Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE BATTLE OF BÍLÁ HORA
The
BattleofBíláhora
(White Mountain) may have been a skirmish of minor importance
in the Thirty Years' War, but for the Czechs it was to have devastating consequences. The
victory of the Catholic forces of Habsburg Emperor
Ferdinand II
in 1620 set the seal on
the Czech Lands for the next three hundred years, prompting an emigration of religious
and intellectual figures that relegated the country to a cultural backwater for most of mod-
ern history. The defeat also heralded the decimation of the Bohemian and Moravian aris-
tocracy, which meant that, unlike their immediate neighbours, the Poles and Hungarians,
the Czechs had to build their nineteenth-century national revival around writers and com-
posers, rather than counts and warriors.
The28,000Catholicsoldiers-madeupofBavarians,Spanish,GermanandFrenchtroops
(among them the future philosopher, René Descartes) - outnumbered the 21,000-strong
Czech, Hungarian and German Protestant army, though the latter occupied the strategic
chalky hill to the west of Prague. Shortly after noon on November 8 the imperial troops
(under the nominal command of the Virgin Mary) began by attacking the Protestants' left
flank, and, after about an hour, prompted a full-scale flight. The Protestant commander,
Christian von Anhalt, hotfooted it back to the Hrad, where he met the Czech king,
Freder-
ick of Palatinate
, who was late for the battle, having been delayed during lunch with the
English ambassador.
Frederick, dubbed the “Winter King” for his brief reign, had once tossed silver coins to
the crowd, and entertained them by swimming naked in the Vltava, while his wife, El-
izabeth, daughter of James I of England, had shocked Prague society with her expensive
dresses, her outlandish hairdo and her plunging décolletage. Now, abandoned by their al-
lies, the royal couple gathered up the crown jewels and left Prague in such a hurry they
almost forgot their youngest son - later to become the dashing Prince Rupert of the Eng-
lish Civil War - who was playing in the nursery. The city had no choice but to surrender
to the Catholics, who spent a week looting the place, before executing 27 of the rebellion's
leaders on Staroměstské náměstí.
Bílá hora (White Mountain)
To get to Bílá hora from the city centre, take tram #22 from metro Malostranská to the western terminus (“Bílá
hora”), then walk 100m further along the main road before turning right into Řepská, from where a path heads
across the field
A short distance southwest of Hvězda is the once entirely barren limestone summit of
Bílá
hora
(381m), accessible from Hvězda through one of the many holes in the park's south-
ern perimeter wall. It was here in 1620 that the first battle of the Thirty Years' War took
place,sealingthefateoftheCzechnationforthefollowingthreehundredyears.Inlittlemore
