA 2023: Abstract

Princess and later a widow Ludmila, the first Czech saint from the Přemyslid dynasty, was murdered in 921 A.D. in Tetin stronghold. I interpret her — as a legend stylised — biography in the context of the dual Christianization of Bohemia (845 A.D. in Regensburg and 882/3 A.D.in Moravia) and the intermezzo of the rich graves in the rivalry between Latin and Old Slavonic tradition. I discuss why she displaced her husband Bořivoj from the traditional role of the prince Christianizationator despite his baptism in Moravia by archbishop Methodius and how to read the wavering beginnings of her cult and its originally local character (Prague, the veil trial in Cosmas’ Chronica Boemorum, the absence of churches dedicated to her in the 11th - 13th century). How conveniently did the gender stereotype cover the inappropriate origin of Czech Christianity, and how did gender quicken the overshadowing of her worship by the cult of St. Wenceslas (+935)?

princess Ludmila, Bohemia, Early Middle Ages, christianisation, saint, gender stereopype

Oral presentation

  Abstract (PDF)

Nadezda Profantová¹