Legenda Christiani

From Pagan Darkness to the Founding of Prague

The Bohemians, once lawless idolaters, receive a prophetic oracle, found Prague, and appoint the wise farmer Přemysl as their prince through the sorceress’s counsel.

But the Slavs and Bohemians, settled under the very North Star, given over to the cults of idolatry like an unbridled horse without law, without any prince or ruler or city, wandered scattered across the land like brute animals, inhabiting it all on their own. At last, worn down by the disasters of pestilence, they approached a certain sorceress — as the story goes — asking for a spirit of counsel and a divinatory response. Having received it, they founded a city and gave it the name Prague. After this, upon finding a certain most sagacious and most prudent man — whose sole concern was the cultivation of the land — by the sorceress's response they appointed him as prince or governor for himself, called by the surname Přemysl; and the aforementioned sorceress was joined to him in marriage as a virgin.

Idolatrous Succession until Borivoi

The Přemyslid princes continue in demon-worship and pagan sacrifice until the line reaches Borivoi.

And so, at last delivered from disaster and manifold plague, they then appointed for themselves, from the offspring of the aforementioned prince, rulers or leaders who served the idols of demons and reveled in the profane rites of sacrifices, until the dominion of that same kingdom came at last to one sprung from those very princes, called Borivoi.

Methodius Challenges Borivoi at the Banquet

Borivoi is humiliated at Svatopluk’s pagan banquet; Methodius rebukes him, promises divine blessing for conversion, and Borivoi eagerly receives baptism with his companions.

This man, when he was in the bloom of most excellent beauty and distinguished youth, at a certain time went to his lord or king, Svatopluk of Moravia, on business of his own and of the people entrusted to him, and was kindly received by him and admitted to the banquet equally with the others. But he wasn't given any place to sit among the Christians; instead, in the manner of the pagans, he was ordered to sit on the floor before the table. The bishop of that man, Methodius, sympathizing with the wrong done to him, is said to have spoken to him: "Woe!" he said. "You, so great and distinguished, are not at all ashamed to be driven from the chief seats by your own nobles, since you yourself hold the office of duke with its rods of authority — yet you would rather, on account of the abominable worship of idols, lie on the ground with the swine."¹ But he said: "What danger do I suffer on account of such a thing, or what good will the Christian way of life bring me?" "If," said Bishop Methodius, "you renounce idols and the demons dwelling in them, you will become lord of your lords, and all your enemies will be subjected to your rule, and your offspring will increase daily like a great river into which the streams of many smaller rivers flow." "And if," said Borivoj, "the matter stands so, what is there to delay my baptism?" "None at all," said the bishop. "Only be ready to believe with your whole heart in God the Father almighty, and in his only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit, the Paraclete, the illuminator of all the faithful — not merely for the sake of worldly wealth, but also for the pursuit of the salvation of your soul, for the obtaining of the glorious palm of eternity, and for the receiving of fellowship with the saints in ineffable joy."²³ Fired by these and similar honey-sweet exhortations, the young man's mind burned to receive the grace of baptism, and so that no delay would occur, he and all his companions who were with him threw themselves at the bishop's feet on the ground and urgently begged for it.

Baptism, Return, and the Church of Saint Clement

Borivoi is baptized, instructed in the faith, given a priest, and returns to found a church in Prague, winning souls for Christ.

What more is there to say? The next morning he himself, along with the thirty men who had arrived, catechized him, and when the solemn customary fasts had been completed, he renewed him in the most holy font of baptism and fully instructed him in the faith of Christ, enriching him with many gifts so that he might return to his own people, granting him a venerable priest of holy life named Caych. And when they had returned to their own castle, called Gradic, they appointed the aforementioned priest, founding a church in honor of blessed Clement, pope and martyr, inflicting many losses on Satan and winning the people for Christ the Lord.

Rebellion, Flight, and the Rise of Ztroymir

Chelidrus incites the people against Borivoi; the prince flees to Moravia for further instruction while the rebels recall the exiled Ztroymir, whose long absence has cost him his native tongue.

