Full Name: Marek Brčák Thesis title: Capuchin Order and its activities in Bohemia and Moravia between 1673-1783 Abstract This dissertation deals with the history of the Capuchin order in Czech-Moravian territory during 1673-1783. The year of the establishment of the Czech-Moravian Capuchin province is 1673. In 1783, this province was divided into a Czech and a Moravian province; this led to the establishment of two new independent provinces of the Capuchin order. At the same time the upper time limit coincided with the religious reforms of Joseph II., which had essential influence on activities of the Capuchin order. The first chapter introduces a review of the existing secondary literature that deals with this theme, analysing and explaining the methodology used in the thesis. The second chapter describes historiography and archival databases that existed in the Czech-Moravian Capuchin province, which contributed to the formation of collective memory. This chapter also portrays concrete institutions which keep records in their archives on the history of the Capuchin order. The history of the Czech-Austrian Capuchin province is covered in the third chapter. This period witnessed significant progress in admission of new members to the Capuchin order; therefore the thesis examines the national origin of the...

The purpose of this thesis is to establish whether Swedish fan conventions organised around East-Asian popular culture such as anime and manga can be identified as a form of secular ritual. The methods used to determine this include participant observation, interviews and ethnographic data. Defining secular ritual as a performance event that establishes an alternative context that transforms the everyday without being connected to a religious or supernatural worldview or origin, we find that Swedish conventions of this kind may be called a form of ritual that engages people united by a common, broad field of interests and a notion of being outside of society’s norms in different ways, most notably in regards to sexuality and gender. This opens a discussion about Swedish fan conventions and how they may inform us about the use and function of rituals in a secularised society.

This thesis is focused on the development of the English and Scottish radical reform movement in the 1790s and analyzes the relationship between the British government and the radical reformers who endeavored for introduction of universal suffrage and annual parliaments. The thesis also emphasizes the reaction of a large part of the public, and especially the wealthy, who in fear of spreading the ideas of the French Revolution, decided to suppress the activities of the reformers through the so-called loyalist movement. The result of fear of loyalists from the threat of domestic Jacobinism was a wave of persecution, which ended with great political trials in Scotland and England in 1793 and 1794. The thesis is also focused on the question of the influence of the French Revolution on the activities of the reformers and explains to what extent, the ideas of republicanism prevailed among the radicals. The work also emphasizes that not only thoughts of the French Revolution but also an effect of the domestic reform tradition and Glorious Revolution had an impact on the ideas of the radical reformers. In addition, this thesis analyses also the activities of the reformers themselves, who founded in 1792 a number of new societies whose membership base consisted mainly of the working class. British...

Opatrná, Michaela - The Library of Melchior Gniesen von Kobach Faculty of Philosophy at Charles University, Prague 1, sq. Jana Palacha 2 Thesis supervisor: PhDr. Richard Šípek, Ph.D. The aim of this Thesis is to describe the newly discovered Library of Melchior Gniesen von Kobach († 1627), the Council of the Appellate court and the Chancellor of the Maltese Order, which is currently located in Maltese library stored in the Library of the National Archive of the Czech Republic (includes 184 vol.). The theoretical part presents a basic information about the formation and form of town libraries in the early modern period, short description of the Knights of St John in Bohemia, description of the history and current state of the convent library in Prague, Melchior Gniesen's CV and presentation of his library. In the practical part thereis a complete catalog of the surviving books of the Library of Melchior Gniesen, its content and formal analysis, followed by evaluation of the importance of work. Used research methods are: observation, document analysis and analogy.

