Bohemia History ENG

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Bohemia (Czech. Cechy; German Böhmen), historical region of central Europe and former kingdom, forming roughly the westernmost two-thirds of what is now the Czech Republic. It is bounded by Poland on the north, the region of Moravia on the east, Austria on the south, and Germany on the west and northwest.

 

 

Bohemia (Czech, Cechy; German, B?hmen), historical region of central Europe and former kingdom, forming roughly the westernmost two-thirds of what is now the Czech Republic (formerly part of Czechoslovakia), and covering an area about 52,060 sq km (20,100 sq mi). It is bounded by Poland on the north, the region of Moravia on the east, Austria on the south, and Germany on the west and north-west.

Bohemia is a plateau surrounded by lofty mountain ranges, namely, the Bohemian Forest, the Erzgebirge, the Bohemian-Moravian Heights, and the Riesengebirge. The main rivers are the Elbe, known locally as the Labe, and its tributaries, the Vltava and the Ohre.

Agriculture, manufacturing, and mining are the main sources of economic wealth. The chief crops are rye, hops, sugar beet, and wheat. The principal industries produce iron and steel, cars, chemicals, foodstuffs, machinery, and textiles. The main industrial centres are Prague, Plze?, and Liberec. Bohemia has large deposits of coal; graphite, iron ore, silver, and uranium are also mined.

The name Bohemia is derived from the Boii, a Celtic people who inhabited the area around the 5th century BC. The Boii were expelled by the Marcomanni, a Germanic tribe, about the 1st century AD. Between the 5th and 8th centuries, Slavic settlers, and later the Avars, occupied Bohemia. During the 9th century Christianity was introduced to the region, which was then part of the Moravian Kingdom. The first Bohemian (Czech) dynasty, the Premysl family, came to power in the 10th century. In 950 Bohemia was forced to recognize German supremacy and become part of the Holy Roman Empire. From 1310 to 1437 the country was ruled by kings of the House of Luxembourg. During the latter part of this period, the Hussites, a Bohemian religious group that in many ways prefigured the Protestants of the 16th century, rebelled against the authority of the Roman Catholic Church. This led to foreign intervention and a long period of warfare, known as the Hussite Wars. The Bohemians were forced to accept a compromise agreement with the Church in 1436. Most of the fundamental political and religious issues involved in the struggle remained unsolved, but the Hussite movement stimulated nationalist sentiments among the Bohemians, checking an earlier trend towards Germanization.

A line of Hungarian kings ruled Bohemia between 1471 and 1526. During this period the religious situation was tense but quiet. In 1526 Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I of the Habsburg family was elected king of Hungary and Bohemia. Under Habsburg rule, which lasted until 1918, the history of Bohemia was merged with that of Austria. During the Reformation (1517-1648) the Catholic Habsburgs were intolerant of the growing Protestant movement in Bohemia. An incident known as the Defenestration of Prague, when angry Czechs threw two representatives of the Habsburgs out of a window, was the immediate cause of the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648). The Battle of the White Mountain (1620) restored the Habsburgs and was followed by the merciless extirpation of Protestantism, the suppression of all national privileges, and the enforced use of German as the national language. The reforms of Joseph II (reigned 1765-1790) brought about a revival of nationalism in Bohemia; after 1848, when a nationalist rebellion was swiftly suppressed, the struggle continued for Czech autonomy within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. With the collapse of that empire after World War I and the creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918, Bohemia became a province of the new republic. On January 1, 1993, Bohemia became part of the independent Czech Republic.

 

Bohemian Brethren, religious society established in Prague about the middle of the 15th century and originally composed of remnants of the Hussites. They were also known as Unitas Fratrum. In the 1450s the Brethren settled on the borders of Silesia and Moravia. In the 1600s the group was almost extinguished by forced conversion to Roman Catholicism during the Counter-Reformation. The Brethren survived, however, and in 1722 some migrated, settling in Herrnhut in Saxony, on the estates of the religious reformer Nikolaus von Zinzendorf.

