Bohemian
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A Bohemian (/boʊˈhiːmiən/) is a resident of Bohemia, a region of the Czech Republic or the former Kingdom of Bohemia, a region of the former Crown of Bohemia (lands of the Bohemian Crown). In English, the word "Bohemian" was used to denote the Czech people as well as the Czech language before the word "Czech" became prevalent in the early 20th century.[1]
In a separate meaning, "Bohemian" may also denote "a socially unconventional person, especially one who is involved in the arts" according to Oxford Dictionaries Online. (See Bohemianism).[1]
Etymology[edit]
The name "Bohemia" derives from the name of the Boii, a Celtic tribe who inhabited that area towards the later La Tène period. The toponym Boiohaemum, first attested by Tacitus,[2] is commonly taken to mean "home of the Boii" (from the Germanic root *haima-meaning "world, home").
The word "Bohemian" has never been widely used by the local Czech population. In Czech, the region since the early Middle Ages has been called Čechy but also, especially during the period of restoration/emancipation of the Czech language and nation, as Čechie.Another term, stressing the importance of the state/nation, is Království české ("Czech Kingdom") in Czech, or Böhmen (Königreich) in German. Its mainly Czech-speaking inhabitants were called Čechové (in modern Czech Češi).
In most other Western European vernaculars and in Latin (as Bohemi), the word "Bohemian" or a derivate was used. If the Czech ethnic origin was to be stressed, combinations such as "Bohemian of Bohemian language" (Čech českého jazyka), "a real Bohemian" (pravý Čech), etc. were used.
It was not until the 19th century that other European languages began to use words related to "Czechs" (as in English, Tschechen in German, Tchèques in French) in a deliberate (and successful) attempt to distinguish between ethnic Slavic-speaking Bohemians and other inhabitants of Bohemia. The latter were mostly ethnic Germans, who identified as "German Bohemians" (Deutschböhmen) or simply as "Bohemians" (Böhmen). In many parts of Europe, state citizenship was not identical with ethnicity and language, and the various peoples were usually identified by their language. Ethnic boundaries in Bohemia were not always sharp, and people very often were bilingual. Intermarriages across language borders were also common. Native Czech speakers often spoke German and many native German speakers spoke Czech with varying fluency, particularly in areas with many Czech speakers.
Currently, the word "Bohemians" is sometimes used when speaking about persons from Bohemia of all ethnic origins, especially before the year 1918, when the Kingdom of Bohemia ceased to exist. It is also used to distinguish between inhabitants of the western part (Bohemia proper) of the state, and the eastern (Moravia) or north-eastern (Silesia) parts.
The different term "Bohemianism" was associated with "a socially unconventional person, especially one who is involved in the arts", that comes from the French word bohémien.[1]
La Tène culture
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| Geographical range | much of Western and Central Europe |
|---|---|
| Period | Iron Age Europe |
| Dates | circa 500 BCE. — circa 1 BCE |
| Type site | La Tène, Neuchâtel |
| Preceded by | Hallstatt culture "D" |
| Followed by | Roman Empire |
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The La Tène culture (/ləˈtɛn/; French pronunciation: [la tɛn]) was a European Iron Age culture named after the archaeological site of La Tène on the north side of Lake Neuchâtel in Switzerland, where thousands of objects had been deposited in the lake, as was discovered after the water level dropped in 1857.[1]
La Tène is the type site and the term archaeologists use for the later period of the culture and art of the ancient Celts, a term that is firmly entrenched in the popular understanding, but presents numerous problems for historians and archaeologists.[2] The culture became very widespread, and presents a wide variety of local differences. It is often distinguished from earlier and neighbouring cultures mainly by the La Tène style of Celtic art, characterized by curving "swirly" decoration, especially of metalwork.[3]
La Tène culture developed and flourished during the late Iron Age (from about 500 BCE to the Roman conquest in the 1st century BCE) in Belgium, eastern France, Switzerland, Austria, Southern Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia and parts of Hungary, Ukraine and Romania. The Celtiberians of western Iberia shared many aspects of the culture, though not generally the artistic style. To the north extended the contemporary Pre-Roman Iron Age of Northern Europe, including the Jastorf culture of Northern Germany.
La Tène culture developed out of the early Iron Age Hallstatt culture without any definite cultural break, under the impetus of considerable Mediterranean influence from the Greeks in pre-Roman Gaul, the Etruscans,[4] and Golasecca culture.[5]Barry Cunliffe notes localization of La Tène culture during the 5th century when there arose "two zones of power and innovation: a Marne – Moselle zone in the west with trading links to the Po Valley via the central Alpine passes and the Golasecca culture, and a Bohemian zone in the east with separate links to the Adriatic via the eastern Alpine routes and the Venetic culture".[6] A shift of settlement centres took place in the 4th century.
La Tène cultural material appeared over a large area, including parts of Ireland and Great Britain, northern Spain, northern-central Italy,[7] Burgundy, and Austria. Elaborate burials also reveal a wide network of trade. In Vix, France, an elite woman of the 6th century BCE was buried with a very large bronze "wine-mixer" made in Greece. Exports from La Tène cultural areas to the Mediterranean cultures were based on salt, tin, copper, amber, wool, leather, furs and gold. Although the La Tène culture had no writing of its own (rare examples of it using Greek inscriptions exist, and late Celtic coinage often uses Latin) there are several accounts of the culture and aspects of its history from classical authors, most very hostile and tending to stereotype.
