The earlier years of Rudolph’s reign were a period of peace and prosperity in Bohemia. His latter years were embittered by the treachery and perfidy of his ambitious younger brother Matthias. The real cause of the conflict was that Rudolph, who had no legitimate offspring, refused to make any arrangements as to the succession to the thrones of Bohemia and Hungary. It was as a mere pretext that Matthias brought forward the grievance that Rudolph had refused to sanction a treaty with Turkey that he had concluded in his brother’s name. Matthias occupied Moravia, and took possession of that country almost without resistance. He then entered Bohemia and advanced as far as Caslav. Rudolph, though reluctantly, summoned the Bohemian Estates to Prague on May 8, 1608. Though the usual ecclesiastical grievances were brought forward, it soon became evident that the Bohemians did not wish to abandon Rudolph in favour of his brother. The latter had meanwhile advanced as far as Liben,[33] where peace negotiations took place. A treaty was finally signed there by which Rudolph ceded Upper and Lower Austria and Moravia to his brother, but retained Bohemia for his lifetime. In the evening Matthias gave a large banquet in his camp; there were two tables, at each of which a hundred guests were seated. Many healths were drank, and a somewhat scandalous contemporary writer tells us that many of Rudolph’s envoys ‘only returned to Prague about midnight, and very intoxicated.’

Even the cession of almost all his possessions did not ensure Rudolph’s tranquillity during the remaining years of his life. Many nobles who had sided with him against his brother now again brought their demand of religious freedom before him. The leader of the Protestants was now Wenceslas of Budova, whose pious and somewhat Puritan character renders him one of the most interesting figures of the last years of Bohemian independence. When Rudolph had prorogued the Diet of 1609 the Estates continued their meetings in the town hall of the Nové Mesto. Budova, who presided, always began the deliberations by calling on all present to pray. All then knelt down and sang a hymn.

For a moment civil war seemed inevitable. Rudolph’s attitude, indeed, had at first been conciliatory. He has been credited by various historians with a religious fanaticism that was absolutely alien to his nature. Yet the Spanish ambassador, Zuniga, and Archduke Leopold, a kinsman of Rudolph’s and a brother of Archduke Ferdinand, afterwards King of Bohemia, succeeded in persuading the apathetic Sovereign to send a message to the Estates, in which he promised the Protestants the same amount of toleration which they had enjoyed under Ferdinand I.; he thus withdrew even the concessions that had been made to the Protestants by the more liberal-minded Maximilian. The Protestant Estates considered this message as a declaration of war; they decided to arm, and chose thirty ‘directors’—ten from each order—who established themselves at the town hall of the Staré Mesto, forming, as the historian Gindely says, a provisional government. Rudolph, however, finally gave way, and on July 9, 1609, signed the famed ‘Letter of Majesty.’ He recognised the ‘Confessio Bohemica,’[34] granted the Protestants the administration of the University, and empowered them to elect thirty ‘defenders’ from their number who were to act as guardians of the rights of the Protestants.

There is no doubt that Rudolph granted these extensive concessions reluctantly, and that he sought an opportunity for retracting them. He entered into negotiations with Archduke Leopold, who was then Bishop of Passau. Under the pretence of interfering in the religious troubles that had broken out in Germany, Leopold collected a considerable armed force, which in 1611 invaded Bohemia. Leopold, no doubt, wished to free Rudolph from the control of the Protestants, and probably hoped to obtain the Bohemian crown as a reward, to the exclusion of Matthias and of his own brother Ferdinand. The men of Passau soon occupied a large part of Southern Bohemia, marched rapidly on Prague, and encamped on the White Mountain, immediately outside the city walls. After scaling the walls of the Malá Strana they attacked the neighbouring Hradcany Castle, where Leopold was then residing as a guest of Rudolph. Desperate fighting in the Malá Strana took place between the men of Passau and a small force that the Bohemian Estates had hurriedly raised, and which was commanded by Count Thurn. The invaders succeeded in driving the Bohemians from the Malá Strana, but their attempt to obtain possession of the bridge, and thus to secure access to the old town, failed.

Leopold, who thought victory certain, now assumed the command of his troops, and summoned the old and new towns to surrender. This was declined, and as the army of the Estates received constant reinforcements, Leopold and his troops were obliged to leave Prague secretly on the night of March 11. Matthias had meanwhile arrived at Prague, and Rudolph was forced to abdicate in his favour. He did not long survive his deposition, but died on January 10, 1612.

During the brief reign of Matthias (1611-1619) the religious troubles in Bohemia continued and reached their climax in the famous defenestration of Prague. Matthias, like his brother, was childless, and the question of the succession to the Bohemian throne was therefore urgent. The Estates met at Prague in 1617, and through the influence of the Government officials, Archduke Ferdinand of Styria was accepted as heir to the throne. Only one of the officials, Count Thurn, burgrave of the Karlstyn, opposed the acceptation, and was therefore deprived of his office. The decision which assured the Bohemian crown to Ferdinand, a determined persecutor of the Protestants, necessarily hastened the progress of events. The Protestants knew that war to the knife awaited them; the only question was when hostilities should begin. The initiative finally, however, came from the Catholics. In direct violation of the agreements of 1609[35] the Romanist Archbishop of Prague caused the Protestant church at Hrob (or Klostergrab) to be destroyed, while the abbot of Broumov (Braunau) ordered the Protestant church in the town of that name, which was under his jurisdiction, to be closed.

The Protestant ‘defenders’ took immediate action. They summoned their Protestant Estates to a consultation, which began on March 6, 1618, in the Carolinum. Though King Matthias had forbidden the meeting, a large number of nobles and knights and a few townsmen were present.

