120-487: Kukal is a Czech and Slavic surname: This Czech history –related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This surname -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . History of the Czech lands The history of the Czech lands – an area roughly corresponding to the present-day Czech Republic – starts approximately 800 years BCE. A simple chopper from that age
240-604: A common state, based on the right of a people to self-determination . After the capitulation of Austria-Hungary three years later, the Czechoslovak Republic became a reality. The so-called First Republic lasted for 20 years, cut short by the advent of the World War II . Following the end of World War II, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia took power in 1948, and Czechoslovakia became a member of
360-553: A difficult peace with the Hungarian rebels ( Peace of Vienna ) and the Ottomans ( Peace of Zsitvatorok ). Rudolf was angry with Matthias's concessions and saw them as giving away too much to further his hold on power. That made Rudolf prepare to start a new war against the Ottomans, but Matthias rallied support from the disaffected Hungarians and forced Rudolf to cede the crowns of Hungary, Austria and Moravia to him. Meanwhile,
480-613: A major cultural hub of Europe during his reign. He was a reclusive ruler who preferred his hobbies to the daily affairs of the state. In 1605 Rudolf II was forced by his other family members to cede the rule of Hungary to his younger brother Archduke Matthias following the Bocskai Uprising after the Long Turkish War . The differences of opinions between the two brothers ultimately resulted in Rudolf's imprisonment at
600-501: A menagerie of exotic animals, botanical gardens, and Europe's most extensive " cabinet of curiosities " ( Kunstkammer ) incorporating "the three kingdoms of nature and the works of man". It was housed at Prague Castle , where between 1587 and 1605 he built the northern wing to house his growing collections. A lion and a tiger were allowed to roam the castle, as is documented by the account books, which record compensation paid to survivors of attacks or to family members of victims. Rudolf
720-440: A new crusade , he started a long and indecisive war against the Ottomans in 1593. The war lasted until 1606 and is known as the " Long Turkish War ". By 1604, his Hungarian subjects were exhausted by the war and revolted, led by Stephen Bocskai ( Bocskai uprising ). In 1605, Rudolf was forced by his other family members to cede control of Hungarian affairs to his younger brother Archduke Matthias . By 1606, Matthias had forged
840-458: A new democratic republic of Czechoslovakia took its place. The republic of Czechoslovakia was declared in October 1918. It was a democratic presidential republic. In 1920, its defined territory was not inhabited only by Czechs and Slovaks, it contained significant populations of other nationalities: Germans (22.95%), Hungarians (5.47%) and Ruthenians (3.39%). The Great Depression starting at
960-688: A new document confirming religious freedoms – replacing the older Compacts of Basel , that did not take non- Utraquist Protestants into account. He also showed his religious tolerance by reaffirming the Statuta Judaeorum – a document providing legal protection for the Jews in the Lands of the Bohemian Crown. His son Rudolf II succeeded him in 1576 and in 1583 he moved the royal court to Prague. Thanks to Rudolf's patronage of art, Prague became
1080-486: A prize in a string of diplomatic negotiations for marriages but never in fact married. Rudolf was known to have had a succession of affairs with women, some of whom claimed to have been impregnated by him. He had several illegitimate children by his mistress Catherina Strada . Their eldest son, Don Julius Caesar d'Austria , was likely born between 1584 and 1586 and received an education and opportunities for political and social prominence from his father. Another famous child
1200-542: A rapid urbanization. Population in centers of industry doubled or tripled within a few decades. At the start of the 20th century, Austria's unilateral annexation of Bosnia in 1908 caused the Bosnian Crisis and prompted the eventual assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria , sparking the World War I in 1914. Many of the Czech nationalists saw the war as an opportunity for gaining full independence from
1320-574: A rebellion in Hungary, aged only seventeen. Many of his contemporaries suspected he was poisoned, but modern examinations of his skeleton proved he died of acute leukemia . With his death the Albertinian Line of the House of Habsburg ended. In 1458, the estates of Bohemia elected George of Poděbrady as the new King of Bohemia. He had a difficult role trying to maintain a fragile peace between
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#17327723312041440-658: A saint by the Catholic Church) ruled from 921 and had to submit to the Saxon king Henry I in order to maintain his ducal authority. He was murdered by his younger brother Boleslaus I . Boleslaus I expanded the Duchy of Bohemia eastwards conquering the lands of Moravia and Silesia and areas around Kraków . He stopped paying tribute to the Saxon king igniting a war which he lost and was forced to recognize Saxon suzerainty over
1560-523: A trial. Similar letters patents were published in other territories under his rule and led to mass killings of Romani people. After Joseph I's premature death in 1711, the Austrian throne went to his younger brother Charles VI . Charles VI had no male heirs and with the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 he ensured that all the titles held by him could be inherited by a woman. Charles VI sought
1680-489: A wide variety of personal hobbies such as horses, clocks, collecting rarities, and being a patron of the arts. He suffered from periodic bouts of " melancholy " (depression), which was common in the Habsburg line. These became worse with age and were manifested by a withdrawal from the world and its affairs into his private interests. Like Elizabeth I of England , whose birth was 19 years before his, Rudolf dangled himself as
1800-596: Is the Venus of Petřkovice , found in what is today Ostrava. Remains of mammoth hunters from 22,000 BCE were also found in the aforementioned Kůlna Cave along with the remains of reindeer hunters and horse hunters, dated to about 10,000 years later. Approximately between 5500 and 4500 BCE, people of the Linear Pottery culture resided in Czech lands. Their settlement was discovered in Bylany near Kutná hora. Their culture