Evenemangen i Sverige drabbades finansiellt, varumärkesmässigt och motivationsmässigt negativt av pandemin. Främst var det på grund av de regleringar som behövde göras för att skydda folkhälsan men mycket berodde också på de osäkerheter och den avsaknad av information som fanns kring viruset. Osäkerheten tillsammans med avsaknad av erfarenheter gjorde det svårt för evenemangsarrangörerna att agera på bästa sätt.  Varumärkesmässigt fallerade många evenemang där marknadsföring var normalt kopplad endast till när ordinarie verksamhet kunde genomföras varför kommunikationsarbetet prioriterades ner i stället för att lyftas upp. Beroende på organisation klarade sig evenemangen i kultursektorn relativt bra i och med de stora stöd som svenska samhället erbjöd. Utan dessa är risken att många mindre evenemang hade gått i konkurs. Hur avsaknaden av arrangemang har påverkat samhället i stort ekonomiskt är svårt att säga då evenemangssektorn involverar många parter och industrier. Organisationerna bakom evenemangen fick stora utmaningar kring motivationen, både bland anställda men framför allt bland ideellt engagerade när det inte längre fanns någon verksamhet att samlas kring eller rollerna och verksamheten förändrades mycket. Här saknade evenemangsarrangörerna kunskap kring exakt vilka de viktigaste motivationsfaktorerna är för engagerade inom evenemang något som hade kunnat mildra de negativa effekterna.  Evenemangen ställdes i hög grad in som svar på krisen och styrdes av externa faktorer. Som regleringar, avtal som behövde brytas innan de fick finansiella konsekvenser eller att andra aktörer gjorde det omöjligt att bedriva verksamheten. Några arrangörer byggde upp scenarion och jobbade med ambidextriöst ledarskap i syftet att kunna aktivt arbeta med nuvarande kris, lära sig längs med vägen samtidigt som framtiden planerades. Detta visade sig vara fördelaktigt även om det fanns stora svårigheter att beräkna sannolikhet enligt de omständigheter som rådde. Vi såg exempel på innovation under krisen i form av fler digitala evenemang, evenemang med sittplatser anpassade efter rådande regleringar till livesändningar som inte hade skett annars. Dessa var dock beroende av pandemins förutsättningar vilka när de inte längre rådde sänkte innovationernas värden. Några av innovationerna var fördelaktiga för arrangörerna och när väl regleringarna försvann drabbades i stället arrangören negativt av att inte kunna genomföra den verksamhet som skapats under pandemin.  Organisationerna har lärt sig mycket och det finns direkta värden att hämta från krisen för evenemangsbranschen. Inte bara i form av lärdomar för hur arrangörerna kan förbättra sina rutiner, krishantering, inkorporera digital teknik och justera det ekonomiska aspekter som biljettpris. Utan också i det att samhället har kunnat se hur viktiga evenemang är genom att de plockats bort. Detta tillsammans med vissa observationer pekar på att evenemangsbranschen kommer växa sig större efter pandemin jämfört med innan. / Festivals and other cultural events in Sweden were financially, brand-wise, and motivationally negatively affected by the pandemic. Mainly it was because of the regulations that needed to be made to protect public health, but a lot also depended on the uncertainties and the lack of information that existed around the virus. This together with a lack of experience made it difficult for the event organizers to act in the best way. In terms of branding, many events used marketing only in combination with when their events could be carried out. During the pandemic they therefore prioritized communication down instead of being lifted which would have been the correct approach. Depending on the organization, the events in the cultural sector did relatively well with the large support that society offered from the Swedish Arts Council (Kulturrådet) and furlough support. Without these, the risk is that many smaller events would have gone bankrupt. How the lack of events has affected society at large economically is difficult to say as the event sector involves so many parties and industries. The organizations behind the events faced major challenges regarding motivation, both among employees but above all among volunteers when there was no longer any activity to gather around, or the roles and activities changed a lot. Here, the event organizers lacked knowledge about exactly what the most important motivational factors are for those involved in events, something that could have mitigated the negative effects.  The events were largely canceled in response to the crisis and controlled by external factors. Such as regulations, agreements that needed to be cancelled before they had financial consequences or that other actors made it impossible to run the business. Some organizers built scenarios and worked with ambidextrous leadership in order to actively work with the current crisis while planning the future and learning along the way. This proved to be beneficial although there was great difficulty in calculating probability under the circumstances. We saw examples of innovation during the crisis in the form of more digital events, events with seating adapted to existing regulations and live broadcasts, some that would not have happened otherwise. However, these were dependent on the conditions and needs of the pandemic which, when the conditions in society change, lowers their value. Some of the innovations were beneficial for the organizers and once the regulations disappeared, the organizer was instead negatively affected by not being able to carry out the activities created during the pandemic.  The organizations have learned a lot and there are direct values to take from the crisis for the events industry. Not only in the form of lessons for how the organizers can improve their routines, crisis management, incorporate digital technology and adjust financial aspects such as ticket prices. But also, in that society has been able to see how important events are by their being removed. This together with some observations point to the event industry growing larger after the pandemic compared to before.

