The Ecclesiastical Justice System in the Kingdom of Bohemia in the Middle Ages

Abstract

The study concentrates on the ecclesiastical courts that operated within the Prague ecclesiastical province. The episcopal judiciary in the Czech lands comprised the officialis, the vicar general, the corrector cleri, and the bishop's inquisitor. The officialis appears for the first time in the Diocese of Olomouc under Bishop Bruno of Schaumburg (1245–1281). The judicial office of the corrector cleri was a unique office that emerged only in Prague. The papal courts in the territory of the ecclesiastical province comprised the papal inquisitors and the conservators of rights. During the Hussite and post-Hussite era, the archbishopric of Prague was left unoccupied, and the judicial agenda was conducted to a limited extent by the administrators of the archbishopric. One of the criticisms made by pre-Hussite reform theorists was levelled at the negative features of the judiciary, particularly the corruption of judges and the absence of impartiality.

Keywords

• Ecclesiastical Justice
• Episcopal Judiciary
• Papal Judiciary
• Kingdom of Bohemia
• Middle Ages