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The Place of the Forest in Fourteenth- and Fifteenth-Century Literary Sources, a Czech-French-English Perspective
Turek, Matouš ; Nejedlý, Martin (advisor) ; Woitsch, Jiří (referee)
The master thesis presents and analyses a range of different ways in which the motif of the forest was treated in late-medieval literary sources as an element of thematic and compositional construction of the text. At the theoretical basis of the thesis is the concept of diachronic text reception and adaptations which bring along the transmission and simultaneous transformation of the use of topoi, while this process is being related to the development of the literary chronotopos signalizing a change in the public's horizon of expectation. The majority of sources for analysis are drawn from Czech sources of the long 14th century - courtly and chivalric romance, the Old Czech verse legend of St. Procopius and the Dalimil Chronicle - while a shorter part of the thesis is devoted to the presentation of individual tendencies in the development of the use of the forest topos in English and French literary allegory of the 14th and 15th centuries. In detailed comparison of specific passages from Old Czech texts with their actual models in other languages (Old Middle German, Latin), the thesis demonstrates, upon the example of the forest topos, that topoi do not represent fixed, inalterable clichés, but actually exhibit intense shifts in function, content and theme.
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Economic exploitation od forests in the early modern period. "Forest industries" in the 17-18th centuries
Woitsch, Jiří ; Maur, Eduard (advisor) ; Matoušek, Václav (referee) ; Petráň, Josef (referee)
The thesis deals with a specific branch of early-modern industry. So called forest industries (or crafts) and craftsmen are depicted from the point of view of technology used, its economic, social as well as cultural characteristics. The thesis is focused on the territory of the Central Europe in the 17-18th centuries and is based on archival research and study of foreign theoretical scientific literature. The author came to a conclusion, that the forest industries (e.g. charcoal making, tar making, resin extraction, wood ashes making and potash making) constitute a specific kind of linked strategies of subsistence. Moreover through forest industries natural resources (forests and woodlands) were exploited and their shape and stand was changed. The most important part of thesis - also from the gnoseological point of view - is presentation of the outcomes of several ethno-archaeological experiments, which contributed essentially to the re-interpretation of written sources.
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Newly discovered preserved potash-making workshops in the Czech Republic
Woitsch, Jiří
The article briefly describes the technology of production of potash in the early modern times. The basic typology of production facilities (potash-making workshops), which were built in the village envinment, is introduced as well. The main emphasis is given on the introduction of two newly identified workshops - in Zlatá Koruna near Český Krumlov and in Kolinec in the Klatovy region.
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"Jewish craft" Ethnic and religious specifics of potash making in Bohemia in the 18th century
Woitsch, Jiří
The article deals with specific characteristics of early-modern potash industry in Bohemia. Potash making was typical by an absolute dominance of Jews among tenants of potasheries, potash making workers as well as among potash dealers. Reasons were those of contemporary governmental and legal conditions and economic interests of nobles. Also high motivation of Jews towards potash making business should be taken in consideration. Thus potash making was even in the 18th century called "Jewish craft" and belonged to the most important Jewish trades in Bohemia
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Case „Oboroh“ (hay-loft / barn): Limits of use of ethnographical analogies
Woitsch, Jiří
Oboroh is a simple cover, which is made up of supporting structure of four posts and an adjustable roof. It is considered as being the most archaic type of barn. This function has been ascribed to the construction by the archaeologists, ethnographers etc. according to the very rare iconography of mediaeval origin (e.g. The Velislav Bible from the 1st half of the 14th century) and – above all – with references to alleged ethnographical analogies from the recent centuries. The paper argues against this way of depicting of oboroh. On the base of written and pictorial sources from the whole Europe as well as according the contemporary field researches in the Carpathians is has been shown that there is no ethnographical analogy from the early modern period which could support the theory of using oboroh as a barn. The only existing evidence shows oboroh as a common type of hay-loft. The discrepancy between mediaeval sources and modern analogies is analysed and interpreted in the article at large
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Man and Forest in the history. Ambitious Theory versus Reality
Woitsch, Jiří
In the article prevailing historiographic conception of human perception of forest in Mediaeval and Early-modern times is criticized. This conception is based on structuralist theory of hierarchy of lived space, where forest is considered to be dangerous and feared area. Referring to many written, pictorial and other sources and using the concepts of Scandinavian ethnology and archaeology the author shows that forests in the Central Europe could and should be perceived in a very different way. Thanks the permanent overexploitation it could be even very positively evaluated space
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