 

Bohemian Forest (German, B?hmerwald), highland region, rising mainly along the border between the Czech Republic and Germany, and also in Austria. Component ranges of the heavily forested region include the ?umava in Bohemia and the Oberpf?lzer Wald in Germany; the highest point is Grosser Arber (1,457 m/4,780 ft) in Germany. The Regen and Vltava (German, Moldau) rivers rise in the Bohemian Forest, and the region is noted for its glassmaking.

 

Bohemian Language. See Czech Language.

 

Czech Language, language spoken by most of the inhabitants of the Czech Republic written in the Roman alphabet. It forms, together with Slovak, Polish, and High and Low Sorbian (called also Wendish), the Western branch of the Slavic languages. Slovak, the language of Slovakia, closely resembles Czech. Both Czechs and Slovaks used the Czech literary language until the middle of the 19th century, when a separate Slovak literary language, based on a dialect of central Slovakia, was created. In current usage, the two languages show only slight phonetic and syntactic differences. Slovak has a somewhat more archaic sound system, whereas Czech is more conservative in its inflections.

Czech differs from some other Slavic languages in the characteristic sentence intonation, the first-syllable word accent, the absence of elision, the use of the Latin alphabet instead of the Cyrillic, the exceptionally free word order, and the prominence given to vocalic r and l. The quality of a ringing, staccato speech distinguishes it from other Western Slavic languages.

Before the 11th century Czechs wrote in Old Church Slavonic, the first Slavic literary language, which had been developed by SS Cyril and Methodius for missionary work in Greater Moravia (now Slovakia and the eastern region of the Czech Republic). In the 11th century two important linguistic events took place: In the West, including Bohemia, Moravia, and Slovakia, Latin replaced Old Church Slavonic for Church and literary use, and the regional Slavic dialects began to develop into separate languages. After centuries in which Czech was a despised and suppressed peasant tongue, the 14th-century Bohemian religious reformer Jan Hus standardized Czech spelling. His stature as a national hero endowed the peasant vernacular he used with a new dignity. The work of Hus was consolidated and advanced during the 15th and 16th centuries by the Unity of Brethren, a Protestant sect later known as the Moravian Brethren. The writings of this sect stabilized the Czech language and determined its future as a literary language. By 1593, the Czech bible translation became the standard of usage. Except for the growth of vocabulary, the Czech and Slovak languages have not changed significantly since the 16th century. Modern Czech has seven noun cases, three persons in the verb, three tenses (past, present, and future) and three moods (indicative, imperative, and conditional).

 

zech Literature, writings in the Czech language or in the related Old Church Slavonic language. Czech literature, one of the oldest of the vernacular literatures of central and eastern Europe, may be divided into six chronological periods.

865-1410

Czech literature began with the introduction of Christianity into Moravia about 863 by Cyril and Methodius, the apostles of the Slavs. The earliest extant literary monument (11th century) is the hymn Hospodine, pomiluj ny (Lord, have mercy upon us).

Latin writing, including an important chronicle of Bohemia by the monk Cosmas, prevailed during the next two centuries. At the beginning of the 14th century a Czech translation was made of the Latin Alexandreid, a life of Alexander the Great, by the 12th-century French poet Gautier de Lille. A rhymed Czech chronicle marked by strong nationalist feeling appeared about the same time, along with several religious legends in Czech verse, culminating in a great verse Life of St Catherine. A verse dialogue, The Groom and the Student, full of colourful details of medieval daily life, and a novel with a romantic plot, Tkadlecek (The Weaver), appeared about 1400.

1410-1620

This period is marked by the Hussite religious reformation carried out by the Bohemian preacher Jan Hus and his followers. Hus, an ardent nationalist who wrote popular theological works in Czech, demonstrated his concern for the language by writing such studies as his De Orthographia Bohemica (Czech Orthography, c. 1412). His follower Petr Chelcick? wrote S?t v?ry (The Net of Faith, 1440), a satire of contemporary life.

