This thesis studies “svenner” – armed servants, bailiffs and administrators – and service ideals in late medieval Sweden by using a variety of sources including payrolls, correspondence, charters and service instructions. The study argues that in order to reach an understanding of the relationship between lord and servant, and the complexity of service ideals, questions must be asked about for whom service was open, if there was competition, and what in that case was characteristic of the people and requirements that constituted the service.The conclusion is that service was not open to all; loyalty and strong social bonds were cru-cial, while other capitals such as military competence and ancestry could increase the material and immaterial benefits of service. The social field was closely connected to the political field why those who intended to compete in the field had limited opportunities to influence the terms of service. Although serving the aristocracy could be beneficial in many ways, legisla-tion and a deeply rooted service ideal held the feudal power relations firmly intact.

The thesis deals with the significant western Bohemian noble family of the younger Rabštejns in the turbulent "Hussite Century", known also as the short 15th century (1400-1485). The primary focus of the research is the examination of the lives and careers of individual members of the family, the most prominent of which are the Chancellor Prokop († probably 1470) and the humanist Jan (1437-1473), author of the famous Dialogus. Their critically written biographies, appropriately set in the context of the political, religious and cultural history of the given period, review the factual errors of present research and answer the question of how specific nobles of the Rabštejn family managed the dramatic events of the "Hussite Century". The explication elaborated based on a classic genealogical and biographical approach is supplemented by sections on the social and economic rise of the younger Rabštejns in the 15th century, using knowledge from a modern, dynamically developing study of social mobility, royal court issues and noble representation. This, along with extensive source and literary heuristics on which the thesis is based, enables us to look at the history of the studied noble family with multiple lenses and place it in a wider context. The sources used are critically examined, and their selection...

The present M.A. thesis pursues the topic of hostageship for obligations in the Czech late Middle Ages, based on an analysis of epistolary correspondence, especially that between Ulrich II. of Rosenberg and his clients and opponents. Also examined are, for example, debt, purchase or mortgage agreements as a means which not only Ulrich II. tried to use for improving the bad financial situation of the house of Rosenberg. The study attempts to achieve a twofold objective: first, to clearly explain the individual terms that appear in the documents concerning the hostages, and second, based on case studies, to present an analysis of how the institute of hostageship worked in practice, with an emphasis on aristocratic honour and ties between the participants. From the methodological viewpoint, the analysis also shows that research into hostageship refines our understanding of how the Rosenberg clientele relations worked. Key words: Middle Ages, medieval, nobility, hostage, hostageship, suretyship, captivity, Kingdom of Bohemia, clients, House of Rosenberg, Ulrich of Rosenberg