1920-644: The Bohemian–Hungarian War . After the king George's death, the war was continued by Vladislaus II from the House of Jagiellon , who was offered the throne of Bohemia by George of Poděbrady himself. After ten years of fighting, the Bohemian-Hungarian War finally ended by signing of the Peace of Olomouc in 1479, in which Moravia , Silesia and Lusatia were ceded to Matthias Corvinus for
2040-638: The Catholic side and the Hussite side, for which he earned the nickname King of two peoples . Despite his efforts, he ultimately did not succeed and in 1465, the catholic nobles formed the Unity of Green Mountain and challenged his rule. A year after, he was excommunicated by the new Pope Paul II , which gave a justification for the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus to invade the Czech Lands and start
2160-574: The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia seized power in a coup d'état. Klement Gottwald became the first communist president. He nationalized the country's industry and collectivized its farms to form Sovkhozs inspired by the Soviet model. Czechoslovakia thus became a part of the Eastern Bloc . Attempts at a reformation of the political system during the Prague Spring of 1968 were ended by
2280-674: The Eastern Bloc . In August 1968, armies of the Warsaw Pact invaded Czechoslovakia to prevent further attempts at the reformation of the Communist system. In November 1989, the Velvet Revolution replaced the Communist regime with a democratic Czech and Slovak Federative Republic . Three years later, Czech and Slovak representatives agreed to the Dissolution of Czechoslovakia and the formation of separate states. In 1999,
2400-531: The House of Habsburg , who died shortly after. The claim to the Lands of the Bohemian Crown was passed to his unborn son Ladislaus , who gained the nickname Posthumous . He was raised at the court of his distant relative Emperor Frederick III . Although he was crowned the King of Bohemia in 1453, his regent George of Poděbrady continued to effectively rule Bohemia in his stead. Ladislaus died in Prague after fleeing
2520-549: The Hussite Wars . The religious military conflicts stopped in 1434 with the battle Battle of Lipany , but the religious tensions continued on. Although Sigismund became the titular King of Bohemia after Wenceslaus IV's death in 1419, it was not until 1436 that he was recognized by the Czech Estates and he died a year after. After Sigismunds's death the title of the King of Bohemia went to his son-in-law Albert from
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#17327723312042640-691: The Jesuit Order to Prague in 1556. From 1599 to 1711, Moravia (a Land of the Bohemian Crown ) was frequently subjected to raids by the Ottoman Empire and its vassals (especially the Tatars and Transylvania ). Overall, hundreds of thousands were enslaved whilst tens of thousands were killed. Maximilian II succeeded Ferdinand I in 1562 and – like his father – ruled from Vienna. He approved Czech Confession ( Confessio Bohemica in Latin) –
2760-501: The Kunstkammer and in 1609 published Gemmarum et Lapidum , the finest gemological treatise and encyclopedia ever written for this time. As was customary at the time, the collection was private, but friends of the emperor, artists and professional scholars were allowed to study it. The collection became an invaluable research tool during the flowering of 17th-century European philosophy . Rudolf's successors did not appreciate
2880-564: The Letter of Majesty – a document granting religious freedoms, signed by Rudolf II. eight years earlier. Ferdinand II did not share the religious benevolence of his predecessors. A year after he was crowned, he prohibited the construction of Protestant ecclesial buildings on royal land. That led to protests among the Protestant nobility – who saw it as a violation of the Letter of Majesty – and
3000-752: The Magyar invasion at the start of the 10th century. A new state formed around the tribe of Premyslids , who founded the Duchy of Bohemia. The duchy existed largely within the sphere of influence of the East Franconia and later the Holy Roman Empire . The duchy sided with the Roman Catholic Church during the East-West Schism and in 1212, the duke Ottokar I was granted the hereditary title of king for his service to
3120-704: The Munich Treaty , stripping the Czechoslovakia of its borderlands, leaving it indefensible. After giving up Sudetenland , the Second Czechoslovak Republic lasted only half-a-year before its full dismemberment before the start of World War II. The Slovak Republic declared its independence from Czechoslovakia and became Germany's client state , while two days later the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
3240-779: The Orléans Collection after the death of Christina of Sweden . In 1782, the remainder of the collection was sold piecemeal to private parties by Joseph II . One of the surviving items from the Kunstkammer is a "fine chair" that was looted by the Swedes in 1648 and now owned by the Earl of Radnor at Longford Castle in England, and others survive in museums. Astrology and alchemy were regarded as mainstream scientific fields in Renaissance Prague , and Rudolf
3360-807: The Peace of Pressburg , Francis I lost many of his territories and soon after, the Holy Roman Empire dissolved, replaced by the Confederation of the Rhine . Following the end of Napoleonic Wars , the Congress of Vienna reinstated the Austrian Empire as one of the Great Powers of Europe in 1815. Francis I was a proponent of conservatism and his policies suppressed all of the emerging liberal and nationalist movements in his Empire. He
3480-563: The Prague Castle and all effective power was given into the hands of Matthias. After Rudolf II's death in 1612 the royal court moved back to Vienna. Matthias did not have any children – same as his brother Rudolf – and he died six years later, aged 62. He was succeeded by his cousin Ferdinand II , Archduke of Austria. The Diets of Bohemia confirmed Ferdinand's position as Matthias' successor only after he had promised to respect
3600-634: The Roman Empire were left in south Moravia. After the turbulent times of the Migration Period , the Czech lands were ultimately settled by the Slavic tribes. The year of 623 marks the formation of the first known state in the Czech lands, when Samo united the local Slavic tribes, defended their lands from the Avars to the east and – few years later – won the battle of Wogastisburg against
3720-645: The Schmalkaldic War , they did so very reluctantly. The next year the Czech estates refused to gather an army again and rebelled, for which they were punished after the Schmalkaldic League decisively lost the Battle of Mühlberg . As a result, Ferdinand I managed to strengthen his position in the Land of the Bohemian Crown, limit city privileges and begin the process of recatholicization by inviting