Count Thurn now became the leader of the Protestant Estates, and there is little doubt that he from the first considered war inevitable. He spoke eloquently of the grievances of the Protestants, alluding particularly to the recent occurrences at Hrob and Broumov, and suggested that a remonstrance should be addressed to the Government officials at Prague. The Protestants agreed to this, and also resolved, should this step prove ineffective, to address their complaints directly to King Matthias, who then resided in Vienna. As an answer could not be immediately expected, it was decided that the Protestants should meet again on May 21. Before that date, however, the leaders of the movement issued a manifesto, that was read in all the Utraquist and Protestant churches of Prague, in which, though the Sovereign was not attacked, the Royal councillors, particularly the chief judge Slavata, and Martinic, the new burgrave of the Karlstyn, who had replaced Thurn, were directly accused of using their influence over the Sovereign in a manner hostile to the Bohemian people. On May 21, the Estates, as had been agreed, met again at the Carolinum. They were immediately summoned to the Hradcany Palace, where a Royal message prohibiting their meetings was read to them. They none the less met again on the 22nd, when Thurn suggested that the Estates should, on the following day, proceed to the Hradcany in a body and in full armour. He threw out dark hints that a small deputation would not be safe in the vast precincts of the Hradcany; if the gates were closed after their arrival, they would be separated from the town, and a general massacre of the envoys might ensue. A more secret meeting took place late in the evening, at the Smiricky Palace.[36] Besides Thurn, a few other leaders, Colonna of Fels, Budova, Ruppa, two nobles of the Kinsky and two of the Rican family were present. Ulrich of Kinsky proposed that the Royal councillors should be poniarded in the council chamber, but Thurn’s suggestion that they should be thrown from the windows of the Hradcany Palace prevailed. This was, in Bohemia, the traditional death penalty for traitors. As the Estates afterwards quaintly stated, ‘they followed the example of that which was done to Jezebel, the tormentor of the Israelite people, and also that of the Romans and other famed nations, who were in the habit of throwing from rocks and other elevated places those who disturbed the peace of the common-wealth.’

Early on the morning of the memorable 23rd of May the representatives of Protestantism in Bohemia proceeded to the Hradcany; all were in full armour, and most of them were followed by one or more retainers. They first proceeded to the hall, where the Estates usually met. The address to the King which the defenders had prepared was here read to them. All then entered the hall of the Royal councillors, where a very stormy discussion arose. Count Slik, Thurn, Kinsky and others violently accused Martinic and Slavata, the two principal councillors, of being traitors. Slik particularly accused Martinic of having deprived ‘that noble Bohemian hero, Count Thurn,’ of his office of burgrave of the Karlstyn. He added that, ‘as long as old men, honest and wise, had governed Bohemia the country had prospered, but since they (i.e., Martinic and Slavata), worthless disciples of the Jesuits, had pushed themselves forward, the ruin of the country had began.’

What now happened can be best given in the words of the contemporary historian, Skála ze Zhore:—‘No mercy was granted them, and first the Lord of Smecno (i.e., Martinic) was dragged to the window near which the secretaries generally worked; for Kinsky was quicker and had more aid than Count Thurn, who had seized Slavata. Then they were

THE ROYAL OFFICIALS ARE THROWN FROM THE WINDOWS ON MAY 23, 1618
THE ROYAL OFFICIALS ARE THROWN FROM THE WINDOWS ON MAY 23, 1618

both thrown, dressed in their cloaks and with their rapiers and decorations, just as they had been found in the councillors’ office, one after the other, head foremost out of the western window into a moat beneath the palace, which by a wall was separated from the other deeper moat. They loudly screamed, “Ach, ach, Ouvé!” and attempted to hold on to the window-frame, but were at last obliged to let go, as they were struck on their hands.’ It remains to add that neither of the nobles nor Fabricius, their secretary, who was also thrown from the window, perished; a circumstance that the Catholics afterwards attributed to a miracle.

Immediately after the defenestration the Estates elected thirty ‘directors’—chosen in equal number from the three Estates—who were to constitute a provisional Government. Ruppa, one of the most gifted of the Bohemian nobles, became head of this Government, while Thurn assumed command of the army which the Estates hurriedly raised. On March 20, 1619, Matthias died, and though the Estates had recognised Ferdinand as his successor, the throne became practically vacant; for it was very unlikely that the Protestants who had risen in arms against Matthias would now accept a far more intransigent Romanist as their ruler.

On July 8 a general Diet, that is to say one consisting of deputies of Moravia and Silesia as well as Bohemia, met at Prague. On August 3 this assembly pronounced the deposition of Ferdinand as King of the Bohemian lands, and on the 26th the crown was offered to Frederick, Count Palatine. There were other candidates, but an eloquent speech of Ruppa decided in Frederick’s favour. He assured the Bohemians that they would obtain powerful allies if they elected Frederick, and specially referred to

James I. of England, the father-in-law of their new Sovereign.

After some hesitation, Frederick accepted the crown and proceeded to Bohemia accompanied by his consort. They arrived at the ‘Star’ Palace, immediately outside Prague, early in the morning of October 31, and on the same day made their solemn entry into the town. Many Bohemian nobles who had awaited their new Sovereign at the ‘Star’ joined the procession to the Hradcany Castle. At the Strahov gate they were met by the guilds of Prague carrying their banners, and by numerous peasants ‘all clad in the old Bohemian dress and bearing arms that had been used during the Hussite Wars.’ On November 4 Frederick was crowned King of Bohemia in St. Vitus’s Cathedral, and the coronation of Queen Elizabeth took place there three days later.

The winning manners of Frederick at first obtained for him considerable popularity, and when Queen Elizabeth gave birth to a son—Prince Rupert—on December 26 the citizens of Prague greatly rejoiced. Difficulties, however, soon arose. The King was ignorant of the national language, and seems to have made no attempt to acquire it. When Frederick’s Calvinist divines persuaded him to have the altars and paintings removed from St. Vitus’s Cathedral, Lutherans, Utraquists and Romanists were equally indignant.

Queen Elizabeth never secured even that limited amount of popularity that her consort obtained. She was accompanied principally by English ladies, and was believed to have spoken to them in an unfavourable manner of her new country. She had hardly any intercourse with the Bohemian ladies, few of whom knew French, and none English. They strongly disapproved of their new Queen, who, they said, ‘had no settled hours either for her meals or for her prayers,’ and even of the low dresses which she and her English ladies wore.

Frederick remained at Prague up to September 28, 1620, and then only joined his army in Southern Bohemia that was opposing the advance of the Austrians. He found his soldiers already entirely disorganised, and was forced to retreat on Prague. His forces reached the White Mountain, immediately outside the town, on the evening of November 7. The enemies, who were in close pursuit, attacked the Bohemians on the following day. Frederick had meanwhile returned to Prague to join his consort. Neither this proof of conjugal affection, nor the fact that an immediate attack of the Catholic forces may not have appeared probable, can in any way excuse what was practically desertion.