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[hide]History[edit]
The preceding "Halstatt D" culture, of about 650-475, was also very widespread across Europe, and the transition over this area was gradual, and is mainly detected through La Tène style elite artefacts, which first appear in the western end of the old Hallstatt region.
The establishment of a Greek colony, soon very successful, at Massalia (modern Marseilles) on the Mediterraneancoast of France led to great trade with the Hallstatt areas up the Rhone and Saone river systems, and early La Tène elite burials like the Vix Grave in Burgundy contain imported luxury goods along with artifacts produced locally. Most areas were probably controlled by tribal chiefs living in hilltop forts, while the bulk of the population lived in small villages or farmsteads in the countryside.[8]
By 500 the Etruscans expanded to border Celts in north Italy, and trade across the Alps began to overhaul trade with the Greeks, and the Rhone route declined. Booming areas included the middle Rhine, with large iron ore deposits, the Marne and Champagne regions, and also Bohemia, although here trade with the Mediterranean area was much less important. Trading connections and wealth no doubt played a part in the origin of the La Tène style, though how large a part remains much discussed; specific Mediterranean-derived motifs are evident, but the new style does not depend on them.[9]
By about 400 the evidences for Mediterranean trade become few; this may have been because the expanding Celtic populations began to migrate south and west, coming into violent conflict with the established populations, including the Etruscans and Romans. The settled life in much of the La Tène homelands also seems to have become much more unstable and prone to wars. In about 387 the Celts under Brennus defeated the Romans and then sacked Rome, establishing themselves as the most prominent threats to the Roman homeland, a status they would retain through a series of Roman-Gallic wars until Julius Caesar's final conquest of Gaul in 58-50 BCE. The Romans prevented the Celts from reaching very far south of Rome, but on the other side of the Adriatic Sea groups passed through the Balkans to reach Greece, where Delphi was attacked in 279, and Asia, where Galatia was established as a Celtic area of Anatolia. By this time the La Tène style was spreading to the British Isles, though apparently without any significant movements in population.[10]
After about 275 the relentless Roman expansion into the area occupied by La Tène culture began; it would never be complete, but lasted until the 1st century CE in Britain, leaving only the approximate areas of the modern Celtic nations (excluding Brittany) unoccupied. The Romans never attempted to invade Ireland and eventually decided that expansion into north Scotland was not worth the trouble, retreating from the line of the Antonine Wall to Hadrian's Wall in 162 CE.[11]
La Tène homeland[edit]
Though there is no agreement on the precise region in which La Tène culture first developed, there is a broad consensus that the center of the culture lay on the northwest edges of Hallstatt culture, north of the Alps, within the region between in the West the valleys of the Marne and Moselle, and the part of the Rhineland nearby. In the east the western end of the old Hallstatt core area in modern Bavaria, Austria and Switzerland formed a somewhat separate "eastern style Province" in the early La Tène, joining with the western area in Alsace.[12]
In 1994 a prototypical ensemble of elite grave sites of the early 5th century BCE was excavated at Glauberg in Hesse, northeast of Frankfurt-am-Main, in a region that had formerly been considered peripheral to the La Tène sphere.[13] The site at La Tène itself was therefore near the southern edge of the original "core" area (as is also the case for the Hallstatt site for its core).
From their homeland, La Tène culture expanded in the 4th century to more of modern France, Germany, and Central Europe, and beyond to Hispania, northern and central Italy, the Balkans, and even as far as Asia Minor, in the course of several major migrations. La Tène style artefacts start to appear in Britain around the same time,[14]and Ireland rather later. The style of "Insular La Tène" art is somewhat different and the artefacts are initially found in some parts of the islands but not others. Migratory movements seem at best only partly responsible for the diffusion of La Tène culture there, and perhaps other parts of Europe.[15]
Periodization[edit]
Extensive contacts through trade are recognized in foreign objects deposited in elite burials; stylistic influences on La Tène material culture can be recognized in Etruscan, Italic, Greek, Dacian and Scythian sources. Dateable Greek pottery and analysis employing scientific techniques such as dendrochronology and thermoluminescence help provide date ranges for an absolute chronology at some La Tène sites.
As with many archaeological periods, La Tène history was originally divided into "early" (6th century BCE), "middle" (c. 450–100 BCE), and "late" (1st century BCE) stages, with the Roman occupation greatly disrupting the culture, although many elements remain in Gallo-Roman and Romano-British culture.[16] A broad cultural unity was not paralleled by overarching social-political unifying structures, and the extent to which the material culture can be linguistically linked is debated. The art history of La Tène culture has various schemes of periodization.[17]
Ethnology[edit]
Our knowledge of this cultural area derives from three sources: from archaeological evidence, from Greek and Latin literary evidence, and more controversially, from ethnographical evidence suggesting some La Tène artistic and cultural survivals in traditionally Celtic regions of far western Europe. Some of the societies that are archaeologically identified with La Tène material culture were identified by Greek and Roman authors from the 5th century onwards as Keltoi ("Celts") and Galli ("Gauls"). Herodotus (iv.49) correctly placed Keltoiat the source of the Ister/Danube, in the heartland of La Tène material culture: "The Ister flows right across Europe, rising in the country of the Celts", whom however, apparently misunderstanding his source,[18] he places "farthest to the west of any people of Europe"[19]
Whether the usage of classical sources means that the whole of La Tène culture can be attributed to a unified Celtic people is difficult to assess; archaeologists have repeatedly concluded that language, material culture, and political affiliation do not necessarily run parallel. Frey notes (Frey 2004) that in the 5th century, "burial customs in the Celtic world were not uniform; rather, localised groups had their own beliefs, which, in consequence, also gave rise to distinct artistic expressions".
