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Prague history: |
Prague-luxury-hotel.com
We would like invite you to a very romantic
luxury hotel for your stay in Prague.
The more you know about the city the more
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Important eventsSome epochs and events from the history of Prague deserve more detailed description than was given in the brief history in dates. Charles IV. (1316 - 1378) |
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Charles IV was a son of John of Luxembourg and Elizabeth, sister of the Wenceslas III, the last king of the Premyslid dynasty. Charles was born as Wenceslas too, but his name was changed at his confirmation during his education in France. (In this time his tutor was the later pope Clement IV. Young Charles also attended lectures at Sorbonna. At a time when many crowned heads could not even read and write, Charles spoke five languages fluently - Latin, Czech, German, French and Italian.) From 1333 he started to administer his father's Crown lands due to the King's often absence and in 1334 he became Margrave of Moravia. He succeeded his father John of Luxemburg as King of Bohemia and Count of Luxembourg in 1346. In 1353 Luxembourg was granted to his half-brother and Charles IV concentrated his energies chiefly on the economic and intellectual development of Bohemia. He was crowned as an Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 1355. |
During his reign the art and architecture flourished
in Prague, owing to his activity as a builder and patron. He founded
the University (the oldest in Central Europe), iniciated the building
of the Charles Bridge and reconstruction of the Prague Castle with
St Vitus Cathedral. The foundation of New Town of Prague represents
a unique urban architecture work in the all-European context. It
was planned so generously that the city boundaries were sufficient
till the 18th century. First Prague defenestration (30th July 1419) A political unrest and people's critique of the Catholic church at the beginnig of the 15th century culminated with the defenastration in which Hussites threw 7 members of the Czech Town Council out of the New Town Hall window - and to their deaths on the points of Hussite-weilded pikes below. With this event the Hussite revolution started. Rudolf II (1552-1612) |
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Rudolf II. was an emperor of
the Holy Roman Empire, king of Bohemia, and king of Hungary. His father
was Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor, king of Bohemia, king of Hungary;
his mother was Maria, a daughter of Charles V. of Spain. Although Rudolf was a learned man, he was incapable of ruling because he was plagued by melancholy and later became subject to occasional fits of insanity. Other members of his family began to intervene in imperial affairs. In 1608, his brother Matthias forced Rudolf to cede Hungary, Austria, and Moravia to him. Seeking to gain the support of the Bohemian estates, Rudolf issued a royal charter called the Majestät in 1609 that guaranteed a religious freedom to the nobles and cities. This effort was in vain, and Rudolf was forced to give up Bohemia to Matthias in 1611. |
After assuming the Austrian throne (1576), Rudolf II moved his
court from Vienna to Prague, thus promoting Prague to the imperial
seat of power again (and for the last time). The Emperor was a patron
of arts and science. He supported scientists such as Tycho Brahe,
Johannes Kepler as well as artists like Spranger and Von Aachen.
It is said that he also financed the work of a number of alchemists
(on his invitation John Dee and Edward Kelley spent time in Prague).
The legends of the Golem and Faust come from that time, too.
Second Prague Defenestration (23th May 1618) |
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Two vice-regents of the Austrian
monarch - Jaroslav Borita of Martinic and Vilem Slavata - and the
scribe Fabricius were thrown out of a tower window at Prague Castle
by members of non-catholic Czech Estates. They did not die, however,
because they fell onto a pile of garbage which had accumulated in the castle
moat. With this defenastration the uprising of Czech Estates began, which later developed into the Thirty Years War. |
The Battle of White Mountain (8th November 1620) In this battle Czech protestant nobles were severely defeated by the Hapsburg army. Twenty seven leaders of the rebellion were executed on the Old Town Square in May 1621 and all religions except Catholic were banned and the Czech language and national consciousness were suppressed for the next 150 years.
(Other events will follow soon.) |
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