“Dragging the World to its End”

Reflection of Monstrous Births in Early Modern Linguistically Czech Encyclopaedic and Homiletic Sources and in Folk Imagination

Abstract

This study presents Early Modern theological and intellectual debates on monstrosity, in particular in the sphere of the Holy Roman Empire. The study explores transformations and developments of these debates throughout the 16th–18th centuries, maps the sources of their inspiration, as well as their reception within the Czech environment. Based on the analysis of educational texts written and published in Czech language and of Czech-written homiletic literature and folk songs, the author assesses the extent to which monstrous births constituted a subject of wider attention and discussions in the Czech lands. Lastly, the text accentuates similarities and differences in reflection upon this issue from the environment of the Roman Empire