- Bohemia
Written German in the imperial chancery at Prague
The King of Bohemia, Charles of Luxembourg, was elected Holy Roman Emperor and crowned in Rome in 1355. Born in Prague as Wenceslaus, he adopted the name Charles, when he studied at the Sorbonne. He was fluent in Latin, Czech, German, French, and Italian. He founded the first University in the Empire in Prague in 1348, with Latin as the language of instruction. The imperial chancery in Prague was where High German emerged. A remarkable synthesis of Latin, German and Slav influeces might have blended into a unique nationality, but within thirty years of his death, the Hussite Revolution divided German and Czech.
Prague became a bishopric in 973 under the archbishop of Mainz. The language of the medieval church was Latin. Prague became a flourishing market that attracted German merchants. In the second half of the thirteenth century, skilled craftsmen from abroad were encouraged to settle in Bohemia. In 1335 Poland confirmed the cession of Silesia to the crown of Bohemia. After the Mongol invasion of 1241, Silesia had been settled by Germans and Breslau was refounded.
After Luther, the Germans in Bohemia became Protestant and the old bitterness between German and Czech briefly faded.
site map - info@friedrichfroebel.com
Copyright © 2002-8 friedrichfroebel.com. All rights reserved.
