Themes of death and birth in the legends of Czech medieval literature

This diploma thesis is focused on themes of death and birth in major Czech literary legends from the Middle Ages. The symbolism of death and birth is presented through selected hagiographic texts dealing Czech saints, specifically Saint Václav, Saint Vojtěch, Saint Prokop, Saint Konstantin, Saint Cyril, Saint Ludmila, Saint Anežka, Blessed Zdislava a Saint Vintíř. The first part is devoted to theoretical definition of hagiography and its historical development. Before that the previous chapter is discussing the motives of death in all areas of the arts. The main part of this work consists of the interpretation of individual legends that origin in the Middle Ages. It is focused mostly on themes of death and birth and the way they are interpreted. The final chapter of this thesis connects all previously mentioned motives from each legend in order to highlight their gradual development