Seeing this, the treacherous Chelidrus took up his own weapons and plunged back into the old wars. He set the whole people of the Bohemians ablaze with fury against the prince, because they were abandoning their ancestral customs and taking up the new and unheard-of law of Christian holiness. They rise against him with one mind and a single purpose, and they try to drive him from their borders, or even strive to take his life. When the prince learned of this, he withdrew from them and went back again to King Zwentepulch, or to Bishop Methodius of Moravia. By them he is received most honorably, as was fitting, and staying among them for a little while, he obtains a more thorough grasp of Christ's teaching. But the common people, remaining in their wickedness, sent envoys to bring back from exile a certain duke named Ztroymir — whose name translates into Latin as 'king of peace' — who had been living as a fugitive among the Teutons, away from his own people, and they brought him home and established him as their ruler. But since Truth is never deceived — for she says in the Gospel: 'Every planting that my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted' — with her cooperation the plan of the wicked was quickly scattered.^✦ For although the same man whom they had chosen as their leader was born from among them, his long exile had robbed him of the eloquence of his own lips.

The Field Conspiracy and the Battle Cry

Rejected by his own electors, Ztroymir’s faction plots armed treachery in the field; Borivoi’s armored party answers the death-signal cry with a grim wordplay and defeats them.

For this reason he is rejected by his own electors, since they themselves are the first to accuse him — namely, that they had chosen for themselves a man whose voice and speech they could not understand, and whose supporters' shouts his ears, ignorant of their language, could not make out. And since, by God's Providence at work, the aforementioned Prince Borivoi had withdrawn and left behind a great many of his friends there, their counsel was sought — so that the fury of the common people toward their gentle ruler might be softened, and so that they might be roused with all their strength against the treacherous invader, to his death. But since the largest faction of the treacherous men sided with the tyrant, they formed a plan between both parties — that they would go out from the capital city, namely Prague, into the field, and there decide what should be done for themselves. But the treacherous faction, acting deceitfully, secretly carried arms and breastplates into the same field and agreed among themselves on a secret signal of death against the party of the devout — namely, that if any of them from Prince Borivoi's side were there and refused to go along with them, any one of them would proclaim the secret signal in a loud voice from the midst, crying out: 'Let us change, let us change ourselves!' And so, now wearing the breastplates and helmets they had secretly brought, they intended to kill all who opposed them with their swords. But their wicked plan did not at all escape Borivoi's faction; and so they too, wearing breastplates beneath their tunics, proceeded into the field to settle the prince's position. And when the counsel of Borivoi's party did not please Ztroymir's faction, one of them raised his voice on high and cried out: 'Hear this, our people — let us change ourselves!' When that cry was heard and recognized, Borivoi's party — which had come armored beneath their tunics — said: 'Well, you have spoken well! Now behold, you will appear changed in many colors!'

Borivoi Restored and the First Churches of Prague

Borivoi’s faction triumphs, he is restored to power, fulfills his vow by building a church to the Virgin Mary, and establishes the first religious community in Prague.

And so, having cut down all his companions with the sword, they forced them to flee, and they drove their false leader out of the land; then, hurrying into Moravia, they brought back the former duke and restored him to his rightful place.⁴ Now since the same prince of Moravia, dwelling there, had made a vow to almighty God — namely, that if the Lord would bring him back to his homeland with honor, he would build a church in honor of blessed Mary, the mother of God and everlasting virgin — upon his return he set out without delay to fulfill his vow in that very city of Prague.⁵⁶ He stands out as the first founder of holy places, the gatherer of clerics, and the founder of the small religious community that existed at that time.⁷

Read the original Latin

At vero Sclavi Boemi, ipso sub Arcturo positi, cultibus ydolatrie dediti, velut equus infrenis sine lege, sine ullo principe vel rectore vel urbe, uti bruta animalia sparsim vagantes, terram solam incolebant. Tandem pestilencie cladibus attriti, quandam phitonissam, ut fama fertur, adeunt, postulantes spiritum consilii responsumque divinacionis. Quo accepto civitatem statuunt, nomenque inponunt Pragam. Post hinc invento quodam sagacissimo atque prudentissimo viro, cui tantum agriculture officium erat, responsione phitonisse principem seu gubernatorem sibi statuunt, vocitatum cognomine Premizl, iuncta ei in matrimonio supramemorata phitonissa virgine.