Chelcick?'s followers formed the Church later known as the Moravian Brethren. Jan Blahoslav, bishop of the Brethren, a poet and writer on musical and poetic theory, was the author of a scholarly Czech Grammar. Along with others, he took part in the compilation of the Czech Protestant Kralice Bible (1579-1593), which served as a literary model of classical Czech.

Printing was introduced into Bohemia in 1468, and during the next 150 years humanism and Renaissance culture spread throughout the Czech lands. The outstanding humanist writer was perhaps Daniel Adam of Veleslav?n, who combined the talents of a historian, philologist, orator, and publisher. His most famous work is a Historical Calendar (1575).

1620-1774

In 1620 the Czechs lost political independence, and in 1627 their new king, Ferdinand II, Holy Roman emperor, made Roman Catholicism the state religion of Bohemia. The outstanding writer of these times was Jan Komensky, latin name John Amos Comenius, the last bishop of the Moravian Brethren. In exile, Komensky continued the suppressed Hussite tradition, also writing in Czech and Latin on a great variety of subjects from philology to philosophy. Most important were his works on educational theory and methods, and his textbooks, including Janua Linguarum Reserata (The Gates of Language Unlocked, 1631) and The Great Didactic (1628-1632; trans. 1896, 1931).

In Bohemia itself, under Habsburg rule, a "dark time" set in during which the use of the Czech language in writing and printing diminished greatly; Czech nationalist sentiment was almost totally repressed, and society became Germanized. In 1774 Maria Theresa, queen of Hungary and Bohemia, decreed the use of German as the language of instruction.

National Revival (1774-1918)

The forcible suppression of the Czech language produced results entirely contrary to those intended by the Habsburg rulers. Czech nationalism revived, and writers took a renewed interest in the history of their country, stressing kinship with the other Slav peoples. The leader in the study of the Czech language and history was Josef Dobrovsk?. He collected extensive lexicographic materials and established the richness of classical Czech.

Josef Jungmann compiled a great Czech dictionary (1834-1839) that helped lay the foundations for the development of modern Czech literature. In 1811 he translated the epic Paradise Lost by the English poet John Milton, and his translation served as a model for the new poetry. Another important writer was the Slovak pastor J?n Koll?r, famous for his Sl?vy dcera (Daughter of Sl?va, 1824); this collection of sonnets provided an ideology and romantic inspiration for the Czech Revival movement. Franti?ek Ladislav Celakovsk? wrote romantic poems in the style of Czech and Russian folk songs. Franti?ek Palack?, called the father of the nation, wrote a monumental history of Bohemia (1836-1867) in five volumes.

The greatest poet of the period was Karel Hynek M?cha. His romantic narrative poem M?j (May, 1836) evokes the tragic paradox of young love and death. Karel Jaromir Erben wrote tragic folk ballads. Karel Havl?cek Borovsk? laid the foundations of modern Czech journalism and criticism. He attacked Austrian absolutism in his newspaper articles and in humorous satirical poems. Bo"ena Nèmcov? created the forms of the Czech prose tale and novel, blending the influence of the rural stories of the French novelist George Sand with her own observations of Czech peasant life.

The Austrian political reaction of the 1850s discouraged the growth of Czech literature, but during the 1860s a new national school of writers emerged led by Jan Neruda, who created the newspaper essay as a medium for education of his people. Neruda also wrote cryptic, ironic poetry and colourful stories about the life of the Prague middle classes.

The next generation of Czech writers split into two camps. The Parnassians, led by the great poet Jaroslav Vrchlick? (pseudonym of Emil Frida), introduced exotic foreign themes and subjects into Czech literature. The Nationalists, led by the poet Svatopluk Cech, continued the predominantly nationalistic and patriotic tradition. This conflict was resolved in the following generation by the great Czech thinker and political leader Thom?? Garrigue Masaryk and by the leading Czech critic Franti?ek Xaver ?alda. Masaryk laid down the principles of a new realism, which, while avoiding the excesses of both the nationalist and Parnassian groups, would offer Czechs a realistic sense of their national aspirations and possibilities. ?alda introduced avant-garde trends, including Symbolism, into Czech literature. Czech Symbolist and impressionistic poetry was cultivated by such writers as Otokar Brezina (pseudonym of V?clav Jebav?, a poet of mystical, ecstatic visions, and Anton?n Sova, who wrote a highly musical and at the same time spiritualized poetry.

