Good King Václav

Every September 28th, thanks to a brutal fratricide over a thousand years ago, the Czech Republic gives itself a day off. The victim of that crime was Wenceslaus, ruler of Bohemia from 921 to maybe 935 AD; the chief perpetrator was his own dear brother Boleslaus. A life of Christian dogoodery and an untimely death together earned Wenceslaus sainthood and lasting fame. It reached an all-new audience with the publication in 1853 of English hymnwriter John Mason Neale’s lyrics for the carol Good King Wenceslas, which, ironically, few Czechs know about. The duke (posthumously upgraded to a king by Otto I, so the carol is technically correct) remains present in modern Czech life. For example, there’s the thoroughfare and building site of Wenceslas Square in central Prague, which is supervised by an equestrian statue of the square’s namesake. To the northeast of Prague, just down the road from where I live, lies the location of the medieval murder, the heart of a landscape of…