903 Good King Wenceslaus,
saint, duke of Bohemia (d.929), was born about this time.
(http://saints.grettir.org/wenceslaus.html)
997 St. Adalbert was martyred.
He brought Christianity to Bohemia.
(SFC, 4/26/97, p.A12)
1198-1230 Ottocar I served as king of Bohemia.
(www.factmonster.com/ce6/people/A0837079.html)
1200 St. Agnes (d/1281),
daughter of Ottocar (King of Bohemia) and Constance of Hungary, was
born in Prague about this time. She was canonized in 1989.
(www.newadvent.org/cathen/01213b.htm)
1230-1253 King Wenceslas I reigned over Bohemia.
His sister, St. Agnes, was canonized in 1989. Both are buried in the
Convent of St. Agnes in Prague.
(SFC, 4/14/96, T-12)
1253-1278 Ottocar II, son and successor of
Wenceslaus I, served as king of Bohemia.
(www.newadvent.org/cathen/01213b.htm)
1255 Konigsberg (Kaliningrad)
was founded on the Baltic Sea by the Bohemian King Otakar II, who
came to help Teutonic Knights during their conquest of Prussia
disguised as the Christianization effort called the Northern
Crusades. It was annexed by Russia in 1945.
(Econ, 5/14/05,
p.55)(www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Konigsberg)
1271 Sep 17, Wenceslas II, king
of Bohemia & Poland (1278-1305), was born.
(www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Wenceslas-II-of-Bohemia)
1296 Aug 10, John the Blind,
King of Bohemia, Count of Luxembourg, was born.
(MC, 8/10/02)
1346 Nov 26, Charles of
Luxembourg was crowned German king. He succeeded his father John of
Luxemburg as King of Bohemia and Count of Luxembourg.
(PC, 1992 ed, p.128)
1347 Charles IV (1316-1378) of
the House of Luxembourg was crowned King of Bohemia.
(WSJ, 10/19/05, p.D17)
1355 Charles IV, King of
Bohemia, was crowned King of the Holy Roman Empire.
(WSJ, 10/19/05, p.D17)
1361 Feb 26, Wenceslas IV of
Bohemia, Holy Roman Catholic German emperor (1378-1400), was born.
(WUD, 1994 p.1622)(SC, 2/26/02)
1368 Feb 14-1368 Feb 15,
Sigismund (d.1437), son of Charles IV, was born in Nuremberg,
Germany. He served as Holy Roman Emperor from 1433-1437.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigismund%2C_Holy_Roman_Emperor)
1378 Nov 29, Charles IV
(b.1316), King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Roman_emperor_Charles_IV)
1397 Aug 16, Albrecht II von
Habsburg, king of Bohemia, Hungary and Germany, was born.
(MC, 8/16/02)
1415 Jul 6, Jan Huss, Bohemian
(Czech) religious reformer, was burned as a heretic at the stake at
Constance, Germany. He had spoken out against Church corruption.
(NH, 9/96, p.23)(HN, 7/6/98)
1419 Aug 16, Wenceslas
(b.1361), son of Charles IV and King of Germany, died. He served as
King Wenceslas IV of Bohemia (1363) and King of the Romans
(1378-1400).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wenceslaus%2C_Holy_Roman_Emperor)
1419 Aug 16, Sigismund, Holy
Roman Emperor, became king of Bohemia following the death of
Wenceslaus IV, but was ejected by the Hussites due to the execution
of Jan Huss.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigismund%2C_Holy_Roman_Emperor)
1420 Mar 1, Pope Martinus I
called for a crusade against the Hussieten (Bohemia).
(SC, 3/1/02)
1420 Jul 14, Jan Zizka
(1360?-1424) led the Taborites in Battle at Vitkov Zizka's hill
(Prague). The Taborites beat forces under Sigismund, the
pro-Catholic King of Hungary and Bohemia. This was part of the
Hussite Wars (1419-1436).
(http://user.intop.net/~jhollis/janzizka.htm)
1420 Jul, The Hussites agreed
on the Four Articles of Prague, which were promulgated in the Latin,
Czech, and German languages. In summery they stated: 1) Freedom to
preach the Word of God. 2) Celebration of the Lord's Supper in both
kinds (bread and wine to priests and laity alike). 3) No profane
power for the clergy. And 4) The same law for laity and priests.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hussite)
1420-1433 Time of the Hussite wars in Bohemia.
(WUD, 1994, p.1671)
1430 Oct 3, Jews were expelled
from Eger, Bohemia.
