When did Prague suffer the most? Before coronavirus, there were plagues, floods and fires
As of April 5 this year, the Hygienic Station of the capital m of Prague already 1099 cases of coronavirus occurrence among the Prague population. Unfortunately, 72 people who have been diagnosed with coronavirus infection have died in the Czech Republic. However, if we go back to 1016, we would see that this is a tiny fraction of the casualties she suffered at the time. plague.
Devastating plague
Prague at that time according to historical reports it was “neither a village nor a city. ”About 10 to 20,000 people lived in and around it. She should have fallen on them a plague epidemic so violent that it almost destroyed the city. “On the one hand, the great plague (as it was understood from many chronicles) was all over the world. During the time of the moral prince, Oldřich ordered many forests around Prague, and especially around Vyšehrad, to mow and set firewood to repair the smoked forest and tar. And when the smoke spread the most, such a sudden plague stopped, “says chronicler Václav Hájek from Libočany.
Unfortunately, he became famous for modifying many of his reports, so some of his records are often questioned by historians. The chronicle states that at that time, Prague was to lose 9/10 of its already hard to believe population plague! Although Hájek’s chronicle is questioned, it was far from the only plague that struck Prague.
Reportedly, the sea had the greatest impact on the Prague population in the 16th century. Specifically, it affected her in 1564, later in 1568, when, according to the book History of Prague in dates 3,898 people died in five months, or in 1582. At that time, according to the historian Josef Janáček, about 60,000 people lived in Prague – as he states in his Little History of Prague. According to historical reports, it was in 1582 that the greatest outbreak of the plague died up to 20 people a day. Another severe plague struck Prague between 1713 and 1714, when he was to die in Prague about 13 thousand inhabitants.
When there was nothing to eat
Apart from plague wounds, Prague did not escape either famine. Probably the most serious erupted in the early days of the reign of John of Luxembourg. The famine affected Prague as early as 1312, and then in the following years. The Zbraslav Chronicle considers the one that came to be the catastrophic consequences in 1316 after the great flood.
“It simply came to our notice then pathetic death of people and the extent of the death increased that they did in many villages and towns deep pits that together covered many dead bodies like carcasses“We will learn from the chronicle To make matters worse, after the barren summer, there was a bitter cold, as a result of which the Vltava froze in Prague. “As a result of this long winter, the people were dejected by a harsher hunger (…), evil to evil increasesThe famine affected Prague in later years as well. For example, in 1361 he gave the name of the wall, which Charles IV had built within the fortifications. on Petřín- “Hungry.”
City under water
We mentioned the flood – yes the turbulent Vltava often harmed Prague in its development. And unfortunately, it often does to this day. One of the first major ones to hit Prague took place in 1342. The people of Prague still have a memory of it. “Judith’s stone bridge was destroyed by ice so that it could not be repaired, “Writes a team of historians in the History of Prague in dates. Instead of the Romanesque bridge, which has been preserved in fragments, the much-admired Charles Bridge was built.
He also had to deal with the floods many times. Maybe in 1432, “the flooded Vltava tore down the five pillars of Charles Bridge during the catastrophic flood and flooded the street to the Old Town Square, “says the historian.
Over the next centuries, great water returned to Prague. In 1845, as a result of the floods, they lay below the surface of the Vltava Old and New Town, Lesser Town, but also Smíchov or Karlín. In 1890, “Prague and the suburbs were hit by a great flood. She was flooded most of the Old Town. During the liquidation of the pontoon bridge at the Invalidovna 20 soldiers were killeddescribe historians. By the way, the monument dedicated to their memory is still reminiscent of obelisk located in front of the Invalides. Three years later, the flood flooded the village of Lahovice, now part of Prague, which lies at the confluence of the Vltava and Elbe rivers.
Historically, perhaps the most devastating floods in Prague are remembered by many of us, and there is no need to trace their course and consequences in history books. They came in August 2002 and apart from Prague, they affected practically the entire republic. In Prague, the water flooded all coastal areas except the historic center, from Zbraslav and Velká Chuchle through Karlín and Libeň to Troja, where 134 animals died as a result of the floods. Water also flowed into the Prague metro. Only in Prague did her damage do several billion crowns. Overall, floods throughout the country required 17 human victims.
“The stone burned”
The fire is said to be – good servant, bad lord. Not by chance. Apart from floods and diseases, they also decimated Prague fires. The smaller ones have occurred in Prague since its beginnings throughout history, for example during the period of the Hussite riots, Hradčany, Pohořelec and Nový Svět burned down. The more famous fires in Prague, in turn, resulted in the National Theater, for example.
But neither can match the devastating fire that broke out during the reign of Ferdinand I. in 1541. “It broke out in Malá Strana (allegedly during the repair of the roof of the Smiřický palace – editor’s note), destroyed a large part of the city and it also extended to Hradčany and the Castle itself, “Janáček writes. “Damage on construction sites, on internal equipment and inventory were unfathomable. It was in Malá Strana and Hradčany 197 houses were destroyed, a fire hit almost all buildings at the Castle. ”The flames of the fire also licked the temple of St. Vitus, whose one wooden wall was still ashes. According to historical records, more than 50 people died as a result of the fire, and it is still considered one of the most destructive in Prague.
It could be comparable in scope and damage a two-day fire in the Old and New Towns, or Josefov’s in 1689. “Destroyed (…) 749 houses, a number of churches, parishes, monasteries and synagogues; dozens of other buildings were seriously damaged, “says in the History of Prague in the data. In addition to numerous incalculable damage, the fire was also to blame hundreds of human lives – mainly from the ranks of the Jewish community.
The reason was either an unfortunate coincidence, as hot and drought prevailed in Prague at the time, or a theory that appeared quite often among some historians that the fire was started by French agents in the service of Louis XIV, who carried out diplomatic tricks with the then emperor and Czech King Leopold I. fire called French.