doc. Mgr. Jiří Kubeš, PhD.

Doc. Mgr. Jiří Kubeš, Ph.D., is one of the key experts of the Institute of Historical Sciences of the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy of the University of Pardubice, where he has been working since 2001, currently as Dean of the Faculty. He received his Ph.D. title at the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice in 2006, and was appointed Associate Professor at the University of Pardubice in 2011. He focuses on the history of the early modern period, in particular the history of the Habsburg courts, the Central European nobility and its lifestyle in the 16th – 18th centuries. He is particularly interested in the history of travel of the early modern elite. He analysed the imperial election and coronation travels of Emperors Leopold I (1657-1658) or Charles VI (1711), carried out a systematic research of the Grand Tours of the Bohemian, Moravian and Austrian nobility (1620-1750) and published a travel diary of a Silesian nobleman who travelled to the Netherlands at the beginning of the 18th century.

Fields of interest:

• History of the courts of the Austrian Habsburgs in the early modern period
• History of the nobility in the early modern period
• Election and coronation of emperors in the Holy Roman Empire
• History of diplomacy in the early modern period
• History of travel in the early modern period
• Aristocratic residences in the Lands of the Bohemian Crown

Scientific activities

In two decades, doc. Kubeš has published five monographs and nearly fifty national and international studies. In recent years, he has successfully completed two projects of the GA CR. He led a ten-member team of researchers dealing with the role of the nobility in the diplomacy of the early modern Austrian Habsburgs and establish a partnership with the Premodern Diplomats Network, within which he organized an international conference Splendid encounters 5: Diplomats and Diplomacy in the Early Modern World: Diplomatic Personnel in Prague (September 29 – October 1, 2016). This conference resulted in a specialized issue of the Theatrum historiae journal devoted to imperial diplomacy in the early modern period (in English: http://uhv.upce.cz/data/File/theatrumhistoriae/th19_2016.pdf). During his work on this topic, a team was formed at the Institute of Historical Sciences under his leadership, whose members are Czech experts in the history of the early modern period (doc. Mgr. Pavel Marek, Ph.D., PhDr. Vítězslav Prchal, Ph.D., and several doctoral students).

Grant projects (selection):

• 2013-2017: GA 13-12939S: Bohemian and Moravian Nobility in the Diplomatic Service of the Austrian Habsburgs (1640-1740) – research team leader.
• 2008-2010: GA 404/08/P074: Grand Tours of Czech Nobility (1550-1750).

Selected Publications:

• Kubeš Jiří: Trnitá cesta Leopolda I. za římskou korunou (1657–1658). Volby a korunovace ve Svaté říši římské v raném novověku. České Budějovice, 2009.
• Kubeš Jiří a kol.: V zastoupení císaře. Česká a moravská aristokracie v habsburské diplomacii 1640-1740. Prague: Lidové noviny, 2018.
• Kubeš Jiří: Náročné dospívání urozených. Kavalírské cesty české a rakouské šlechty (1620-1750). Pelhřimov, 2013.
• Kubeš Jiří (ed.): Kryštof Václav z Nostic, Deník z cesty do Nizozemí v roce 1705. Prague 2004.
• Kubeš Jiří: The transformation of the Grand Tour of Czech and Austrian Nobility in the First Half of the 18th Century: A New Recipe for Staying Powerful, Res Gestae. Czasopismo historyczne Vol. 6, 2018, pp. 186-196.