What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on Twitter on 21 October 2022.

Libická was built in 1911.

Libice nad Cidlinou, population 1,200, is a village in Nymburk district.

It was first mentioned in 981, although archeological finds indicate that the land the village lies on was already inhabited in the Bronze Age.

In the 10th century, the Slavník family (Slavníkovci) set up a semi-independent principality, of which Libice was the centre.

The most famous member of the Slavník clan was Adalbert of Prague, known in Czech as svatý Vojtěch, and born in Libice around 956.

He’s still one of the patron saints of Poland as well as the Czech Republic.

The Slavníks and the Přemyslids fought for control of Bohemia; in 995, Boleslav II stormed the village and killed most of the Slavník family.

(image from https://lovecpokladu.cz/home/28-9-995-vyvrazdeni-slavnikovcu-8250…)

Adalbert survived, but had to flee Bohemia as a result, going to Italy and then Poland. He died in 997, killed by a pagan mob while carrying out missionary work near modern-day Elbląg on the Baltic.

Břetislav I reputedly stole Adalbert’s remains from the Polish town of Gniezno in 1039, whereas Polish accounts claimed that he actually took somebody else’s remains.

So now Adalbert has two shrines, one in Prague Cathedral, and one in Gniezno, both of which to claim to contain his relics.

The only way that this can be true is if Adalbert had two skulls.

Under the Přemylids, the castle in Libice was the scene of yet another massacre in 1108, when Prince Svatopluk arranged for the Vršovci clan to be killed.

The castle was abandoned around 1130 and not much has happened here since.

Meaning that I can get away with the Hussite-wars-prosperity-occasional-fires-Thirty-Years-War-decline-then-industrialisation-much-later posts that seemed to be becoming an essential part of these threads of late.