Moc rituálů

Ritual forms of communication in the Middle Ages significantly shaped the public actions of the powerful. For a long time, this mode of communication was considered a rigid ceremony or an empty ritual, and therefore remained a marginal concern. Gerd Althoff has written a history of this form of communication based on concrete examples (e.g. the rituals surrounding the fall of Duke Tassil of Bavaria or the self-humiliation of Emperor Henry IV) and links it to transformations in the exercise of power in the Middle Ages. By choosing a perspective of the conscious construction of rituals and their desired effect, he offers a convincing explanation of their function. Through public rituals, a society based on a hierarchy of dignity obtained all the information necessary for the proper exercise of power. Rituals carried information about rights and duties, as well as about the actual mutual relationship between their protagonists, and mediated the existing social order. This innovative approach is indispensable for a modern understanding of the Middle Ages.