K postavení levobočků v raně novověké společnosti (s důrazem na prostředí sociálních elit)

Genealogical illegitimacy represents a highly topical issue whose historical roots have not yet been comprehensively mapped in Czech historiography. This presented study pays attention to the relevant Early Modern Age legal norms and mechanisms of ameliorating the position of illegitimate children. From the point of approach to bastards the Bohemian Lands represented an integral part of Central Europe for which a less benevolent attitude was typical. The perspectives of a further research of illegitimacy focused on the milieu of the social elites in the Bohemian Lands are indicated through the intermediary of two specimen cases which are based on archival sources from the 16th and 17th centuries. In the cases of a Southern Bohemian knight Jindřich Pouzar of Michnice resident at Žumberk († 1600) and a military figure Don Balthasar de Marradas y Vique († 1638) of Spanish origins, the author follows the sophisticated strategies of nobles who strove to secure the material standing and a dignified social position for their illegitimate offspring.