Petr Jokeš

BRANCH CHURCHES AND THEIR PLACE IN THE PARISH SYSTEM IN MEDIEVAL MORAVIA
The text introduces the issue of branch churches in the context of parish system and functioning in medieval Moravia. The Czech literature has often depicted the medieval parish system on Czech territories as a structure divided into two clearly defi ned and explicitly varying groups: parish churches and branch churches. Yet different sources contain a more complex picture of branch churches as being a deeply diverse group in which there are both churches of marginal signifi cance and temples not considerably differing from parish churches in terms of their status and function. The author presents several instances illustrating the position of branch churches in the parish system in medieval Moravia as well as reasons for changes in the status of churches and ways in which these changes were introduced.

The study analyzes the dedications of the parish, filial and monastery churches as well as of the  solitary public chapels in the southern part of medieval Moravia. The text focuses mainly on the following problems: frequency of dedications, foreign influence in the choice of dedications, specific features of the dedications of city parish churches and changes of dedications. There were 499 dedications found, the number of appearing patron saints was 51. The most frequent patron saints were Virgin Mary (12.8%), John the Baptist (7.6%), Peter/Peter and Paul (7.2%), Wenceslaus (6.8%) and James the Great (6.4%). The most important indigenous patron saint was Wenceslaus, while foreign influence was related mainly to patron saints from France (e.g. Giles, Leonard) and German lands (e.g. Cunigunde, Gotthard, Ulrich). Patron saints coming from other European countries were rather uncommon (e.g. Francis of Assisi, Gall, Stanislaus).