It is certain that the Catholic commanders were not at first unanimous as to the policy of attacking the Bohemians at a moment when the Catholic army was exhausted by prolonged marches. Buguoy I., who commanded the Austrian forces, advised delay, but the opinion of the Duke of Bavaria and Tilly, who insisted on an immediate attack, prevailed. The numerous Jesuits and other friars who accompanied the army also declared that no delay should be granted to the heretics. It was also taken into consideration that Christian of Anhalt, Commander-in-Chief of the Protestant forces, was hastily throwing up earthworks on the plateau of the White Mountain, and endeavouring to re-establish discipline among his troops, which had been demoralised by their continuous retreat. A deferred attack might therefore be more hazardous than an immediate one.

Even before the council of war had decided on an immediate attack, a small Bavarian force—not yet supported by the mass of the Catholic army—attacked the right flank of the Bohemians. The younger Count Slik, who commanded some of the Moravian troops, hurriedly rode up to Christian of Anhalt, begging his permission to attack the Bavarians on their march. ‘It was a weighty and fateful moment in the history of the Bohemian people.’[37] Anhalt at first favoured the suggestion, but on the advice of Hohenlohe, who was second in command, he finally refused his consent. The whole Catholic army soon united, and advanced on the whole line. Though the younger Count Thurn’s infantry successfully beat back an attack of the Austrian infantry, and the son of Christian of Anhalt made a successful cavalry charge, the Catholics were soon victorious, and the earthworks were, after a short defence, carried by the troops of Austria, Bavaria and Spain. Of the Protestant forces the Hungarian horsemen, whom Gabriel Bethlen, Prince of Transsylvania, had sent to Bohemia, first took to flight. They attempted to cross the Vltava by a ford near the present suburb of Smichov, and many perished in the river. Flight soon became general, and the conduct of the Bohemians and their allies was most unworthy of the ancient glory of the country. There were some exceptions to the well-nigh general cowardice. A small Moravian force under Count Slik retreated to the wall of the ‘Star’ Park, where they defended themselves with desperate courage.[38] When almost all had been killed, those who remained surrendered. The battle, and with it the fate of Bohemia, was then decided. As proof of the heroism of the Moravians, contemporary writers tell us that along the ‘Star’ walls[39] the dead at some places lay ten or twelve high.

The news that the battle had begun reached Frederick in the banqueting hall of the Hradcany Castle, where he was entertaining the English ambassadors, whom his father-in-law James I. had sent to Prague. He mounted his horse and rode to the Strahov gate, only arriving there in time to witness the rout and flight of his army. The sight of the battlefield and even, as an eye-witness tells us, the terrible wailing of the women,[40] greatly impressed Frederick, and he hurriedly returned to the Hradcany. From here he proceeded with Queen Elizabeth to the old town, and the defeated army also crossed to the right bank of the river. A council of war was held late in the evening, at which most of Frederick’s generals spoke in favour of instant retreat. The King himself made some pretence of resolution. But when, on the following morning, Elizabeth left Prague, the King—a modern Antony, without Antony’s bravery—‘hastily mounted his horse, thus giving the signal for a general flight.’

The battle of the White Mountain is one of the greatest landmarks in the history of Bohemia, and of Prague in particular. I will not here refer to the complete change in the condition of Bohemia which it caused, the complete suppression of Protestantism, the complete annihilation of the ancient constitution of the land, the almost complete, though but temporary, extinction of the national language.

But before ending my account of Prague as the capital of an independent country, I must briefly refer to the executions on June 21, 1621. Immediately after the suppression of the national movement it appeared probable that the Austrian policy would be a lenient one. But sterner councils soon prevailed at Vienna. In February Slik, Budova, Divis Cernin, Kaplir, as well as Jessenius, the rector of the University, and some of the leading townsmen, were arrested. There was no pretence of conducting the trial according to the ancient legal institutions of the country, which granted great privileges to nobles. A special tribunal was constituted, and its members were instructed to judge with the greatest severity.

The judges arrived from Vienna on March 13, 1621, and the court sat for the first time at the Hradcany Castle on the 15th of that month. The judges did not fail to act according to their instructions. Their decision, which Ferdinand confirmed on May 23, the anniversary of the defenestration, pronounced the confiscation of the estates of all the accused. There were twenty-seven death sentences; of the condemned men twenty-four were to be decapitated, three hanged. In some cases torture was added to the death penalty. Thus Divis Cernin, captain of the Hradcany Castle, who had opened the gates of that castle to the Protestants, Count Slik, Bohuslav Michalovic and others were to have a hand cut off before execution, while the tongue of Jessenius, rector of the Prague University, whom the Bohemians had employed in their negotiations with Transsylvania, and whose eloquence the Imperialists dreaded, was to be cut out. Not many of these additional punishments were, however, actually carried out.

Besides these death sentences many Bohemians were condemned to prison for lengthy periods, while others were expelled from Prague, and it was ordered that they should be whipped with rods till they reached the city gates.

THE DUNGEON IN THE TOWN HALL
THE DUNGEON IN THE TOWN HALL

On June 19 the prisoners were informed of their fate, and on the following day their wives and children, as well as three Lutheran clergymen, were admitted to visit them. It is on the narrative of these clergymen that the great historian Skála has based his account of the last movements of the prisoners and their execution.[41] The day fixed for the executions was June 21, and on the previous day all prisoners who were not already confined in the dungeons of the town hall of Staré Mesto were conveyed there, as the executions were to take place in the immediately adjacent market-place. They met their fate with great fortitude, and spent their time mainly in singing hymns. They conversed freely with the Lutheran clergymen. Budova said, ‘I am weary of my days. May God deign to receive my soul, that I may not behold the disaster that, as I know, has overcome my country.’ Count Slik said, ‘I am before the tribunal of the world, and expect immediate death. But those who have judged me will have to appear before the awful tribunal of Him who will judge more justly.’

