In this interview, Robert Antonin, Associate Professor of History at Ostrava University in Czech Republic, discusses his research into the importance of rulership rituals in the High Middle Ages, Bohemia.  He shows how the visualization of rulership through the public display of ritual built the legitimacy of the ruler, and how the public acceptance of this legitimacy enhanced social cohesion and stability.  While Robert’s research period is the high medieval, he suggests a similar process happens in today’s modern democracies.This podcast is part of a series of interviews covering central Europe in the medieval period for MECERN and CEU Medieval Studies.