I'm not Bob...I'm his wife, Susan, in the State of Washington, USA. It was very satisfying to hear this history so concisely explained. I've loved this song and the history of Wenceslas, the legendary good King. It's inspiring. So sad that Boleslaus envied rather than followed his brother's lead. It's rather like a Cain and Able story.
Hello, Susan thank you for your comments - glad you liked the video and some of the history behind one of my favourite carols; although, how the carol came about has another fascinating history. Yes, it is a bit like Cain and Abel, but Wenceslas' mother, Drahomira, was not someone to be trifled with.
well susan it is not all that concrete what happened in reality, there are several theoryes, and most likelly what happened was an acident and over sealous body guards, but i do agree that the christian version is the most known, also bolesvav was not a bad ruler in the end, and in many ways it was he who founded a the bohemian state. transfering it from a tribal confederacy in to centralised state
Susie, thanks for your comments - well, it is a beautiful city and there are always lots of new to discover. And now, it is good to see people coming back to the city after so long.
Lukas, thank you so much for taking time to comment and enjoying the video. I was going to make a video about it but other things took priority; but if you follow this link, this guy does a really good job of explaining where it originated. ua-cam.com/video/gYnCon4aME8/v-deo.html
@@TheMaskedGuide Thank you for taking the time to reply, and for sharing the link. Good luck with all the things that keep you busy, and merry Christmas! :-)
As a Czech i must say you have good pronounce of ř and names Also just fun fact: the hitman's of Ludmila, are vikings, yes vikings (the names also😅) beacuse they was very popular as mercenaries in Slavic countries thank to Baltic Poland where vikings and Slavs live together
Holex, thank you for you comment about my ř and names - I practice all the time. And, also, how interesting that the hitmen were Vikings - I didn't know that - thank you for sharing.
@@jindrariley1824 probably because chronicle say that, reality could be different, but Bohemians and Scandinavian vikings had a market for example archeology etc... and saint Wenceslaus helmet is probably of Gotland origin.
If you want a bit lighter story, make one about first Habsburg on czech throne. It happened roughly 100 years before habsburks actualy ascended the throne. He traveled to Prague, but contracted tyfus in southern bohemia and died to diarrhea. It rhymes lol. Interesting story would be the 30 year war, which started here. It was GB who supported the revolution, but only cheaply thus it failed. At white mountain battle, it was said only Moravian regiment stayed and fought to the bitter end. Lesson learned - never position your units in front of 4m tall cemetery wall. Then 27 noblemen were executed in Old city square. The war continues and one particular czech noblemen became a main general of Habsburg forces and gained many victories. He was however killed by Habsburgs in order to prevent another rebellion. At the end of war, Prague was sacked by swedish army, mobilised citizen managed to protect only west bank of the city. Huge, pricelles collections of art collected by Rudolph II. were stolen and can be seen in swedish museums. That includes famous Devil´s bible, the only bible with depicted devil. The only undefeated general in austrian forces (way later) was a field marshal Radecky, a czech nobleman. There was a song composed in his honour, Radecky´s marsh. If you have the time, it is not part of our history classes where and how he fought. Empress Marie Teresie was overall good ruler, but being a woman, all surrounding states decided to take the chance and attack austria-hungary we were part of. As a result of negotiations, we lost Silesia. Marie Teresie could have given up her ally Saxony, but decided to part with this territory instead (lost war). However this area in particular was rich in coal deposits, which allowed Prussia to power it´s industrial revolution, unify germany much faster and paved a road for world wars. For your inventions videos, Semtex could be interesting topic. Foreigners may not enter the factory in Pardubice though, so it may be hard to create the video. But you can rant about americans stealing our patents. Again. It was also a big story how terrorists all around the world are equipped by semtex, which proved to be a total lie and seems to be a way to damage reputation of competing czech company in global market. You will need to contact them however, my information is both second hand and rusty.
