Man's relationship to the beyond and the supernatural as well as the systematisation of humanity's corresponding pursuit of it in religions and the elaboration of organised rituals for expressing these convictions and worshiping the divine are realities lost in the beginnings of human presence on earth. Indeed, the specialisation of these perceptions and rituals and the concomitant appearance and shaping of the particular order of the priesthood led to a delineation between official and folk worship, the first being studied by the discipline of theology and the second by folklore studies, specifically the branch of "religious folklore". For these reasons, the relevant literature is constantly expanding and corresponding folklore studies are presently flourishing. This will continue as people never stop creating culturally and adopting new viewpoints and holding events where these forms correspond to relevant psychological needs. Because of this, "religious folklore" constitutes a constantly developing branch of folklore studies with great prospects for the future and space for many young academics to carry out research. Some aspects of the main forms of Greek popular religiosity will be examined in this paper.
The paper is focused on an analysis of eight manuscripts of the Bavarian editions of Wenceslas legend Crescente fide (c. 970) from the period before the year 1200 (today Admont, Munich, Zurich, and the Vatican). The result is the finding that the text spreads especially in the Bavarian area; we know with certainty that the two manuscripts were created in Admont, one was copied in Tegernsee, respectively in Benediktbeuren and the other two may be connected (at least on the basis of paleographic arguments) also with the Bavarian environment. Furthermore we know on basis of the comparison of transcripts that manuscripts Admont 412, Admont 654, CLM 4605 (Benediktbeuren) and CLM 18547b (Tegernsee) are mutually related, while the manuscript of unknown origin CLM 332 is textually close to the Vatican Reginensis Latinus 498. Due to the fact, that it would be difficult to trace the linkage of the majority of manuscripts on the Czech or Moravian environment, it seems more likely that the text spreads through a limited number of Bavarian religious centers (Nieder Alta?, Regensburg?). and Wir haben uns mit acht ältesten Handschriften der Legende Crescente fide beschäftigt, die um 970 um die Stadt Regensburg oder in Prag verfasst worden sei. Sie sind in München, Admont, Zürich und Vatikan aufbewahrt. Die Analyse der Handschriftenüberlieferung hat gezeigt, dass sie besonders mit dem bayerischen Raum verknüpft worden sind – mit Sicherheit wurde der Text in Tegernsee und Benediktbeuren abgeschrieben; vielleicht sind die weiteren zwei Handschriften in Admont entstanden. Wir wissen auch, dass die Hss. Admont 412 und 654 mit den Hss. CLM 4605 und CLM 18547b miteinander verwandt sind. Demgegenüber steht CLM 332 dem Vatic. Reginensis Latinus 498 nahe. Weiter können wir voraussetzen, dass es nur wenige Kirchenzentren gab, durch die die Ehre zum hl. Wenzel (und das Wissen über Böhmen) vermittelt worden ist.