Libušeⓘ,Libussa,[1]Libushe or, historicallyLubossa,[2] is a legendary ancestor of thePřemyslid dynasty and theCzech people as a whole. According to legend, she was the youngest but wisest of three sisters, who became queen after their father died; she married a ploughman,Přemysl, with whom she founded the Přemyslid dynasty, and prophesied and founded the city ofPrague in the 8th century.
Libuše is said to have been theyoungest daughter of the equally mythical Czech rulerKrok. The legend goes that she was the wisest of thethree sisters, and while her sister Kazi was a healer and Teta was a magician, she had the gift ofseeing the future, and was chosen by her father as his successor, to judge over the people. According to legends she prophesied from her castle atLibušín, though later legends say it wasVyšehrad.
Legend says that Libuše came out on a rocky cliff high above the Vltava and prophesied: "I see a great city whose glory will touch the stars." On the site she ordered to build a castle and a town called Prague.[3]
Although she proved herself as a wise chieftain, the male part of the tribe was displeased that their ruler was a woman and demanded that she marry, but she had fallen in love with a ploughman,Přemysl. She therefore related a vision in which she saw a farmer with one broken sandal, ploughing a field, or in other versions of the legend, eating from an iron table. She instructed her councilmen to seek out this man by letting a horse loose at a junction; they followed it to the village ofStadice and found Přemysl exactly as she had said (either ploughing a field, or using an iron plough as a makeshift table). The two grandees who found Přemysl brought him to the princely palace where Libuše married him, and Přemysl the Ploughman thus became ruler. They went on to have three sons: Radobyl, Lidomir, andNezamysl who continued thePřemyslid dynasty in the Czech lands.
In another legend, she commanded her councillors to found a city at the place where they found a man making the best of use of his teeth at midday. They set off and at midday found a man sawing a block of wood (using his saw's teeth) when everyone else was eating; when they asked him what he was making he replied "Prah" (which in Czech means "threshold") and so Libuše named the cityPrague (Czech: "Praha").[4]
The story of Libuše and Přemysl was recounted in detail in the 12th century byCosmas of Prague in hisChronica Boëmorum.
Another early account was included inJan Dubravius' 1552 chronicleHistoria regni Bohemiae, andJohann Karl August Musäus used this andAeneas Silvius'Cardinalis de Bohemarum Origine ac Gestis Historia to write his version of the legend as "Libussa", which he included in hisVolksmärchen der Deutschen (volume 3, 1784).
The mythical figure of Libuše gave material for several dramatic works, includingLibussa, atragedy byFranz Grillparzer,Libuše, anopera byBedřich Smetana, andPole a palisáda, a novel byMiloš Urban. She is also featured as a character inEdward Einhorn's play,Rudolf II.[5]
In 2009, an American-Czech film version of the Libuše and Přemysl story was released under the nameThe Pagan Queen.
Minor planet264 Libussa is named in her honor.[6]
A notable theory of origin suggests the names of the Přemysl ancestors arose from a mistaken interpretation by Cosmas. According to postulation byVladimír Karbusický,[7] Cosmas likely contrived them when trying to read a lostLatin transcription of an old-Slavonic message.[8] When the ancestral names are combined and reassessed, they can roughly cohere an assumed text:
"Krok‘ kazi tetha lubossapremislnezamislmna tavoj‘nni zlakr‘z misneklangosti vit..."
In modern English, this may translate to:
"Halt your steps, Tetha, and rather think, I do not intend war or evil upon you, we do not bow to the cross, we welcome guests..."
The alleged message is speculated to be from the Czech princes to theFranks, perhaps in relation to theBattle of Zásek c. 849 described in theAnnales Fuldenses.[9]
Media related toLibuše at Wikimedia Commons
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