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3840-697: The Second Defenestration of Prague in 1618, which sparked the conflict that would become the Thirty Years' War . The revolting Bohemian estates then chose Frederick V of Palatinate as their new king and gathered an army in preparation of war. They were joined by Lutheran nobility in Austria. Ferdinand II asked his Spanish relative Philip III for help. Spanish army in the Netherlands made sure forces of Protestant Union could not join
3960-608: The Thirty Years' War ; a great and influential patron of Northern Mannerist art; and an intellectual devotee of occult arts and learning which helped seed what would be called the Scientific Revolution . Determined to unify Christendom , he initiated the Long Turkish War (1593–1606) with the Ottoman Empire . Exhausted by war, his citizens in Hungary revolted in the Bocskai Uprising , which led to more authority given to his brother Matthias . Under his reign, there
4080-523: The Ukrainian SSR . Oblast of Ukraine . Rudolf II of Habsburg Rudolf II (18 July 1552 – 20 January 1612) was Holy Roman Emperor (1576–1612), King of Hungary and Croatia (as Rudolf I , 1572–1608), King of Bohemia (1575–1608/1611) and Archduke of Austria (1576–1608). He was a member of the House of Habsburg . Rudolf's legacy has traditionally been viewed in three ways: an ineffectual ruler whose mistakes led directly to
4200-403: The 15th century saw the rise of Proto-Protestantic sentiments in the Czech lands. The execution of Jan Hus sparked the Hussite Wars and the religious split that followed them. The Jagiellon dynasty ascended the Czech throne in 1471. They ruled for half a century before the king Louis Jagiellon died in the Battle of Mohács and the empty throne was given to the House of Habsburg . After
4320-619: The 1920 constitution . Annexed by Nazi Germany . ČSR; included the autonomous regions of Slovakia and Subcarpathian Ruthenia. Annexed by Hungary (1939–1945). ČSR; declared a "people's democracy" (without a formal name change) under the Ninth-of-May Constitution following the 1948 coup . ČSSR; from 1969, after the Prague Spring , consisted of the Czech Socialist Republic (ČSR) and Slovak Socialist Republic (SSR). Oblast of
4440-567: The 19th century, the nationalist tendencies and movements in the Czech lands known as the Czech National Revival slowly grew, led by activists such as linguists Josef Dobrovský and Josef Jungmann , historian and politician František Palacký or writer Božena Němcová and journalist Karel Havlíček Borovský . The efforts of the Czech National Revival first peaked during the revolutions of 1848 . Ferdinand I
4560-672: The Austria-Hungary. Desertion among the Czech conscripts was commonplace and Czechoslovak Legions were formed to fight for the side of Entente Powers . In the Cleveland Agreement of 1915 , the Czech and Slovak representatives declared their goal of creating a common state, based on the right of a people to self-determination . When the World War I ended in 1918, the Kingdom of Bohemia officially ceased to exist and
4680-520: The Bohemian Protestants demanded greater religious liberty, which Rudolf granted in the Letter of Majesty in 1609. Bohemians continued to press for further freedoms, and Rudolf used his army to repress them. Bohemian Protestants then appealed to Matthias for help. His army held Rudolf prisoner in his castle in Prague until 1611, when Rudolf ceded the crown of Bohemia, as well, to his brother. Rudolf died in 1612, nine months after he had been stripped of all effective power by his younger brother, except
4800-458: The Catholic religion. Because of her marriage to Francis Stephen of Lorraine , all of her children were considered to be members of a new joint House of Habsburg-Lorraine . After the death of Maria Theresa's husband in 1765, her son Joseph II started to rule with her as a co-ruler and since 1780 as the sole ruler. He enforced many reforms, among the most notable are the abolition of serfdom , Patent of Toleration expanding religious freedom and
4920-401: The Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. The official start of the current Czech Republic was set on 1 January 1993. The Czech Republic became a member of NATO in 12 March 1999, and the European Union in 1 May 2004. Lists: [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] ČSR; boundaries and government established by
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5040-436: The Czech Republic joined Nato and in 2004, became a member of the European Union . A simple chopper – left by the ancestors of the present-day Homo Sapiens – dated to 800,000 BCE was uncovered in Red Hill in Brno. First evidence of human camps was found in Přezletice near Prague and in Stránská skála near Brno which dates to about 200,000 years after that. Stone tools were found in the Kůlna Cave in central Moravia, with
5160-419: The Czech lands remained firmly under the control of Austria. The newly formed Real union of Austria-Hungary lasted for the next half-a-century. The policies suppressing the National Revival in the Czech lands under the Austrian government continued, as well as the suppression of the Slovak National Revival under the Hungarian government. The end of the 19th century also was a time of a demographic boom and
5280-438: The Duchy of Bohemia. The Bishopric of Prague was founded in 973 during the reign of his son Boleslaus II . The bishopric was subordinated to the Archbishopric of Mainz . In 1002, during the reign of the duke Vladivoj , the Duchy of Bohemia formally became a part of the Holy Roman Empire . After a period of dynastic infighting, Oldřich took power. His son Břetislav I led many ambitious conquests and later revolted against
5400-443: The Franks invading the Czech lands from the west. The next state appearing in the Czech lands after the dissolution of the Samo's state was probably the Great Moravia . The center of its power lay in the area of Moravia and present-day western Slovakia. In 863, Cyril and Methodius , two scholars from Greece, brought Christianity to the Great Moravia and established the first Slavic script – Glagolitsa . The Great Moravia fell during
5520-400: The Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II . The Přemyslid dynasty died out at the start of the 14th century and was replaced by the Luxembourg dynasty . The most notable of the Luxembourg rulers was Charles IV, who was elected the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. He established the Archbishopric of Prague and Charles University , the first university north of the Alps and east of Paris. The start of
