Spiritual meal, identity and community in Bohemia 1400–1650: historical anthropology and the reformation of religious food and textual practices

ABSTRACT

The article explores the early Bohemian reformation (Utraquism) as an alternative Central European project of church reform that has not been as closely connected with the Western European civilizational narrative as the Lutheran reformation. The authors build on cultural anthropological approaches and on the recent ‘material turn’. They draw attention to the close historical associations between holy food and holy texts and look into the reformation of religious food and textual practices. They explore how the chalice functioned as a symbol of inclusivity and collective identity and how this became manifest in material culture. The authors analyse innovations in chalice shape (lips and tubes) and provide evidence of private or family chalices, arguing that such chalices re-introduced elements of social hierarchy in the Utraquist communion. In relation to holy food, the authors also focus on fasting, distinguishing two main lines of discourse: 1) the continuation of the medieval religious discourse of gluttony; and 2) difficulties connected with observing fasting regulations north of the Alps. Finally, they point out that the Bohemian reformation lends itself to a study of changing symbols, as suggested by Peter Burke, and they explore the model-like process through which book(s) largely replaced chalice(s) as the main symbol(s) and source(s) of identity among reformed non-Catholic Christians in the new religious situation in Bohemia after 1620.

KEYWORDS:

• Historical anthropology
• reformation(s)
• new material culture history
• communities
• Utraquists
• Eucharist

Acknowledgements

This paper was presented at the Medieval Encounters Seminar at St Catherine’s College, University of Cambridge, on 9 November 2022. We wish to thank Nora Berend for her kind invitation to have our research discussed. We also greatly appreciate valuable comments on our manuscript draft by Alexandra Walsham, and we extend our sincere thanks to the two anonymous reviewers. The study is a contribution to the ‘Representation and Practice of Social Control in Late Medieval Urban Communities’ project, which is supported by the Czech Grant Agency (GA ČR 20-11247S). It was also supported by the Cooperatio Programme at the Faculty of Humanities, Charles University, in the History research area.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Davis, The Gift in Sixteenth-Century France, 100.

2. Cf. Burke, “The Repudiation of Ritual,” 223–38; and Muir, Ritual in Early Modern Europe.

3. Burke, “Historians, Anthropologists and Symbols,” 275–6.

4. Cf. Kissane, Food, Religion and Communities. The following works on the cultural anthropology of food are of major importance: Lévi-Strauss, The Raw and the Cooked; Douglas, “Deciphering a Meal”; Goody, Cooking, Cuisine and Class; Mintz and Du Bois, “The Anthropology of Food”; and Feeley-Harnik, “Religion and Food.”

5. Cf. Ziesak et al., eds., The Luther Effect. See also Pettegree, Brand Luther: 1517. Andrew Pettegree chose a richly narrative style. The rhetorical tools he employs give interpretative clues: he makes use of contrasting words, such as ‘a singular man’, ‘a small town’, ‘a revolution’, ‘a routine event’, ‘a lively debate’, ‘the most famous man’. By doing so, he endows a major European civilizational narrative with increased dramatic flair.

6. Terpstra, ed., Global Reformations Sourcebook. We agree with Terpstra that the 2017 Luther celebrations came as a surprise to many interdisciplinary-oriented historians: ‘In a host of exhibitions and events aimed at broad audiences, the traditional contours, paths, and boundaries of a very German and indeed a very Hegelian Reformation reasserted themselves.’ Terpstra, ed., Global Reformations, 1.

7. For the increasing, inspiring literature, see Barnett, “Reforming Food”; Albala, Food in Early Modern Europe; and Norman, “Food and Religion.”

8. Kissane, Food, Religion and Communities, 63.

9. Cf. Ginzburg, History, Rhetoric and Proof, 13–14.

10. Cf. Mintz and Du Bois, “The Anthropology of Food and Eating,” 102.

11. Ibid., 107.

12. See also Albala and Eden, Food and Faith in Christian Culture.

13. Cf. e.g. Feeley-Harnik, “Religion and Food”; and Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy Fast.

14. Cf. especially Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy Fast, 3, 5, 31, 48, 49, 53, 68, 251.

15. cf. Kissane, Food, Religion and Communities; and Barnett, “Reforming Food.”

