Investigator: Mgr. Tomáš Havelka, Ph.D.

Provider: Czech Science Foundation

Duration: 2025-2027

The project focuses on manuscript practices and the circulation of manuscripts within Czech and Moravian non-Catholic exile communities between 1621 and 1639, specifically in Poland, Germany, Silesia, and Hungary. During this period of dispersion, manuscripts gained importance as a key element in sustaining the exile diaspora. The research will concentrate on two main aspects: an analysis of thematic dominants and intellectual topoi in the writings of the exiles, and an examination of the agenda behind manuscript copying, which formed part of efforts to preserve the identity of these scattered communities. The project’s findings will be published in a scholarly monograph and in studies featured in publicly accessible international journals.

The aim of the project is to explore marginally studied manuscript texts, particularly copies made by Czech and Moravian exiles between 1621 and 1639 and currently preserved in archives in Poland, Germany, and Slovakia; and to analyze the culture of manuscript copying and its role in the cultural life of post-White Mountain exile communities.