@pyrochemik007 Thank you for taking the time to write to me - it is very much appreciated. I like the idea of the 1st Habsburg -and Marie Teresa, but I do mention the 30 years war in my second video where I talk about the Marian Column - (Old Town Square) and how quickly the Bohemian estates were defeated by the Catholics and the execution of the noblemen in the Old Town Square. Have a look and let me know what you think - please tell me if I missed something. I want to talk about the Swedish ransacking of Prague in 1648, but I was going to wait until, I get up to Prague Castle - BUT I didn’t know about the Devil’s Bible - so, thank you. Also, I didn’t know that Radetzky was a Czech Nobleman; I only know him from the Radetzky March composed by Strauss and that his statue in Malostranské náměstí was removed - because he was seen as Austrian, I believe. I had thought about Semtex for a video - I mention it on my walking tours - but, I get the impression that it is something that some Czechs aren’t proud of - maybe because of the things you suggest - the association with terrorism - but, maybe I need to look at that a little closer. Once again, thank you so much for taking the time to comment
@@TheMaskedGuide The end of austria hungary had many levels in society apart from political one. Raise of atheism - open one atleast, and end of class society. Both these ideas came from the fact that nobility and church was against czechs. So a nobleman who held the highest post in imperial military would be seen as an enemy in eyes of angry crowd. Most nobles were against czechs, since they came in after 30 year war instead of executed and banished czech nobility, and their loyalty was toward emperor, nationality german. He was however descendant of old czech nobles. To this day czech republic has problems in diplomatic circles for canceling nobility and later taking their property for cooperation with nazis. Which however most of them did. Grandpa was friend with young Šternberk, who later fled in 1948, that was another old czech noble house, to my best knowledge one of those not involved with nazis. One such story of hated noble was the Habsburk killed in Sarajevo - he had a chateaux in Bohemia, and part of it was a pond for raising carps. His pond´s dam broke, water flooded local village, and brought in dying carps. So people collected some. But then his imperial prince decided, to collect all fishes, even from houses, and use them as fertilizer for roses in his garden. The damage was never paid either.
@@Pyrochemik007 Thank you once again. Really interesting information - all good material for me to check out and what an interesting story about Arch Duke Ferdinand!
@@TheMaskedGuide It is just from hearsay, I am not sure where to search that info. Another story would be the forced recruitment of czech ctizen into german military. It happened in those parts of Silesia region, which used to be a part of german empire before WW1. Since nazis considered this land as their, all people were drafted like if they were germans. That included my great grandpa, who was drafted to luftwaffe and served, lucky guy, in Norway as airport guard. He was 40 before the main battles in russia took place, so he kept his safe spot till the end of war. Learned to paint there. Used his paintings to free his wife from concentration camps. But anyway, back to the topic. These people were forced into various segments of german military, fighting a war which was not theirs under the side they despised. There was a book in czech published about them recently (in cca last 5 years). After returning they were often chased by communist regime, however not so much as those from western allied front. Oh, and grandma was caught smuggling messages from resistance to prisoners in Olomouc´s gestapo, where she worked as cleaning lady since the times it was police station. Her daughters, total of 5 of them, were sent to german families for re-education, since luckily blond hair blue eyes ran in this part of my family. Well telling our family story would be boring since we are not famous, but I wanted to give you some view of how complicated were things. Nowadays people only remind us of the massacres of german citizen after war, however those were insignificant, inorganised acts of revenge, well deserved revenge - but mostly poorly targeted. For example in Olomouc were executed prisoners 1 day before soviets arrived, no wonder one such massacre occured in this city with many germans. To this day there is a group in germany, which declares Beneš´s decrets as violation of human rights, but they quickly forgot, we gave up any and all war reparations in exchange for their property, and it saved their lives from inevitable oppresion, probably even state persecution and definitely saved them from communism. Plus it was a part of peace treaty anyway, which we were not even part of negotiations, president just gave permission.
@@Pyrochemik007 Thanks again for your comments. Wow, there is a lot to unpack there. A story is a good story and it doesn't matter whether you are famous or not. It is an interesting story. So, if I understand it, your grandmother was caught smuggling messages by the Gestapo and sent to a concentration camp. Your grandfather was drafted into the Luftwaffe and he painted pictures in order to get your grandmother released? Is that right? Which concentration camp was your grandmother sent to? And her Sisters were sent to German for re-education because they looked Aryan? The Beneš decree certainly was very messy. As you say, when I first came across it, it was described as the biggest 'ethnic cleansing' project in Europe - even bigger than what was seen in the break up of Yugoslavia. I have heard arguments from both sides. I also do wonder if it was something the Czechs were not proud of. I have taught/teach people English to mature Czech students and they claim that the The Beneš decree was never mentioned in school. Like in the UK, a lot of things from Britain's history was not taught in schools . Thank you again, for contacting lots of interesting things for me to think about.
