Anne's Bohemia is the first book in English to introduce the little-known riches of medieval Bohemian culture. Alfred Thomas considers the development of Czech literature and society from the coronation of Count John of Luxembourg as king of Bohemia in 1310 to the year 1420, when the papacy declared a Catholic crusade against the Hussite reformers.

This period is of particular relevance to the study of medieval England because of Richard II's marriage to Anne of Bohemia, the figure around whom this book is conceived.

Anne's Bohemia offers a social context for the most important works of literature written in the Czech language, from the earliest spiritual songs and prayers to the principal Hussite and anti-Hussite tracts of the fifteenth century.

The picture that emerges from Thomas's close readings of these texts is one of a society undergoing momentous political and religious upheavals in which kings, queens, clergy, and heretics all played crucial roles.

Expert but accessibly written, the book offers an engaging overview of medieval Bohemian culture for specialist and nonspecialist alike.

Sections of the book include:

Introduction: Anne's Bohemia: Toward a Comparative Study of Medieval Czech Literature

Prologue: Literature in Old Church Slavonic, Latin, and Czech before 1310

A Literature of Their Own: Women Readers and Writers in Medieval Bohemia

The War of the Bohemian Maidens: Gender, Ethnicity, and Language in The Dalimil Chronicle

Alien Bodies: Exclusion, Obscenity, and Social Control in The Ointment Seller

A Bohemian Imitatio Christi: The Legend of Saint Procopius

The Radiant Rose: Female Sanctity and Dominican Piety in the Czech Life of Saint Catherine

Bohemian Knights: Reflections of Social Reality in the Czech Epic and Verse Romances

From Courtier to Rebel: Ideological Ambivalence in Smil Flaska's The New Council

Writing and the Female Body: The Weaver, The Wycliffite Woman, and the Dispute between Prague and Kutna Hora

Epilogue: Continuity and Change in Fifteenth-Century Czech Literature

Anne of Bohemia was published by the University of Minnesota Press, April 1998. It is hard cover with 232 pages.

Order Anne's Bohemia - Czech Literature and Society, 1310-1420.