(MC, 10/3/01)
1434 May 30, The Battle of
Lipany virtually ended the Hussite Wars. Prokopius leader of
Taborites, died in battle.
(http://tinyurl.com/ckgv5)
1437 Dec 9, Sigismund, Holy
Roman Emperor, died. Major Czech factions had accepted Sigismund as
king of Bohemia prior to his death.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigismund%2C_Holy_Roman_Emperor)
1439 Oct 27, Albrecht II von
Habsburg (42), king of Bohemia, Hungary and Germany, died.
(MC, 10/27/01)
1440 Feb 22, Ladislaus V
Posthumus, King of Hungary and Bohemia, was born.
(MC, 2/22/02)
1471 Mar 22, George van
Podiebrad, king of Bohemia (1458-71), died.
(MC, 3/22/02)
1458 Mar 2, Hussite George van
Podiebrad was chosen king of Bohemia.
(SC, 3/2/02)
1503 Mar 10, Ferdinand I, Holy
Roman Emperor (1558-1564), was born. He was King of Bohemia and
Hungary from 1526-1564.
(HN, 3/10/01)(WUD, 1994 p.523)
1519 Bohemians minted silver
Joachimsthalers, "thalers" for short. This was the basis for the
word "dollar."
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)
1549 Feb 14, Maximilian II,
brother of the Emperor Charles V, was recognized as the future king
of Bohemia.
(HN, 2/14/99)
1456 Mar 1, Wladyslaw Jagiello,
king of Bohemia (1471-1516), Hungary (1490-1516), was born.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1457 Nov 23, Ladislaus V
(posthumous), king of Hungary and Bohemia, died at 17.
(MC, 11/23/01)
1576 Oct 12, Rudolf II, the
king of Hungary and Bohemia, succeeded his father, Maximillian II,
as Holy Roman Emperor.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.22)(HN, 10/12/98)
1583 Albrecht Wenzel von
Wallenstein (d.1634), soldier of fortune, was born. He prospered by
providing armed regiments to Ferdnand, the Habsburg emperor. He
acquired a fortune through marriage to an elderly widow with huge
estates in Moravia. He was appointed governor of Bohemia and later
was ordered killed by the emperor.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R8)
1584 Jan 7, This was the last
day of the Julian calendar in Bohemia & Holy Roman empire. The
1582 Gregorian (or New World) calendar was adopted by this time in
Belgium, most of the German Roman Catholic states and the
Netherlands.
(SFEC, 10/3/99, Par p.27)(MC, 1/7/02)
1601 Oct 13, Tycho Brahe,
astronomer, died in Prague.
(MC, 10/13/01)
1609 Jul, Emperor Rudolf II
granted Bohemia freedom of religion with his Letter of Majesty
(Majestatsbrief).
(www.historylearningsite.co.uk/Bohemia_30YW.htm)
1611 May 23, Matthias von
Habsburg was chosen king of Bohemia.
(MC, 5/23/02)
1611 Matthias, brother of
Rudolf II, occupied Prague and captured Rudolf II.
(WSJ, 1/8/99, p.C13)
1612 Jan 20, Rudolf II von
Habsburg (59), emperor of Germany (1576-1612), died in Prague and
Matthias became Holy Roman Emperor. In 1912 an enigmatic manuscript,
once owned by Rudolf II, was acquired by Wilfrid Voynich and came to
be known as the Voynich manuscript.
(WSJ, 1/8/99, p.C13)(MC,
1/20/02)(www.historylearningsite.co)(Econ, 1/10/04, p.71)
1617-1619 Ferdinand II ruled as king of Bohemia.
(WUD, 1994, p.524)
1618 May 23, The Thirty Years
War (1618-1648) ravaged Germany. It began when three opponents of
the Reformation were thrown through a window. The “official”
Defenestration of Prague was the “official” trigger for the Thirty
Year’s War. Local Protestants became enraged when Catholic King
Ferdinand II reneged on promises of religious freedom and stormed
Hradcany Castle and threw 3 Catholic councilors out of the window
and into the moat. The conflict spread across Europe with most of
the fighting taking place in Germany. The Peace of Westphalia in
1648 brought the war to an end and ended the emperor‘s authority
over Germany outside the Hapsburg domain.
(V.D.-H.K.p.90)(NH, 9/96, p.18,22)(HN,
5/23/98)(HNQ, 2/28/00)
1620 Nov 8, The King of Bohemia
was defeated at the Battle of White Mountain, Prague. With Hapsburg
support in Bohemia the Catholics defeated the Protestants at the
Battle of the White Mountain. Weeks of plunder and pillage followed
in Prague and after a few months the victors tortured and executed
27 nobles and other citizens and hung 12 heads on iron hooks from
the Bridge Tower.