The spread of the Celtic languages before and during the period is also uncertain. In the 19th century it used to be thought that these only reached Ireland and Britain in the 1st millennium BCE, but it is now thought likely that they were dominant before the arrival of cultural styles associated with Celts, perhaps long before.[20]
Material culture[edit]
La Tène metalwork in bronze, iron and gold, developing technologically out of Hallstatt culture, is stylistically characterized by inscribed and inlaid intricate spirals and interlace, on fine bronze vessels, helmets and shields, horse trappings and elite jewelry, especially the neck rings called torcs and elaborate clasps called fibulae. It is characterized by elegant, stylized curvilinear animal and vegetal forms, allied with the Hallstatt traditions of geometric patterning.
The Early Style of La Tène art and culture mainly featured static, geometric decoration, while the transition to the Developed Style constituted a shift to movement-based forms, such as triskeles. Some subsets within the Developed Style contain more specific design trends, such as the recurrent serpentine scroll of the Waldalgesheim Style [21]
Initially La Tène people lived in open settlements that were dominated by the chieftains’ hill forts. The development of towns—oppida—appears in mid-La Tène culture. La Tène dwellings were carpenter-built rather than of masonry. La Tène peoples also dug ritual shafts, in which votive offerings and even human sacrifices were cast. Severed heads appear to have held great power and were often represented in carvings. Burial sites included weapons, carts, and both elite and household goods, evoking a strong continuity with an afterlife.[22]
Site of La Tène[edit]
La Tène is a village on the northern shore of Lake Neuchâtel, Switzerland, where the small river Thielle, connecting to another lake, enters the Lake Neuchâtel. It is an archaeological site and the eponymous type site for the late Iron Age La Tène culture. In 1857, prolonged drought lowered the waters of the lake by about 2 m. On the northernmost tip of the lake, between the river and a point south of the village of Marin-Epagnier, Hansli Kopp, looking for antiquities for Colonel Frédéric Schwab, discovered several rows of wooden piles that still reached up about 50 cm into the water. From among these, Kopp collected about forty iron swords.
The Swiss archaeologist Ferdinand Keller published his findings in 1868 in his influential first report on the Swiss pile dwellings(Pfahlbaubericht). In 1863 he interpreted the remains as a Celtic village built on piles. Eduard Desor, a geologist from Neuchâtel, started excavations on the lakeshore soon afterwards. He interpreted the site as an armory, erected on platforms on piles over the lake and later destroyed by enemy action. Another interpretation accounting for the presence of cast iron swords that had not been sharpened, was of a site for ritual depositions.
With the first systematic lowering of the Swiss lakes from 1868 to 1883, the site fell completely dry. In 1880, Emile Vouga, a teacher from Marin-Epagnier, uncovered the wooden remains of two bridges (designated "Pont Desor" and "Pont Vouga") originally over 100 m long, that crossed the little Thielle River (today a nature reserve) and the remains of five houses on the shore. After Vouga had finished, F. Borel, curator of the Marin museum, began to excavate as well. In 1885 the canton asked the Société d'Histoire of Neuchâtel to continue the excavations, the results of which were published by Vouga in the same year.
All in all, over 2500 objects, mainly made from metal, have been excavated in La Tène. Weapons predominate, there being 166 swords (most without traces of wear), 270 lanceheads, and 22 shield bosses, along with 385 brooches, tools, and parts of chariots. Numerous human and animal bones were found as well. The site was used from the 3rd century, with a peak of activity around 200 BCE and abandonment by about 60 BCE.[23] Interpretations of the site vary. Some scholars believe the bridge was destroyed by high water, while others see it as a place of sacrifice after a successful battle (there are almost no female ornaments).
An exhibition marking the 150th anniversary of the discovery of the La Tène site opened in 2007 at the Musée Schwab in Bienne, Switzerland, moving to move to Zürich in 2008 and Mont Beuvray in Burgundy in 2009.
Sites[edit]
Some sites are:
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Artifacts[edit]
See Category:Celtic art.
Some outstanding La Tène artifacts are:
- Vix Grave of a very wealthy woman in Burgundy) buried with an 1100-litre (290 gallon) bronze krater, the largest ever found.
- Mšecké Žehrovice Head, a stone head from the modern Czech Republic
- A life-sized sculpture of a warrior that stood above the Glauberg burials
- Chariot burial found at La Gorge Meillet (St-Germain-en-Laye: Musée des Antiquités Nationales)
- Basse Yutz Flagons 5th century
- Agris Helmet, with gold covering, c. 350
- Waldalgesheim chariot burial, Bad Kreuznach, Germany, late 4th century BCE, Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn; the "Waldalgesheim phase/style" of the art takes its name from the jewellery found here.
- A gold-and-bronze model of an oak tree (3rd century BCE) found at the Oppidum of Manching.
