“The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” : The Impossible Term “Propaganda” and Its Popular and Anti-royal Uses in Luxembourg Bohemia (ca. 1390–1421)
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2024 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Hungarian Historical Review |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| web | https://hunghist.org/83-articles/919-2024-2-hubner |
| Doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.38145/2024.2.235 |
| Keywords | Medieval propaganda; Pre-Hussite Bohemia; Luxemburg dynasty; Wenceslas IV; Sigismund of Luxemburg |
| Attached files | |
| Description | The article follows two paths: First, it deals with the genealogy of the concept of propaganda and its difficult terminology. On the one hand it is closely determined by modern prerequisites, on the other hand it has characteristics that make it a timeless phenomenon of political communication. Because of this strong determination by modernity its application to pre-modern examples works only, if the communicative process is emphasised: its historical and social background, the strategies of the propagandist, his sense for the best persuasive contents of a certain target public etc. Secondly, the focus is on the parallel manifestations of propaganda on Bohemian society in the decades before the Hussite Wars (1390-1420). Two of its functions can be identified here: the use of propaganda to deepen and spread the Hussite reformist thinking among the general population and to subject the respective Luxembourg kings – Wenceslas IV and Sigismund of Luxemburg – to harsh criticism. Even though, there were few points of contact between the two forms, since they addressed other sociotopes, they demonstrate how far-reaching the impact of political propaganda could be in the 15th century. |
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