(NH, 9/96, p.24)(HN, 11/6/98)(MC, 11/8/01)
1630 Aug 13, Emperor Frederick
II of Bohemia fired Albrecht von Wallenmanders, his best military
commander.
(HN, 8/13/98)
1635 A Cistercian nunnery and
surrounding villages of Sorbs in Germany’s Upper Lusatia remained
Catholic after Protestant Saxony priced the land away from Bohemia.
(Econ, 6/28/08, p.59)
1637 Feb 15, Ferdinand II (58),
King of Bohemia, Hun, German Emperor (1619-37), died. Ferdinand III
succeeded him as Holy Roman Emperor.
(440 Int’l., 2/15/99)(MC, 2/15/02)
1730 "Argippo," the only opera
Vivaldi (1678-1741) actually wrote for Prague, was staged just one
time in Prague. The score was found in 2006 and another staging was
set for 2008.
(AFP, 5/1/08)
1733 May 12, Maria Theresa was
crowned queen of Bohemia in Prague.
(MC, 5/12/02)
1740 Oct 20, Maria Theresa
became ruler of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia upon the death of her
father, Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI.
(AP, 10/20/06)
1756 Riedel Glass was founded
in Bohemia.
(WSJ, 11/18/99, p.A24)
1757 Jun 18, Battle at Kolin,
Bohemia: Austrian army beat Prussia.
(MC, 6/18/02)
1774 Dec 18, Empress Maria
Theresa expelled Jews from Prague, Bohemia and Moravia.
(MC, 12/18/01)
1791 Sep, Mozart’s “La Clemenza
di Tito” was composed for the coronation festivities of the King of
Bohemia.
(WSJ, 4/10/00, p.A44)
1798 Jun 4, Giovanni Jacopo
Casanova (b.1725), fabled Italian seducer, adventurer, spy,
librarian, died of prostate cancer in Dux, Bohemia. While at Dux he
authored his memoirs: “History of My Life.” The standard English
edition runs over 3,600 pages. In 2008 Ian Kelly authored “Casanova:
Actor, Lover, Priest, Spy.”
(www.1911encyclopedia.org/Giovanni_Jacopo_Casanova_de_Seingalt)(WSJ,
10/24/08, p.W5)
1821 Mar 15, Josef Loschmidt
(d.1895), a pioneer of 19th-century physics and chemistry, was born
in Putschim (Pocerny), Bohemia. In his first publication (1861)
Loschmidt proposed the first structural chemical formulae for many
important molecules, introducing markings for double and triple
carbon bonds. In 1865 he became the first person to use the kinetic
theory of gases to obtain a reasonably good value for the diameter
of a molecule. What we call "Avogadro's number" is, in
German-speaking countries, called "Loschmidt's number."
(www.physicstoday.org/pt/vol-54/iss-3/p45.html)
1841 The Johann Maresch pottery
company began operating in Aussig, Bohemia (later Usti nad Labem,
Czech Rep.). At this time Bohemia was under Austrian rule and the
firm used the mark “JM Austria.”
(SFC, 9/12/07, p.G7)
1862 Daniel Swarowski was born
in Bohemia. He later joined his father in the gem-cutting business.
In 1891 he invented a mechanical stonecutter to facet many stones at
once and built a new plant in Austria to produce his "Tyrolean Cut
Stones."
(SFC, 5/12/99, Z1 p.7)
1892 Bohemia granted Ludwig
Moser (d.1916) permission to make his own glass. He had started
decorating glass in 1857. In2008 Moser Glass Works was still
operating in Karlsbad, Czech Republic.
(SFC, 4/2/08, p.G2)
1902 Ernst Wahliss purchased
hundreds of original molds of the defunct Imperial and Royal
porcelain Manufactory in Vienna for use in his factory in
Turn-Teplitz, Bohemia. From 1903- 1918 he and his sons produced
porcelain with a “crown” mark and the word Turn above a shield with
the initials EW and the the word Vienna.
(SFC, 8/3/05, p.G9)
1903 Mar 28, Rudolf Serkin,
pianist (Marlboro School of Music), was born in Eger, Bohemia.
(MC, 3/28/02)
1939 Mar 15, Germany occupied
Bohemia and Moravia, Czechoslovakia.
(Voruta #27-28, Jul 1996, p.2)(WSJ, 12/12/96,
p.A13)(HN, 3/15/98)