5640-440: The Holy Roman Emperor Henry III hoping to gain a full autonomy for the Duchy of Bohemia. Despite the initial success in Battle at Brůdek , he could not withstand the second invasion of the imperial army and ultimately had to renounce all of his conquests save for Moravia and recognize Henry III as his sovereign. After Břetislav's death, the infighting among Přemyslids continued – a consequence of seniority inheritance laws . Among
5760-414: The King of Bohemia. The first Czech Industrial Exhibition was prepared in honor of his visit in Clementinum and the Czech Estates commissioned an opera from Mozart for the occasion. Leopold II was succeeded by Francis I , the first-born of his 12 sons. In 1805, Napoleon 's army attacked Austria and defeated the Austrian and Russian army in the decisive Battle of Austerlitz in south Moravia. In
5880-434: The King of Hungary. Four years later, Wenceslaus II died – only 33 years old – probably of tuberculosis . Wenceslaus III abandoned his claim to the Hungarian throne, seeing that his rule was only nominal. Władysław the Elbow-high challenged Wenceslaus III's rule in Poland and conquered Krakow in 1306. Before Wenceslaus III could start his retaliation campaign, he was murdered in Olomouc by unknown assassins. Wenceslaus III
6000-426: The King of Hungary. In 1400, Wenceslaus IV was deposed as the Holy Roman Emperor, mainly due to his failure to address the Papal Schism . Two years later, Wenceslaus IV was briefly imprisoned again, this time by his brother Sigismund, who looted Moravia. After the death of Rupert – who had replaced Wenceslaus as the King of Romans – Wenceslaus IV competed with his brother Sigismund and his cousin Jobst of Moravia for
6120-420: The Lands of the Bohemian Crown were inherited by Ferdinand I from the House of Habsburg, as was agreed during the First Congress of Vienna. After the Battle of Mohács, the Ottomans were unsuccessful in their Siege of Vienna in 1529 and Ferdinand I managed to sign the Treaty of Constantinopole , postponing the Ottoman expansion attempts. Ferdinand and his brother Charles V – who was the Holy Roman Emperor at
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#17327723312046240-410: The Marcomanni tribe during the first two centuries CE. Germanic towns are described on the Map of Ptolemaios from the 2nd century, e.g. Coridorgis for Jihlava. The following centuries of what is known as the Great Migration once again changed the ethnic composition of the Czech Lands. In the 6th century, Slavic tribes, displaced by Langobard and Thuringian tribes began to move into the Czech Lands from
6360-481: The Rudolfine Kunstkammer was systematically arranged in an encyclopaedic fashion. In addition, Rudolf employed his court gemologist and physician Anselmus Boetius de Boodt (1550–1632), to curate the collection. Anselmus was an avid mineral collector and travelled widely on collecting trips to the mining regions of Germany, Bohemia and Silesia , often accompanied by his Bohemian naturalist friend, Thaddaeus Hagecius . Between 1607 and 1611, Anselmus catalogued
6480-419: The Slavs to defeat the Avars. Thus the Slavs adopted Samo as their ruler. Later Samo and the Slavs came into conflict with the Frankish empire whose ruler Dagobert I wanted to extend his rule to the east. That led to the Battle of Wogastisburg in 631, in which the newly established Realm of Samo successfully defended its autonomy. The realm disintegrated after Samo's death. The realm of Great Moravia probably
6600-443: The arts and occult sciences as a triumph and key part of the Renaissance, and his political failures are seen as a legitimate attempt to create a unified Christian empire that was undermined by the realities of religious, political and intellectual disintegrations of the time. Although raised in his uncle's Catholic court in Spain, Rudolf was tolerant of Protestantism and other religions including Judaism . The tolerant policy by
6720-419: The best craftsmen in Europe. He patronized natural philosophers such as the botanist Charles de l'Ecluse , and the astronomers Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler both attended his court. Tycho, who had spent much of his life making observations of stars and planets that were more accurate than any previous observations, directed Kepler to work on the planet Mars. In doing so, Kepler found that in order to fit
6840-465: The best scientific instrument makers of the time, such as Jost Bürgi , Erasmus Habermel and Hans Christoph Schissler . They had direct contact with the court astronomers and through the financial support of the court were economically independent to develop scientific instruments and manufacturing techniques. The poet Elizabeth Jane Weston , a writer of Renaissance Latin poetry, was also part of his court and wrote numerous odes to him. Rudolf kept
6960-444: The collection was moved to the dedicated Kunstkammer . Naturalia ( minerals and gemstones ) were arranged in a 37-cabinet display that had three vaulted chambers in front, each about 5.5 m wide by 3 m high and 60 m long, connected to a main chamber 33 m long. Large uncut gemstones were held in strong boxes. Apart from the fantastic nature of the objects, it is also the aesthetics of their arrangement and presentation which attracts
7080-401: The collection, and the Kunstkammer gradually fell into disarray. Some 50 years after its establishment, most of the collection was packed into wooden crates and moved to Vienna. The collection remaining at Prague was looted during the last year of the Thirty Years' War by Swedish troops who sacked Prague Castle on 26 July 1648 and took the best of the paintings, many of which later passed to
7200-441: The court of his maternal uncle Philip II , together with his younger brother Ernest , future governor of the Low Countries . After his return to Vienna, his father was concerned about Rudolf's aloof and stiff manner, typical of the more conservative Spanish court, rather than the more relaxed and open Austrian court; but his Spanish mother saw in him courtliness and refinement. In the years following his return to Vienna, Rudolf
7320-446: The daughter of a local barber, who had been living in the castle, and then disfigured her body. Rudolf condemned his son's act and suggested that he should be imprisoned for the rest of his life. However, Julius died in 1609 after he had shown signs of schizophrenia , refused to bathe and lived in squalor. His death was apparently caused by an ulcer that ruptured. Many artworks commissioned by Rudolf are unusually erotic. The emperor
