Noble Blood - Libuše and Her City Touching the Stars

Episode Date: September 27, 2022

It's a legend, nothing more, about the founding of Prague, but in the story of a woman allegedly from the 8th century, we see the power of myth and the reasons some stories are told again and again. Support Noble Blood: — Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon — Merch! — Order Dana's book 'Anatomy: A Love Story' and pre-order its sequel 'Immortality: A Love Story'See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. This is Amy Rovock alongside T.J. Holmes from the Amy and T.J. Podcast. And there is so much news, information, commentary coming at you all day and from all over the place. What's fact? What's fake? And sometimes what the F. So let's cut the crap, okay? Follow the Amy and T.J. podcast, a one-stop news and pop culture shop to get you caught up and on with your day. And listen to Amy and T. T.J. on the TV. And listen to Amy and T. the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of IHeart Radio and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised. There's a book by the 19th century Czech writer Aloise Hiraseek that any listeners who happen to grow up in a Czech school system might remember. Old Czech legends is a collection of stories from a rich cultural history. some dating back to the days of Bohemia, one of the earliest incarnations of a Czech state. One of the tales in the book details how the Czech people first found their way to their homeland, while other stories talk of brutal wars or feats of bravery. There is one legend that stands out from the rest, though, about a princess,

about magic, prophecy, and eventually an uprising by women against men. While there is no historical evidence to prove that any of these legends are anything more than just that legends, the story of Lebushe, the prophetic pagan princess who founded Prague, strongly persists in the Czech cultural imagination. I'm Dana Schwartz, and this is Noble Blood. Like any legend, Lebusch's differs based on who's telling it and when they're doing it. so. Hirasek's version of events is the most popular, so it's the one that we'll default to. He was writing during the Czech National Revival in the 19th century, a cultural movement

dedicated to the Czech language and national identity during a time of Germanization spearheaded by the Habsburgs. The Kingdom of Bohemia, known today as the Czech Republic, was at the time under the rule of the Austrian Empire. The Czech language had been essentially erased from the school system, so a number of works by Hirasek and his contemporaries were aimed specifically at students. In collecting and retelling Czech legends, first recorded by the 11th-century historian Cosmos of Prague, he was seeking to instill national pride back into the next generation. So the legend goes like this. A tribe of Slavic people travel west in search of plentiful land. they're led by Forefather Chek, who they will later be named after.

Atop a mountain, Forefather Chek sees their land in the distance, uninhabited and lush, with rivers full of fish and fertile soil. During his lifetime, the people and land prosper, living and working together in harmony. After he passes, his son Croc assumes tribal leadership in accordance with an assembly of elders. Croc was also considered a wise leader. During his time he founded a school to teach religion, hymns, prophecy, and magic. Magic was considered the highest form of learning, honoring the gods. Crock would often go into seclusion to ask for the guidance of the gods, and prominent men of the tribe built him a castle, Vishrad, to do so. Tales of the structure whose name means high castle remain today. Cosmos, the 11th century writer, dates Vichrod's construction to 683C.E. But modern historians have concluded that, in fact, the actual building would have been built

closer to the 10th century. The disparity in the timeline calls into question the legitimacy of the story. It doesn't completely rule out Croc's existence, but it certainly demonstrates a clear divide in what anthropologists think of Bohemia's origins and what legend tells us. For reference, from this point on, these events are said to have taken place sometime in the 8th century. Croc had no male heirs, but he did have three beautiful daughters, each with unique gifts. Kazi, the eldest, healed the sick with her vast knowledge of herbs and use of magic incantations. Teta, the middle, was a pagan priest.

