Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Left
Charles IV
Right
Encampment of Matthias,Rudolph II's brother,1608
Moments in History
Wenceslas Assassinated
The “Good King” (actually a
prince) was the second Christian
ruler of Czech lands, succeeding
his grandfather Bo∫ivoj.
Wenceslas solidified ties with
Rome and with German mer-
chants. Murdered by his brother
in 935, he was later canonized.
church and crown. The resulting
animosity between Protestant
Czechs and German Catholics
would rage for centuries.
Reign of Rudolph II
The melancholy emperor
(1576-1611) was not much good
as a statesman and was under
threat from his ambitious
brother, Matthias, but he was a
liberal benefactor of the arts and
sciences. Among his achieve-
ments were the support of
Johannes Kepler's studies of
planetary motion. He also
promoted religious freedom.
Charles IV Becomes Holy
Roman Emperor
Grandson of an emperor and son
of a P∫emyslid princess, Charles
could hardly help rising to both
the Roman and Bohemian thrones
in 1333. Prague became the seat
of imperial power under his
reign, as well as an archbishopric
and the home of central Europe's
first university.
Battle of White Mountain
The Protestant nobility and
the emperor continued to pro-
voke each other until hostilities
broke into open war. Imperial
forces devastated the Czechs in
the first battle of the Thirty Years'
War in 1620. Czech lands were
re-Catholicized, but resentment
against Vienna and Rome
continued to smoulder.
Hussite Wars
After the Church Council at
Constance burned Catholic refor-
mer Jan Hus at the stake in 1415
(see p15)
, his followers literally
beat their ploughshares into
swords and rebelled against both
Independence
While World
War I raged, National
Revival leaders such
as Tomá√ Masaryk
turned to the United
States for support
for an independent
Czechoslovakia. As
the war drew to a
close in 1918, the
republic of Czecho-
slovakia was born.
Battle of White Mountain
34
