Unauthorised printing is forbidden : a contribution on the authorship of texts appearing in 19th-century pilgrimage chapbooks dedicated to the Virgin Mary of Svatá Hora

Abstract

Within the wide range of printed books focusing on religious themes, an important role was played by pilgrimage chapbooks. Their primary task was to increase the prestige and popularity of pilgrimage sites and strengthen the promotion of pilgrimage cults among believers. Pilgrimage chapbooks, as a period medium, played an important role, since they mainly addressed the lower strata of the population. In the presented study we will try to analyse the results of research concerning questions of motivation and the social origin of their creators, and the way in which texts of pilgrimage chapbooks were created in the 19th century. Our attention will therefore be focused on issues that have so far stood outside the professional interest of experts. The basis of this analysis are the pilgrimage chapbooks dedicated to Panna Marie Svatohorská, i.e. the Virgin Mary of Svatá Hora (in English: "Holy Mountain"), one of the most revered pilgrimage cults in the Czech lands.