He is called a Good King because of his deeds - that made him a good KIng - and, he was, afterall, a christian that brought christianity to the Czech lands. The piousness of Wenceslas is captured in the last stanza of the song: Therefore, Christian men, be sure Wealth or rank possessing Ye, who now will bless the poor Shall yourselves find blessing.
Maria, thank you for your question. My understanding is that Drahomira was baptized - so, welcomed into the Christian church - but it is said she only did it so that she could marry Vaclav. Given her later banishment, and from what we know about her behaviour and love of pagan ways, I doubt very much that she converted to Christianity,: but I can find no sources to support that view.
@@TheMaskedGuideRight before you answered, I was watching a video where Drahomira did convert for good, when St. Wenceslaus forgives all her wrong doing... isn't that nice?!
Heat was in the very sod which the saint had printed. Religious allegory - snow, winter, distinction of royal and poor, man and nature separation, secular and sacred, all of these barriers which so constrain us the saintly King transcends, makes as illusory, being a living exemplar of Christ's charity.
St.Wenceslas´ father was Vratislav 1st (burried in St. George basilica), not Vladislav (Vladislav 1st. was son of Vratislav 2nd and lived almost 200 years later)
Ríša, thank you for your correction - you are absolutely correct - a mental aberration of my behalf - and this is why I welcome peoples' comments. Unfortunately, I can't edit this out; but as I don't get many comments, viewers will hopefully read your note. Thank you once again.
This is a fairly traditional historical description, although you pointed out to other possible versions. I suspect that when Christianity was being established, it was in the interest of its leaders to promote it by all means and hence to proclaime two saints in quick succession, Vaclav and Ludmila and at the same time, to paint in poor light their opponents. It would take centuries to have another Czech saint.
Jiri, thank you for your comments. I was confused by this 'It would take centuries to have another Czech saint.'. Wasn't Adalbert a Czech saint, too canonized in 999? Or have I got things wrong?
Well Czech lands already had been Christian Frank's Catholics struggles with the converting the local population early 800 , but Ortodox church was the original fate that spread fast among people rules of the Moravia, Nitra and Bohemia were baptised by Ortodox priests ... That is why Catholics kind of don't mention it.. So he was spreading German catholic faith.. But not Christianity...the Orthodox priest were forced to flee to the Bulgaria and there continued their work. Interesting is the story of the Saint Orisia in the Spain she was a princess killed by Arabic ruler in Spain on the way to be married to the Spanish king and he started the reconqusta in Spain as revenge of her death....
Lovely to learn a little more about one of my favorite Christmas Carols!
I'm not Bob...I'm his wife, Susan, in the State of Washington, USA. It was very satisfying to hear this history so concisely explained. I've loved this song and the history of Wenceslas, the legendary good King. It's inspiring. So sad that Boleslaus envied rather than followed his brother's lead. It's rather like a Cain and Able story.
Hello, Susan thank you for your comments - glad you liked the video and some of the history behind one of my favourite carols; although, how the carol came about has another fascinating history. Yes, it is a bit like Cain and Abel, but Wenceslas' mother, Drahomira, was not someone to be trifled with.
well susan it is not all that concrete what happened in reality, there are several theoryes, and most likelly what happened was an acident and over sealous body guards, but i do agree that the christian version is the most known, also bolesvav was not a bad ruler in the end, and in many ways it was he who founded a the bohemian state. transfering it from a tribal confederacy in to centralised state
Thanks! Very informative and interesting video.
I like the classic 3-note dramatic music crescendo @3:40 & @5:09 & more.
[Stephanie Miller on YT also uses it in detailing US political intrigue.]
Thank you, JP51ism - it's a classic murder mystery motif :) - Although, in this case, there was no mystery. We know whodunnit.
