# The Story of Bohemia

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JOHN HUS BEFORE THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE.—See Page 169.
—Frontispiece
THE STORY OF BOHEMIA
BY
FRANCES GREGOR
CINCINNATI: CRANSTON & CURTS NEW YORK: HUNT & EATON 1895
Copyright
BY CRANSTON & CURTS
1895
PREFACE.
The purpose of this little volume is to supply a long-felt want among the Bohemian people; to provide the English-reading public with a concise and trustworthy account of the chief events in Bohemian history. As there is no other work of the kind in the English language, it seems that this one will be gratefully accepted.
The book makes no pretensions to originality. The statements, as far as possible, were taken almost verbatim from Tomek and Palacký, and, in many instances, their quotations were also made use of. The Bohemian people have a great number of histories of their nation, large and small, ​written in popular style, and also those excelling in profound scholarship; but all these modern works have their sources in Tomek and Palacký, which are the grand repositories of historical information of the Bohemian nation.
In this work references are not given, partly because there would be so many that the pages would fairly bristle with them; but mostly because the book is intended for the ordinary student, whose time is too limited to make a thorough study of this little corner of the world’s history. More thorough scholars would go to the larger works, which are published in German, as well as in the Čech tongue.
In regard to names, some deviation has been made from the spelling generally adopted by historians. As the Bohemians are supposed to know best how to spell their own Slavonic names, the original spelling has been, in many cases, retained, in preference to that given by foreigners. Thus, Hus is spelled with one s; Sigismund, Sigmund; Vincenslaus, Václav; Procopius, Prokop; but, in inmost cases, the name has been translated into an equivalent English one. Some readers might object that too much space has been allotted to the Hussite wars. The events ​in this period of Bohemian history give us a deeper insight into the character of the common people than could be obtained in any other way. During the other periods, the interest seems to circle about the royal family and the nobility, the people being left entirely out of sight; but during the long struggle, known as the Hussite wars, we learn to know the people, their strength of character, their patriotism, and, indeed, all those other virtues that have enabled them to preserve their individuality and their language in the face of the most frightful disasters and persecutions. This important period shows that Bohemia was behind no nation upon the earth in having its due proportion of men “strong in great things.”
The book is sent forth with the hope that its pages may remove many a prejudice and misunderstanding, and so contribute its mite to bring about the feeling of the brotherhood of all men.
the author.
CONTENTS.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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