Page:Guide to the Bohemian section and to the Kingdom of Bohemia - 1906.djvu/80

60 The construction of so great a number of considerable churches and other ecclesiastical buildings is the best proof of the high degree of development of architecture and other arts in Bohemia, and the best preserved monument of this early period is St. Agnes monastery in Prague with annex chapels, and the finest architectural sculptures indicating the transition from the Roman to the gothic style.

The growth of the commercial importance and in consequence the great expansion of the city and its population gave to the Prague towns already in the times of Přemysl Otokar I. and Wenceslaus I. a great political predominance. In 1253 Přemysl Otokar II., Rudolph’s of Habsburg rival (killed in 1278 in battle on the plain of the river Morava), began to enlarge the castle on the left bank—the present Royal Castle—and to make it a stronghold with the adjoining Malá Strana, as he expanded his monarchy from the Baltic to the Adriatic. At the liberal and splendid court of the Přemysl dynasty the Minnesinger and German knights were in great favour, especially during the reign of Wenceslaus II. (1278—1305), who was favoured with great revenues from the silver mines of Kutná Hora and the gold mines of Jílové, and attracted by the general prosperity of the land, a great number of foreigners crowded into Prague, among them, besides many embassies, also numerous adventurers. The king employed a great part of his income to repair the immense ravages caused by his “tutor” Otto Braniborský during the years 1278—1283 and to promote science, art and industry, and he was the first to propose the foundation of a high school or university in Prague which had as yet only schools of a lower degree.

The great disorders which followed after the violent death of his son Wenceslaus III. (1305—6), the last male ruler of the Přemysl dynasty, and the first years of the reign of the Luxemburgs ruined the prosperity of the kingdom, Prague suffering most of all. King John of Luxemburg (1310—46), consort of Elisabeth, daughter of Wenceslaus II., was in his disposition a knight always