priestess who guided the people in sacrifices and prayers, and Laboucher, the youngest and wisest, as noted also the most beautiful, possessed the gift of foresight. Emphasis on the Three Sisters beauty, with the added emphasis on Labush's particular beauty, is a pattern we've seen repeated throughout stories of powerful women across cultural histories, and one that we've discussed before on this show. Why are most of our historical heroines described as striking beauties? Whether it serves to soften these women with incredible power, reconcile their femininity with masculine constructs of power,

or further canonize them in the mythological sphere, it's a trope that pop culture still hasn't quite escaped from. On a simple level, it might just be that society as a whole tends to only value women if they're also considered attractive. But onward, Labusha's great power came in the form of prophecy. It said she was prone to fall into a trance and make predictions, which garnered some fear among the people. Due to her power and wisdom, the Assembly of Elders appointed Labusha, even though she was

the youngest, as the next ruler, and initially there was no dispute from the people. As tribe leader, Labush's role was similar to that of a judge, and most of her work as ruler revolved around resolving disputes of all manners. After all, she was chosen for her wisdom and was known for her fair judgments, aided by her prophecies. One day, she was presented with a bitter conflict between two men over the boundaries of their land. According to Hirasek, when she ruled in favor of the younger man, the older launched into a fit of rage, beginning a tirade against Labusha and women as a whole. Quote, what kind of justice can we expect from a woman, long-haired but short on brains? Let her sew and spin, but not be a ruler and judge. Where else does a woman

rule over men except here? We are the laughingstock among nations, and we cannot stand for such a judge any longer. Better to die than bear such a reign, end quote. Labusha considered her response thoughtfully and quietly, before rising and remarking, You are right, I am a woman and I rule like a woman, not with a rod of iron, but with compassion, which you take for weakness. You need a stricter ruler, and your demand shall be fulfilled. Go now in peace, let the people choose a duke to rule them, and I shall marry whomever they choose. Labusha spent the rest of the day in her secluded garden, worshipping Perun, a wooden idol, with a head of silver and a beard of gold.

She called upon her sisters to join her, and their discussions continued throughout the night. The next morning, Labusha called for a gathering of the clan leaders, who had traveled from far and wide to hear who would be chosen as the Duke. Trumpets announced Labusha's arrival, who was accompanied on either side by her side. sisters. Labusha made her speech. All of you know why I called you together. You did not appreciate the freedom I gave you, so the gods inspired me to tell you that I shall rule you no longer. You want a man, a duke who will take away your children to serve him, who will choose the best of your cattle and horses for taxes according to his wins. You want to serve a master and to pay for it,

as so far you have not had to do. In return, you will not have to be ashamed of having a woman ruler. So be it. Go ahead and choose a duke, but do so wisely and carefully because it is easy to put someone in power, but hard to get rid of him. However, if you wish, I can advise you as to whom to choose. The leaders, having no candidate to follow through with, enthusiastically accepted La Boucha's aid. Labusha rose, her eyes grew dreamy as she entered a prophetic trance. In a faraway voice, she advised, beyond the hills is a small stream called Belina, 120 paces beyond in a narrow valley. There is a field where you will find your future duke, a plowman. Go take along the clothing fit for a duke. Give the man my message and bring him back

here to be your ruler and my husband. His name is Premisil and our descendants will rule here forever. You will not have to ask the way. My white horse will lead you, just follow him. You will be certain it is he when you see him eating off an iron table. Just as Labusha had prophesized, her white horse led the men straight to Shumisole. Upon their arrival, Shumasol stuck his staff into the ground and invited the men to join him for breakfast. The plowman turned over his iron plow and made it into a table, just as the queen had prophesied.

As the stunned men sat and ate the bread, Shemissel offered them, they noticed that his staff, that he had planted in the ground, had sprouted three green buds. The next time they looked, two of the three now leafy branches had triveled and died.

They asked their future king what this meant, and he answered, quote, Hear ye that many of my descendants will rule, but only one of them will remain a king and a ruler. Their next question was as to the meaning behind the iron table. I eat at an iron table, he replied, so that you may know that my lineage will rule with iron. Take iron seriously. Plow with iron in times of peace and in times of war, protect yourself with it. As long as the Czechs have such an iron table, they will always defeat their enemy. When foreigners one day take this table from them, checks will lose their freedom.