Early on the morning of June 21 a cannon-shot was fired as a signal that the executioners were to begin. One by one the prisoners were conducted to the market-place, ‘that mournful stage and slaughter-house of Antichrist,’ as Skála calls it. Each man when proceeding to his death took leave of his comrades in a pleasant manner, as if he were going to a banquet or some pastime. ‘I go before you,’ he said, ‘that I may first see the glory of God, the glory of our beloved Redeemer; but I await you directly after me; in this hour grief already vanishes, and a new heartfelt and eternal happiness begins.’ Full preparations had been made by the Imperial authorities to prevent disturbances. The whole market-place was lined with troops, and orders had been given that the drums should beat during the whole time that the executions lasted. A tribune had been erected, from which the Austrian authorities watched the executions. Slik was first led forth, and after him twenty-three others were decapitated. The tongue of Jessenius was cut out before his execution, and a hand of Michalovic was cut off. Three citizens of Prague then suffered death on the gallows. To further accentuate the reign of terror that had begun, the heads of twelve of the nobles who had been decapitated were exposed on the towers of the bridge of Prague, six on the bridge tower of the Malá Strana, six on that of the old town.

BETHLEHEM CHAPEL
BETHLEHEM CHAPEL

CHAPTER III

Prague in Modern Times

During the Thirty Years’ War Prague several times again plays a considerable part. After Gustavus Adolphus’s great victory at Breitenfeld in 1831, his Saxon allies occupied Prague in November of that year. They were accompanied by many Bohemian exiles, who caused the heads of the twelve patriots that were still exposed on the bridge towers to be removed and buried with great solemnity in the Tyn Church. Preparations were even made to re-establish Protestantism, but in May of the following year Wallenstein’s army stormed the Malá Strana and the Hradcany Castle, and the Saxons shortly afterwards entirely evacuated Bohemia, though not before amassing

THE OLD SYNAGOGUE
THE OLD SYNAGOGUE

a large amount of plunder. Many of the treasures of Rudolph’s collections in the Hradcany Castle thus found their way to Dresden.

In 1648 Prague was the scene of the last struggles of the war that had begun there thirty years before. A Swedish force, under General Königsmark, entered Bohemia in that year and advanced rapidly on Prague. Negotiations for peace had begun in the previous year, and it has been often wondered why this last Swedish incursion took place. Bohemian writers have surmised that the desire for plunder, and particularly the attraction of Rudolph’s far-famed collections, were partly the motive. The Swedes obtained possession of the part of Prague that lies on the left bank of the river through the treachery of Otowalsky, an Imperial officer who had been dismissed from the service. He informed the Swedes that the walls of the Malá Strana were under repair, and that there was therefore a temporary gap in them. In the night of July 26 the Swedish troops entered the town by this gap, opened the Strahov gate and seized the Malá Strana and the Hradcany. The Swedes were, however, unable to obtain possession of the part of the town on the right bank of the Vltava, even after a second Swedish army had joined them in October. The citizens, now mostly Catholics, headed by Jesuit monks, bravely defended the bridge of Prague, and the Jewish colony, always a considerable one at Prague, also bravely took part in the defence.

On November 3, the news of the conclusion of the Treaty of Westphalia reached Prague and put a stop to hostilities.

There is little to note of Prague in the following years; it was not the scene of warlike events, and the former municipal struggles ceased under a severely absolutist Government.

Prague is now an Austrian provincial town, though Bohemia has always officially been described as a kingdom, not as a province.

It was only during the Austrian War of Succession (1741-1748) that the annals of Prague again became of some interest. The male line of the house of Habsburg became extinct after the death of Charles VI., and a European coalition was formed for the purpose of excluding his daughter Maria Theresa from the throne. The Elector of Bavaria, who claimed the Bohemian crown, entered the country with an army of Frenchmen and Bavarians, while a Saxon army also invaded Bohemia. These armies met before Prague, and carried the town by assault on November 26, 1741. The Elector of Bavaria immediately assumed the title of King of Bohemia, and was crowned in St. Vitus’s Cathedral by the Archbishop of Prague.

More than 400 knights and nobles did homage to the new King, and a German writer has noted, somewhat maliciously, that among them were representatives of many of the old Bohemian families, such as Cernin, Kolowrat, Kinsky, Lützow, Lazansky, Waldstein and many others.

The Elector left Bohemia immediately after his coronation, but a French army under Marshal Belleisle remained at Prague. The town was now besieged by the Austrian forces, and the French, after a brave defence, succeeded in evacuating the town and retreating safely to Eger, where they joined another French army that had been sent to their relief. Prague was now occupied by the troops of Maria Theresa, who was crowned there in 1743.

An event of great importance in the municipal annals of Prague took place during the reign of Maria Theresa. The communities of the old town, the new town and the ‘small quarter’ were united into one municipal corporation. This change had not, of course, the importance which it would have had in earlier and freer days; for the burgomaster was then a Government official, appointed by the authorities of Vienna. It is only since 1848 that the citizens of Prague have recovered the right of electing the head of their community.

The first years of the reign of Maria Theresa were very stormy ones for Prague.

In 1744 Frederick the Great entered Bohemia, and stormed Prague on September 12, after a terrible bombardment, during which 150 houses in the new town and a large part of the city walls were destroyed. Frederick did not remain long at Prague; the arrival of a large Austrian army under Charles of Lorraine obliged him to retire into Silesia.

Prague was not destined long to enjoy the blessings of peace. In 1757, the second year of the Seven Years’ War, Frederick the Great arrived before Prague with a large army on May 2 and encamped on the White Mountain. He crossed the Vltava on the 5th to unite his army with the Prussian forces on the right bank of the river, and on the following day a great battle took place between the Prussians and Austrians between the village of Sterbohol, four and a half miles from Prague, and the city itself. Carlyle has given us a very spirited, though somewhat inaccurate, description of this great battle, which he calls ‘the famed Battle of Prag; which sounded through all the world—and used to deafen us in drawing-rooms within man’s memory.’ The battle ended with a complete defeat of the Imperialists, and the Austrian army had—as Carlyle words it—‘to roll pell-mell into Prague and hastily close the door behind it.’ The town was again so fiercely bombarded that whole streets were in ruins, and St. Vitus’s Cathedral and other historical buildings greatly suffered. The Austrian victory at Kolin obliged the Prussians to raise the siege of Prague.

