The music of the Bohemian literary brotherhoods as preserved in Prague, Narodni Knihovna manuscript PragU XVII B 19.

Abstract

First copied during the second half of the sixteenth century (and later renewed in 1650), for use by the literary brotherhood of the church of St. Havla in Old Town Prague, the manuscript PragU XVII B 19 belongs to an era of a culture of which many Western musicological scholars have little awareness. The manuscript forms the main subject of this thesis including its physical construction, provenance and musical contents, particularly the polyphonic Czech Credos. In addition this source is placed in the immediate social, cultural and theological context with special emphasis on its place within the larger context of the city of Prague, the kingdom of Bohemia, the monarchical structure of the Habsburg family and the greater conglomerate of the Holy Roman Empire.