The measures taken against Hussitism across fifteenth-century Europe increasingly attract the attention of historians. The last two years witnessed the publication of three monographs dealing with the theological polemic against Hussite teachings and a book on the exile of Catholic clergy from Hussite Bohemia. Alexandra Kaar has enriched this thriving yet still developing research area with a monographic treatment of the embargo on trade with the Hussite heretics. As its title (Economy, War, and Salvation) suggests, the book moves on the borders of economic, military, and religious history. It explores the period of the Hussite wars from 1420 till 1436 and looks closely at the normative framework and practical implementation of the ban on commercial relations with the Hussites. The sources include papal, conciliar, and royal mandates as well as documents and letters related to litigations and accusations; the preserved correspondence from Nuremberg and, to a lesser extent, Olomouc is most valuable in this respect. The topic and the major sources have been studied before (especially the Nuremberg Briefbücher, which became the subject of several studies by Miloslav Polívka). Nevertheless, Alexandra Kaar's collection of both edited and unedited sources is unprecedented and provides an excellent starting position for her analysis and interpretation.

The author's aim is twofold: to describe the anti-Hussite embargo as an instrument in the fight against heresy, and to look at the trade ban as cultural practice with some symbolic value—an aspect neglected in previous scholarship (80). Stefan Stantchev's Spiritual Rationality: Papal Embargo as Cultural Practice (2014) provided Kaar not only with larger background and parallels from the Mediterranean but also with a good deal of methodological inspiration (21, 83). Consequently, Kaar's book is divided into three main parts: the discussion of the embargo as an instrument of war is followed by its interpretation as a “process of symbolic communication” (217), and by an attempt to synthetize the two approaches under the heading of “practice of government” (281). The second part offers some excellent examples of how the embargo was used by Catholic authorities as a means of propaganda, while the third part traces how much influence the subjects, especially municipalities, had on those who imposed the embargo (a bottom-up process). It seems to me, however, that the spheres of propaganda and governance are difficult to hold apart and that their combination under one heading would have better balanced out the extensive chapter on instrumental aspects (which, after all, is longer than the other two chapters combined). Moreover, while the symbolic dimension of the ban on contacts with heretics is well demonstrated, and the crucial role of communication in enforcing the embargo is beyond doubt, I am not sure whether the label “process of symbolic communication” is apposite (e.g., 280). The sources document lively written communication, not ritual action or any complex, symbolically encoded performance—even though the letters and charters often pursued an additional goal of outward presentation, thus encompassing a symbolic element (298, 317).

Alexandra Kaar decided to structure her book thematically rather than chronologically. She discusses the actors and geography of mercantile relationships, individual commodities in long-distance and local trade, the measures adopted for enforcing the embargo, as well as the penalties imposed for its breach. As a result, individual cases, especially those relatively well documented in the sources, are discussed repeatedly in various chapters. The book is furnished with extensive introductory, concluding, and summarizing sections, which leads to further repetition. The numerous internal references do facilitate the use of the book but not the fluency of reading. The reader soon becomes acquainted with recurrent characters of prominent delinquents, but a chronological overview of the legislative acts enforcing the embargo and perhaps also of the best-documented cases of such traffic would have been useful somewhere at the beginning of the book.

On the other hand, the advantage of the analytical structure is the resulting vivid, wide-angle portrait of the relationships between the Hussites and the Catholics under the trade embargo. As the author says early on, imposing a complete blockade was impossible under the conditions of premodern government (15). Foreign merchants maintained contacts with their Catholic counterparts in Bohemia and Moravia, who in turn were frequently and inevitably in touch with their Hussite neighbors (215). The importance of Catholic towns near the Bohemian border (Plzeň, Cheb, České Budějovice) and in Moravia increased without diminishing the role of Prague as the main hub for long-distance trade (308). Food and consumables (rather than military equipment and material) dominated the black market, for neither party could get by without imported goods (152). The means of control and enforcement of the ban were inspired by the mechanisms of medieval feud (313); black marketeers were usually punished with arrest and seizure of cargo (191). As the author revealingly observes, the periods of more intensive prosecution correspond to moments of increased fear of the Hussites and do not indicate more intensive trade (250). Imposing or overseeing the ban often served propagandistic purposes, mostly as a defense against charges of tepidity against heretics. The sources also suggest that the embargo was believed to have a preventive function in relation to sin, since contact with heretics as well as greed threatened one's salvation (222, 294).

Records from the Second Hussite War against King George of Poděbrady would enrich this picture and enhance its comparative potential (315); they, however, stay outside the scope of the present book. Focusing on the first wave of Hussite crusades, Alexandra Kaar provides a detailed and reliable account of the anti-Hussite embargo. This thorough and carefully written monograph will be a welcome source of information for anyone interested in the Hussite wars, the history of trade, and everyday life in confessionally mixed areas.