16. Bynum emphasized the long continuity of this belief: ‘Already hundreds of years before transubstantiation was defined as doctrine, most Christians thought that they quite literally ate Christ’s body and blood in the sacrament.’ Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy Fast, 246.

17. Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy Fast, 49.

18. Cf. e.g. Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy Fast, 45, 56–7.

19. Holeton, “Liturgický život,” 219–33, esp. 225.

20. Cf. Šmahel, Die Hussitische Revolution, 914–15.

21. For more on the terminology and its nuances, see e.g. Soukup and Van Dussen, “Introduction,” 2–3. While we lack exact data, it is possible to estimate that the Utraquists constituted the majority of the population in Bohemia between approximately the 1420s and the 1610s. Further available evidence relates to the parish network rather than to percentages of the population as such. The relatively dense parish network suffered heavily in the radical phase of the Hussite movement, which left only slightly over 60% of parishes occupied. Of these, only 10 to 15% were Catholic. The majority of parishes were Utraquist and staffed by graduates of Prague University. It was relatively common for parishes to pass from Catholic to Utraquist hands and vice versa under the pressure of their landlords (patrimonial owners). A further important factor at work was the gradual spread of the Lutheran and Calvinist beliefs, which nevertheless mixed with the strong and dominant local Reformation tradition. Higher nobility had a relatively higher number of adherents to Catholicism (also due to their supraregional networks). Even the sons of the ‘Hussite kingʼ George of Poděbrady are known to have converted to Catholicism. For a rough assessment of the religious landscape, see Bůžek et al., Společnost českých zemí, 102–4, 745 (note 110).

22. Most recently, see Halama, “Přijímání maličkých,” 151–7.

23. Cf. Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy Fast, 51, 65.

24. Cf. Halama, “Přijímání maličkých,” 156.

25. For a thorough overview of recent research in Utraquist symbol usage, see Soukup and Halama, Kalich jako symbol.

26. Cf. Soukup and Halama, “Úvod,” 14; and Homolková, Voleková, and Pytlíková, “Kalich v staročeských překladech,” 17–38.

27. Cf. Bartlová, “Jakou identitu,” 39–57.

28. Cf. Horníčková, “Symbol kalicha,” 55–75, esp. 64–5; and Horníčková, “Beyond the Chalice,” 139–40.

29. Cf. Horníčková, “Symbol kalicha,” 65, 73–4; and Horníčková, “Beyond the Chalice,” 137–52.

30. For more examples, see Ďurčanský, “Rekatolizace,” 50–1.

31. For more detail, see Bartlová, “Jakou identitu,” 48.

32. Cf. Čapský, “Urban History,” 222–3.

33. For the entry Hussitischer Kelch zu Prag von seinem Orth geschafft, see Francus [Lautenbach], Relationis historicae, 86.

34. Riss, “Jan Ctibor Kotva,” 470–5. See also Bartlová, Pravda zvítězila, 204.

35. Cf. undated articles by Taborite priests. Palacký, ed., Archiv český, 223, no. 21. Specifically fasts connected with Lent, vigils of the feasts of saints with the exception of Christ, quatuor tempori and Fridays were not to be observed.

36. Emler, ed., Vavřince z Březové, 454–62.

37. Ibid., 461 and 500–4.

38. Ibid., 371, 373 and 379.

39. Havránek, Hrabák, and Daňhelka, eds., Výbor, vol. I, 295–7. The representation of the working urban social strata via shoemakers had a long tradition in Latin literature and also found its expression in the vernacular literature. For more, see Šmahel, “Husitští “doktoři” jehly,” 237–48.

40. Cf. Spunar, “Literární pozůstalost M. Jana Papouška,” 253–7. State District Archives in Třeboň, fond Historica Třeboň, 1216–1659 (1696), inv. no. 2021. On determining the authorship, see Havránek, Hrabák, and Daňhelka, eds., Výbor, vol. II, 132.

41. Cf. e.g. the poem “Václav, Havel a Tábor.” It takes the form of a fictitious dialogue among three characters, two of whom provide advice while the third hesitantly represents a moderate stream. Havránek, Hrabák, and Daňhelka, eds., Výbor, vol. I, 391–2.