- Sculptures from Roquepertuse, a sanctuary in the south of France
- The silver Gundestrup cauldron (2nd or 1st century BCE), found ritually broken in a peat bog near Gundestrup, Denmark, but probably made near the Black Sea, perhaps in Thrace. (National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen)
- Battersea Shield (350–50 BCE), found in the Thames, made of bronze with red enamel. (British Museum, London)
- Waterloo Helmet, 150-50 BCE, found in London in the Thames
- "Witham Shield" (4th century BCE). (British Museum, London) [24]
- Torrs Pony-cap and Horns, from Scotland
- Cordoba Treasure
- Turoe stone in Galway, Ireland
- Great Torc from Snettisham, 100-75 BCE, gold, the most elaborate of the British style of torcs
- Meyrick Helmet, post-conquest Roman helmet shape, with La Tène decoration
- Noric steel
Kingdom of Bohemia
| Kingdom of Bohemia | ||||||||||
| České království (Czech) Königreich Böhmen (German) Regnum Bohemiae (Latin) | ||||||||||
| Crown land of the Bohemian Crown (1348–1918) Imperial State of the Holy Roman Empire(1198–1806) Imperial elector (1356–1806) Crown land of the Habsburg Monarchy(1526–1804), of the Austrian Empire (1804–67), and of the Cisleithanian part of Austria-Hungary (1867–1918) | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| Anthem Various proposed Predominantly "Kde domov můj" | ||||||||||
.svg)
The Kingdom of Bohemia and the Lands of the Bohemian Crown within the Holy Roman Empire(1618)
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| Capital | Prague | |||||||||
| Languages | Czech, Latin, German | |||||||||
| Religion | Roman Catholic, Utraquist, Lutheran, Bohemian Brethren, Jewish | |||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | |||||||||
| King | ||||||||||
| • | 1198–1230 | Ottokar I (first) | ||||||||
| • | 1916–1918 | Charles III (last) | ||||||||
| History | ||||||||||
| • | Kingdom established | 1198 | ||||||||
| • | Hereditary royal title confirmed | 26 September 1212 | ||||||||
| • | Inauguration of the Luxembourg dynasty | 7 April 1348 | ||||||||
| • | Became main part of Bohemian Crown lands | 5 April 1355 | ||||||||
| • | King confirmed Elector | 25 December 1356 | ||||||||
| • | King Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor | 16 December 1526 | ||||||||
| • | Dissolution of Austro- Hungarian Empire | 31 October 1918 | ||||||||
| Currency | Denarius[1] Bracteate Kreuzer Groschen Thaler Gulden Krone | |||||||||
| ||||||||||
| Today part of | ||||||||||
The Kingdom of Bohemia, sometimes in English literature referred to as the Czech Kingdom[2][3] (Czech: České království; German: Königreich Böhmen; Latin: Regnum Bohemiae, sometimes Latin: Regnum Czechorum), was a medieval and early modern monarchy in Central Europe, the predecessor of the modern Czech Republic. It was an Imperial State in the Holy Roman Empire, and the Bohemian king was a prince-elector of the empire. The kings of Bohemia, besides Bohemia, ruled also the Lands of the Bohemian Crown, which at various times included Moravia, Silesia, Lusatia and parts of Saxony, Brandenburgand Bavaria.
The kingdom was established by the Přemyslid dynasty in the 12th century from Duchy of Bohemia, later ruled by the House of Luxembourg, the Jagiellonian dynasty, and since 1526 by the House of Habsburg and its successor house Habsburg-Lorraine. Numerous kings of Bohemia were also elected Holy Roman Emperors and the capital Prague was the imperial seat in the late 14th century, and at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries.
After the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the territory became part of the Habsburg Austrian Empire, and subsequently the Austro-Hungarian Empire from 1867. Bohemia retained its name and formal status as a separate Kingdom of Bohemia until 1918, known as a crown land within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and its capital Prague was one of the empire's leading cities. The Czech language (called the Bohemian language in English usage until the 19th century) was the main language of the Diet and the nobility until 1627 (after the Bohemian Revolt was suppressed). German was then formally made equal with Czech and eventually prevailed as the language of the Diet until the Czech national revival in the 19th century. German was also widely used as the language of administration in many towns after Germans immigrated and populated some areas of the country in the 13th century. The royal court used the Czech, Latin, and German languages, depending on the ruler and period.
Following the defeat of the Central Powers in World War I, both the Kingdom and Empire were dissolved. Bohemia became the core part of the newly formed Czechoslovak Republic.
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[hide]History[edit]
13th century (growth)[edit]
Although some former rulers of Bohemia had enjoyed a non-hereditary royal title during the 11th and 12th centuries (Vratislaus II, Vladislaus II), the kingdom was formally established in 1198 by Přemysl Ottokar I, who had his status acknowledged by Philip of Swabia, elected King of the Romans, in return for his support against the rival Emperor Otto IV. In 1204 Ottokar's royal status was accepted by Otto IV as well as by Pope Innocent III. It was officially recognized in 1212 by the Golden Bull of Sicily issued by Emperor Frederick II, elevating the Duchy of Bohemia to Kingdom status.
