Locals and outlanders — an outline of the ethnic composition of Wenceslaus II’s Prague court

Locals and outlanders — an outline of the ethnic composition of Wenceslaus II’s Prague court The so-called foreigners who were present at Wenceslaus II’s royal court were mainly people of German origin, although even ethnic German origin may have meant that they came from a family which had settled in the Kingdom of Bohemia (as was the case of Jan of Ostrov in all likelihood). Most of them were educated clerics engaged at the court — in the chancellery and as the king’s advisors. Another group, no less interesting, comprised men of letters — lyric poets and authors of epics, who sought royal patronage at the Prague court in the second half of the thirteenth century, thus securing their own livelihood. Thanks to their activities, which reached their peak at Wenceslaus II’s Prague court, they have left us a number of literary works. Although they are written in German, they represent the very oldest works of fiction in Bohemian history, predating even the Old Czech works of literature from the fourteenth century. With the presence of people of both Bohemian and German origin, the beneficial multi-lingual potential of the Bohemian lands is no less interesting. There was a bilingual environment in daily communication at Wenceslaus II’s Prague court: in other words, the individuals in question spoke both Czech and German. It is clear from the concentration of foreigners that this fact must have suited the ruling family, which understood German. This is undoubtedly true of Wenceslaus II, as we know that between the ages of seven and twelve he grew up in Brandenburg, at the Ascanian court of his cousin and guardian, Otto V. Furthermore, Wenceslaus II is named as the author of three German late Minnesang love poems. In addition, Wenceslaus II’s first wife Guta was the daughter of the King of the Holy Roman Empire, Rudolf I from the House of Habsburg, and German would have been her mother tongue. This multilingual trend became gradually stronger in the fourteenth century in written form too, as is evidenced by emerging Old Czech literary works and continuing Latin documents. Latin remained the principal language in the royal chancellery, although with the government of Henry, Duke of Carinthia, for example, German was sometimes used as well. When it comes to court and German literature, however, we should add that although the works produced in Bohemia comprise the oldest ever documents of local fiction, within the context of the development of German court literature, they originated at a time when the zenith had been reached, spreading the farthest to the east.