42. Nejedlý, ed., Prameny k synodám, 32–8, no. 5.

43. Ibid., 107–16, no. 27.

44. Beranová, Jídlo v pravěku a ve středověku, 257–8.

45. Truhlář, ed., Manuálník, 104–7, no. 12.

46. Woolgar, “Group Diets in Late Medieval England,” 191–200.

47. Truhlář, J., ed., Manuálník, 104–7, no. 12.

48. Ibid., 105, no. 12.

49. Beranová, Jídlo v pravěku a ve středověku, 162–7.

50. Cf. Petráň et al., Dějiny hmotné kultury I/2, 837.

51. Lomnický z Budče, S. Postní zvyk, fol. 20v–25v; Truhlář, ed., Manuálník, 105, no. 12; Montanari, “Introduction,” 1–18; and Gentilcore, Food and Health, 99–100.

52. Prague City Archives, Collection of Manuscripts, inv. no. 2133, Book of Mixed Agenda 1482–1761, f. 363v.

53. State District Archives Kutná Hora, fond Archives of the Town Kutná Hora, Church Accounts (Incomes and Expenditures of the Church of St. Barbora), 1457–1474, fol 68r–76r.

54. For peasant eating habits, cf. Macek, Jagellonský věk, vol. 4, 52–6. On fish prices and profitability of fishponds in the German-speaking territories, cf. Säuberlich, Geschichte, 9–10.

55. Cf. for example, Prague City Archives, Collection of Manuscripts, inv. no. 2133, Book of Mixed Agenda 1482–1761, fol. 363b; Prague City Archives, Collection of Manuscripts, inv. no. 993/1 Primus Liber Vetustissimus Privilegiorum, Statutorum et Decretorum Veteris Urbis Pragensis. fol. 297v–298r.

56. Cf. Volf, “Zima zimu,” 102–25, esp. 117.

57. Petráň et al., Dějiny hmotné kultury, 837.

58. Hrejsa, Česká konfesse, 715–16; and David, Nalezení střední cesty, 291–336.

59. Cf. the inventory from 1354: ‘Calami argentei duo pro sumendo sanguine Christi pro communicantibus.’ Podlaha and Šittler, Chrámový poklad, V.

60. Boubín and Zachová, Žaloby katolíků, 35, 45.

61. This practice is well grounded in evidence. For example, the Catholic priest who administered the centrally located parish church in the south Bohemian town of Netolice lent out one chalice from the parish church inventory for Utraquist services in the chapel on the outskirts of town. Cf. State Disctrict Archives Prachatice, fond Town Archives of Netolice 1495–1956, Book of Memory Entries of the town Netolice 1551–1602, inv. no. 170, 69.

62. Boubín and Zachová, Žaloby katolíků, 38.

63. Cf. Čapská and Čapský, “Krev v kalichu,” 346–7.

64. Cf. Weiner, Inalienable Possessions. For a further analysis of empirical data, see Čapská and Čapský, “Krev v kalichu,” 346–51.

65. For more examples of donated chalices and their use by lay donors, see Čapská and Čapský, “Krev v kalichu,” 345–7.

66. State District Archives in Kutná Hora, fond: Town Archives of Kutná Hora, Memory Book of the Town Council Registrum rubeum parvum, book no. 7, 1462–1478, fol. 36a–36b, 130a. We have discussed the phenomenon of private/family chalices in more detail in Čapská and Čapský, “Krev v kalichu,” 346, 350–1, 366.

67. For a more detailed discussion and a rare visual representation which suggests a pouring lip, see Čapská and Čapský, “Krev v kalichu,” 341, 342, 345–7.

68. There are many examples of the destruction of Hussite chalices. For all of them we list: State Regional Archives in Zámrsk, The Collection of Church Registers from Eastern Bohemia 1587–1949, shelf mark 947, fol. 98b. Prague City Archives, Fundo of the Parish Office at the Church of St Stephen, Prague – New Town, Liber memorabilium I (1641–1706), inv. No. 1, fol. 4r.

69. Čapská and Čapský, “Krev v kalichu,” 341, 367.