Under these terms, the Czech king was to be exempt from all future obligations to the Holy Roman Empire except for participation in the imperial councils. The imperial prerogative to ratify each Bohemian ruler and to appoint the bishop of Praguewas revoked. The king's successor was his son Wenceslaus I, from his second marriage.
Wenceslaus I's sister Agnes, later canonized, was an extraordinarily courageous and energetic woman for her time; she refused to marry the Holy Roman Emperor and instead devoted her life to spiritual works. Corresponding with the Pope, she established the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star in 1233, the first military order in the Kingdom of Bohemia. Four other military orders were present in Bohemia: the Order of St. John of Jerusalem from c. 1160; the Order of Saint Lazarus from the late 12th century; the Teutonic Order from c. 1200–1421; and the Knights Templar from 1232–1312.[4]
The 13th century was the most dynamic period of the Přemyslid reign over Bohemia. German Emperor Frederick II's preoccupation with Mediterranean affairs and the dynastic struggles known as the Great Interregnum (1254–73) weakened imperial authority in Central Europe, thus providing opportunities for Přemyslid assertiveness. At the same time, the Mongol invasions (1220–42) absorbed the attention of Bohemia's eastern neighbors, Hungary and Poland.
Přemysl Ottokar II (1253–78) married a German princess, Margaret of Babenberg, and became duke of Austria. He thereby acquired Upper Austria, Lower Austria, and part of Styria. He conquered the rest of Styria, most of Carinthia, and parts of Carniola. He was called "the king of iron and gold" (iron because of his conquests, gold because of his wealth). He campaigned as far as Prussia, where he defeated the pagan natives and in 1256, founded a city he named Královec in Czech, which later became Königsberg (now Kaliningrad).
In 1260, Ottokar defeated Hungary in the Battle of Kressenbrunn, where more than 200,000 men clashed. He ruled an area from Austria to the Adriatic Sea. From 1273, however, Habsburg emperor Rudolf began to reassert imperial authority, checking Ottokar's power. He also had problems with rebellious nobility in Bohemia. All of Ottokar's German possessions were lost in 1276, and in 1278 he was abandoned by part of the Czech nobility and died in the Battle on the Marchfeld against Rudolf.
Ottokar was succeeded by his son King Wenceslaus II, who was crowned King of Poland in 1300. Wenceslaus II's son Wenceslaus III was crowned King of Hungary a year later. At this time, the Kings of Bohemia ruled from Hungary to the Baltic Sea.
The 13th century was also a period of large-scale German immigration, during the Ostsiedlung, often encouraged by the Přemyslid kings. The Germans populated towns and mining districts on the Bohemian periphery and in some cases formed German colonies in the interior of the Czech lands. Stříbro, Kutná Hora, Německý Brod (present-day Havlíčkův Brod), and Jihlava were important German settlements. The Germans brought their own code of law — the ius teutonicum — which formed the basis of the later commercial law of Bohemia and Moravia. Marriages between Czech nobles and Germans soon became commonplace.
14th century ("Golden Age")[edit]
The 14th century — particularly the reign of Charles IV (1342–78) — is considered the Golden Age of Czech history. In 1306, the Přemyslid line died out and, after a series of dynastic wars, John, Count of Luxembourg, was elected Bohemian king. He married Elisabeth, the daughter of Wenceslaus II. He was succeeded as king in 1346 by his son, Charles IV, the second king from the House of Luxembourg. Charles was raised at the French court and was cosmopolitan in attitude.
Charles IV strengthened the power and prestige of the Bohemian kingdom. In 1344 he elevated the bishopric of Prague, making it an archbishopric and freeing it from the jurisdiction of Mainz, and the archbishop was given the right to crown Bohemian kings. Charles curbed the Bohemian, Moravian, and Silesian nobility, and rationalized the provincial administration of Bohemia and Moravia. He created the Crown of Bohemia, incorporating Moravia, Silesia and Lusatia.
In 1355 Charles was crowned Holy Roman Emperor. The next year he issued the Golden Bull of 1356, defining and codifying the process of election to the Imperial throne, with the Bohemian king among the seven electors. Issuance of the Golden Bull together with the ensuing acquisition of the Brandenburg Electorate gave the Luxemburgs two votes in the electoral college. Charles also made Prague into an Imperial capital.
Extensive building projects undertaken by the king included the founding of the New Town southeast of the old city. The royal castle, Hradčany, was rebuilt. Of particular significance was the founding of Charles University in Prague in 1348. Charles intended to make Prague into an international center of learning, and the university was divided into Czech, Polish, Saxon, and Bavarian "nations", each with one controlling vote. Charles University, however, would become the nucleus of intense Czech particularism.
Charles died in 1378, and the Bohemian crown went to his son, Wenceslas IV. He had also been elected King of the Romans in 1376, in the first election since his father's Golden Bull. He was deposed from the Imperial throne in 1400, however, having never been crowned Emperor. His brother, Sigismund, was eventually crowned Emperor in Rome in 1433, ruling until 1437, and he was the last male member of the House of Luxemburg.
15th century (Hussite movement)[edit]
The Hussite movement (1402–85) was primarily a religious, as well as national, manifestation. As a religious reform movement (the so-called Bohemian Reformation), it represented a challenge to papal authority and an assertion of national autonomy in ecclesiastical affairs. The Hussites defeated four crusades from the Holy Roman Empire, and the movement is viewed by many as a part of the (worldwide) Protestant Reformation. Because many of warriors of the crusades were Germans, although many were also Hungarians and Catholic Czechs, the Hussite movement is seen as a Czech national movement. In modern times it acquired anti-imperial and anti-German associations and has sometimes been identified as a manifestation of a long-term ethnic Czech–German conflict.