Sicque a clade et multiplici peste tandem eruti, dehinc a supra memorato principe ex sobole eius rectores seu duces preposuere sibi, servientes demoniorum simulacris et prophanis sacrificiorum ritibus bachantes, donec ad extremum dominatus eiusdem regni pervenit ad unum ex eisdem principibus ortum, vocitatum Borivoi.

Hic cum excellentissime forme et egregie iuventutis flore nitesceret, quodam tempore negocii sui populique sibi commissi causa ducem suum vel regem Zuentepulc Moravie adiit, a quo benigne suscipitur et ad convivium pariter cum reliquis adsciscitur. Verum sessionis ei locus inter Christicolas minime conceditur, sed ritu paganorum ante mensam pavimento iubetur insidere. Cuius presul Metudius iniurie condolens, fertur dixisse ad eum: Ve, inquit, quod tu talis tantusque haut erubescis a principalibus repelli sedibus, cum et ipse in fascibus ducatum obtineas, sed magis cupias ob nefandam ydolorum culturam cum subulcis humotenus incubare. At ille: Quid, inquit, ob huiuscemodi rem pericli pacior vel quid boni michi conferet Christianitatis ritus? Si, inquit presul Metudius, abrenunciaveris ydolis et inhabitantibus in eis demonibus, dominus dominorum tuorum efficieris, cunctique hostes tui subicientur dicioni tue et progenies tua cottidie augmentabitur velut fluvius maximus, in quo diversorum confluunt fluenta rivulorum. Et si, inquit Borivoi, res se ita habet, que mora est baptizandi? Nulla, inquit pontifex, tantum paratus esto ex integro corde credere in Deum patrem omnipotentem eiusque unigenitum, dominum nostrum Iesum Christum et in Spiritum paraclitum, illuminatorem omnium fidelium, non tantum mundialis causa substancie, verum eciam capessende salutis tue anime pro aquirenda perhennitatis gloriosa palma atque percipienda societate sanctorum ineffabili leticia. His et huiuscemodi mellifluis exortacionibus accensa mens iuvenis estuabat graciam baptismi percipere, et ut ne ulla mora fieret, cum suis omnibus, qui eum comitabantur, terretenus pedibus pontificis advoluti, obnixius postulavere.

Quid plura? Mane facto ipsum ducem cum suis triginta, qui advenerant cathezizans, peractis ieiuniorum ex more sollempniis, sacrosancto baptismatis fonte innovavit pleniterque eum de fide Christi instruens, multis locupletatum donis ad propria redire concessit, tribuens ei venerabilis vite sacerdotem nomine Caych. Quique reversi in sua, in castello, cui vocabulum inerat Gradic, supradictum sacerdotem statuunt, fundantes ecclesiam in honore beati Clementis pape et martyris, multa detrimenta sathane ingerentes, populum Christo domino acquirentes.

Que cernens perfidus chelidrus, propriis armis sumptis antiqua bella repetit. Populum cunctum Boemorum in furorem principis accendit, eo quod paternos mores relinqueret et novam atque inauditam sanctitatis legem Christianorum arriperet. Surgunt adversus eum uno animo eademque sentencia suisque eum a finibus perturbare conantur, seu eciam vitam auferre moliuntur. Quo agnito princeps sese ab eis removit rursusque regem Zuentepulc seu pontificem Metudium Moravie repetivit. A quibus clarissime et ut decebat suscipitur, aliquantulumque aput eos degens, perfeccius doctrinam Christi nanciscitur. At vero plebs prefata in nequicia sua permanens, quendam ducem Ztroymir, nomen cuius in Latinum vertitur sermonem: rege pacem, qui aput Theutonicos profugus exulabat gente ex sua, missis legatis, ad propria eum reducunt sibique principem statuunt. Verum quoniam Veritas minime fallitur, que ait in ewangelio: Omnis plantacio, quam non plantavit pater meus celestis, eradicabitur, ipsa cooperante dissipatum est consilium pravorum velociter. Nam isdem eorum electus dux licet ex eisdem genitus foret, diuturna tamen exulacio eum proprii privaverat labii eloquio.

