White places of our history
E-book, Czech
White places of our history
If we were to judge history through the lens of school lessons, it would be just a jumble of names and hard-to-remember dates. Fortunately, there is another kind of history, a history full of exciting and mysterious stories.
The fourth volume of the Český ČAS Edition presents you with twenty-eight stories from Bohemian and Moravian history, all connected by the words “blank spaces”. They are mostly based on hypotheses and conjectures from respected historians and amateur researchers who were not afraid to “stick their necks out”. Often their claims are, at the very least, debatable, and frequently they just pose a question to which we do not yet know the answer—and who knows if we ever will. In any case, these are supremely captivating and exciting stories.
We will ponder, for instance, the mysterious massacre at Býčí Skála (Bull Rock Cave), the origin of Celtic gold and Slavic ethnic groups in our territory, and we will search for the castles of Krok's daughters, the seven mythical Přemyslid princes, and the final resting places of Prince Svatopluk, Prokop the Great, and the executed Bohemian lords. We will follow in the footsteps of the blessed Podiven, the avenger of Prince Wenceslas, and discover where Jaroslav, the “victor over the Tatars”, came from. We will tell the story of the death of the first Habsburg on the Bohemian throne and of the paragon of chivalry of his time, John of Luxembourg. We will be amused by the tale of Lžiwaldemar in the service of the Father of the Nation, or by how the Rosenbergs' fabricated story of their Italian origin ultimately backfired. We will remember the mysterious Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre on the Cattle Market and the Polish anti-king of the Hussites, Sigismund Korybut. The legendary Rudolfine era will be introduced to us by the man after whom it was named, as well as by the dubious alchemist Kelley. We will be surprised by stories of how the famous Casanova adapted the libretto of a Mozart opera, or about possibly the first aviator in human history, who lived in a small cottage in a remote part of South Bohemia…
We will then pay special attention to remarkable and mysterious women – “Queen” Emma, the wife of Boleslaus II; the beautiful Božena, Oldřich's consort; Blessed Agnes of Bohemia’s sister, Vratislava (also called Blažena), who was first nearly canonised only to be soon labelled a heretic; and Zuzana, the saviour of Wenceslas IV.
Samples to download:
EUROMEDIA GROUP a.s., Nádražní 762/32, Praha 5-Smíchov 15000, Česká republika, www.euromedia.cz