Hussitism began during the long reign of Wenceslas IV (1378–1419), a period of papal schism and concomitant anarchy in the Holy Roman Empire. It was precipitated by a controversy at Charles University in Prague. In 1403 Jan Hus became rector of the university. A reformist preacher, Hus espoused the anti-papal and anti-hierarchical teachings of John Wycliffe of England, often referred to as the "Morning Star of the Reformation". Hus' teaching was distinguished by its rejection of what he saw as the wealth, corruption, and hierarchical tendencies of the Roman Catholic Church. He advocated the Wycliffe doctrine of clerical purity and poverty, and insisted on the laity receiving communion under both kinds, bread and wine. (The Roman Catholic Church in practice reserved the cup, or wine, for the clergy.) The more moderate followers of Hus, the Utraquists, took their name from the Latin sub utraque specie, meaning "under each kind". The Taborites, a more radical sect, soon formed, taking their name from the city of Tábor, their stronghold in southern Bohemia. They rejected church doctrine and upheld the Bible as the sole authority in all matters of belief.
Soon after Hus assumed office, German professors of theology demanded the condemnation of Wycliffe's writings. Hus protested, receiving the support of the Czech element at the university. Having only one vote in policy decisions against three for the Germans, the Czechs were outvoted,[citation needed] and the orthodox position was maintained. In subsequent years, the Czechs demanded a revision of the university charter, granting more adequate representation to the native Czech faculty. The university controversy was intensified by the vacillating position of the Bohemian king Wenceslas. His favoring of Germans in appointments to councillor and other administrative positions had aroused the nationalist sentiments of the Czech nobility and rallied them to Hus' defense. The German faculties had the support of Zbyněk Zajíc, Archbishop of Prague, and the German clergy. For political reasons, Wenceslas switched his support from the Germans to Hus and allied with the reformers. On January 18, 1409, Wenceslas issued the Decree of Kutná Hora: (as was the case at other major universities in Europe) the Czechs would have three votes; the others, a single vote. In consequence, German faculty and students left Charles University en masse in the thousands, and many ended up founding the University of Leipzig.
Hus' victory was short lived. He preached against the sale of indulgences, which lost him the support of the king, who had received a percentage of such sales. In 1412 Hus and his followers were suspended from the university and expelled from Prague. For two years the reformers served as itinerant preachers throughout Bohemia. In 1414 Hus was summoned to the Council of Constance to defend his views. Imprisoned when he arrived, he was never given a chance to defend his ideas. The council condemned him as a heretic and burned him at the stake in 1415.
Hus's death sparked the Hussite Wars, decades of religious warfare. Sigismund, the pro-papal king of Hungaryand successor to the Bohemian throne after the death of Wenceslas in 1419, failed repeatedly to gain control of the kingdom despite aid by Hungarian and German armies. Riots broke out in Prague. Led by a Czech yeoman, Jan Žižka, the Taborites streamed into the capital. Religious strife pervaded the entire kingdom and was particularly intense in the German-dominated towns. Hussite Czechs and Catholic Germans turned on each other; many were massacred, and many German survivors fled or were exiled to the rest of the Holy Roman Empire. Emperor Sigismund led or instigated various crusades against Bohemia with the support of Hungarians and Bohemian Catholics.
The Hussite Wars followed a pattern. When a crusade was launched against Bohemia, moderate and radical Hussites would unite and defeat it. Once the threat was over, the Hussite armies would focus on ridding the land of Catholic sympathizers. Many historians have painted the Hussites as religious fanatics; they fought in part for a nationalist purpose: to protect their land from a King and a Pope who did not recognize the right of the Hussites to exist. Zizka led armies to storm castles, monasteries, churches, and villages, expelling the Catholic clergy, expropriating ecclesiastical lands, or accepting conversions.
During the struggle against Sigismund, Taborite armies penetrated into areas of modern-day Slovakia as well. Czech refugees from the religious wars in Bohemia settled there, and from 1438 to 1453 a Czech noble, John Jiskra of Brandýs, controlled most of southern Slovakia from the centers of Zólyom (today Zvolen) and Kassa (today Košice). Thus Hussite doctrines and the Czech Bible were disseminated among the Slovaks, providing the basis for a future link between the Czechs and their Slovak neighbors.
When Sigismund died in 1437, the Bohemian estates elected Albert of Austria as his successor. Albert died and his son, Ladislaus the Posthumous — so called because he was born after his father's death — was acknowledged as king. During Ladislaus' minority, Bohemia was ruled by a regency composed of moderate reform nobles who were Utraquists. Internal dissension among the Czechs provided the primary challenge to the regency. A part of the Czech nobility remained Catholic and loyal to the pope. A Utraquist delegation to the Council of Basel in 1433 had negotiated a seeming reconciliation with the Catholic Church. The Compacts of Basel accepted the basic tenets of Hussitism expressed in the Four Articles of Prague: communion under both kinds; free preaching of the Gospels; expropriation of church land; and exposure and punishment of public sinners. The pope, however, rejected the compact, thus preventing the reconciliation of Czech Catholics with the Utraquists.