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#17327723312047440-434: The death of the Emperor Rudolf II of Habsburg , the religious and political tensions grew, resulting in the Second Defenestration of Prague , which sparked the Thirty Years' War . Many of the Czech nobles supported the Protestant side and were stripped of their properties as a result. Germanization and recatholicisation of the Czech lands followed. The spread of Romanticism during the late 18th century went hand in hand with
7560-433: The disciples of Methodius after their teacher's death. During his reign, Great Moravia's sphere of influence reached its peak. After his death, the realm was split among his sons and soon after fell to ruin due to infighting and constant Magyar raids during the start of the 10th century. Bořivoj from Levý Hradec was the first known member of the Přemyslid dynasty. In 880, he moved his residence to Prague Castle, which laid
7680-466: The dissolution of all monastic orders not involved in education, healthcare or science. As part of his centralization efforts, he also pressed for the expansion of German language to all territories under his rule. Both of his wives died relatively young of smallpox and because he had no sons, he was succeeded by his younger brother Leopold II . Although Leopold II only ruled for two years, he spent several weeks in Prague in 1791 and he let himself be crowned
7800-400: The east. They fought with neighboring Avars – Turko-Tartar nomads – who seized the Pannonia and frequently raided the Slavic lands and even the Frankish Empire. In 623 – according to the Chronicle of Fredegar – the Slavic tribes revolted against the oppression of the Avars. During this time, the Frankish merchant Samo allegedly came to the Czech lands with his entourage and joined with
7920-407: The empire towards the Jews would see Jewish cultural life flourishing, and their population increased under Rudolf's reign. He largely withdrew from Catholic observances and even in death refused the last sacramental rites. He had little attachment to Protestants either, except as a counter-weight to papal policies. He put his primary support behind conciliarists , irenicists and humanists . When
8040-450: The empty title of Holy Roman Emperor, to which Matthias was elected five months later. In May 1618 with the event known as the Defenestration of Prague , the Protestant Bohemians, in defence of the rights granted them in the Letter of Majesty , threw imperial officials out of the window and thus the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) started. Rudolf moved the Habsburg capital from Vienna to Prague in 1583. Rudolf loved collecting paintings and
8160-422: The end of 1920's together with the rise of the National Socialist Party in neighbouring Germany during the 1930s caused increasing tensions between the different nationalist groups in Czechoslovakia. In foreign relations the newly established republic relied heavily on its western allies of Great Britain and France. That proved to be a mistake as in 1938, both allied countries agreed to Hitler's demands and co-signed
8280-481: The estimated age of 120,000 years. More stone tools and the skeletal remains of a Neanderthal man were found at the same site in a 50,000-year-old layer. Human remains from 45,000 years ago were found in Koněprusy Caves in Zlatý kůň at Beroun District . Human remains from 30,000 years BCE were found in Mladeč caves mammoth tusks with complex engravings (again around 30,000 BCE) were found both in Pavlov and Předmostí at Přerov , making south Moravia one of
8400-442: The first university north of Alps and east of Paris. He also legally established the Lands of the Bohemian Crown ( Corona regni Bohemiae in Latin), meaning the core territories no longer belonged to a king or a dynasty but to the Bohemian monarchy (crown) itself. In 1355, Charles IV travelled to Rome where he was crowned the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. He ruled as the Holy Roman Emperor for over 20 years and managed to secure
8520-455: The foundation of the city of Prague that emerged centuries later. He was a vassal to the kings of Great Moravia and was baptised during the christanisation of Great Moravia by St. Cyril and St. Methodius. His son Spytihněv I together with the head of another major Bohemian tribe Witizla used the collapse of Great Moravia and in 895 swore allegiance to the East Frankish king Arnulf of Carinthia . Spytihněv's nephew Wenceslaus (later proclaimed
8640-496: The increased corvée occurred, but all in vain. In 1705, Leopold I's rule ended and his son Joseph I succeeded him. Joseph I planned to enact many administrative reforms, most of which he did not get the chance to finish, due to his premature death of smallpox . One year before his death he issued letters patent ordering that all Romani people in the Lands of the Bohemian Crown had one of their ears cut off. If they returned after being expelled, all Romani men were to be hanged without
8760-554: The invasion of armies of the Warsaw Pact . The Czechoslovakia remained under the rule of the Communist Party until the Velvet Revolution of 1989. One of the leaders of the dissent , Václav Havel became the first president of the democratic Czechoslovakia. Slovakia's demands for sovereignty were fulfilled at the end of 1992, when the representatives of Czechs and Slovaks agreed to split the Czechoslovakia into
8880-668: The king of Poland, was murdered and Wenceslaus II gained the Polish crown for himself. At the end of the 13th century, huge deposits of silver were found in Kutná Hora , which allowed him to start issuing vast amounts of silver coins called Prague groschen . In 1301, another neighbouring monarch died – Andrew III of Hungary , the last male member of the Árpád dynasty . Wenceslaus II married his son Wenceslaus III to Andrew III's only daughter and had him crowned in Székesfehérvár as
9000-429: The king of both Hungary and Bohemia. In 1521 he refused to pay the agreed annual tribute to the new Ottoman sultan, Süleyman I and executed his ambassadors. War ensued, Belgrade fell to Ottoman hands the same year. In 1526, Louis II led his forces against Suleiman I in the Battle of Mohács , which ended with a decisive defeat of the Hungarian army and Louis II drowned during his attempted retreat. He left no heirs and so
9120-490: The lands he had acquired south of Bohemia. Ottokar refused and waged two wars against the emperor which ended with his death at the battlefield of Marchfeld in 1278. The crown was passed to his 6-year-old son Wenceslaus II. Otto V, Margrave of Brandenburg ruled as a regent in his stead, later replaced by Záviš of Falkenstein , who married Ottokar II's widow. In 1290, Wenceslaus II had Záviš beheaded for alleged treason and began ruling independently. Year later, Przemysł II ,
