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The Use of History in the Power Struggles in the Late Middle Ages
Jauernig, Jakub ; Nejedlý, Martin (advisor) ; Bláhová, Marie (referee) ; Drška, Václav (referee)
4 Abstract This paper focuses on using narratives about the origins of princely power among late medieval rulers to justify their legitimacy. Its principal aim is to reveal the intercon- nectedness of widespread narrative sources such as chronicles and romances, on the one hand, with still understudied sources such as armorials, heraldic miscellanies and genea- logical scrolls, on the other. The latter type of source has recently begun to attract more medievalists, but it isn't easy to work with them for several reasons. Little is known about the practical use of materials such as genealogical scrolls, which can be more than five metres long. Another reason is that this type of source combines several different aspects. It combines textual, pictorial and diagrammatic parts, which form an integral unit that cannot be dissected and examined separately. This type of source was fully charged with historical, prophetic and symbolic content and was probably intended to serve not only representational but also propagandistic purposes for the rulers. In this thesis, I trace the use of historical narratives on the figure of Brutus of Troy, the eponymous founder of the Insular Kingdom of Britain in late medieval England and Wales. The thesis focuses on his- toriographical sources that introduce the figure of Brutus...
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