Strakonice is a town in the South Bohemian Region at the confluence of the Otava and Volyňka rivers. Settlement of the Strakonice basin reaches back to prehistoric times and, according to the town's website, is connected with the gold-bearing Otava. [1]
Medieval settlements and the castle
At the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries, several settlements began to form around the castle of the noble Bavor family. Větší město and Menší město stood on the sites of today's Velké náměstí and Malé náměstí, Žabokrty lay below the castle, on the right bank of the Volyňka lay Bezděkov, which from the 15th century was a Jewish quarter, and there were also Ohrada, the settlement of Lom with the parish church of St Wenceslas, and the village of Ptákovice. People crossed the rivers at fords or by ferry. In the 14th century two stone bridges were built, one between Větší město and Menší město and the other from the castle to Menší město. [1]
The Knights of St John
Shortly after the stone castle was built, Bavor I donated part of his seat to the Order of St John of Jerusalem, also called the Johannite or Maltese order. Secular and church power thus operated side by side at the castle and the estate. King Vladislav I invited the Johannites to the Czech lands in the 1160s. In Strakonice they built a school and a hospital. In 1402 the Johannite order bought the estate and held it until 1926. From 1420 to 1694 the head of the Maltese order for the Czech lands, called the general prior and later the grand prior, resided at Strakonice castle. [1]
Town rights and the Hussite period
On 8 December 1367 Bavor IV granted the inhabitants an important town privilege. He exempted them from the judicial authority of Horažďovice, allowed them to brew beer and extended the right of emphyteusis, that is hereditary possession and use of property, for which he set regular payments in money and in kind. [1]
In 1420 the Johannites, together with the Plzeň landfried, fought Žižka at Sudoměř. Žižka prevailed, and the Johannite prior Jindřich of Hradec suffered wounds to which he succumbed the same year. In the summer of 1420 the Hussite captain burned the town and unsuccessfully tried to take the castle as well. On 8 February 1449 representatives of the South Bohemian Catholic nobility, led by Oldřich of Rožmberk, met at the castle and founded the Strakonice Union against the party of George of Poděbrady. The grand prior Jošt of Rožmberk was a member of the Green Mountain Union, which stood in opposition to the king. George of Poděbrady suppressed both groups fairly quickly. [1]
Economic development
The town's economic level was raised by Jan of Švamberk, who between 1467 and 1511 allowed the founding of ponds and guilds. On 24 July 1482 he permitted the first guild in the town, that of cloth makers, shearers and cutters, which laid the foundations of textile production. [1]