Fratricide – Stará Boleslav
Fact of the Czech figure „Patrons of the Czech Lands – Prague Castle – Cathedral”
Part of the „The patrons and guardians of the land” topic
The events that led to the incident in Stará Boleslav on September 28, 935 are to a large extent debatable. However, we know the outcome: as Prince Wenceslas was on his way to the morning Mass, he got involved in a quarrel with his younger brother Boleslav and was killed by Boleslav’s company. Boleslav then ordered the massacre of Wenceslas’s servants and seized power for himself. It seems that this bloody coup and Boleslav’s reign imprinted themselves on public memory, where they left the impression of a just and virtuous duke in the figure of Wenceslas. Thence, it was a short step to the emergence of miracle stories, some of which were mentioned by Widukind of Corvey around 967. These miracles forced Boleslav to carry out the translation of Wenceslas’s remains from Stará Boleslav to Prague Castle, where they were placed in the rotunda that is now Saint Vitus Cathedral.
It is unclear what preceded the translation of Wenceslas’s remains. Whether Boleslav used the growing cult of Saint Wenceslas to strengthen his own influence, or whether he was haunted by guilt for killing his brother, is unknown. In any case, he created a saint who already before the year 1000 become the patron of the land, and whose eminence quickly transcended the borders of Bohemia.
