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History of Litoměřice region

Litoměřice city The Litomerice region is rich in history, something which is indeed in evidence when you consider that almost a third of the historic monuments and sights of Northern Bohemia are situated here. If we intend taking a look at the entire area in its wider connections, our first steps should take us to the museum.

The first fortified settlements began to appear on this territory int he first half of the seventh century. The oldest fort in the Litomerice region was on Trikrizovy vrch (Three-Cross Hill), and is associated in theory with Canburk, as mentioned by Franconian chroniclers up to 805. In the ninth century the tribal structure of the Czechs disintegrates and separate principalities emerge. The Litomerice area mostly belonged to the principality of Lucans, and was protected by small castles at Trikrizovy vrch, Vlastislav, Klapy, and some sort of large market place in Lovosice. The forts at Levousy and Sovice near Vetia are evidently the first outposts set up in the north by the expanding Premyslides. A conflict arose between the Premyslides and the Lucans, known as the fabled Lucan War. The war ended with the defeat of the Lucan army, and the fortified settlements were dispersed (the burnt layers at Vlastislav bear testimony to this). The greatest changes in the Litomerice area occurred in the tenth century, when from 935 to 950 Prince Boleslav I disposed of the semi-independent dukes and set about building up an integrated Czech state. His army evidently razed the mighty fort at Trikrizovy vrch and around 950 the construction of Litomerice Castle was begun - an early mediaeval castle, an administrative, economic, and Church centre. But that takes us up to the Middle Ages.

A square of Litoměřice city from the south side Litoměřice Castle, spreading out on the hill of Domsky pahorek, was one of the most significant centres of Premyslide castle administration from the tenth century onwards, and the castle wardens were among the most prominent in the land. A large agglomeration of settlements emerged from the tenth to the twelfth century under the protection of the castle, and other settlements also sprang up around Bohusovice, Lovosice, Budyne, and Roudnice, numerous communities lined the banks of the Labe and the Ohre. Christianity reinforces its status and thus the formation of the first Church institutions begins, the oldest of them being the Litomerice Chapter founded by Prince Spytihnev in 1057. By merit of the noble lines the process of colonization is underway in the twelfth century, and thus the Ceske Stredohori Mountain Range is gradually settled. The oldest castle in the Litomerice region, besides the episcopal Roudnice, was evidently Levin, built in the first half of the thirteenth century. The oldest castles also include the sovereign Litomerice and Budyne, as well as Klapy (later Hazmburk), and there is proof of a fort at Opamo from 1276. In the second half of the thirteenth century the castle of Sebin near Levousy came into being, at the end of the thirteenth century the castle of Skalka in Trebenice region, and the castle at Libesice. Around 1319 Kamyk Castle was completed, followed, a little later, by the castles of Kostalov, Helfenburk, Milesov, and the city castle in Ustek. The towns also expand, with the main developments evident in trade and commerce. The fourteenth century sees the rise of agitation in Bohemia. In the towns the thinking and the ideas of the reform preachers begin to take root, with the famous Konrad Waldhauser active in Litomerice in the 1460s. The burning of Jan Hus in 1415 set off the Hussite revolution, in which Litomerice first stood on the side of the Catholics, and as late as 30 May 1420,24 advocates of the chalice were drowned in the Labe. A year later, on 29 May 1421, Litomerice, after a short siege by an army led by Zizka, joined the Prague union of Hussite towns. Zizka then had his own castle built on a hill overlooking Trebusin, called, symbolically, Kalich (chalice). Yet the Hussites did not overcome the whole of this area, the territories controlled by the Catholic nobility also made inroads here. In the north-east this was the Deem estate of Zikmund of Vartenberk, who had the castles of Panna and Litys built to counterbalance Zizka's Kalich. In Hazmburk, the Catholic Vilem of Hazmburk held his own, as did Vaclav Kaplir of Sulevice, who had Ostry Castle built south 'bf Milesov. Litomerice remained allied to the Hussite Prague Union until 1427, after which it inclined towards the more radical Louny-Zatec Union, which ultimately led to the detachments here taking part in the Battle of Lipany in 1434 on the side of the armies of Prokop Holy (Procopius the Bald).

A square of Litoměřice city - from the north side As a result of the Hussite wars the significance of the municipal estate grew. The long period without military conflict in the sixteenth century gave rise to a great upward swing in trade and commerce, and Litomerice became the most prominent town in northern Bohemia. The ,,golden age of Bohemian towns", as this period is sometimes called, ended in 1618 as a result of religious disputes. These ultimately gave occasion to the uprising of the estates, which in actual fact sparked off the Thirty Years' War. The invasions of the Saxons and Swedes, together with imperial reprisals, brought nothing but depredation, death, and decay.

The thirty Years' War transformed what had been a garden in 5m here with its wealthy towns into a scene of conflagra-Bon. The decimated population suffered from hunger and disease. In Litomerice, for instance, of the original 700 buildings, 500 were abandoned, and the number of inhabitants dropped in 1638 to a mere tenth of the number before the war. The countryside was to all extents and purposes completely depopulated. A bishopric was established in Litomerice in 1655 in order to strengthen the Catholic faith. The external form of re-Catholicization was the Baroque, hence extraordinary works of art were produced in this area in which foreign and local artists played a hand; these included the architects Carrati, Orsolini, Columbani, the Broggis, Dienzenhofer, Porta, Versa, and the painters Reiner, Skreta, Brandl, and Heintch.

A square of Litoměřice city The Litoměřice region was also afflicted by war in the eighteenth century, the Battle of Lovosice on 1 October 1756 beginning the Seven Years' War between Austria, Prussia, and their allies for the Habsburg inheritance. It was also here that part of the so-called Potato War for the Bavarian inheritance took place in 1778-1779. In spite of all the military hardship in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the so-called critical thinking of the new age also found fertile soil due to the advanced educational and Church institutions in Litomerice. This reflected interest in the natural sciences and humanities, and national and social issues. Litomerice was the place where the foremost representatives of the Enlightenment, such as Gelasius Dobner, Mikulas A. Voight, and Josef Dobrovsky gathered around the enlightened bishop Emanuel Amost of Valdstejn; from 1799 to 1815 Josef Jungmann, who made a huge contribution to the establishment of the Czech language into science and literature, taught at Litomerice Grammar School. Ranking among the most significant educated people of the time was, without a doubt, the renowned Czech physiologist and native of Libochovice Jan Evangelista Purkyne.

The Prague Uprising in 1848 found great favour in the Litomerice region, especially around Rip. In March 1848 a delegation of the St. Wenceslas Committee paid a visit to Roudnice, and the student national guard organized a rally on Rip. Rallies were then to become a regular event for decades. During one rally, on 10 May 1868, a stone was ceremoniously carried off from Rip for the foundations of the National Theatre. The second half of the nineteenth century was marked by the Industrial Revolution, although in the Litomerice region this did rather stand in the shade of the prosperous local agriculture. The Russian Revolution of 1905 found a large response here too. The First World War went on to deepen national and social conflicts. The long struggle for national freedom came to an end in the Litomerice region and along all the border regions with the declaration of the independent Czecho-Slovak Republic in 1918.