Thanks. Our next visit, the fifth visit in fact, we'll enjoy even more. My in laws were from Prague. 😃
Susie, thanks for your comments - well, it is a beautiful city and there are always lots of new to discover. And now, it is good to see people coming back to the city after so long.
I love your voice. And the history, too. More, more! Děkuju.
Why, thank you, Anne Marie - what a lovely compliment :).
@@TheMaskedGuide Hehe, I like your voice too; tis calming! I adore this story and Christmas carol, so thanks for going deeper into it's history!
@@justsuzy-v3c Why thank you! Glad you enjoyed the video.
Hermoso 💖 thank you
Cheers from Australia
Thank you, and cheers from Prague:)
Great story telling, and a great light shedding on the Wenceslas.
Now that it is December, how did he become the subject of the carol?
Lukas, thank you so much for taking time to comment and enjoying the video. I was going to make a video about it but other things took priority; but if you follow this link, this guy does a really good job of explaining where it originated.
ua-cam.com/video/gYnCon4aME8/v-deo.html
@@TheMaskedGuide Thank you for taking the time to reply, and for sharing the link. Good luck with all the things that keep you busy, and merry Christmas! :-)
@@lukasvandewiel860 My pleasure and a Merry Christmas to you and your family, too :)
Thanks. Religion and politics have always been a "problem " for those who can not understand one another.
As a Czech i must say you have good pronounce of ř and names
Also just fun fact: the hitman's of Ludmila, are vikings, yes vikings (the names also😅) beacuse they was very popular as mercenaries in Slavic countries thank to Baltic Poland where vikings and Slavs live together
Holex, thank you for you comment about my ř and names - I practice all the time. And, also, how interesting that the hitmen were Vikings - I didn't know that - thank you for sharing.
Wow! Viking mercs killed Ludmila? 😮 I didn't know that. Czech history is even more thrilling than I thought
@@jindrariley1824 probably because chronicle say that, reality could be different, but Bohemians and Scandinavian vikings had a market for example archeology etc... and saint Wenceslaus helmet is probably of Gotland origin.
Love the Teletubby!
8:33 King Charles 4 make this rule to secure that no kings pawn crown as his father Jan did to moust of Czech royal property.
Mirinovic -Thank you for your interesting comment :) I didn't know that.
If you want a bit lighter story, make one about first Habsburg on czech throne. It happened roughly 100 years before habsburks actualy ascended the throne. He traveled to Prague, but contracted tyfus in southern bohemia and died to diarrhea. It rhymes lol.
Interesting story would be the 30 year war, which started here. It was GB who supported the revolution, but only cheaply thus it failed. At white mountain battle, it was said only Moravian regiment stayed and fought to the bitter end. Lesson learned - never position your units in front of 4m tall cemetery wall. Then 27 noblemen were executed in Old city square. The war continues and one particular czech noblemen became a main general of Habsburg forces and gained many victories. He was however killed by Habsburgs in order to prevent another rebellion. At the end of war, Prague was sacked by swedish army, mobilised citizen managed to protect only west bank of the city. Huge, pricelles collections of art collected by Rudolph II. were stolen and can be seen in swedish museums. That includes famous Devil´s bible, the only bible with depicted devil.
The only undefeated general in austrian forces (way later) was a field marshal Radecky, a czech nobleman. There was a song composed in his honour, Radecky´s marsh. If you have the time, it is not part of our history classes where and how he fought.
Empress Marie Teresie was overall good ruler, but being a woman, all surrounding states decided to take the chance and attack austria-hungary we were part of. As a result of negotiations, we lost Silesia. Marie Teresie could have given up her ally Saxony, but decided to part with this territory instead (lost war). However this area in particular was rich in coal deposits, which allowed Prussia to power it´s industrial revolution, unify germany much faster and paved a road for world wars.
For your inventions videos, Semtex could be interesting topic. Foreigners may not enter the factory in Pardubice though, so it may be hard to create the video. But you can rant about americans stealing our patents. Again. It was also a big story how terrorists all around the world are equipped by semtex, which proved to be a total lie and seems to be a way to damage reputation of competing czech company in global market. You will need to contact them however, my information is both second hand and rusty.
@pyrochemik007 Thank you for taking the time to write to me - it is very much appreciated.