9240-576: The lands of the Boii. The Dacian occupation primarily affected modern-day Slovakia but also held sway over regions of present-day Czech Republic and Pannonia . Following Burebista's demise in 44 BC, his empire crumbled, liberating the lands of the Boii from Dacian rule. Traces of Roman army camps were found in south Moravia, most notably near Mušov . The winter camp in Mušov was built to house approximately 20,000 soldiers. The Romans were repeatedly at war with
9360-569: The language composition of the Czech Lands. His son Wenceslaus I had to deal with the Mongol invasion of Europe at the start of 1240s. He managed to defend Bohemia, but Moravian lands were heavily plundered. When the Duke of Austria Frederick II died in 1246 without male heirs, Wenceslaus I tried to secure the Austrian lands by marrying his eldest son Vladislaus to Frederick's niece Gertrude . This plan failed because of Vladislaus's premature death in
9480-697: The loss of Silesia, which became a part of Prussia . That was the ended the unity of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown. In 1757 during the Seven Years' War , the Prussians invaded Bohemia again and laid siege to Prague, but subsequently lost the Battle of Kolín and were repelled. Maria Theresa was not able to regain Silesia and the war ended in a draw. She tried to follow the ideas of Enlightenment , she established compulsory secular primary schools, but also state censorship of books that were deemed to be against
9600-730: The more notable rulers belong ( Vratislaus II and Vladislaus ) who were awarded lifetime titles of kings by the Holy Roman Emperors for their services. In 1212 Ottokar I was granted a hereditary title of the King of Bohemia by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II . Thus began the Kingdom of Bohemia , which lasted de iure until the end of World War I. His reign marked the start of the German eastward colonization , which over time significantly altered
9720-646: The most important archeological areas in Europe. The archeological site in Předmostí at Přerov represents the largest accumulation of human remains of the Gravettian culture, known for creating so-called Venus figurines . One of such figurines is the famous Venus of Dolní Věstonice (29,000–25,000 BCE) found in Dolní Věstonice in south Moravia along with many other artifacts from that time. Another Venus figurine
9840-585: The most impressive in the Europe of his day and the greatest collection of Northern Mannerist art ever to be assembled. The adjective Rudolfine, as in "Rudolfine Mannerism" is often used in art history to describe the style of the art that he patronised. His love of collecting went far beyond paintings and sculptures. He commissioned decorative objects of all kinds and in particular mechanical moving devices. Ceremonial swords and musical instruments, clocks, waterworks, astrolabes, compasses, telescopes and other scientific instruments were all produced for him by some of
9960-513: The movement of the Czech National Revival . After 1848, the leading representatives of the Czech National Revival increased their political efforts to gain more autonomy for the Czech lands within the Habsburg Monarchy. The start of World War I opened the possibility of gaining full independence and formation of a sovereign state. In the Cleveland Agreement of 1915, the Czech and Slovak representatives declared their goal of creating
10080-704: The nickname John the Blind. A year later he took the side of King Philip VI of France in the Hundred Years' War and died in 1346 in the Battle of Crécy . His eldest son, Charles IV succeeded him on the Bohemian throne. Earlier in 1346, the Pope Clement VI declared the Emperor Louis IV a heretic and demanded a new Imperial election . Charles IV was the pope's preferred candidate and he
10200-512: The observations to the required accuracy, it was necessary to assume that each planet orbits the sun in an ellipse with the sun at one focus, sweeping out equal areas in equal times. Thus were born two of Kepler's laws of planetary motion . It was Rudolf's patronage of the two astronomers that made this possible, as Kepler recognized when he eventually published the Rudolphine Tables . As mentioned earlier, Rudolf also attracted some of
10320-450: The other European powers' approval, which he gained in exchange for various concessions. Regardless, after her father's death, Maria Theresa had to defend her inheritance from the coalition of Prussia, Bavaria, France, Spain, Saxony and Poland in the War of Austrian Succession , that broke out mere weeks after her coronation in 1740. She ultimately managed to defend her title, but paid for it with
10440-533: The papacy instigated the Counter-Reformation by using agents sent to his court, Rudolf backed those who he thought were the most neutral in the debate, were not taking a side or trying to effect restraint. That led to political chaos and threatened to provoke civil war. His conflict with the Ottoman Empire was the final cause of his undoing. Unwilling to compromise with the Ottomans and stubbornly determined that he could unify all of Christendom with
10560-452: The rest of his life and both monarchs were allowed to use the title of King of Bohemia. In 1485, Vladislaus II confirmed right of all Bohemian noblemen and commoners to freely adhere either to Hussitism or Catholicism in the Peace of Kutná Hora . After Matthias Corvinus died in 1490, Vladislaus II was elected the King of Hungary and gained all the territories he ceded 30 years earlier. From then on he ruled from Buda . Although Vladislaus II
10680-402: The revolt happening in the Lands of the Bohemian Crown and in Austria. After dealing with the Austrian rebels, Ferdinand II decisively defeated Frederick V at the Battle of White Mountain , near Prague. Widespread confiscation of property followed, which was then sold to loyal nobles, often of foreign origin. Ferdinand II also had the 27 leaders of the revolt publicly beheaded and strengthened
10800-527: The royal power over the estates. The Lands of the Bohemian Crown and especially Silesia were some of the territories that were hit the hardest by the devastating Thirty Years' War. The war continued even after Ferdinand II's death during the reign of Ferdinand III . In 1648, the Thirty Years' War finally ended with the Peace of Westphalia . Ferdinand III continued the recatholicization and centralization policies of his father. After his death in 1657, he
