Abstract

The archive of Matouš Konečný, discovered in August 2006 during construction work done in Mladá Boleslav, is one of the most significant discoveries in modern history of source materials relating to the history of the Bohemian Reformation. At its core is a set of 523 letters addressed in large part to Matouš Konečný, the last pre-White-Mountain bishop of the Unity of the Brethren in Mladá Boleslav. Among those who sent the letters - each, as a rule, with its own seal - were the senior of Prague’s Utraquist consistory, the bishops of the Unity of the Brethren in Moravia and Poland, regular priests of the Brethren, students, teachers and members of the Brethren from among the burghers and both aristocratic estates. Whereas the dominant theme in the correspondence is the administration of church affairs, in the case of the letters from students and teachers, it is the progress of the studies of the future clergymen of the Brethren sent to academies abroad. Another, substantial portion of the materials discovered comprises lists of members of Bohemian Brethren groups and inventories of their possessions. To a considerable extent, they expand the range of sources dealing with the material furnishings of the buildings serving towards devotional ends or towards the accommodation of Brethren priests and other associated individuals. Among the most important items discovered is an agenda, kept for several years, providing an overview of church services held within the district of the Mlada Boleslav group; two library catalogues belonging to the Brethren priests B. Jafet and Š. Věrník; information regarding the distribution of titles published by the Unity of the Brethren in the early 17th century; a record of the convocation of Lutheran clergymen at Holešov which documents the organizational structure of Moravian Lutheran groups; and other documents relating to the administration of the properties of the Unity of the Brethren in the Mladá Boleslav district. The documents published in the adjoining publication illustrate the character of each individual portion of the abovementioned archive. The material in the archive considerably extends the scope of our knowledge concerning the complicated religious state of affairs in Bohemia and Moravia during the period between the issuing of Rudolf’s Letter of Majesty and the start of the Estates Revolt.