Salt More Than Gold? The Legal and Economic Status of the Town Prachatice in the Late Middle Ages

This master thesis inquires into selected chapters from the late medieval history of the town Prachatice. The first part of the thesis deals with the unclear legal status of the town and with the issue of its promotion to the royal town and its subsequent pawnings in the 15th century. It is a question that has not been sufficiently reflected in literature yet and there is also no agreement whether Prachatice was a royal pawned town or a liege town. The second part discusses the issue of the economic status of the town Prachtice in the context of the Southern Bohemian salt business wherein Prachatice played a crucial role. This part of the thesis is based on a thorough analysis of the staple right of the town Prachatice and the right which covered the compulsory direction of the routes. Further, it deals with the competition of the town Prachatice in the import of salt to Bohemia and with the outline of the directions of the routes that were starting in Prachatice. These routes were the matters of disputes with other involved towns. This thesis is delimited by the period of the Late Middle Ages until the beginning or the first quarter of the 16th century. The attention is paid especially to the unsettled 15th century which brought a lot of turns of events into the history of the town. Key words:..