National Independence (1918-1938)

After 1918, with the establishment of an independent Czechoslovak republic, a note of social optimism became evident in Czech literature. Stanislav Kostka Neumann, Jir? Wolker, and Josef Hora devoted their poetry to proletarian themes. In 1924 Vitèzslav Nezval and Franti?ek Halas founded a new movement that they called poetism, which emphasized "pure" poetry devoid of social content.

The novel of this period was marked by experiments in form and an emphasis on social problems. Marie Majerov? dealt with workers and the industrial scene, and Marie Pujmanov? specialized in portrayals of adolescent psychology. Jaroslav Ha?ek achieved international success with his The Good Soldier Schweik (4 vols., 1920-1923, trans. 1930), a bitterly satirical account of the adventures of a Czech dog-catcher serving in the Austrian Imperial Army during World War I.

Perhaps the greatest writer of this period, as well as the best known abroad, was Karel Capek, famous for his fantastic dramas The Makropoulos Affair (1922; trans. 1927), an ironic discussion of human immortality, and R.U.R. (1921; trans. 1923), which first popularized robots. His science-fiction novel Krakatit (1924; trans. 1948) foresaw the explosive use of atomic energy. Capek later turned to exploring the psychology of average citizens and their relation to society in a trilogy of novels: Hordubal (1933; trans. 1934), Meteor (1934; trans. 1935), and An Ordinary Life (1934; trans. 1936). Another outstanding writer of fiction in this period was Vladislav Vancura, who experimented with Surrealism in the novel.

1938-1968

Literature suffered during the German occupation (1938-1945) of Czechoslovakia. Stultification as a result of Russian domination occurred after the coup d'état of 1948, which established the rule of the Communist party in Czechoslovakia. Previous Western cultural influences were thereafter attacked as "formalist", "decadent", or "cosmopolitanist". Czech writers were mobilized to advocate the building of a socialist regime and socialist society. After the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, these controls were relaxed somewhat, and a period of liberalization began in the arts. One consequence of this change was a lively interest in the writings of the Austrian writer Franz Kafka, who had lived in Prague, and whose works became a principal source of influence on the new Czech writing.

This tendency to liberalization reached its culmination in 1968, with the celebrated "Prague Spring" and its short-lived flowering in the arts, including fiction, drama, and the cinema. In his novel The Axe (1966; trans. 1973), Ludv?k Vacul?k produced a sensitive study of the writer's own spiritual development amid the apparently insoluble contradictions of a socialist society. Well-known abroad was the dramatist V?clav Havel, whose plays, such as The Garden Party (1963; trans. 1969) and The Memorandum (1965; trans. 1967), used the style of absurd comedy to mock socialist bureaucracy and bureaucratic language. Imprisoned from 1979 to 1983 and again in 1989 for his anti-government stance, Havel was president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 to 1992 and was elected president of the Czech Republic in 1993.

After the "Prague Spring"

The flowering of liberalism came to an end in August 1968, with the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. Some writers subsequently emigrated and continued to publish abroad. Josef ?kvoreck? tells of his fellow Czech immigrants in Canada in The Engineer of Human Souls (trans. 1977); Milan Kundera went to France in 1975. Such novels as The Joke (1967; trans. 1969) and The Farewell Party (1976; trans. 1976) are witty and ironic treatments of the paradoxes of modern life and love. Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being (trans. 1984) is a blackly humorous story of modern Prague.

