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____ Kresomysl
Birth: ABT 780 of Praha, Bohemia
Death: 851
Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C5%99emysl_the_Ploughman
Premysl the Ploughman (Czech pronunciation: ['pr?°?m?sl? 'ora?t?] ( listen) Premysl
Orác; English: Premysl, Przemysl or Primislaus[nb 1]) was the legendary husband of
Libuše, and ancestor of the Premyslid dynasty, containing the line of princes (dukes)
and kings which ruled in the Lands of the Bohemian Crown from 873 or earlier until the
murder of Wenceslaus III in 1306.
Legend[edit]
According to a legend, Premysl was a free peasant of the village of Stadice who
attracted the notice of Libuše, daughter of a certain Krok, who ruled over a large part
of Bohemia. Libuše succeeded her father, and her councillors demanded that she
marry, but because Premysl was not a nobleman she recounted a vision in which they
would follow a horse let loose at a junction, and follow it to find her future husband,
making it appear as if it was the will of fate not her own wish. Two versions of the
legend exist, one in where they are to find a man ploughing a field with one broken
sandal, and another in which the man would be sitting in the shade of a single tree,
eating from an iron table (his plough). They did so and found Premysl exactly as
foretold.[2]
Premysl married Libuše, the traditional foundress of Prague, and became prince of the
Bohemian Czechs. However, according to the legends, because they found him before
he had finished ploughing the field famine was anticipated for the land and did
actually come about. He was also said to have planted his hazel-wood staff in the
ground before he left, which then grew three sprouts, two of which died but the third
continued to grow; this was an omen that his first two sons with Libuše, Radobyl and
Lidomir, would die, but their third son, Nezamysl would live and continue the Premyslid
dynasty. Legend has it that the staff continued to grow, and the inhabitants of the
neighbouring town were given a grant exempting them from taxes, except for a pint of
hazel nuts each year, a tradition which continued into the reign of Charles IV, Holy
Roman Emperor, from whom Pope Pius II claimed to have seen a charter renewing the
exemption.[2]
He was also said to have removed his peasant's bast shoes before donning the royal
robe when he was discovered, and ordered the councillors to bring the shoes with
them and keep them as a reminder to the people that a peasant had risen to the
highest rank, and to his successors to be humble, remember their origin, and defend
the peasantry. The custom of being exhibiting a pair of bast shoes at the coronation of
the kings of Bohemia was said to have continued throughout the Premyslid dynasty.[2]
The Premyslid dynasty became extinct in the male line when Wenceslaus III died, but
through females the title to Bohemia passed from the Premyslids to the Luxembourgs
and later to the houses of Jagiello, Habsburg and Habsburg-Lorraine.
Medieval literary traditions[edit]
The earliest work mentioning the story about Premysl and Libuše could be the so
called Christian Legende (Latin title: Vita et passio sancti Vencaslai et sanctae
Ludmilae aviae eius) from the end of 10th century, but some historians consider this
legend to be a falsum from 12th or 13th century. The legend is further described in the
Cosmas Chronicle (Latin title: Chronica Boemorum) written between 1119–1125, Short
writting about Cyril and Methodius (Latin title: Diffundente sole) from the late 12th
century and the Chronicle of Dalimil from the beginning of 14th century.
Several times the legend was recorded during the reign of king and emperor Charles
IV in the late 14th century. E.g., the so called New Chronicle of Bohemiae by Pribík
Pulkava and in the chronicle compiled by Giovanni de' Marignolli.
Arts[edit]
In addition to appearing in works named for Libuše, Premysl is also a subject of the
writings of Wenceslaus Hajek of Libocany published in 1541, a 1779 ballad by Johann
Gottfried Herder, fairy tales by Johann Karl August Musäus, and Clemens Brentano's
1815 The Founding of Prague.[3]
Parents
____ Unislav (ABT 758 - 833)
----- ----- ()
Siblings
____ Kresomysl (ABT 780 - 851)
Marriage To ____ Libuse (ABT 782 - )
m.
Notes
Parents
____ Krok ()
----- ----- ()
Children by ____ Libuse ABT 782 -
____ Neklan (ABT 800 - 873)
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