Stabilita, nebo proměna? Sociální původ strahovských premonstrátů na přelomu 18. a 19. století
Stability or Transformation? The Social Origins of the Premonstratensian Canonry at Strahov in the Late 18th and Early 19th Centuries

Summary/Abstract: This paper examines the social origins of the members of the Premonstratensian Canonry at Strahov, Prague, in the last quarter of the 18th and the second quarter of the 19th centuries. In the introduction we outline changes in the composition of the community in the period under discussion (a decline in the number of canons in the late 18thC and its causes; changes in their activities both within the order and in the public sphere). The main focus of the study is two surveys into the social origins of individual Premonstratensians covering the intake of novices in the periods 1750–1763 and 1804–1816, in which we assume they would attain the peak of their monastic career after 20–25 years spent with the order. Our main source was the confirmation of baptism of individual candidates, records of which for the years in question are relatively intact in the Strahov archive; these were supplemented by research in the relevant registries. An analysis of the data showed that the majority of novices at Strahov monastery were young men with an urban background, whereby there is a clearly perceptible shift from the elite urban classes in the first sample to more artisan circles, as well as a higher proportion of privileged boys from small provincial towns, in the second. Surprisingly, in the early years of the 19th century we no longer find the sons of officials employed in patrimonial (i.e. estate) administration. However, a broader chronological sample would be necessary to confirm that this was indeed a long term trend. Neither was it confirmed that more young men of rural origin were interested in joining a monastery, as we had assumed, not even those from the Strahov estates. This shift was not to happen till far later in the century.

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