10920-627: The same time – had to deal with not only the Ottoman threat, but also with the Schmalkaldic League which formed in 1531 to advance the interests of Lutheran states in the Holy Roman Empire. Largely Protestant Czech nobility had a favorable view of the Schmalkaldic League's goals and so when in 1546 Ferdinand I ordered the Czech estates to raise their army and march against the Protestant Electorate of Saxony as part of
11040-759: The start of the Bronze Age . Celts – who came during the 5th century BCE – are the first people known by name. One of the Celtic tribes were the Boii (plural), who gave the Czech lands their first name Boiohaemum – Latin for the Land of Boii . Before the beginning of the Common Era the Celts were mostly pushed out by Germanic tribes. The most notable of those tribes were the Marcomanni and traces of their wars with
11160-586: The start of the Bronze Age, Únětice culture appeared. This culture got its name from a village near Prague, where the first discovery was made in the 1870s. Many of their burial mounds were uncovered, mostly in central Bohemia. It was followed by the Middle Bronze Age Tumulus culture from around 1600 BC. The Urnfield culture is blanket term for various Late Bronze Age cultures dating from c. 1300-800 BC who cremated their dead and buried
11280-584: The start of the Iron Age. The most prominent tribe in Bohemia were the Boii (plural), who gave the area the name of Boiohaemia (Latin for the land of Boii ), which later turned into Bohemia. Before the start of the 1st century CE, they were pushed out by various Germanic tribes ( Marcomanni , Quadi , Lombards ). Around 60 to 50 BC, the Dacian king Burebista established an empire that extended its reach into
11400-415: The title of the King of Romans for his eldest son Wenceslaus IV . Wenceslaus IV did not share the governance abilities of his father. In 1393, the torture and murder John of Nepomuk – vicar-general of the archbishop Jan of Jenštejn – sparked a noble rebellion. He was imprisoned for two years at Králův Dvůr and was only released after an intervention from his younger brother Sigismund , who had become
11520-587: The title of the King of Romans. He ultimately surrendered the title to Sigismund in exchange for keeping Bohemia. In 1414, Sigismund called the Council of Constance , which finally resolved the Papal Schism. It also condemned the teaching of Jan Hus , rector of the University of Prague and a popular church reformist. After Jan Hus refused to retract his teachings, he was burnt alive at stake, which prompted
11640-627: The urns with their ashes. The Hallstatt culture was the last culture of the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age. The key archeological site of the Hallstatt culture in the Czech Lands is the Býčí skála Cave , where a rare bronze statue of a bull was found. Many of these archeological sites were occupied by multiple cultures throughout the ancient times. The area was settled by the Celtic tribes at
11760-444: The visitor's attention. Without, however, there being a desire for purely scientific systematization on the part of the sovereign, it is necessary to detect the harmonious expression of the order of God and discern in the micro-macrocosm the analogy of a mimetic dependence on human arts towards nature and the world. Rudolf's Kunstkammer was not a typical "cabinet of curiosities", a haphazard collection of unrelated specimens. Rather,
11880-511: The year after. Wenceslaus I then decided for the invasion of Austria and he was successful. His successor, Ottokar II , continued the expansion of the realm. He gained more territory south of Austria and led two crusades against the pagan Old Prussians . He was hoping to gain the Imperial crown, but lost in the 1273 election to Rudolf of Habsburg , the first in a line of Habsburg emperors. Rudolf of Habsburg demanded that Ottokar II returns all of
12000-432: Was Caroline (1591–1662), Princess of Cantecroix, mother-in-law of Beatrice de Cusance , later Duchess of Lorraine as the second wife of Charles IV of Lorraine . During his periods of self-imposed isolation, Rudolf reportedly had affairs with his Obersthofmeister , Wolfgang Siegmund Rumpf vom Wullroß (1536–1606), and a series of valets . One of them, Philipp Lang von Langenfels (1560–1609), influenced him for years and
12120-425: Was a firm devotee of both. His lifelong quest was to find the philosopher's stone , and Rudolf spared no expense in bringing Europe's best alchemists to court, such as Edward Kelley and John Dee . Rudolf even performed his own experiments in a private alchemy laboratory. When Rudolf was a prince, Nostradamus prepared a horoscope , which was dedicated to him as 'Prince and King'. In the 1590s, Michael Sendivogius
12240-691: Was a policy of toleration towards Judaism . Rudolf was born in Vienna on 18 July 1552. He was the eldest son and successor of Maximilian II , Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia , and King of Hungary and Croatia ; his mother was the Spanish Princess Maria , a daughter of Charles V and Isabella of Portugal . He was the elder brother of Matthias who was to succeed him as King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor. Rudolf spent eight formative years, from age 11 to 19 (1563–1571), in Spain, at
12360-465: Was active at Rudolph's court. Rudolf gave Prague a mystical reputation that persists in part to this day, with Alchemists' Alley l, on the grounds of Prague Castle, being a popular visiting place and tourist attraction . Rudolf was a patron of the occult sciences. That and his practice of tolerance towards Jews caused during his reign the legend of the Golem of Prague to be established. Rudolf had
12480-528: Was also in his possessions. As was typical of the time, Rudolf II had a portrait painted in the studio of the renowned Alonso Sánchez Coello . Completed in 1567, the portrait depicted Rudolf II at the age of 15. This painting can be seen at the Lobkowicz Palace in the Rozmberk room. By 1597, the collection occupied three rooms of the incomplete northern wing. When building was completed in 1605,
12600-612: Was created by St. Cyril and St. Methodius , who arrived in Great Moravia in 863 from Thessaloniki in Byzantine Empire . They were invited by the king Rastislav who invited them to introduce literacy and a legal system to Great Moravia. His nephew and successor Svatopluk I 's diplomacy was oriented more towards Rome. Great Moravia was taken under the protection of the Holy See in 880 and six years after, he expelled
12720-540: Was crowned King of Hungary (1572), King of Bohemia and King of the Romans (1575) when his father was still alive. For the rest of his life, Rudolf would remain reserved, secretive, and largely a recluse who did not like to travel or even partake in the daily affairs of the state. He was more intrigued by occult learning such as astrology and alchemy , which was mainstream in the Renaissance period, and had
