Czech Christianity

Abstract The modern Czech Republic, or Czechia, consists mainly of the historic provinces of Bohemia and Moravia. In the 9th and 10th centuries, Bohemia was united, centralized, and Christianized by the same process. Borivoj I (d. 894) was the first Christian king, and his wife Ludmilla (860–921) and grandson Vaclav (Wenzel, 907–935) are Bohemia's patron saints for Catholics and Orthodox alike. In 973 Prague became a diocese, but for a long time remained dependent on archbishops in the west. Czechia was Christianized mainly through a large number of religious foundations. As part of the German Empire, Prague finally became an archdiocese in 1344. Bohemia reached its zenith under Charles IV (1346–1378), who founded Charles University in 1348 with an importanttheological faculty, built major churches such as the cathedral of Prague, and initiated church reforms.