70. For the discussion of the chalice, cf. Horníčková, “Kalich s řápkem z Kadaně.”

71. Čapská and Čapský, “Krev v kalichu,” 356.

72. Ibid., 364.

73. For a discussion of research on political Calvinism, see Murdock, Calvinism on the Frontier, 1600‒1660, 3‒4.

74. Taffin, Des Marques des enfans, 21.

75. Taffin, Of the Markes, 13.

76. Taffin, Kennzeichen der waren Kinder, 31.

77. Taffin, De Characteribus Filiorum, 19.

78. Taffin, Piętno synów Bożych, not paginated.

79. Taffin, Ráj rozkošného naučení, 34.

80. ‘Haec enim summa totius religionis ipsorum est, ut et infantes et adulti, senes ac decrepiti, promiscui sexus ad sacratissimi corporis et sanguinis Christi edulium quotidie ac passim ferantur.’ Cf. Rupprich, ed., Der Briefwechsel, 585.

81. Cf. Rupprich, ed., Der Briefwechsel, 583–5.

82. Čapská and Čapský, “Krev v kalichu,” 335–69.

83. Burnett, “The Social History of Communion,” 77–119, esp. 114, 117.

84. Cf. Kůrka, “(Staro)utrakvismus,” 29–31.

85. Voit, “Utrakvisté a knihtisk,” 11–27.

86. Pešek, “Proměny utrakvistického kultu,” 743–51.

87. Voit, “Utrakvisté a knihtisk,” 11–27; and Sladká, “Bratrská kniha,” 79–104.

88. Borový, “Jednání a dopisy,” 20–1.

89. Schulz, “Svědomí o kněžích podobojích.”

90. Strnad, M. Šimona Plachého z Třebnice Paměti, 75.

91. Šimek, “Poměry náboženské,” 201.

92. Teplý, Dějiny města Jindřichova Hradce, IV.

93. Winter, O životě na vysokých školách, 162.

94. Borový, “Jednání a dopisy,” 21–2.

95. Winter, O životě na vysokých školách, 162.

96. Fejtová, “Já pevně věřím a vyznávám …,” 233–4.

97. For the concept of object diasporas, see Basu, “Objects Diasporas.”

98. For more on Anežka Skopcová, see Starý, “Dva reverzy k zemi,” 51, 58.

99. Tapp, “Böhmischer Kelch zu Vellahn,” 231.

100. Ibid., 232.

101. Cf., for example, Svobodová, “Modlitební kniha”; and Svobodová, “Poslední luterský farář.”

102. Burke, “Historians, Anthropologists and Symbols,” 268.

103. For some early examples, see Bílek, Reformace katolická, 119. Knoz, Pobělohorské konfiskace, 634. On book searches, confiscations and burnings in a number of royal towns between 1624 and 1626, see Ďurčanský, “Rekatolizace,” 54. On the ban on selling heterodox books in the markets and streets of the Old Town of Prague, see Prague City Archives, Collection of Manuscripts, The book of decrees 1625–1635, inv. no. 744, 10r.

104. On the concept of moral panic, see Goode and Ben Yehuda, Moral Panics. For an overview of early modern examples, cf. Lemmings and Walker, Moral Panics.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Faculty of Humanities, Charles University [Cooperatio Programme, History research area]; Czech Grant Agency [GA ČR 20-11247S].

Notes on contributors

Veronika Čapská

Veronika Čapská is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Humanities, Charles University, and a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences. She was a Visiting Fellow at Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge, in 2018/19 and a Visiting Scholar at the Faculty of History, University of Cambridge, in the Michaelmas term of 2022. She specializes in early modern transcultural history (mobilities, translation history, gift exchange, book trade), the history of lived religion and the theory of history.

Martin Čapský

Martin Čapský is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy, University of Pardubice. He was awarded the Queen Jadwiga Fund Fellowship at the Jagellonian University in Cracow in 2004 and was a Visiting Scholar at the Faculty of History, University of Cambridge, in the Michaelmas term of 2022. He has published broadly on charismatic preachers and violence in late medieval Central European towns, political communication in late medieval Silesia, economic history and the theory of history.