Their third question, as the group made their way back to the castle, was to ask their future king why he was bringing his leather purse and best sandals when they had provided him with entirely new clothing. I give them to you to keep forever, so that my descendants may know where they came from. so that they may live in humility, without pridefully oppressing the people entrusted to them. For we all are equal, he answered. As she promised, Labusha married Chimisole,

who began to rule and judge as Labusha had, but manlier. Some versions of the story believe he consulted Labusia in his rule, but no matter the circumstances, it remains that Lebuschia did not have the position that she once did. The couple had three children, as Shemisole's buds had predicted. The most renowned element of Labusha's story was still yet to come.

As described in the book Prague in black and gold by Peter Demitz, sometime later on a mild summer night, Labusha, her husband, and the elders, were standing on a cliff above the Vltava River. While looking across the water to the wooded hills, Labusha entered a trance, raised her hands towards the other shore, and uttered her prophecy.

I see a great city whose fame will touch the stars. This is her most famous line, but Cosmos of Prague, the original writer, actually ripped it off of Virgil's Aeneid. She guided her people to cross the river and to find a man there who was busy hewing the threshold, in Czech pra, of a house, and asked him to build a castle,

to be called Praha, right on the spot. Just as princes and army commanders bow their heads when they enter a house, Labusha proclaimed, so will they bow their heads to my city. It will be honored, noble, and respected by all the world. This prophesized city would, of course, become Prague, and it's with her vision of glory that Labush's legend ends. But Labusha's legacy is the catalyst for one of the following stories in old Czech legends. Shimmisol was the ruler Czech men wanted, but he was rejected by many of the land's women. Under Labusha's rule, men and women enjoyed equal rights and treatment, but just as Labusha had predicted, the Duke ushered in an age of patriarchal rule. It said that

he stripped women of their rights and implemented practices associated with patriarchal societies such as feudalism and serfdom. There was particular unrest among Labush's former maidens who felt abandoned and, quote, angry when the men held them up to ridicule and called them, quote, lost sheep, end quote. The legend tells that a maiden named Vlatsa, Labush's favorite, was the one who first took up arms

and gathered an army of tired, angry women across the land, beginning what became known as the Maiden's War against men. Velasta strategically organized and trained the women who were leaving their husbands, brothers, and fathers to join their fight. The strongest women were chosen to lead the attack, and the most beautiful were chosen to entice the men away from their battle groups so that they could be killed. Shemissel's army openly mocked the female warriors, but the king warned them not to underestimate the women's strength. He was right to do so. The bloody battles began and the women were winning. They fortified the castle Devine, utilizing it as a military base, and they warded off the men from even attempting a breach.

Aiding Vlasta was another high-ranking lieutenant and clever tactician, a woman named Charca. In her boldest plot, Charka staged a mock betrayal and feigned helplessness as she was, quote, tied to a tree and left to die. end quote. She screamed and cursed the rebel forces to gain the attention and sympathy of a band of men patrolling the forest for women. This group of men on patrol included one of the men's best fighters, Citra, who believed Charka's story and freed her from her restraints. The men set up camp for the night and, thanking them, Charkapored mead for all the men, which she had, of course, spiked with a potent sleeping powder. Once the men fell asleep, the rebel forces emerged from the tree line. They slaughtered them all except Sertrad, who was taken back to Devon and tortured to death. The men were so enraged that they abandoned the formalities of battle and began to attack all innocent women traveling on the roads.

