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Aufstiegschancen und Handlungsräume in ostmitteleuropäischen Zentren um 1500. Das Beispiel der Unternehmerfamilie Thurzo
Journal
Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung
Type
journal article
Date Issued
1998-11-12
Author(s)
Abstract (De)
Around 1500 the Central European region offered a wide range of individual mobility and the possibility of intercultural exchange in its cities - notably not only for the nobility. The Thurz family reached its peak at the same time when the Jagellonian dynasty was on the thrones of Poland and Lithuania, Bohemia and Hungary with Cracow (Krakw) being one of the most important centres of this `golden age`. Having originated from the Spis region it was in this very city where the rise of the Thurz family began, thereby in turn moulding the development of this city into a centre of science, the letters and the arts. The Thurzs` commitment to early capitalist economy, to politics, the church, the arts and the letters turned this family into one of the most powerful in East Central Europe. Their role can well be compared to the influence of the Medici in Italy and France and of the Fugger family in the southern regions of Germany. The outstanding individuals of the Thurz family, like Johann Thurz (1437-1508) and his two sons Johann (1466-1520), bishop of Breslau/Wroclaw, and Stanislaus (1471-1540), bishop of Olmtz/Olomouc, simultaneously were merchants, politicians and patrons of the arts. They can therefore be described as one of the moving forces behind the transmission of the Renaissance in East Central Europe. For a rather short period the family was able to concentrate all the period`s capacity and features in its metropolitan cities. However, the lasting element in the history of the Thurz family is obviously the sphere which can best be described by the term `intercultural communication`: the introduction and transmission of new concepts in the arts, the exchange of and between scientists, and the establishing of contacts between different social groups. It is also in this sphere where both the uniqueness of Eastern Central European metropolitan cities and the outstanding influence of the Thurz family are to be traced
Language
German
HSG Classification
not classified
Refereed
No
Publisher
Herder-Institut Marburg
Volume
47
Number
3
Start page
317
End page
346
Pages
30
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
57532
File(s)