The battle of 1757 is the last warlike event with which Prague is connected, if we except the civil tumult in 1848. The town played no part in the later events of the Seven Years’ War, nor in the long struggle between Austria and France that, with short intervals, lasted from 1792 to 1815.

In the peaceful years that followed the Congress of Vienna (1815) the Bohemian nation strove—as far as the jealousy of a strictly absolutist Government permitted—to recover some of its ancient rights and privileges, and particularly to revive the national language. Prague was the centre of this movement, particularly after the foundation of the Bohemian Museum.

A visitor to Prague who enters at all into communications with the inhabitants will hear so much of this movement that I do not think I should here pass it over altogether in silence. The Bohemian language that, during the period of independence, had gradually taken the place of Latin as the recognised language of the state, declined after the battle of the White Mountain. During the reign of Maria Theresa, and to a far greater extent during that of the Emperor Joseph II., the Austrian authorities used even more energy in their endeavours to substitute German in Bohemia for the native language than had been done immediately after the great defeat. Among other measures tending to this purpose, it was decreed that German should exclusively be used in the Bohemian schools. The stern determination—enemies, no doubt, would call it obstinacy—of the Bohemian nation defeated these attempts, though the native language was for a time almost relegated to the villages and outlying districts of Bohemia. The renascence of the national language in Bohemia, in the early years of the nineteenth century, is almost unique. It was, however, based on a great historic past, and thus differs greatly from the recent attempts to revive the Irish and Welsh languages, though the comparison has often been made. It is not my purpose to analyse here the tangled and involved causes which resulted in the great fact that a buried nationality burst its grave-clothes and reappeared radiant in the world. It may, however, be briefly noted that the Bohemian national movement was undoubtedly an offspring of the Romantic movement, the influence of which was felt all over Europe at the beginning of the last century. The revival of the Bohemian language is due to a small group of learned men, of whom Jungmann, Kolar, Safarik and Palacky were the most prominent. These men, few in number, showed that enthusiasm touching, though it may appear absurd to some, which champions of apparently hopeless causes often display. Many anecdotes to this purpose are still circulated in Prague. Thus it was said that a few of the ‘patriots,’ as the adherents of the national cause were called, feasted almost to excess as a token of joy when they noticed on the Graben ‘two well-dressed men who were talking Bohemian.’ On the other hand, they were deeply depressed when two young girls of the citizen class, who had been talking Bohemian, suddenly dropped into German on their approach, saying, ‘Take care they hear us talking Bohemian; they will take us for peasants.’

As was natural in the case of so musical a nation as Bohemia, the patriotic movement found expression in music also. Early in the nineteenth century ‘Slavic balls’ were instituted at Prague. At these balls the hall was entirely decorated in the Bohemian national colours (red and white), and conversation in Bohemian was alone allowed. It was the intention of the originators of these gatherings to send out the invitations in the Bohemian language, but the Austrian police officials, with the inquisitiveness characteristic of the Metternich period soon became acquainted with this intention, and raised objections. It was finally decided that the invitations should be both in German and in Bohemian. The old national songs were again sung as far as the police authorities permitted. New songs, celebrating the glory of Bohemia, also were composed. Such were the one beginning with the words ‘Já jsem Cech a kdo je vic?’ i.e., ‘I am a Bohemian, and who is more?’ that was composed by Rubes. Yet better known is the famed ‘Kde je domov muy?’ (Where is my country?) which the traveller will constantly hear at Prague, as the present Government, wiser than its predecessor, raises no objection to its being sung. The song has indeed become the national air of Bohemia. It was composed by Joseph Tyl (1808-1856), one of the best modern Bohemian dramatists, and by him introduced into one of his plays. When Mr. Kohl visited Prague in 1841 the song, which he curiously enough believed to be of ancient origin, was already sung everywhere in the city. He translated some lines of the song, and though his translation by no means does justice to the beauty of the original, I will transcribe it here, as giving the traveller some idea of the contents of a song to which he will hear constant allusions—

The patriots themselves do not at first appear to have felt certain of the victory of the cause. Thus we are told that when Jungmann received the visit of two other patriots in his modest lodgings in the street which now bears his name, he said, in a fit of depression, ‘It needs only that the ceiling of this room should fall in, and there would be an end of Bohemian literature.’ He was, of course, alluding to the small number of the ‘patriots.’

In 1848 disturbances broke out at Prague. A Slavic Congress, comprising representatives of all branches of that race, met there under the presidency of Palacky, the great Bohemian statesman and historian, whose name has already been mentioned. Its deliberations were soon interrupted by the turbulence of the extreme nationalists. Stormy public meetings were held, and on June 12 Mass was read on the Václavské Námesti in the presence of a large crowd. Students returning from the service in the Celetná Ulice came into conflict with the soldiers, who fired on the people. Immediately numerous barricades were thrown up, and street-fighting continued up to the 17th, when the city surrendered unconditionally to Prince Windischgrätz, the Austrian commander. Absolutist and military government now again prevailed at Prague.

Since the year 1860 attempts were again made to establish representative institutions in Austria. The Bohemian diet again assembled, though no longer in the Hradcany Castle, but in a palace at the foot of that hill near the Malostranské Námesti.

In 1866, during the Austro-Prussian war, Prague was occupied by the Prussians without resistance on July 8. They remained there for some time, and here too (at the ‘Blue Star’ Hotel) the treaty that concluded the war was signed on August 23.

In the year 1871 it seemed probable that the Bohemians would obtain the restitution of their ancient constitution, of course modified to suit modern ideas, and Prague began to prepare for the coronation of the Sovereign. Unfortunately the negotiations between Count Hohenwart, then head of the Austrian Government, and the Bohemian leader, Prince George Lobkovic—whose great talents are far too little known beyond the Bohemian borders—failed at the last moment. Count Hohenwart’s cabinet was succeeded by ministers whose tendencies were German, and it is only since 1879 that concessions have been made to the Bohemians.

Since that time the Bohemian cause has made vast progress. The foundation of the Bohemian University, and of a Bohemian academy, which was richly endowed by the patriotic architect Hlarka, have greatly contributed to restore to Prague its former Bohemian character.

THE OLDEST GREAT SEAL OF THE OLD TOWN
THE OLDEST GREAT SEAL OF THE OLD TOWN

CHAPTER IV

Palaces

The only other palace on the right bank of the Vltava which I shall mention is that of the Count Clam-Gallas, a handsome building that also dates from the eighteenth century. It originally belonged to Count Gallas, a descendant of one of Wallenstein’s generals. By one of history’s little ironies the palace was, in 1866, for a time the residence of the Prussian prince Charles, while the Count Clam-Gallas, to whom the palace then belonged, was one of the Austrian leaders in the disastrous campaign of that year.

GATE OF THE CLAM-GALLAS PALACE
GATE OF THE CLAM-GALLAS PALACE

Far more numerous are the palaces on the left bank of the Vltava in the Malá Strana and Hradcany districts, which constitutes what may be called the Faubourg St. Germain of Prague. In some of the short and narrow streets in this part of the town there were—as in mediæval Italy—sometimes several palaces of one family from which the street took its name. We still meet with names such as the Thun Street and the Waldstein Street.

But of all these palaces the one that deserves fullest notice is the Royal castle on the Hradcany. According to the chronicler Cosmos, there was, in the eleventh century, already a castle (in Bohemian, ‘hrad’) on the spot where the present palace stands. This earliest building was soon destroyed, and that which succeeded it was burnt down in 1303.

When Charles IV. first arrived at Prague he found the Royal castle, as he himself noted, ‘deserted, ruined, almost levelled to the ground.’ He was indeed at first obliged to accept the hospitality of a citizen of the old town. Charles, who delighted in building, and particularly in adorning his favourite city, Prague, immediately decided to rebuild the castle. He is said to have resolved to imitate the Louvres Palace, as he had seen it in Paris. In consequence of the many civil wars, hardly any traces of Charles’s castle, of which the old writers have given a most striking description, can now be found. Charles strongly fortified his castle in the direction of the Malá Strana. The steep access to the Hradcany in that direction is a remnant of these fortifications. During the Hussite Wars the castle was used as a fortress, and it suffered greatly during those wars. The castle was greatly injured during the two sieges (1420 and 1421), when Sigismund’s troops were here besieged by the Praguers, but its fate was far worse after Sigismund’s troops had been forced to capitulate. The citizens rushed into the castle resolved to entirely demolish the stronghold of the hated King Sigismund. The town magistrates and the nobles, allied with the Praguers, succeeded indeed in averting the complete destruction of the time-honoured castle, but it was greatly damaged. After the end of the Hussite War, Sigismund, during his short reign, undertook some repairs, but the castle remained uninhabited.

The Bohemian Kings, since the time of Wenceslas, resided in the old town on the right bank of the Vltava. This continued up to the reign of Vladislav II. That King, who resided in the buildings known as the Kraluv Dvur, near the powder tower, intimidated by the menaces of his turbulent neighbours, the citizens of the old town, resolved to transfer his residence to the left bank of the Vltava. He crossed the river in a boat at night-time, and sought refuge behind the strong walls of the dilapidated Hradcany, and began to build there a new Royal residence. Some of the oldest parts of the existent building date from his time. Large additions were made by Ferdinand I., Matthias and Rudolph.

Rudolph, like Charles IV., chose Prague as his permanent residence, and he is the last King of Bohemia who lived continuously in his capital. His artistic and scientific tastes, to which reference has already been made, caused him to feel a great desire for solitude. He generally lived in the north wing of the castle, where he established an observatory and vast laboratories for chemical research. On the other hand, he appears to have neglected the portion of the castle that had been built by Vladislav II. He even allowed the far-famed hall of Vladislav to be turned into a ‘bazaar where various tradesmen exhibited their wares and met to discuss their business.’ Sadeler’s engraving—reproduced in this volume—gives a good idea of the appearance of Vladislav’s hall at this period.

Rudolph accumulated in the Hradcany Castle vast collections, which have long since been dispersed. Though they were plundered by the Saxons in 1632, and again by the Swedes in 1648, many works of art seem still to have remained, for a sale was held as late as in 1782, when Joseph II. intended to turn the Hradcany Castle into barracks.

Since Rudolph’s time the rulers of Bohemia have but rarely inhabited the Hradcany for any considerable time, though Maria Theresa caused it to be largely rebuilt after the buildings had suffered very much from the Prussian bombardment. Her son Joseph II., as already mentioned, proposed turning the vast agglomeration of buildings on the Hradcany hill into barracks, but the plan was never carried out. From his abdication in 1848 to the year of his death, the Emperor Ferdinand inhabited the Hradcany Palace, and the gifted Crown Prince Rudolph resided here for some time. More recently the reigning Emperor has, in 1891 and 1901, received the nobility of Bohemia in the Hradcany Castle.

The vast and imposing Hradcany Palace has the greatest historical interest, and well deserves the attention of the visitor. We enter the first of the three courtyards from the Hradcany Square, famous as the site of the executions that preceded the meeting of the ‘bloody diet.’ The first courtyard is divided by a railing from the square, and is entered by a gateway embellished by four colossal mythological statues by Platzer. The buildings surrounding this first court are modernised dwelling-rooms, sometimes inhabited by members of the Imperial family. Passing through a portal, built by King Matthias in 1614, we enter the second court. It is considerably larger than the first one. Immediately opposite the portal is the Chapel of the Holy Cross, which dates from the seventeenth century, but has been frequently altered. It was thoroughly restored and modernised (1852-1858) during the time that the late Emperor Ferdinand resided in the castle. In the north wing of this court

THE HALL OF VLADISLAV IN THE HRADCANY CASTLE
THE HALL OF VLADISLAV IN THE HRADCANY CASTLE

are the so-called German and Spanish halls. They were built during the reign of the Emperor Ferdinand I. The former for a time contained the famed collections of Rudolph; the latter has, since the time of the Empress Maria Theresa, occasionally been used for court functions. Balls were given here during the stay of the Crown Prince Rudolph, and the reigning Emperor has several times here received the representatives of Bohemia.