George of Poděbrady, later to become the "national" king of Bohemia, emerged as leader of the Utraquist regency. George installed another Utraquist, John of Rokycan, as archbishop of Prague and succeeded in uniting the more radical Taborites with the Czech Reformed Church. The Catholic party was driven out of Prague. After Ladislaus died of leukemia in 1457, the following year the Bohemian estates elected George of Poděbrady as king. Although George was noble-born, he was not a successor of royal dynasty; his election to the monarchy was not recognised by the Pope, or any other European monarchs.
George sought to establish a "Charter of a Universal Peace Union." He believed that all monarchs should work for a sustainable peace on the principle of national sovereignty of states, principles of non-interference, and solving problems and disputes before an International Tribunal. Also, Europe should unite to fight the Turks. States would have one vote each, with a leading role for France. George did not see a specific role for Papal authority.[citation needed]
Czech Catholic nobles joined in the League of Zelena Hora in 1465, challenging the authority of George of Poděbrady; the next year, Pope Paul II excommunicated George. The Bohemian War (1468-1478) pitted Bohemia against Matthias Corvinus and Frederick III of Habsburg, and the Hungarian forces occupied most of Moravia. George of Poděbrady died in 1471.
After 1471: Jagiellonian and Habsburg rule[edit]
Upon the death of the Hussite king, the Bohemian estates elected a Polish prince Ladislaus Jagiellon as king, who negotiated the Peace of Olomouc in 1479. In 1490 he also became king of Hungary, and the Polish Jagellonian line ruled both Bohemia and Hungary. The Jagellonians governed Bohemia as absentee monarchs; their influence in the kingdom was minimal, and effective government fell to the regional nobility. Czech Catholics accepted the Compact of Basel in 1485 and were reconciled with the Utraquists. The Bohemian estrangement from the Empire continued after Vladislav had succeeded Matthias Corvinus of Hungary in 1490 and both the Bohemian and the Hungarian kingdom were held in personal union. Not considered an Imperial State, the Lands of the Bohemian Crown were not part of the Imperial Circles established by the 1500 Imperial Reform.
In 1526 Vladislav's son, King Louis, was decisively defeated by the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Mohács and subsequently died. As a result, the Turks conquered part of the Kingdom of Hungary, and the rest (mainly present-day Slovakia territory) came under Habsburg rule under the terms of King Louis' marriage contract. The Bohemian estates elected Austrian Archduke Ferdinand, younger brother of Emperor Charles V, to succeed Louis as king of Bohemia. Thus began almost four centuries of Habsburg rule for both Bohemia and Slovakia.
The incorporation of Bohemia into the Habsburg Monarchy against the resistance of the local Protestant nobility sparked the 1618 Defenestration of Prague and the Thirty Years' War. Their defeat at the Battle of White Mountain in 1620 put an end to the Bohemian autonomy movement.
Defeat and dissolution[edit]
In 1740 the Prussian Army conquered Bohemian Silesia in the Silesian Wars and forced Maria Theresa in 1742 to cede the majority of Silesia, except the southernmost area with the duchies of Cieszyn, Krnov and Opava, to Prussia. In 1756 Prussian King Frederick II faced an enemy coalition led by Austria, when Maria Theresa was preparing for war with Prussia to reclaim Silesia. The Prussian army conquered Saxony and in 1757 invaded Bohemia. In the Battle of Prague (1757) they defeated the Habsburgs and subsequently occupied Prague. More than one quarter of Prague was destroyed and the St. Vitus Cathedral suffered heavy damage. In the Battle of Kolín, however, Frederick lost and had to vacate Prague and retreat from Bohemia.
With the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Bohemian kingdom was incorporated into the Austrian Empire and the royal title retained alongside the title of Austrian Emperor. In the course of the 1867 Austro-Hungarian Compromise the provinces of Bohemia, Moravia and Austrian Silesia became k. k. crown lands of Cisleithania. The Bohemian Kingdom officially ceased to exist in 1918 by transformation into the Czechoslovak Republic.
The current Czech Republic consisting of Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia still uses most of the symbols of the Kingdom of Bohemia: a two-tailed lion in its coat-of-arms, red-white strips in the state flag and the royal castle as the president's office.
Economy[edit]
![[icon]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small}
Bohemia was among the first countries in Europe to become industrialized. Mining of tin and silver began in Ore mountains in early 12th century.
Lands of the Bohemian Crown[edit]
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Bohemia proper (Čechy) with the County of Kladsko (Hrabství kladské) was the main area of the Kingdom of Bohemia. The Egerland(Chebsko) was ultimatively obtained by King Wenceslaus II between 1291–1305; given in pawn to Bohemia by King Louis IV of Germany in 1322 and subsequently joined in personal union with Bohemia proper. In 1348 Charles IV created the Crown of Bohemia(Koruna česká), together with the incorporated provinces:
- the Margraviate of Moravia (Markrabství moravské), acquired by Přemyslid and Slavník Bohemian rulers after the 955 Battle of Lechfeld, lost in 999 to Poland and reconquered by Duke Bretislaus I in 1019/1029 (uncertain dating);
- Upper Lusatia (Horní Lužice), incorporated by Charles' father King John of Bohemia in 1319 (Bautzen Land) and 1329 (Görlitz), and Lower Lusatia (Dolní Lužice, former March of Lusatia), acquired by Charles IV from the Wittelsbach duke Otto V of Bavariain 1367. The Habsburg emperor Ferdinand II ceded the Lusatias to the Electorate of Saxony by the 1635 Peace of Prague;
- the Duchies of Silesia (Slezsko), acquired by the 1335 Treaty of Trentschin between King John of Bohemia and King Casimir III of Poland. Queen Maria Theresa lost Silesia in 1742 to the Prussian king Frederick the Great by the Treaty of Breslau, with the exception of Austrian Silesia.
