Vyšší Brod Monastery is a Cistercian abbey in Vyšší Brod in the South Bohemian Region, founded in 1259 by Vok of Rosenberg and active to this day.
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Vyšší Brod Monastery in South Bohemia was founded in 1259 by the nobleman Vok of the Vítkovci family on his new family estate. According to the abbey's website, the monastery lives on today despite the vicissitudes of fate and documents the continuity of the efforts of Czech Cistercians from the Middle Ages to the present.[1]
Place in the history of the Cistercians in Bohemia
The Cistercians came to the Czech lands in the 12th century, partly thanks to Henry Zdík, Bishop of Olomouc, who supported chiefly the Premonstratensians here but also contributed to spreading the reputation of the Cistercians. The first Cistercian foundations arose in Sedlec (1142), Plasy (1144), Pomuk (1145) and Mnichovo Hradiště (1145), later in Svaté Pole (1180), Osek (1196) and Velehrad (1204). All Czech Cistercian monasteries were founded within the Morimond branch, mostly through Ebrach Abbey. The first generations of monks came mainly from the German lands or spoke German.[1]
The first half of the 13th century brought no new Cistercian monastery, although attempts at founding one existed. Only the undertaking of Vok of Rosenberg succeeded, which gave rise to Vyšší Brod.[1]
Patronage of the Rosenbergs
Monasteries in the Czech lands were involved in feudal relations and, with few exceptions, depended on a noble founder; the Cistercians here did not gain exemption from episcopal authority or economic autonomy as in western Europe. The abbey's website therefore calls the history of the monastery up to 1611 the period "under the Rosenbergs".[2]
The Rosenbergs were one of the branches of the Vítkovci. According to the source text, they did not stand out for territory or military power but for a firm system of succession and property management, thanks to which there were no internal disputes among them. They attempted four times to gain the Bohemian royal throne: after the death of Ottokar II of Bohemia in 1278; at the beginning of the 14th century after the extinction of the Přemyslids, when the candidate was Peter I of Rosenberg, raised in the Vyšší Brod monastery; and after the extinction of the Luxembourgs in 1436, when Oldřich II of Rosenberg withdrew in 1456 for financial reasons. In 1310 the throne went to the Luxembourgs.[2]