Jaroslav Seifert, considered one of Czechoslovakia's greatest poets, remained in his homeland. In 1984 he became the first Czech to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. His first book of poetry, City in Tears, appeared in 1920; Clothed in Light (1940), about wartime Prague, is his most popular work. Because of his opposition to the political regime, his later works-such as The Plague Monument (trans. 1980) and The Casting of Bells (trans. 1983; revised 1984)-were available only in underground printings or abroad in translation. Seifert's memoirs were published in Czech in Canada in 1981. As the pace of political change quickened in the USSR and Eastern Europe during the 1980s, Communist parties throughout the region began to relinquish power. In Czechoslovakia the Communist party stepped down at the end of 1989 due in large part to massive public demonstrations against the regime. Vaclav Havel, the famed playwright and leader of the opposition group, Civic Forum, encouraged these demonstrations. In December 1989 the Czechoslovak people rewarded his leadership by electing him president of the republic. Havel's government removed the censorship common under the Communists. As a result, previously underground literature flourished.

In 1993 despite Havel's attempts to the contrary, Czechoslovakia was dissolved and the independent republics of Slovakia and the Czech lands emerged.

 

Elizabeth (of Bohemia) (1596-1662), queen consort of Frederick, King of Bohemia (1619-1620), born in Fife, Scotland, daughter of James VI, King of Scotland, later James I of England. At the age of 17 she was married to Frederick V, elector of the Palatinate. Frederick, a Protestant, was chosen King of Bohemia in 1619. In the following year he was defeated and deposed by the Roman Catholic Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II, a rival claimant to the Bohemian throne. Frederick and Elizabeth were forced to seek asylum abroad, eventually settling in The Hague. After her husband's death in 1632, Elizabeth was active in the Protestant cause on the Continent, but she finally returned to England, where she died and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Because of her long struggle, many in Protestant Europe regarded her as a heroine. Her 13 children included Sophia, electress of Hanover, who was the mother of George I of England.

 

Bohemond I (c. 1057-1111), prince of Antioch, leader of the First Crusade, and founder of a Crusader dynasty in Syria. The eldest son of Robert Guiscard, Norman duke of Apulia and Calabria in southern Italy, Bohemond distinguished himself in a war (1081-1085) against the Byzantine Empire. After Robert Guiscard's death (1085), the Norman domain was divided between Bohemond and his brother. Bohemond joined the First Crusade to try to extend his possessions. As long as he remained with the Crusaders, Bohemond was their leader, although he was not officially recognized as such. Antioch was captured in June 1098, and Bohemond received it as a principality. He was captured by the Muslims in 1100 and held prisoner until 1103. After suffering a great defeat the following year, he returned to western Europe to seek help. During his stay in France, he married the daughter of Philip I of France. By 1107 he was head of a large army of adventurers who had been attracted by his military renown, but instead of returning to Antioch, he led his forces against the Byzantine Empire, which had restricted the expansion of his principality after 1098. His attack was unsuccessful, and Bohemond was forced to accept a peace that made him a vassal of the Byzantine emperor.

Bohemond's descendants ruled Antioch until 1268 and Tripoli from 1187 to 1289.

 

John (of Bohemia) (1296-1346), king of Bohemia (1310-1346), the son of Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII of Luxembourg. He became Count of Luxembourg in 1309. In the struggle between Austria and Bavaria for the crown of the Holy Roman Empire, John won a victory for Emperor Louis IV of Bavaria in the Battle of Mühldorf in 1322. From 1333 to 1335, John waged an unsuccessful campaign in Italy on behalf of the Guelphs. He became blind around 1340 but continued his active life. He was killed while assisting the French against the English at the Battle of Crécy. His son became Holy Roman emperor as Charles IV and king of Bohemia as Charles I.

 

Louis II (of Hungary and Bohemia), in Hungarian, Lajos II (1506-1526), King of Hungary (1516-1526) and Bohemia (1509-1526), son and successor of King Ladislas II of Bohemia and Hungary. Louis assumed actual control of state affairs in 1516, but he was not formally declared king until he came of age in 1521. Weak both in physique and in character, he was an ineffectual sovereign. He surrendered Belgrade to the Turks in 1521, lost the Battle of Moh?cs to them in 1526, and probably drowned in the Danube escaping after the battle.