12840-669: Was crowned as the King of Romans in November 1346 in Bonn . Charles had been in charge of the administration of Czech Lands since 1333, due to his father's absence and health indisposition. Soon after his coronation as the King of Bohemia and the King of Romans, he settled in Prague and laid the foundations of the New Town expanding the capitol. In 1348 he founded the University of Prague ,
12960-618: Was discovered at the Red Hill ( Czech : Červený kopec ) archeological site in Brno . Many different primitive cultures left their traces throughout the Stone Age , which lasted approximately until 2000 BCE. The most widely known culture present in the Czech lands during the pre-historical era is the Únětice Culture , leaving traces for about five centuries from the end of the Stone Age to
13080-666: Was established in the area of today's Moravia and western Slovakia in the 830s. It saw the rise of the first ever Slavic literary culture in the Old Church Slavonic language and the creation of the Glagolitic alphabet , the first alphabet dedicated to a Slavic language. Glagolitic was later simplified into the Cyrillic alphabet that is today used in Russia and many countries in eastern Europe and central Asia. Glagolitic
13200-529: Was even alleged by one person to have owned the Voynich manuscript , a codex whose author and purpose, as well as the language and script and posited cipher remain unidentified to this day. According to hearsay passed on in a letter written by Johannes Marcus Marci in 1665, Rudolf was said to have acquired the manuscript at some unspecified time for 600 gold ducats . No evidence in support of this single piece of hearsay has ever been discovered. The Codex Gigas
13320-486: Was forced to abdicate and his successor was his young nephew Francis Joseph I . When he – after losing the war with Italy in 1859 – also lost the war with Prussia in 1866, the Hungarian representatives forced Francis Joseph I to end his absolutist rule over Hungary in the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 . The Czech representatives who hoped for a similar increase in autonomy were left out and
13440-614: Was hated by those seeking favours with the emperor. Rudolf succeeded his father, Maximilian II, on 12 October 1576. In 1583, he moved the court to Prague . In 1607, Rudolf sent Julius to live at Český Krumlov , in Bohemia , in what is now the Czech Republic , a castle that Rudolf had purchased from Peter Vok of Rosenberg , the last member of the House of Rosenberg , who had fallen into financial ruin. Julius lived at Český Krumlov in 1608, when he reportedly abused and murdered
13560-556: Was married three times, he only had two children late in his life: son Louis and daughter Anne . Vladislaus II's two children married two children of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I as a result of negotiations at the First Congress of Vienna , tying the House of Jagiellon and the House of Habsburg together. A year after that, in 1516, Vladislaus II died and his ten-year-old son Louis II became
13680-637: Was often reported to sit and stare in rapture at a new work for hours on end. He spared no expense in acquiring great past masterworks, such as those of Dürer and Brueghel . He was also patron to some of the best contemporary artists, who mainly produced new works in the Northern Mannerist style, such as Bartholomeus Spranger , Hans von Aachen , Giambologna , Giuseppe Arcimboldo , Aegidius Sadeler , Roelant Savery , Joris Hoefnagel and Adrian de Vries , as well as commissioning works from Italians like Paolo Veronese . Rudolf's collections were
13800-656: Was proclaimed. During the World War II – given the high level of industrialization of pre-war Czechoslovakia – the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia served as a major hub of military production for Germany. The oppression of ethnic Czechs increased after the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich by members of the Czech resistance in 1942. After Germany's defeat in 1945, the vast majority of ethnic Germans were forcefully deported from Czechoslovakia. In February 1948,
13920-603: Was succeeded by his only surviving son Leopold I . During the fourth Austro-Turkish War in 1663 the Turkish army invaded Moravia before being stopped in the Battle of Saint Gotthard . Leopold continued waging wars with Ottomans and France throughout his long rule. He increased corvée to three days a week which caused the Peasant Revolt of 1680 . The infamous Losiny Estate Witch Trials took place between 1678 and 1696 resulting in almost 100 dead. More protests against
14040-586: Was succeeded by the Lengyel culture , Funnelbeaker culture and Stroke-ornamented ware culture , which coexisted in the Czech Lands during the end of the Stone Age. Corded Ware culture in the north and Baden culture in the south were the predominant cultures in the Czech Lands throughout the Copper Age . The Bell Beaker culture represented the transition from the Copper Age to the Bronze Age . With
14160-530: Was the first of Austrian monarchs to widely utilize the secret police and he increased censorship. His son Ferdinand I became the Austrian Emperor after him. Because of his frequent seizures, he was not capable of ruling and the actual executive power was held by the Regent's Council. In 1836, one year after his succession, he was crowned the King of Bohemia under the name of Ferdinand V. Throughout
14280-667: Was the last male member of the main branch of Přemyslids. The Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII of the House of Luxembourg married his son John to Wenceslaus III's sister Elisabeth and secured for him the Bohemian throne. John of Luxembourg was raised in Paris, did not speak any Czech and was widely unpopular among the Czech nobility. John never stayed long in the Czech lands, he traveled all across Europe and took part in multiple military conflicts. While crusading in Lithuania in 1336, John lost his eyesight due to ophthalmia , which earned him
14400-518: Was the subject of a whispering campaign by his enemies in his family and the Catholic Church in the years before he was deposed. Sexual allegations may well have formed a part of the campaign against him. Historians have traditionally blamed Rudolf's preoccupation with the arts, occult sciences, and other personal interests for the political disasters of his reign. More recently historians have re-evaluated that view and see his patronage of
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