I like the idea of the 1st Habsburg -and Marie Teresa, but I do mention the 30 years war in my second video where I talk about the Marian Column - (Old Town Square) and how quickly the Bohemian estates were defeated by the Catholics and the execution of the noblemen in the Old Town Square. Have a look and let me know what you think - please tell me if I missed something.
I want to talk about the Swedish ransacking of Prague in 1648, but I was going to wait until, I get up to Prague Castle - BUT I didn’t know about the Devil’s Bible - so, thank you.
Also, I didn’t know that Radetzky was a Czech Nobleman; I only know him from the Radetzky March composed by Strauss and that his statue in Malostranské náměstí was removed - because he was seen as Austrian, I believe.
I had thought about Semtex for a video - I mention it on my walking tours - but, I get the impression that it is something that some Czechs aren’t proud of - maybe because of the things you suggest - the association with terrorism - but, maybe I need to look at that a little closer. Once again, thank you so much for taking the time to comment
@@TheMaskedGuide The end of austria hungary had many levels in society apart from political one. Raise of atheism - open one atleast, and end of class society. Both these ideas came from the fact that nobility and church was against czechs. So a nobleman who held the highest post in imperial military would be seen as an enemy in eyes of angry crowd. Most nobles were against czechs, since they came in after 30 year war instead of executed and banished czech nobility, and their loyalty was toward emperor, nationality german. He was however descendant of old czech nobles. To this day czech republic has problems in diplomatic circles for canceling nobility and later taking their property for cooperation with nazis. Which however most of them did. Grandpa was friend with young Šternberk, who later fled in 1948, that was another old czech noble house, to my best knowledge one of those not involved with nazis.
One such story of hated noble was the Habsburk killed in Sarajevo - he had a chateaux in Bohemia, and part of it was a pond for raising carps. His pond´s dam broke, water flooded local village, and brought in dying carps. So people collected some. But then his imperial prince decided, to collect all fishes, even from houses, and use them as fertilizer for roses in his garden. The damage was never paid either.
@@Pyrochemik007 Thank you once again. Really interesting information - all good material for me to check out and what an interesting story about Arch Duke Ferdinand!
@@TheMaskedGuide It is just from hearsay, I am not sure where to search that info.
Another story would be the forced recruitment of czech ctizen into german military. It happened in those parts of Silesia region, which used to be a part of german empire before WW1. Since nazis considered this land as their, all people were drafted like if they were germans. That included my great grandpa, who was drafted to luftwaffe and served, lucky guy, in Norway as airport guard. He was 40 before the main battles in russia took place, so he kept his safe spot till the end of war. Learned to paint there. Used his paintings to free his wife from concentration camps. But anyway, back to the topic. These people were forced into various segments of german military, fighting a war which was not theirs under the side they despised. There was a book in czech published about them recently (in cca last 5 years). After returning they were often chased by communist regime, however not so much as those from western allied front.
Oh, and grandma was caught smuggling messages from resistance to prisoners in Olomouc´s gestapo, where she worked as cleaning lady since the times it was police station. Her daughters, total of 5 of them, were sent to german families for re-education, since luckily blond hair blue eyes ran in this part of my family.
Well telling our family story would be boring since we are not famous, but I wanted to give you some view of how complicated were things. Nowadays people only remind us of the massacres of german citizen after war, however those were insignificant, inorganised acts of revenge, well deserved revenge - but mostly poorly targeted. For example in Olomouc were executed prisoners 1 day before soviets arrived, no wonder one such massacre occured in this city with many germans. To this day there is a group in germany, which declares Beneš´s decrets as violation of human rights, but they quickly forgot, we gave up any and all war reparations in exchange for their property, and it saved their lives from inevitable oppresion, probably even state persecution and definitely saved them from communism. Plus it was a part of peace treaty anyway, which we were not even part of negotiations, president just gave permission.