We now enter the third court, where we see, to our left, St. Vitus’s Cathedral, while to the right is the most interesting part of the palace—that which dates from the time of King Vladislav. It was built between 1484 and 1502 by the celebrated architect Benes, of Loun, in what is known in Bohemia as the Vladislav style, a transition between Gothic and the style of the Renaissance. Benes was, with Matthew Reysek, the originator of this style of architecture, to which many of the most interesting buildings in Prague belong. Here is the ‘hall of Vladislav,’ where the Bohemian nobles did homage to their Sovereign after his coronation, and where the coronation banquet was held. When finished—in 1502—the hall of Vladislav excited general admiration. A contemporary chronicler writes that ‘there was no building like it in all Europe, none that was longer, higher and broader, and yet had no pillars.’

Historically very interesting is the chamber where the Bohemian Estates met up to 1848. It clearly indicates their relative position. While the nobles and the clergy (who only after the Battle of the White Mountain became one of the Estates) occupied benches to the left and right of the throne, the few town representatives were placed on an isolated platform surrounded by a wooden railing. In this part of the Hradcany, also, is the old council chamber, the scene of the famous defenestration of 1618.

Of the other palaces in this part of Prague, the Waldstein Palace—in the square of that name—first deserves notice. The building dates from the time of the great Wallenstein, who began its construction shortly after the Battle of the White Mountain. To make room for the foundations of the vast edifice 23[42] houses were demolished. The building was finished in 1630, and, after the death of the Duke of Friedland, it was given by the Emperor to his chamberlain, Maximilian of Waldstein. It has ever since continued in the possession of that branch of the Waldstein family. It has a very fine Renaissance hall, a chapel with paintings attributed to divers Italian painters, and extensive gardens that are the finest at Prague.

In the Thun Street is the palace of Count Oswald Thun, which contains some good pictures and some very fine porcelain. In the steep Ostruhova Ulice are the palaces of Count Francis Thun, the Morzin Palace, which has a very fine façade, and many others. On the Hradcany Place, opposite the Royal residence, is the vast Schwarzenberg—formerly Rosenberg—Palace. The Fürstenberg and Lobkovic Palaces also deserve mention.

THE MOST ANCIENT SHIELD OF THE OLD TOWN
THE MOST ANCIENT SHIELD
OF THE OLD TOWN

CHAPTER V

Churches and Monasteries

The Cathedral Church of St. Vitus, near the Royal castle of the Hradcany, deserves first mention. It has already been noted that the gift of a relic of St. Vitus induced Prince Wenceslas to erect a church in honour of that saint. This small church, built in the Romanesque style,[43] was not finished when Wenceslas was cruelly murdered by his treacherous younger brother Boleslav. When Wenceslas’s body was transported here the church became known as the Church of St. Vitus and St. Wenceslas, and after the second Bishop of Prague, the martyred Adalbert, had been also buried here, it was for a time known as ‘the Church of St. Vitus, St. Wenceslas and St. Adalbert.’[44]

VIEW OF STRAHOV
VIEW OF STRAHOV

This first church, which was probably of very modest dimensions, soon became too small for the pious visitors who wished to venerate there the relics of Wenceslas and the martyred Bishop of Prague. The church which, to use the words of Monsignore Lehner, had become ‘the metropolitan church of the whole Bohemian empire’—then extending further than at almost any other period—remained insufficient even when a smaller church or chapel adjoining it had been erected. Prince Spytihnev II., therefore, resolved to build a larger church on the Hradcany Hill, and, space being very restricted, he demolished the old building of Wenceslas to make room for the new church, which, like the previous one, was in the Romanesque style. The new church was destroyed during the frequent civic tumults of Prague. Shortly after the foundation of the Archbishopric of Prague and during the reign of King John, it was decided to build a new cathedral on the Hradcany Hill. Charles, through whose influence the impecunious King John had given his consent to the building, took the greatest interest in it, both during the lifetime of his father and after he had succeeded him as King. As architect he chose Matthew of Arras, whom he had met during one of his visits to Avignon. After some years, the building was continued by Peter Parler and his son John. The records of the cathedral tell us that in 1418 Master Peter, generally known as Petrlik, was architect. The great buildings erected in the Gothic style, which by this time was generally adopted in Bohemia, progressed very slowly. The Hussite troubles caused a complete interruption of the work. During the reign of Vladislav II. attempts were made to continue the building, and it is probably rightly conjectured that the King entrusted this task also to his favourite architect, Benes of Loun. The Thirty Years’ War again stopped all endeavours to finish the building of the cathedral, and in the following century the bombardment by Frederick the Great greatly damaged the cathedral.

Within recent years patriotic efforts have been made to finish at last this building, of which every Bohemian, independently of his religious views and his political opinions, is necessarily proud. A society was formed for this purpose in 1859, and the restoration and rebuilding has, it must be admitted, very slowly proceeded ever since that date. The work was at first entrusted to the architect, Joseph Mocker, who had very successfully restored the bridge towers and the powder-tower at Prague. Since his death (in 1899) the work has been entrusted to Mr. Charles Hilbert. I shall now briefly refer to the cathedral as it now is, and I may mention, as it is impossible to give here a full account of the treasures which it contains, that an excellent guide book, published in German as well as in the language of the country, can be obtained in the church.

Entering the church, we first see at our left the famous Wenceslas chapel, the most magnificent of all. We enter it through bronze gates, on which is a brass ring, to which the saint is said to have clung when murderously attacked by his brother. The walls of the chapel are inlaid with Bohemian precious stones; above are curious frescoes of the time of Charles IV. The chapel also contains a candelabrum with a statue of the saint, said to be the work of Peter Fischer; a painting of the school of Lucas Cranach, representing the murder of Wenceslas; and the armour and helmet of the saint. From this chapel a secret passage leads to the room where the Bohemian crown jewels are preserved. We next come to the Martinic chapel, that of St. Simon and Juda, and then that of the Waldstein family; opposite the last-named chapel is a wood-carving representing the devastation of the church by Frederick of the Palatinate, which has already been mentioned in these pages.

Between the Waldstein and the Vlasim chapels is the Royal oratory or pew, which is connected by a covered passage with the Hradcany Castle. The oratory was built during the reign of Vladislav II. by Benes of Loun.

