Transitional Type Castles in Bohemia

doc. dr. T. Durdík, DrSc (A9002903) 1999-2004

This project, the main output of which will be an eponymous book, consists of treatment and evaluation of a hitherto unrecognized castle type belonging to the earliest horizon of Bohemian royal castles, as well as of its integration into a wider European context. The type could be identified only after twenty-five years of archaeological excavation and of application of a complex method cluster of castellological studies. Transitional-type castles, being a phenomenon of crucial importance, represent a synthesis of components belonging both to the hitherto underestimated preceding autochthonous developments and to the world of fully-fledged medieval castles and are a major manifestation of qualitative social change in the 13th century. Their comprehensive treatment and comparisons with analogical transitional phenomena of the European stage in terms of feudal residences will produce a major impact on a number of specialized historical disciplines, cultural heritage management and cultivation of the national cultural awareness.