The diploma thesis describes the development of St. Anne and St. Lawrence Dominican convents in The Old Town of Prague during early modern period (mainly in the 17th and the 18th centuries). Both the indoor life and contacts with outside world are included in the description. Only three topics of the above-mentioned specialization could be seamlessly elaborated due to fragmentary sources. The introduction and first three chapters constitute a summary of sources and literature. Furthermore, they chronologically depict the history of the Dominican order and the particular convents. The fourth chapter deals with the relationship between the nuns and their dependants in the municipality of Radlice. The system of servile taxes withdrawals and visitations of the monastic farms are emphasized. The chapter finally records a concrete discord between the convent and Barbora Wlaška in the 16th century. The fifth chapter focuses on baroque sermon that were held during ceremonies of admission aspirants among the other nuns. The preachments were analyzed in light of their contents and spiritual thoughts. The last chapter studies the performance of the archiepiscopal authority to the convents in the 18th century and the relationships between the Dominican nuns and aristocratic families or bourgeoisie in the...

This diploma thesis "Italy and its Approach to European Integration. European Policy of Italy on a case of the Constitutional Treaty" deals with Italian approach to European Communities/European Union and analyzes it on a case of the debate about the future of the EU, which was held since 2000 and led to the approval of the Constitutional Treaty. Italian position was charaterized as euro-enthusiastic during the whole history of European integration. This paper examines the approach and European policy of Italy after 2000 on the basis of the analysis of speeches, interviews, proposals and documents of Italian political representatives during the debate, which was then continued on the European Convention and after that a new reform was approved by the Intergovernmental Conference. In the meantime, Italy went through the elections and a change of government, which did not inspire confidence concerning the europeistic commitment. Coalition parties were considered as eurosceptic and the traditional defence of Communitarian method and deepening of the integration towards the federation were not awaited. The first part of this thesis deals with the historic background and the traditional europeistic approach. The second part is dedicated to the debate about the future of the EU, separated into several...

This thesis deals with a Polish national group in Germany, Polonia, comprising about 2 million Poles and Germans with Polish origin. Polonia has a very well-developed organizational structure in Germany that takes care of Polish culture, language and traditions, as well as stands up for its rights listed in the Polish-German Treaty from the Polish-German Treaty of Good Neighborhood and Friendly Cooperation of 1991. Periodical roundtables and conferences that are crucial for the Polish-German dialogue show problems that the Polish group faces. There are asymmetries in the fulfilment of the Polish-German treaty of 1991, which guarantee the same rights for the Polish group in Germany as for the German minority in Poland: whereas the latter is officially recognized as a national minority in Poland, the former has not been awarded the minority status. Furthermore, there is a lack of funding in the case of Polonia, which prevents the effective functioning of Polish organizations, and the unsatisfactory level of teaching Polish at public schools. Author of the thesis comes to the conclusion that although the Polish national group is not a de jure recognized national minority, it de facto has the rights that are commonly attributed to a national minority. Moreover, the analysis showed that the Poles are...

This dissertation focuses on the constructing and architectonic development of Premonstratensian monastery and the church of St. Giles of Milevsko in the Middle Ages. The work is based on the older art historical literature and it evaluates the archaeological researches' findings in the locality as well as construction and historic researches of particular buildings, which were carried on with connection to the restitution of the site to the Premonstratensian order in the 1990s. The work demonstrates the Milevsko grounds picture and its construction as well as architectonic development from the establishment of the pre- monastery era in the eighth century until the Hussite's wars. The dissertation provides study of court with a church with apsis, stone Romanesque house and the basilica. It characterises the George of Milevsko personality as well as the significance of the abbot Jarloch. It analyses in detail the Roman architecture of St. Giles Church and attempts to interpret the procedure of its construction. Furthermore, it deals with the shape of the monastery's basilica and the description of Romanesque monastic buildings while comparing the premises to other monastic sites in this country. This dissertation also describes the architectonic boom of abbeys in the era of early Gothics as well as...

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