Gift-giving as Symbolic Communication in the Noble Society of Bohemia and Moravia at the Beginning of the Early Modern Age

This diploma thesis concerns itself with gifts in the noble society of fifteenth century Bohemia and Moravia. With the use of epistolary sources, the thesis tries to describe the nobles sending or receiving gifts, the items making up the gifts and the purpose of this social act. The number of uncovered letters allowed for quantitative approach; however, the sources are also analysed semantically. The thesis considers gift giving a mode of communication, used to convey information. Gift giving is theoretically approached on the basis of the works of Marcel Mauss, Pierre Bourdieu and others.