Opposite the Vlasim chapel—built by Ocko of Vlasim, Archbishop of Prague, who died in 1380—is the shrine of St. John Nepomuk, which greatly attracts the attention of the visitors to the cathedral, though it has more barbaric splendour than artistic value. In

ST. VITUS FROM THE ‘STAG’S DITCH’
ST. VITUS FROM THE ‘STAG’S DITCH’

the nave of the church is the monument to the Bohemian kings, erected under Rudolph’s reign by Colin of Malines.

Charles IV. and his four wives, Ladislas, Posthumus, George of Podebrad, Ferdinand I., Maximilian, as well as Rudolph himself, are buried here.

Next to St. Vitus in importance is the Tyn Church in the market-place of the old town. It has great historical interest as having been the stronghold of the Hussite movement during its whole duration, as has been already mentioned. Waldhauser and Milic, the precursors of Hus, preached here, and here, also, Archbishop Rokycan delivered his fiery sermons.

Of the many later preachers at this church, Gallus Cahera deserves notice. A personal friend of Luther, he strove to transform the ancient Utraquism of Bohemia into the Lutheranism that was then just beginning to dawn on the world.

George of Podebrad proceeded to this church with the Bohemian nobles immediately after they had elected him as their King, and was joyfully received by Rokycan and the Utraquist clergy.

The Tyn Church was of very modest origin. It was originally a chapel attached to the building known as the ‘Tyn,’ which German merchants who traded with Bohemia erected to exhibit their wares.

The present building, begun in the fourteenth century, was finished in the fifteenth, during the reign of King George. It has suffered less from barbarous ‘restorers’ than most of the Prague churches. The fine façade built by Podebrad remains, but the statue of that King, which represented him as pointing upward with his sword to a chalice, of which he was so valiant a defender, was removed by the Jesuits in 1623 as being an ‘Utraquist emblem.’ They, at the same time, caused the two great bells of the Tyn Church that had been known as ‘Hus’ and ‘Hieronymus’ to be removed and recast; but when they had been refounded and the Jesuits had again placed them in their former position, it was found, to the great delight of those who still secretly sympathised with the ancient faith, that the sound was unaltered.[45]

The interior of the church contains some paintings by Skreta, a handsome—though renovated—pulpit from which Rokycan is said to have preached, and the tomb of Tycho Brahe.

One of the finest churches in Prague is that of St. Nicholas, on the Malostranské Námesti, built in the seventeenth century in the style of the Italian Renaissance.

Of the many monasteries of Prague, I shall first mention the premonstratension Monastery of Mount Sion or Strahov. It is situated at the extremity of the Malá Strana, and the name of Strahov is derived from the Bohemian word ‘straz,’ guard, as a guard was formerly established here to secure the safety of travellers arriving at Prague by the Strahov gate.

The monastery was founded in 1142 by Bishop Zdik of Olmütz, during the reign of King Vladislav I. The first building was of very modest dimensions, and both the monastery and the church that belongs to it were rebuilt several times before the present structure was erected by Italian architects at the end of the seventeenth century. Considerable changes have also recently been made in the monastery. The church belonging to the monastery contains the tomb of Pappenheim, the great general of the Thirty Years’ War, and other monuments. A very handsome railing divides the choir from the rest of the church.

In the small picture gallery is the much-repainted

THE TYN CHURCH
THE TYN CHURCH

Madonna by Albrecht Dürer, that once belonged to Rudolph, and a good Tiepolo. But the most interesting part of the building is the library.

It occupies several halls, in one of which are the very handsome bookshelves that were brought here from the suppressed Monastery of Klosterbruck. In one hall we see over the doors small shelves with wire grating, in which the books condemned by the Index, but which the monks read by special permission, were formerly contained. The library is very rich in Oriental MSS., incunables and early printed Bibles; among these is the priceless Utraquist Bohemian Bible, printed at Venice, the first edition of the celebrated Bible of Kralice, and a rare copy of the Biblia Pollyglotta Briani Waltoni in Latin, Hebrew, Samaritan, Greek, Chaldæan, Syrian, Arabic, Æthiopian and Persian. Though printed in London in 1657, it is dedicated to King Charles II. The view from the gardens of the Strahov Monastery is one of the finest in Prague.

On the left bank of the river also is the Capuchin Monastery on the Loretto Place and the church dedicated to St. Mary, which adjoins it. The buildings occupy the spot where the town residences of several Protestant nobles stood who were exiled after the Battle of the White Mountain. Princess Catherine of Lobkovic purchased the ground in 1625 and built here a chapel in imitation of the Santo Casa, and a treasury[46] which is the most valuable in Bohemia, and is far more interesting than the better known treasury of St. Vitus’s Cathedral. It consists mainly of donations of the seventeenth century, and most of the contents are in the rococo style.

‘The treasury was first founded by Catherine of Lobkovic, and was enriched by gifts of members of almost all the great Bohemian families. A crucifix, the gift of Cardinal Harrach, and a monstrance—said to contain 6580 diamonds—a foundation of Countess Kolovrat, are amongst the most interesting objects. The treasury contains also a very fine picture of the Madonna and Child, attributed in the catalogue to Albrecht Dürer, and said to have formed part of Rudolph collection.[47] It is more probably a work of Adrian of Utrecht.’

The monastery was founded somewhat later, and the Church of St. Mary was built in 1661, and greatly enlarged by Countess Margaret of Waldstein in 1718.

On the right bank of the Vltava in the Vysehrad Street is the Emaus Monastery and Church of the Benedictines. It was founded in 1347 by Charles IV. to take the place of the ancient Slavic monastery of St. Prokop on the Sazava,[48] where the Greek or Slavic ritual, which in Bohemia is more ancient than that of Rome, had been used. Charles had obtained the consent of Pope Clement VI. for his new foundation principally by stating that there were in Bohemia many dissidents and unbelieving men who, when the Gospel was expounded and preached to them in Latin, did not heed it, but who might be guided to the Christian faith by men of their own race. This foundation, as Palacky tells us, was, next to the University, the one that interested King Charles most. On his summons many Slavic monks from Croatia, Dalmatia and Bosnia assembled in the new monastery. Charles obtained for them the right of using the Slavonic language for their ecclesiastical functions, and employing the Cyrillic alphabet. The monastery possessed a valuable collection of MSS.