the nationality of all inhabitants of the czech provinces and ...

king (the first being Vratislav II in
1085/6), this time in perpetuity. After
the crisis of the 1170s and 1180s
Přemysl Otakar I renewed that cooperation.
His name is also linked with
a document that became a symbol of
Czech-German relations in the Middle
Ages: The Golden Bull of Sicily. That
charter, issued on September 26, 1212
by the new Roman King Frederick II,
codified the relations between the
Empire and the Bohemian state, taking
into account all previous features. The
Czech ruler obtained the hereditary title
of king and the right to appoint the
bishops of Prague and Olomouc, and
his duties vis-à-vis the Roman king
were defined. Thanks to the Golden Bull
of Sicily Přemysl I and his successors
were freed from the danger of direct
intervention by the Imperial ruler in
domestic Czech affairs.
The Bohemian state’s unique status
within the Empire was enhanced still
further a century and a half later by the
Golden Bull of Emperor Charles IV of
1356. Following on from the Sicilian
Bull, the new Bull not only bolstered
the independence of the Bohemian king
within the Holy Roman Empire, it also
bolstered his independence vis-à-vis the
Imperial authority in political,
administrative and financial terms.
Although Charles’ edict was motivated
by his efforts to strengthen the power of
the Luxembourg dynasty, it nonetheless
established legal norms that could be
referred to in quite different political
circumstances. Incidentally, it remained
in force – albeit only formally – until the
very demise of the medieval Empire in
1806 under pressure from Napoleonic
France.
“BOHEMI” AND “THEUTONICI”
We have somehow used the ethnic
designations “Czechs” and “Germans”
as a matter of course. However, the
meaning of these words needs to be
defined in historical terms, because in
line with present-day thinking we
understand by them all members of
Czech or German society. That was not
so in the Middle Ages. First and
17
Historical Roots
Chapter I
foremost the two terms must only be
applied to certain members of the
communities thus designated. Up to
modern times most members of society
remained outside political life; they were
merely its subjects, and only in very rare
instances, such as the Czech Hussite
movement or certain phases of the
German Reformation a century later,
did the broader strata of society become
actual actors in political events.
Moreover most medieval sources are in
Latin and therefore use Latin
terminology. In it Czechs are designated
as “Bohemi” and Germans as “Theutonici”.
In the twelfth century we come across
the term “Bohemi” being used for the
“House of St. Wenceslas” (familia sancti
Venceslai). As the word familia suggests,
these were people serving a single lord,
in this case, the prince. The Vyšehrad
Canon, which refers to the Czechs in
this way, used the term in connection
with the battle between Bohemia and
the Roman King Lothair II at Chlumec
(Kulm) in 1126. “Bohemi” is thus used to
designate the medieval “Czech political
nation”, those who in some way share in
the administration of the country and in
its defence.
The chronicle referred to described
the Battle of Chlumec as a divine
judgement that ruled in favour of the
Czechs against their enemies, in this
case, the Saxons, or in modern terms,
against the Germans. The Germans
were perceived in the country as
“aliens”, “foreigners”, “guests”, people
speaking another language (the Czech
word for German being derived from
the word for “dumb”). The Latin word
Theuton itself derives etymologically
from the Indo-European word tauta,
originally denoting a member of the
tribe as opposed to members of the
narrower, natural community of the
family. From there the word teuton, as a
description of a potentially hostile
foreigner, entered late classical Latin
and thence into medieval Latin.
Not every “foreigner” was necessarily
a German, however; indeed in Czech
medieval literature the word “cizozemec”
(lit. “outlander”) refers to Germans only