What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on X on 30 November 2023.

Viktorin Kornel ze Všehrd was born around 1460 in Chrudim (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/06/24/prague-3-day-177-chrudimska/), and not, as this stupid spellcheck wants me to write, in Cherubim.

He got a degree from the University of Prague in 1483, after which he started teaching there.

However, he soon left to pursue a legal career – in 1487, he became a clerk at the land registry (Zemské desky), and, in 1493, he became the registry’s deputy scribe.

Quick explanation: the Zemské desky, introduced in Bohemia in 1321, were registers where the nobility had their important legal transactions recorded, especially those concerning property ownership.

They included judgements made by the regional court, and the (many) privileges and (many) rights of individual nobles.

Kornel himself joined the nobility in 1492 (the ‘ze Všehrd’ was added to his name at this time).

In 1495, he started to write O právech, súdiech i o dskách země české knihy devatery (On the rights, judges and the boards of the Czech Land, 9 books).

This was an attempt to codify Czech law, but, as Kornel was in favour of the cities and the lower nobility, the higher nobility decided the they weren’t in favour of Kornel.

The nobies managed to get King Vladislav II (pictured) to dismiss Kornel from his post, but the latter still managed to finish his 9-volume work in 1499.

However, a nobility-favouring law (Vladislav’s Law) was adopted in 1500, and Kornel’s work would not be published until 1841.

Kornel died of plague in 1520. He’s buried in the Church of St. John the Baptist Na Prádle – which is on this street.

Kornel also owned numbers 12 and 14 on this street, so would probably have been quite happy to be buried just metres from home, if one can ever be happy about such things.

Kornel / Všehrd also gave his name to the Czech Lawyers’ Association, founded in 1868: https://www.vsehrd.cz/o-spolku

I forgot to mention that Všehrdova is where to go if you want a really good (and quiet) view of Tyršák (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/11/prague-1-day-81-ujezd/).