BOHEMIA AND THE CZECHS 



165 



corded in tradition or history, were of a 

 peaceful nature, following the desolation 

 and abandonment of the land through 

 wars. 



Like all people at a corresponding stage 

 of development, they were subdivided 

 into numerous tribes which settled differ- 

 ent parts of the country, and the names 

 of some of these clans, with remnants of 

 dialectic, dress, and other characteristic 

 differences, persist even to this day. 



Their documentary history begins in the 

 seventh century, at which time they al- 

 ready extend as far south as the Danube. 

 They are agricultural and pastoral peo- 

 ple, of patriarchal organization. Their 

 government is almost republican, under a 

 chief, elected by an assembly of repre- 

 sentatives of the main classes of the peo- 

 ple. Later this office develops into that 

 of hereditar-y kings, whose assumption of 

 the throne must nevertheless be in every 

 instance ratified by the national diet. 

 The nation possesses a code of formal 

 supreme laws, and the people are noted 

 for their physical prowess, free spirit, 

 love of poetry, and passionate jealousy 

 of independence. 



CHRISTIANITY ACCEPTED 



In the ninth century the pagan Czechs 

 accept Christianity, with Slav liturgy, 

 which becomes at once one of their most 

 cherished endowments, as well as a 

 source of much future hostility from 

 Rome. The various tribes become united 

 under the Premysl Dynasty, begun by the 

 national heroine Libussa, with her plow- 

 man husband, and lasting in the male line 

 until the first part of the fourteenth cen- 

 tury. 



Under their kings the Czechs reach an 

 important position among the European 

 nations. They rule, in turn, over large 

 parts of what are now Austrian prov- 

 inces, and briefly even over Hungary, 

 Poland, and Galicia. But their fortune 

 varies. From the time of Charlemagne 

 they struggle, often for their very exist- 

 ence, with their neighbors, irritated by 

 their presence, their racial diversity, and 

 their riches. 



The first recorded war with the Ger- 

 mans dates from 630, when the Frank 



Dagobert endeavors by force of arms to 

 impose vassalage on the Czechs, but suf- 

 fers defeat; and from this time on the 

 Bohemian history is replete with records 

 of fighting with the Germans. How the 

 nation escaped annihilation must remain 

 a marvel of history. It is sometimes re- 

 duced to almost a German vassal ; yet it 

 is never entirely overcome, and rises 

 again and again to assert its individuality 

 and independence. 



GERMANS COEONIZE BOHEMIA 



Some of the Bohemian kings, under 

 political and other influences, permit, and 

 even invite, settlements of Germans on 

 the outskirts of Bohemia. This is the 

 origin of the German population of the 

 country, which has played and still plays 

 such a large part in its politics. 



The latter part of the thirteenth cen- 

 tury is a most critical period of Bohemia. 

 Under Otakar II, one of its ablest kings, 

 the country has reached the acme of its 

 power. It extends from Saxony to the 

 Adriatic, and Vienna is its second capital. 

 Many of the German principalities are its 

 allies and the king comes near to being 

 called to head the Holy Empire. 



But Rudolph of Habsburg is elected to 

 this office, and from the moment of the 

 advent of the house of Habsburg com- 

 mence Bohemia's greatest misfortunes. 

 The only offense of the Bohemian king is 

 that he is Slav, but that, with the jealousy 

 of his power, the democratic institutions, 

 and the wealth of his country, which con- 

 tains the richest mines of silver in Eu- 

 rope, is sufficient. Great armies, German 

 and Hungarian, are raised against him ; 

 finally he is treacherously slain in battle, 

 his kingdom torn apart, and Bohemia is 

 ravished and reduced almost to a "pos- 

 session" or a fief of the Empire. 



Yet the wound is not mortal, the nation 

 is too strong ; it rises again, and within a 

 few decades, under Otakar's son, regains 

 its independence and much of its former 

 power. In 1306, however, the last Bo- 

 hemian king of the great Premysl family 

 is slain by an assassin, and there begins 

 a long period of dynastic difficulties, 

 which become in time the main cause of 

 Bohemia's downfall. 



