My Travel and History Blog, Focussing mostly on Roman and Mediaeval Times
Once upon a time there was an evil burgrave, Puta of Illburk, who resided in Loket Castle (1). He was a harsh man who demanded socage far beyond his rights and collected taxes without any concern about the peasants being ill or the crops having failed. One day, a widow with a wee bairn approached him. She had lost her husband to disease and was shaking with a fever herself, clutching the little underfed boy to her breast. But the burgrave who stood on a parapet outside his hall watching the crowd that had come with her, would not listen to her pleas and tears. "Pay me the tax your late husband is due, or I will throw you into the dungeon."
When the poor woman realised that no tears and pleas would move the burgrave, she cursed him. "A heart of stone you have, and may God turn you to stone for it."
At that moment, despite the weather being fair and the sky blue, a lightning struck the parapet and a bright light soared skyward. The crowd fell to their knees in fear and covered their eyes against the light. When they dared to look up again, a wall in the burgrave's hall had disappeared, and a large black stone lay inside the room. Read more »
I only took a brief walk through the centre of Karlovy Vary (Czechia). The town has a lot of pretty, and even splendid, buildings of the Neo-Classicist, Art Déco and Art Nouveau styles that have been lovingly restored. Nevertheless, the overcast sky and lack of green (except for some willows in the park) early in the year made it look a bit grey. I'm sure Karlovy Vary will be lovely when the sun sparkles in the water, the trees are green, and the façades of the houses shine in their bright colours. You'll have to deal with the less colourful photos, I'm afraid.
Karlovy Vary is situated at the confluence of the river Ohře and the warm water river Teplá; site of 13 main springs and about 300 smaller ones. The healing properties of the waters have long been known; traces of settlements in the area date to the Bronze Age. The first mention of the place in the Middle Ages is the Breve testatum, a charte dating to 1325, signed by King John 'the not yet Blind' of Bohemia, which mentions hunting grounds at the 'horké lázně u Lokte' (= the hot springs near Loket). Read more »
When I was researching the Teutonic Knights and the forging of the union between Władysław Jagiełło of Poland and Vytautas of Lithuania (see this post), I came across a paragraph mentioning that one of the participants in the siege of Vilnius in 1390 was Henry Bolingbroke, the future King Henry IV of England, who had joined the Teutonic Knights with a number of household knights and archers. That intrigued me and I hunted down more information about Henry's adventures in Lithuania. I'm sure my British readers will be interested in that probably little known piece of history.
A short biography of King Henry IV will suffice here (1). Henry IV, also known as Henry Bolingbroke after his place of birth, and Henry of Derby (he held the honorary title Earl of Derby since 1374), was born on April 15, 1367. His father was John of Gaunt, a younger son of King Edward III; his mother was Blanche, heiress of Lancaster (and in turn descended from Henry III; 2). In 1380, Henry married Mary de Bohun, daughter of Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford. Read more »
