http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11956/96235 Issue 1 Sun, 19 Apr 2026 21:39:05 GMT 2026-04-19T21:39:05Z http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11956/97260 Святой благоверный князь Александр и папская курия; SAINT RIGHT-BELIEVING PRINCE ALEXANDER AND THE PAPAL CURIA ; ; This article focuses on attempts of the Papal Curia to establish contacts with the Prince of Novgorodand subsequently the Grand Prince of Vladimir Alexander Nevsky, as Eastern Europe suffered devastatinginvasion of Mongols and the impending establishment of their domination. At the Councilof Lyon in 1245 the papacy presented the idea of assisting Russian princes against the Mongolianconquerors. However, this plan was tied to a rather fantastical project of a Catholic mission to OrthodoxRussians which would have enabled mending of the East-West Schism. In addition, the Russianprincipalities were to fulfil the role of a defensive barrier intended to prevent another Mongolianinvasion to the West. While Daniil Romanovich, the Prince of Galicia-Volhynia, accepted Pope’soffer, temporarily converted to Catholicism and was subsequently crowned a king, Alexander denieda similar offer of pope Innocent IV to become a Catholic. The author’s aim is to adjust the traditionalimage of Alexander Nevsky as a rigorous defender of Orthodoxy and intransigent enemy ofboth the Catholicism and a church union. Alexander was a rationally thinking and pragmatic politicianand did not decline dealing with Catholics solely for their different religious beliefs. Naturally,the Grand Prince was a proponent of Orthodoxy, cooperated extensively with the Russian OrthodoxChurch and the idea of a church union was inadmissible to him. The reasons for Alexander’sbehaviour did not stem merely from confessional differences but rather had their own political dimensions.The alliance with the Papal Curia was simply of no value to Alexander. Firstly, the assistanceoffered by the Pope never materialized — as Daniil had to painfully experience. Secondly, theGrand Prince could not have foreseen what kind of relation between the emerging Horde and Russianprincipalities would have developed, and therefore decided to pursue the policy of non-resistancetowards the Mongols. Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11956/97260 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11956/97259 “The whole lot, Czechs, Magyars, Poles, Jugos, Roumanians, should be put in a bag and shaken up and then handed over to a decent Briton to administer.” A Contribution on the British Perception of Czech-German Relations in Czechoslovakia to 1933; ; ; The study uses unpublished sources from the National Archives in London and scientific literature toanalyse the British Legation in Prague’s perception of Czech-German relations in Czechoslovakia upto 1933. After some initial fumbling caused by a lack of knowledge of the Central European region followingthe collapse of Austria-Hungary, responsible officials in London decided to wait for the outcomeof the peace conference in Paris. At the same time, British diplomats acknowledged that theywould have to rely on co-operation with France in the region, and as a result indirectly supportedFrench claims and demands; once the peace conference had ended, however, Great Britain focusedon its own issues and the affairs of its empire. At the start of the 1920s, the British diplomatic missionin Prague also settled in its position and the first Minister, George Clerk, provided unbiased informationon Czech-German coexistence within Czechoslovakia, and partially acknowledged that bothsides were right (he understood some of the Germans’ objections), but on the other hand he clearlyrecognised the new state and perceived its minorities policy as very accommodating, and respecting international obligations. Following the calm period of the 1920s when even the British Legationin Prague remarked on the qualitative shift in relations between both ethnicities, the beginning ofthe 1930s arrived alongside the economic crisis, which transformed the domestic political situationwithin the First Czechoslovak Republic. According to British Minister, Joseph Addison, the positionof the largest minority in the country had deteriorated, something he thought was due to the factthat Czechoslovak officials were breaching the Minority Treaty and were not doing enough for thewellbeing of its German population, and that this did not bode well for the future. Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11956/97259 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11956/97258 British Diplomatic Views on Nepal and the Final Stage of the Ch’ing Empire (1910–1911); ; ; This paper shows and analyses the issue of the relations between Nepal and the Ch’ing Empire fromthe British point of view during the last months of the Manchu authority in China. Nepal, a bufferstate between India and Tibet, represented for the British an important and decisive ally in SouthAsia. The first part of the work will be dedicated to an analysis of the political and geopolitical statusof Nepal compared to Britain and China of the Ch’ing Dynasty. The second part, which further developsthe first, enters into the specifics of a tribute that the Himalayan country should have offeredthe Emperor P’u-i. The Hsin-hai Revolution of 1911 put an end to imperial power in China and wouldlead to the establishment of the republic and would resolve issues and misunderstandings betweenthe countries. The paper pays particular attention to the correspondence between the then NepalesePrime Minister, Chandra Shum Shere, and the British Resident in Nepal, John Manners Smith.The research takes as a benchmark the wider scenario of the period immediately following the endof the Great Game and the decline of the Manchu power. The guideline and key to interpretation ofthe documents reflects the perspective of the geopolitical and strategic interests of the British Empirein Asia. Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11956/97258 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11956/97253 Western Frankish Chroniclers’ Accountsabout the Bohemian and Central European History in the 10th and First Half of the 11th Century; ; ; The study summarizes the information about Bohemia (and East Central Europe in general) that isgiven by the Western Frankish chronicles of the 10th and first half of the 11th centuries. These contributionswere mostly omitted or refused by general majority of the Czech historiography. Recentchanges of attitude to the relevance of these sources could bring a new view on these sources. Theinformation about Bohemia contained in these sources could also help us to expose a possible relationsand stereotypes about our region in Western Europe in the 10th and 11th century. Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11956/97253 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z