Czech History
• 500
- 1306: The Great Moravian Empire and the Přemyslid Dynasty
• 1310 - 1378: John of Luxembourg
and Charles IV
• 1415 - 1526: The Hussite Era
and George of Poděbrady
• 1526 - 1790: The Habsburg
Dynasty to Joseph II
• 1790 - 1914: National
Revival
to World War I
• 1918 - 1945: The First Republic
and World War II
• 1945 - 1989: The Communist
Era
• 1989 - present: Velvet
Revolution and Beyond
Some of the oldest settlers of the Czech
lands were the Boii, a Celtic tribe that inhabited the
region from around the 4th century BC and gave Bohemia
its name. The Celts were later replaced by Germanic tribes,
and around the 6th century AD, the Slavs finally reached
the territory from the east. In the
7th century, a Frankish merchant Sámo succeeded in
uniting the Slavic tribes under his empire
and defeating the tribe of the Avars that occupied today's
Hungary.
Around 830, the Great
Moravian Empire (Velkomoravská říše) was established
along the Morava River by the Slavic leader Mojmír. Mojmír's
successors
expanded the empire
to include today's Bohemia, Slovakia, southern Poland and
western Hungary. The empire found itself at the crossroads
between the Germanic people in the west and the Byzantium
in the east. Mojmír's successor Rostislav feared the German
influence and asked the Byzantine emperor to send two missionaries,
Cyril and Methodius of
Constantinople, to come and spread Eastern Christianity
in the Great Moravian Empire. Cyril
and Methodius created the Slavonic script
(Cyrillic alphabet that is still in use in Russia and
Bulgaria) and translated religious texts from Greek and
Latin into the
Old Slavonic
language. After Methodius' death in 885, the Roman Catholic
religion was adopted and the Cyrillic script was replaced
by the Latin alphabet. The Great Moravian Empire collapsed
with the Hungarian invasion in 907.
The rule over the region was now in the hands
of the Přemyslid dynasty that dominated the Czech lands
from the 9th century until 1306. Around 880, the Prague
Castle
was founded by prince Bořivoj, the first of
the Přemyslid
princes, and the seat of power was moved there. Several
churches, such as the St. Vitus rotunda, were built
and foundations were laid to the Vyšehrad
Castle in the 10th century. The Prague bishopric
was founded in 973. The Czech lands had a high economic,
cultural, and political status during the Přemyslid rule,
which was further strengthened by Vratislav II being granted
the royal crown and becoming the first Czech king in 1085
- so far remaining subordinate to the Holy Roman Empire
and the German
king, with the royal title being made hereditary in 1212
by the Golden Sicilian Bull.
In the meantime, Prague was growing rapidly
thanks to its position at the crossroads of several trade
routes. The first stone bridge over the Vltava, Judith
Bridge, was built in 1172. The Old Town (Staré město)
was founded in 1234 and the Lesser Town (Malá
Strana) was founded in 1257. During the reign of Přemysl
Otakar II in mid-13th century, the Czech kingdom briefly
expanded all the way to the Mediterranean Sea. The Přemyslid
dynasty
ended with the death of its last member, Wenceslas III,
in 1306.
- The
Early Slavs: Culture and Society in Early Medieval Eastern
Europe
- Cyril & Methodius:
Illuminators of the Slavs
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