Wenceslas - Duke of Bohemia

With Christmas almost here I thought I'd try and post a jolly Christmas screenshot. 'Good King Wenceslas' popped into my mind as a good fit for the AOK period. Well the screenshot came toghether nicely using a walkable castle rampart idea I'd had a while ago, but the research was ah.. interesting, and by the time I'd finished I was in a much more reflective mood..
















December 26th Early 10thC - St Stephen’s Day,

High on the Prague castle ramparts Wenceslas, the 22 year old Duke of Bohemia looked out on the chill evening. In a stern but fair reign of less than 5 years he had brought an end to the persecution of clergy and forged a strategic alliance with Henry I of Germany. But there had been resistance in the nobility who resented the religious conversion that Wenceslas’s grandfather had brought to Bohemia, and with the passing of his father almost 10 years ago his enemies now numbered his mother and brother among them….

Suddenly he is struck by the hardship of a peasant scavenging firewood and calls to his page…

Bring me flesh and bring me wine,
bring me pine logs hither.
Thou and I will see him dine
when we bear him thither.

And so they set out into the bitter cold, the young page taking heart from the king’s warmth and strength. The story has been call to human generosity for over a century after being set to an older Finnish melody in 1853.

Therefore, all ye men be sure,
wealth or rank possessing.
Ye who now will bless the poor,
shall yourselves find blessing..

Wenceslas was a real historical figure. There is far more to his life than is characterised by the carol if you reflect on the political and religious conflict surrounding him. This conflict ultimately saw Wenceslas assassinated in his early twenties. Yet despite, and perhaps because, of the darker aspects this history we still have the uplifting reassurance and goodwill of the story today.