"Thomas's examination of late medieval and early modern England and Bohemia sheds light not only on the countries' cultural and political ties, but also on the modern conception of "Bohemian," which today exists wholly independently of geographic boundaries and temporal constraints. . . . It is an authoritative and thorough history of England and Bohemia in the Middle Ages. Combining historical, literary, and social analysis, Thomas has produced a work that will be of interest and use to a diverse audience."—Eric Christensen, Slavic and East European Journal

"A remarkable historical conjuncture brought together England and Bohemia in the late Middle Ages. King Richard II's wife was an imperial-royal princess who brought with her the court culture of central Europe. Then, en revanche, the fiercely antiestablishment John Wyclif inspired Bohemia's Hussites, Europe's most radical movement of the period and the advance guard of the Reformation. In this sensitive, subtle, and richly textured book, Alfred Thomas resurrects that long-neglected series of mutual affinities and follows them through the next two centuries. He argues that Shakespeare's famous use of Bohemian motifs reflects a final era of rapport and contact between the two countries, before Counter-Reformation and the Thirty Years War swept them away into near oblivion."—Robert Evans, Regius Professor of History, University of Oxford

"A Blessed Shore offers a great deal to a great many. With a light touch Alfred Thomas reveals a history of affinities and fascinations that linked Europe's Bohemian East to its English West. He explores art and ceremony, poetry and liturgy, and a whole range of worldly goods from the most luxurious to the most mundane. A Blessed Shore unveils a telling dialectic: England as a familiar land of commerce, pilgrimage, and war, and Bohemia as a place of youth, myth, and enchantment."—Miri Rubin, Queen Mary, University of London