Indigenous or Foreign? The Role of Origin in the Debate about the Suitable Candidate in Electing Bohemian Kings in the Fifteenth Century

0569243 - FLÚ 2023 RIV HU eng J - Journal Article
Žůrek, Václav
Indigenous or Foreign? The Role of Origin in the Debate about the Suitable Candidate in Electing Bohemian Kings in the Fifteenth Century.
Historical Studies on Central Europe. Roč. 2, č. 2 (2022), s. 43-59. ISSN 2786-0930. E-ISSN 2786-0922
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GX19-28415X; GA MŠMT(CZ) LM2018101
Institutional support: RVO:67985955
Keywords : Middle Ages * medieval Bohemia * foreignness * George of Poděbrady * Hussites * medieval elections
OECD category: History (history of science and technology to be 6.3, history of specific sciences to be under the respective headings)
Method of publishing: Open access
https://doi.org/10.47074/HSCE.2022-2.04

In fifteenth-century Bohemia, the natural continuity of succeeding kings was interrupted, and the political situation resulted in searching for a new king and organizing the election. This procedure provoked comments on candidates from supporters and opponents. One of the criteria discussed was the candidate’s origins. His labelling as a foreigner, or emphasis on alien origin and mother tongue was very often part of the strategy to defame the potential king. The article analyses how this specific criterion was integrated into other requirements to challenge the candidate’s idoneity, introducing the various uses of this argument in contemporary sources.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0340678