The Bohemian Context

Abstract

Bohemia disappeared from the map in 1918, when it was incorporated into Czechoslovakia, which a British prime minister later described as ‘a far away country’ ruled by ‘people of whom we know nothing’.1 Three hundred years earlier, in 1618, it was much more familiar to princes and politicians, as Prague had been the seat of the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II and a centre of European affairs for most of the past forty years. The modern reader, however, may need a little help with the historical geography. The western two-thirds of the modern Czech Republic was then the kingdom of Bohemia, with its capital at Prague and its second city at Pilsen (Plzeň), while the eastern third was the margravate of Moravia, with its capital at Olmutz (Olomouc) although Brunn (Brno) was the largest city. The lands of the Bohemian crown, as they were known, comprised both Bohemia and Moravia, together with the duchy of Silesia and the margravates of Upper and Lower Lusatia. Silesia is the south-western part of modern Poland, and its capital was then Breslau (Wroclaw), while the two sections of Lusatia occupy the corner of modern Germany east of Dresden, centred on the towns of Bautzen and Lubben respectively. The association was loose, however, and there were both ethnic and linguistic differences between the territories, each of which had an independent administration. Thus the link was principally the person of the ruling prince, the king of Bohemia, who was also duke of Silesia and margrave of Moravia and the two Lusatias.