What's in a Prague street name

Boleslavova was built in 1892.

Boleslav was born in or around 915, the son of Vratislav I, Duke of Bohemia (pictured as seen at St George’s Convent – more on that one later), and his wife, Drahomíra.

Accounts of the first few years of his life vary – and, for all we know, they could all be untrue – but we do know that Vratislav died in 921 and was succeeded by Václav (Wenceslas), Boleslav’s older brother.

On 28 September – possibly in 929, possibly in 935 – Václav arrived in Stará Boleslav (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/12/23/prague-3-day-180-boleslavska/) to attend a mass and a feast. However, he was murdered by members of Boleslav’s retinue.

It’s traditionally been believed that this was due to differences of opinion between the two brothers about the need for the rulers of Bohemia to pay tribute to Henry the Fowler, King of East Francia (and Duke of Saxony) in order to ensure their state’s independence. Again, though, opinions vary, with some stating that Boleslav wasn’t involved in the murder at all.

In any case, Boleslav was now Duke of Bohemia, and, three years later, would have Václav’s body returned to the St Vitus Rotunda at Prague Castle.

Henry the Fowler would die in 936, and was succeeded by Otto the Great. Boleslav decided it was time to stop paying tribute to the monarchs of East Francia, leading to a low-scale war which lasted for fourteen years until Otto besieged a castle belonging to Boleslav’s son; Boleslav gave in, and was forced to resume payments to Otto.

For those wanting specifics, good luck: we don’t know which castle was besieged in 950, nor do we know which son it belonged to.

Boleslav’s problems with his western neighbour seemed to be resolved, so, inevitably, an eastern neighbour – the Hungarians – started to create trouble instead. Despite only having crossed into Europe about sixty years earlier, they had developed quite a thing for plundering and pillaging, making it as far as Spain, northern Germany and southern Italy.

Otto and Boleslav joined forces against the Hungarian threat, and, in August 955, crushed the Hungarian forces at the Battle of Lechfeld (near Augsburg), putting an end to the Hungarians’ raiding era.

Boleslav certainly benefited from this defeat: he gradually got his hands on Moravia, Silesia, western Slovakia and Kraków.

During Boleslav’s reign, the Bohemian state was strengthened in other ways, too: silver mining was introduced, the first coins were produced, and the first convent in the country was founded at Prague Castle. It got its own post at a very early stage of the Prague 1 series: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/02/prague-1-day-1-u-svateho-jiri-st-georges-square/. Boleslav’s daughter, Mlada, became its first abbess.

It was also during Boleslav’s reign that the earliest written mention of Prague that we still have was made, and it wasn’t by a Czech – see the start of https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/10/12/prague-1-day-189-tynska/ (which is also an indication of how much Boleslav strengthened Bohemia’s position as a trade centre).

Boleslav died in 967 or 972 – never let it be said that ‘certainty’ was a word that came to my mind while writing all this – and was succeeded by his son, who was called, erm, Boleslav. Actually, the street could have been named after the other Boleslav – we don’t know. But I’ve gone with the earlier of the two.