The Rosenbergs - First After the King

No other ancient Czech noble family has left such a mark on our history as the Rosenbergs (and their Vítkovci ancestors). Despite the fact that the male line died out more than five hundred years ago, it is as if they are still among us. We owe to them the charming landscape of southern Bohemia, interwoven with ponds, the Gothic and Renaissance gems, and also the renown that once reached far beyond the borders of the Bohemian Lands. After all, their family tree includes two Czech queens – and who else could threaten the king himself or aspire to the Polish crown but one or another ruler of the House of Rosenberg?

The downside of this timelessness, however, is the heap of mistakes, half-truths, and outright lies that have been piled upon the Lords of the Rose over the subsequent centuries. Not that the fate of each of them would not be enough for at least a novel – and the well-known writer and publicist Jan Bauer, who as a South Bohemian patriot is extremely close to this subject, convinces us of this in a readable form. However, it is necessary to set the record straight not only on the caricatured image of the last two Rosenberg rulers in particular, as presented by recent literature and cinematography, but also on many errors that have been handed down even in serious historiography.

The five-petalled Rosenberg rose (just like its sister, the rose of the Lords of Hradec) blossomed in the Czech Middle Ages and early modern period into a beauty and fragrance that enchanted all of Central Europe. And although it was cut in 1611, its shoots still bloom in the “land of contemplation”… and in our hearts. May Volume XI of the Český ČAS Edition be a captivating reminder of those who planted it and tended to its flourishing for many centuries – a reminder of the dramatic fates of the Lords of the Rose.