RUTHENIAN CULTURAL, RELIGIOUS AND TRADE-ECONOMIC INFLUENCES IN THE DOMINIONS OF THE PŘEMYSLID DYNASTY IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 12th–13th CENTURIES

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of spreading of the Ruthenian cultural and religious influences in the historical Moravian and Bohemian territories in the system of dominions of the Přemyslid dynasty in the second half of the 12^th–13^th centuries. The author traces the influence of the spiritual and religious culture of Rus’ on the matrimonial policy of the Bohemian and, especially, Moravian representatives of the ruling dynasty, who, through their kinship with the Rurikids, adopted the princely Rus’ nomenclature, which was unusual for the local elites, as one of the new elements of court culture. On the other hand, the closest Ruthenian entourage of brides from the Rurikids, married to Moravian and Bohemian Catholic nobles, most obviously formed favorable local environments for the preservation of the elements of Eastern Christian culture or even limited liturgical practice in the predominantly Latin Moravian-Bohemian sacred space of the Přemyslid state during the 12^th–13^th  centuries. Particular attention is paid to the import from the territory of Rus’ of the reliquary crosses, encolpions and other isolated objects of luxury and Christian cult of the Rus’ (or related Eastern Christian) type and origin of the 11^th–13^th centuries, discovered within the boundaries of modern Olomouc, Prague, Václavice, Dřevíče, Roudnice and other Czech cities. In the field of monumental painting, the analogies between the style, color, and artistry of the interior decoration of certain Moravian churches, in particular the Rotunda of St. Cathe­rine of the 12th century in Znojmo and some wall paintings-frescoes of the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Kyiv of the 11^th–12^th centuries have been drawn in the article. Based on the analysis of two reports from the Latin-language Zbraslav Chronicle of the early 14^th century, the author concludes that the clergy from Rus’ practiced the Slavic liturgy only to a limited extent in the royal chapels of Wenceslas II and Wenceslas III during the 1290s and 1300s. It is assumed that the appearance of clerics and monks of the Eastern Christian church tradition in the possessions of the last Přemyslids could also have met the spiritual needs of the Ruthenian settlers in the Bohemian Kingdom and could have been a consequence of the Rus’-Bohemian military-political rapprochement after the end of the War for the Babensberg heritage (1246–1278).