What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on Twitter on 26 September 2022.

Sudoměřská was built in 1898.

It was originally called Sudoměřická until 1958, when it was changed on the grounds that Sudoměřská is the grammatically correct adjective for something from Sudoměř, and Sudoměřická… is not.

These days, Sudoměř is a village which is part of the municipality of Čejetice in Southern Bohemia.

On 25 March 1420, it was the site of a battle between Catholics (Royalists) and Hussites, the first major battle of the Hussite Wars.

The latter, led by Jan Žižka, were outnumbered five to one, and less well equipped.

However, the Catholic side got caught in the marshland and the Hussites were able to finish them off. The Hussite forces escaped later that day.

Sudoměř is now the site of a pretty awesome statue, made in 1925 by Emanuel Kodet, to commemorate the battle: https://cs.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitva_u_Sudom%C4%9B%C5%99e#/media/Soubor%3APam%C3%A1tn%C3%ADk_Jana_%C5%BDi%C5%BEky_u_Sudom%C4%9B%C5%99e_(2).JPG.

Fans of military reenactments will enjoy the last few seconds of this piece, filmed at the statue on the battle’s anniversary earlier this year: https://taborsky.denik.cz/zpravy_region/video-u-sudomere-opet-valcili-husite-stejne-jako-pred-602-lety-20220326.html

And here’s how the battle was filmed in 1955 as part of Otakar Vávra’s Hussite trilogy: