This article deals with the structure of international congresses of historical sciences from Madrid 1990 up to Jinan 2015 and with the topics discussed at them. Paying particular attention to the organization of "major themes", it follows the dominant status of large states in the Euro-American civilisation and the Far East compared to the marginal role of all the other parts of the world. Using the example of the Czech Republic whose participation at world congresses has increasingly grown, it documents that this discrepancy is not impossible to overcome, yet it requires systematic work and increased effort on the part of the national committees and historians in these smaller countries. Collaboration of several countries (in this case especially that of the Czech Republic, Poland and other Central European countries) is seen as an appropriate means so that the results of historiographies of smaller countries may make their mark, which the article illustrates with the examples of the Congresses in Sydney 2005, Jinan 2015 and on preparations for the Congress in Poznan in 2020.
The outline of the development and activities of the Czech Historical Institute in Rome in the period 2015–2022 builds on the previous analysis concerning the years 2008–2014 (ČČH / The Czech Historical Review 113, 2015, pp. 244–276). It deals with the major positive changes in the infrastructure of the Institute, housed in the Czech Pontifical College Nepomucenum, which took place during the reconstruction of this Neo-Renaissance building, and the problems brought about by the closure of research institutions in Italy during the Covid-19 pandemic. The article presents an analysis and evaluation of the basic spheres of research activity of the Institute and its fellows: lectures, conferences and presentations, publication of the Institute‘s periodical (Bollettino dell’Istituto Storico Ceco di Roma), book series (Biblioteca dell’Istituto Storico Ceco di Roma, Acta Romana Bohemica) and critical editions of archival sources and catalogues of manuscripts (also a newly established series Codices manuscripti Bohemici bibliothecarum Vaticanarum et Italicarum). It provides detailed commentary on monographs and selected studies on ecclesiastical, political, economic and cultural history with topics ranging from the late Middle Ages to the 20th century. It highlights the most important results of the Institute‘s work in the past eight years: (1) the Institute has intensified and accelerated the publication of a major international edition of early modern sources Epistulae et acta nuntiorum apostolicorum apud imperatorem; (2) a team of eight Institute‘s fellows has produced a synthesis of the history of relations between the papal curia and the Czech lands from the early Middle Ages to the threshold of the 21st century (The Papacy and the Czech Lands. A History of Mutual Relations, 2016); (3) some scholars have successfully mastered big topics of general history, especially history of the 16th and 17th centuries.
In 2020, the 400th anniversary of the Battle of White Mountain (a defeat of the Protestant Bohemian estates by the armies of Emperor Ferdinand II and the Catholic League, 8 November 1620) intersected with the erection of the renewed Marian Column on Old Town Square in Prague (the original Baroque column was demolished after the fall of the Habsburg monarchy on 3 November 1918). These two events were marked by a significant resonance in the media. The article evaluates how the Catholic, Protestant and Hussite Churches or the journalism not tied to the ecclesiastical structures reacted to these controversial events. It demonstrates the impact of the struggles between Catholics and Protestants in the 17th century on contemporary religious controversies and on ecumenical endeavours, media propaganda and historical consciousness in the 21st century.
The article provides an analysis of the international congresses of historical sciences held between 1990 and 2022 in terms of the definition of major themes, specialized themes, round tables, joint sessions and evening sessions. It traces the development with regard to the changes in the geopolitical situation, the preferences of the organizing country, development of methodology in the field, and the differences between the countries of Euro- American civilization on the one hand and the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America on the other. It raises the question of the possibilities of smaller and medium-sized European countries in applying themselves as organizers of the international congress of historical sciences; in this context, it compares Poland, Norway and the Czech Republic. The author evaluates the organisation of a congress of this type as both an opportunity and a great test for historiographies that are breaking free from the grip of a narrower national framework and are striving for inclusion in the coordinates of world historiography.
Josef Petráň (1930-2017) is justly ranked among the most pivotal Czech historians of the 20th century and the 21th century’s early years. As Professor of Czech History at the Faculty of Arts at Charles University he educated three generations of students and principally impacted upon the develompment of historiography in the Czech Lands. His extensive publishing activity, spanning from 1951 until 2018 (books published posthumously by his wife and fellow researcher Lydia Petráňová), is marked by an all-encompassing breadth of themes, methodological thoroughness and a continuing focus on the key themes of Czech and Central European history of the Late Middle Ages up to present times. The work of Josef Petráň progressed under the difficult conditions of the Communist regime (he himself was persecuted repeatedly), yet it nevertheless became an expression of free thinking and effort to present the truthful interpretation of history against regime propaganda; however, some of his seminal works could only be published after 1989. This article presents a brief outline of the life and work of Josef Petráň (Part I); it then focuses on the evaluation of his works from the field of the economic and social history of the Early Modern Age (Part II) and finally on works from the history of culture and education, in particular Charles University (Part III).
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