- the northern part of the Upper Palatinate ("Bohemian Palatinate") at Sulzbach, incorporated into the Bohemian crown by Charles IV in 1355. Charles exchanged parts of this territory for Brandenburg in 1373, while his son Wenceslaus lost the rest in 1400 to the Electorate of the Palatinate under King Rupert of Germany;
- the Brandenburg Electorate, acquired in 1373 by Charles IV from the Wittelsbach duke Otto V of Bavaria. Charles' son Emperor Sigismund granted Brandenburg to Frederick I of Hohenzollern in 1415.[5]
at times were incorporated into the Kingdom of Bohemia these provinces:
- the Duchy of Austria in 1251, the Duchy of Styria in 1261, the Egerland in 1266, the Duchy of Carinthia with the March of Carniola and the Windic March in 1269, and the March of Friuli in 1272, all acquired by the Přemyslid king Ottokar II of Bohemia but lost to Rudolph of Habsburg in the 1278 Battle on the Marchfeld;
The modern Czech Republic is the legal successor of the Crown of Bohemia, as stated in the preamble to its Constitution.
Administrative division[edit]
- Kraje of Bohemia (pre-1883)
Prior to 1833, Bohemia was divided into seven to sixteen district units. These included the following in different time periods:
- Bechyně (German: Beching)
- Boleslav (German: Jung-Bunzlau)
- Čáslav (German: Tschaslau)
- Chrudim
- Hradec Králové (German: Königgrätz)
- Kladsko (German: Glatz)
- Kouřim at Prague (German: Prag)
- Litoměřice (German: Leitmeritz)
- Loket (German: Elbogen)
- Vltava (German: Moldau)
- Plzeň (German: Pilsen)
- Podbrdsko at Beroun (German: Beraun)
- Prácheň at Písek
- Rakovník (German: Rakonitz)
- Slaný (German: Schlan)
- Žatec (German: Saaz)
- Kraje 1833–1849
Bohemia was divided into 16 district units between 1833 und 1849 according to Johann Gottfried Sommer:
- Beroun (German: Berauner Kreis)
- Nový Bydžov (German: Bidschower Kreis)
- České Budějovice (German: Budweiser Kreis)
- Mladá Boleslav (German: Bunzlauer Kreis)
- Čáslav (German: Caslaver Kreis)
- Chrudim (German: Chrudimer Kreis)
- Loket (German: Elbogener Kreis)
- Kouřim (German: Kaurimer Kreis)
- Klatovy (German: Klattauer Kreis)
- Hradec Králové (German: Königgrätzer Kreis)
- Litoměřice (German: Leitmeritzer Kreis)
- Plzeň (German: Pilsener Kreis)
- Písek, (German: Prachiner Kreis named after Prácheň castle)
- Rakovník, Slaný (German: Rakonitzer Kreis)
- Žatec (German: Saazer Kreis)
- Tábor (German: Taborer Kreis)
- Kraje 1850–1918
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After 1850, Bohemia's distrit units were sub-divided into 104 districts.
Demographics[edit]
1910 census[edit]
- Population by religion
| Religion | Number | % |
|---|---|---|
| Roman Catholics | 6,475,835 | 95.66 |
| Lutherans | 98,379 | 1.45 |
| Jewish | 85,826 | 1.26 |
| Calvinists | 78,562 | 1.16 |
| Old Catholics | 14,631 | 0.21 |
| Greek Catholics | 1,691 | 0.02 |
| Moravian Church | 891 | 0.01 |
| Greek orthodox | 824 | 0.01 |
| Anglicans | 173 | 0.00 |
| Unitarians | 20 | 0.00 |
| Muslims | 14 | 0.00 |
| Armenian Catholics | 10 | 0.00 |
| Lipovans | 9 | 0.00 |
| Armenian Orthodox | 8 | 0.00 |
| Mennonites | 4 | 0.00 |
| Others | 1,467 | 0.02 |
| Nonbelievers | 11,204 | 0.16 |
| Total | 6,769,548 | 100.00 |
- Population by language
| Language | Number | % |
|---|---|---|
| Czech (together with Slovak) | 4,241,918 | 62.66 |
| German | 2,467,724 | 36.45 |
| Polish | 1,541 | 0.02 |
| Ruthenian | 1,062 | 0.01 |
| Slovenian | 292 | 0.00 |
| Serbian (together with Croatian) | 190 | 0.00 |
| Italian (together with Ladin) | 136 | 0.00 |
| Hungarian | 48 | 0.00 |
| Romanian | 33 | 0.00 |
| Others (mostly Romani) | 56,604 | 0.83 |
| Total | 6,769,548 | 100.00 |
See also[edit]
Part of a series on the
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| History of the Czech lands |
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