Quapropter a suis electoribus reicitur, se ipsos primum accusantibus, videlicet quod talem sibi elegissent, cuius neque vocem neque sermonem nossent haurire, quorumque clamores aures eius, ignaras lingue sue, penetrare non valerent. Et quoniam Dei Providencia disponente supramemoratus princeps Borivoi plurimos amicorum inibi secedens reliquerat, agitur eorum consilio, ut animus furencium plebium erga benignum rectorem mitigaretur atque adversus invasorem perfidum toto annisu instigaretur ad necem. Verum quoniam pars quam maxima perfidorum tyranno favebat, ineunt consilium partibus ex utrisque, quo civitatem metropolim, Pragam scilicet, egredientes, in campo, quid sibi gerendum foret, perquirerent. Sed perfida pars perfidorum perpere agens, arma secum loricasque occulte in eundem campum deferens, piorum adversus partem signum occultum necis inter se condixit, scilicet ut si ibi, qui ex parte principis Borivoi erant, eis assentire nollent, quilibet eorum excelsa voce occultum in medio proclamaret signum, inquiens: Variemus, variemus nos! , sicque iam loricis et galeis, quas abscondite tulerant, induti, universos sibi contradictores frameis necarent. Quod consilium eorum pessimum minime partem Borivoi latuit, itaque et ipsi loricis sub tunicis induti procedunt in campum pro definiendo statu principis. Cumque parti Ztroymir non placuisset consultus partis Borivoi, unus eorum vocem in altum elevans, proclamat: Heia, nostri, variemus nos! Qua voce hausta et cognita, pars Borivoi, que loricata sub tunicis advenerat: Bene, inquit, bene dixisti, ecce nunc diversis coloribus apparebis variatus.

Sicque ferro obtruncato cunctos eius socios fugam inire coegerunt eorumque falsum principem patria pepulerunt; Moravie dehinc properantes, pristinum ducem reducentes, loco proprio restituunt. Quoniam vero isdem princeps Moravie degens, omnipotenti Deo votum voverat, videlicet quo, si eum Dominus ad propria cum honore reduceret, basilicam in honore beate Dei genitricis et perpetue virginis Marie edificaret, reversus sine mora votum suum implere studuit in ipsa civitate Pragensi. Hic primus fundator locorum sanctorum congregatorque clericorum et tantille, que tunc fuit, religionis institutor extat.

Scripture echoes

↩Matt.15.13 — But he answered, "Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted."

Notes

1 ↩fascibus ducatum: the 'rods' (fasces) symbolize ducal authority; rendered to convey both the insignia and the office.
2 ↩Spiritum paraclitum, illuminatorem omnium fidelium: rendered 'the Spirit, the Paraclete, the illuminator of all the faithful' to preserve the Trinitarian specificity and the rare title 'Paraclete.'
3 ↩perhennitatis gloriosa palma: 'the glorious palm of eternity' — palm as the prize of eternal life, not merely temporal victory.
4 ↩'obtruncato' in the ablative absolute can mean 'having been slain' or 'having been cut down'; the active sense 'having cut down' is chosen to match the narrative voice.
5 ↩'isdem' is textually uncertain; rendered as 'the same' following the most plausible reading.
6 ↩'beate Dei genitricis et perpetue virginis Marie' rendered with full Marian title to preserve the devotional weight of the vow.
7 ↩'tantille' is textually uncertain, likely a diminutive of 'tantus'; rendered as 'small' to convey the sense of a modest or fledgling community.

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