197 Aleš Mudra THE P ARISH CHURCH AS A STAGE OF EUCHARISTIC DEVOTION AND F EAST LITURGICAL P RACTICES: THE CASES OF ZNOJMO AND KRANJ It is a generally well-known fact, frequently repeated in the historical literature, that in the centuries immediately following the acceptance of the dogma of transubstantiation (1215) and the introduction and spread of the Corpus Christi feast (1264–1317–1346), 1 there was a steady increase in eucharistic devotion in various forms, which permeated all spheres of mediaeval society. In the ield of visual arts, this phenomenon is connected not only with the creation of new functional and iconographic types, such as the sacrament house, eucharistic monstrance, the igural Easter sepulchre, the Pietà, Man of Sor- rows and others, but also with a number of particular buildings and their decoration and furnishings. However, this connection is not always apparent at irst sight. Josef Neuwirth, in his book Geschichte der bildenden Kunst in Böhmen..., was one of the irst to ascribe considerable signiicance to eucharistic devotion among “Kunstfördernde Ideen und Zustände”. 2 In Bohemia, it grew visibly over the course of the 14 th century, culminating around the year 1400. It is now over a hundred years since Neuwirth published his pioneering work, but the direction of research into mediaeval art that he indicated still remains unfortunately outside the art historical centre of interest. he signiicance of this phenomenon is borne out by a mere glance at the statistics relating to newly-founded Corpus Christi altars within the Prague archdiocese. 3 While in the 1360s ive of them were founded, and in the 1370s only two, in the years that followed the number of altar foundations gradually grew until a peak was reached in the irst decade of the 15 th century, when 17 Corpus Christi 1 Peter BROWE, Die Verehrung der Eucharistie im Mittelalter, München 1933, pp. 70-88. Miri RUBIN, Corpus Christi. he Eucharist in late medieval culture, Cambridge 2004 8 (irst published 1991), pp. 164-185. 2 Joseph NEUWIRTH, Geschichte der bildenden Kunst in Böhmen vom Tode Wenzels III. bis zu den Husitenkriegen. I. Band, Allgemeine Verhältnisse, Baubetrieb und Baudenkmale, Prag 1893, p. 147. 3 he following statistics are based mainly on the Prague erection and conirmation books – Libri erectionum archidioecesis pragensis saeculo XIV. et XV. Liber I–VII, Pragae 1875–2002; Libri conirmationum ad beneicia ecclesiastica pragensem per archidiocesim. Liber I–X, Pragae 1867–1889.