HOUSE OWNERS – TENANTS – LODGERS: THE TOPOGRAPHY OF TENEMENT HOUSES IN MEDIEVAL PRAGUE

The phenomenon of tenement housing in medieval Prague is as yet understudied. This study attempts to outline the character of tenement housing on the basis of extant written sources from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries using an interdisciplinary perspective and the prism of four select themes: 1. contracts of lease; 2. the town house and its layout from the viewpoint of history and construction history; 3. Analysis of Old Town tenement books for 1427 and 1429; 4. the social structure of inhabitants of an average Prague house using the example of three persons: the owner, the tenant-conventor, and the lodger-inquilinus. It appears that the Prague agglomeration being the centre of the Czech lands and the residence of the ruling Luxembourg dynasty, it was an exclusive urban centre in which only the members of the urban upper and upper-middle classes could afford to own a house. Small craftsmen and tradesmen had to rent their living space and workspace. The metropolis experienced a construction boom throughout the fourteenth century. Building lots were much more densely covered and dozens of new houses appeared built for the purpose of tenement housing (as opposed to being the residence of the owner). It is clear that this development had a significant impact on the architecture and urban structure of the medieval city.