Rybníky perspektivou environmentálních dějin
Ponds in the Perspective of Environmental History

From General Questions to Selected Examples from the Saxe-Lauenburg Estates

Summary/Abstract: Fishponds were an important constituent of the Bohemian feudal estate in the early modern period. Therefore, there is a long historiograpical tradition on fishponds management and its economic consequences. Thus, the paper summarizes the main benefits of the previous authors and tries to bring an environmental perspective that is quite new in this field of study. The environmental aspexts of the early modern fishpond management in Bohemia are explored only poorly. I argue that the fishponds are a suitable topic that allows thinking about the past from an interdisciplinary perspective while leaning on the long (economically oriented) historiographical tradition. Questions on fishpond ecology and management, as well as on fish welfare are raised and discussed upon the instructions released by the early modern authors and authorities. In the last chapter, I study environmental hazards and risk management in traditional society. With a closer look at a few examples from Saxe-Lauenburg manors, I analyse the historical attitude towards topics related to fishponds and water management based on archival sources with natural and soil conditions taken into account.

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