Praha 15. století

The history of Prague in the 15th century is a history of conflicts, and these conflicts influenced the life of a majority of the inhabitants of Prague's Old Town and New Town in a fundamental way. The causes of the communal clashes were rooted in legal, political, social, religious and economic problems.
One of the main reasons for the competition between the municipalities Prague's Old Town and New Town sprung from the attempt of the New Town inhabitants to equal their Old Town counterparts in practically everything. Political and power reasons were behind the competition over the privileged standing of the Old Town town hall on the political map of the Kingdom of Bohemia. Social prestige was concerned in the clash between the kingdom's ruler and the elites over the city's authority. The relationship between the burghers and the ordinary inhabitants of the town, whose economic and political rights were restricted, also had a substantially conflictual character, for instance the conflict between craftsmen and merchants which concerned the ancient rights of the burghers who did not intend to give up the possibility of brewing their own beer and trading with it. The Hussite revolution introduced into the Prague environment a religious conflict, which replaced the pre-revolutionary national conflicts.
Prague society in the 15th century was definitely not harmonious and the tension between its inhabitants was as palpable as it is in 21st century Prague. The aim of this book is therefore also to show that the character of communal disputes is not very different in comparison between the Middle Ages and our present day, since this character springs from the very essence of urban existence.