@@Pyrochemik007 Thanks again for your comments. Wow, there is a lot to unpack there. A story is a good story and it doesn't matter whether you are famous or not. It is an interesting story. So, if I understand it, your grandmother was caught smuggling messages by the Gestapo and sent to a concentration camp. Your grandfather was drafted into the Luftwaffe and he painted pictures in order to get your grandmother released? Is that right? Which concentration camp was your grandmother sent to? And her Sisters were sent to German for re-education because they looked Aryan? The Beneš decree certainly was very messy. As you say, when I first came across it, it was described as the biggest 'ethnic cleansing' project in Europe - even bigger than what was seen in the break up of Yugoslavia. I have heard arguments from both sides. I also do wonder if it was something the Czechs were not proud of. I have taught/teach people English to mature Czech students and they claim that the The Beneš decree was never mentioned in school. Like in the UK, a lot of things from Britain's history was not taught in schools . Thank you again, for contacting lots of interesting things for me to think about.
Good
The song “good” king Wenceslaus by implication suggests the existence of a “bad” king Wenceslaus. Like the parable of the “good” Samaritan.
He is called a Good King because of his deeds - that made him a good KIng - and, he was, afterall, a christian that brought christianity to the Czech lands. The piousness of Wenceslas is captured in the last stanza of the song:
Therefore, Christian men, be sure
Wealth or rank possessing
Ye, who now will bless the poor
Shall yourselves find blessing.
Did Drahomira, St. Wenceslaus mother, ever converted to Catholicism?
Maria, thank you for your question. My understanding is that Drahomira was baptized - so, welcomed into the Christian church - but it is said she only did it so that she could marry Vaclav. Given her later banishment, and from what we know about her behaviour and love of pagan ways, I doubt very much that she converted to Christianity,: but I can find no sources to support that view.
@@TheMaskedGuideRight before you answered, I was watching a video where Drahomira did convert for good, when St. Wenceslaus forgives all her wrong doing... isn't that nice?!
@@mariahendrickson1443 Thank you for finding that out - can you post the link, please?
@@TheMaskedGuide I'm sorry, is in Spanish.. if u speak it, will fwd it to u.. blessings
@@mariahendrickson1443 Yes, please do - I would like to share it with my Spanish colleagues.
Heat was in the very sod which the saint had printed. Religious allegory - snow, winter, distinction of royal and poor, man and nature separation, secular and sacred, all of these barriers which so constrain us the saintly King transcends, makes as illusory, being a living exemplar of Christ's charity.
St.Wenceslas´ father was Vratislav 1st (burried in St. George basilica), not Vladislav (Vladislav 1st. was son of Vratislav 2nd and lived almost 200 years later)
Ríša, thank you for your correction - you are absolutely correct - a mental aberration of my behalf - and this is why I welcome peoples' comments. Unfortunately, I can't edit this out; but as I don't get many comments, viewers will hopefully read your note. Thank you once again.
Good job. But son of Bořivoj was Vratislav I. no Vladislav. Vladislav I. ruled in 12th century
Smolikvm. thanks for that.. Yes a previous viewer pointed out my mistake. I know the fact, but it was a mental aberration on my behalf.
That popping noise is annoying.
Troy, thanks for your feedback :). Will pass your comments on to the editor.
This is a fairly traditional historical description, although you pointed out to other possible versions. I suspect that when Christianity was being established, it was in the interest of its leaders to promote it by all means and hence to proclaime two saints in quick succession, Vaclav and Ludmila and at the same time, to paint in poor light their opponents. It would take centuries to have another Czech saint.
Jiri, thank you for your comments. I was confused by this 'It would take centuries to have another Czech saint.'. Wasn't Adalbert a Czech saint, too canonized in 999? Or have I got things wrong?
@@TheMaskedGuide True, bat Vojtech got his sainthood likely due to his activity to bring Christianity to Poland.
I once had a cat called Meowceslaus
Well Czech lands already had been Christian Frank's Catholics struggles with the converting the local population early 800 , but Ortodox church was the original fate that spread fast among people rules of the Moravia, Nitra and Bohemia were baptised by Ortodox priests ... That is why Catholics kind of don't mention it.. So he was spreading German catholic faith.. But not Christianity...the Orthodox priest were forced to flee to the Bulgaria and there continued their work. Interesting is the story of the Saint Orisia in the Spain she was a princess killed by Arabic ruler in Spain on the way to be married to the Spanish king and he started the reconqusta in Spain as revenge of her death....
Maybe it was the Page that killed him, out of anger over walking out in the freezing winter cold with Wenceslas that fabled night.
:) Very funny and very possible :)