Vlosta, unable to bear the weight of the torment that the men were inflicting, seated to their strategy and met the men in open combat. was slain and the army disbanded soon after their leader fell. For their victory left, the men burned Divin, or the castle of maidens, to the ground. In his telling, Hirosek would like to side with the women, but the narrative turns against them because he says they had, quote, no heart. Okay, whatever that means. It was, as Labusia predicted, the men would get what they wanted, a patriarch, a master, at the expense of the freedom she had once ruled by. As is always the case, the casualties of patriarchy are the women whose voices are stripped away. Persistent as

these legends are in Czech culture, there, unfortunately, is no real anthropological evidence supporting that they're anything more than, well, legends. Really, that applies to Labush's entire existence, too. The more likely founder of the stronghold of Praha was Duke Bojavei, whose rule began circa 870. He was the first documented Duke of Bohemia and progenitor of the Shimizid dynasty. He was said to be the last son of the mythical bohemian princes and therefore a direct descendant of Lubbouchet and Shemisul. This lineage can, of course, not be confirmed by historians and an opposing theory believes that he was instead related to a Slavic dynasty. The writer of the first Bohemian Chronicle, published about 200 years after the Duke's death, believed that the distinction

between myth and real history begins with Bojavei's rule. Bojavoy was also notably Bohemia's first Christian ruler, and he built Bohemia's first church, dedicated to St. Clemens. Despite revolts from traditional rivals, Bojavoy, continued on to build a second church, this one to worship the Virgin Mary. Later in his life, he decided to move his resident closer to the latter church, and the castle built was called Praha, or Prague Castle, which still stands today. The etymology of Praha is debated still today among historians. With some believing, its origin comes from the idea of Napras, or a barren place on which the sun beat down mercilessly.

It could also reference, quote, the cleaning of the forest by fire, or brachiti. There are still some, however, who find LeBusch's idea of the threshold or pra most compelling, the idea that she wanted people to lower their heads and enter a city as they would a home.

As for the Maidens War, there is even less of a connection to recorded history. Some historians argue that the story is based on tales of the Amazonian warriors, while others believe it could have roots in Bohemia's factual past. Speaking to Radio Prague International, Watslav Ladvinka, the director of Prague's city archives, tells us, quote, there are some historians who have, in my opinion, a somewhat fertile imagination. They claim that there could have been a matriarchal society, that women had primacy and that they were overthrown by men. This could be true, but then the same could be said about the ancient Greeks.

So it seems most likely that Cosmos took the basis for his tales from those ancient texts. And as we know, Cosmos did enjoy stealing from Roman ethics. That's the story, or the legend, of Labusha of Bohemia, but keep listening after a brief sponsor break to hear a little bit about how the legend has been translated. into modern culture. Everyone, I'm Ego Vodam. My next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live, and the Big Money Players Network.

It's Will Ferrell. Woo, woo, woo, woo. My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with them one day, and I was like, and Dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place that come look for up-and-coming talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet.

Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved. And he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat, just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that.

There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks Dad on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, everyone? I'm Ago Vodam. My next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live and the Big Money Players Network. It's Will Ferrell. My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with them one day, and I was like, and Dad, I think I was.

want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place that come look for up and coming talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved. And he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration.

It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks Dad on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Lubush's story has inspired the works of many Czech and European artists, and perhaps the most famous, is her namesake opera, containing music by Czech composer Bedrick Smetana,

and written first in German by author Yosef Wenzig. The opera was written in 1871 for the coronation of Franz Joseph as king of Bohemia, but Smetana ended up saving Labusha for the opening of the National Theater in Prague, which took place nine years later on June 11, 1881. Act 1 of the opera depicts Labusha's ruling over the land dispute, but in a departure from the myth, Act 2 decides to develop the backgrounds of the men in the conflict and deepen all of the characters. This involves a love triangle in which a classically conniving woman feigns interest in one of the men

to make the other jealous. All is eventually resolved, and Act 3 depicts a Midsummer Night's Dream-esque double wedding between all the lovers and Labusha and Shimisul, before Labusha has her prophecy of Prague, a reminder to all of the hopeful witches out there, that no matter how powerful you are, you may end up in only two-thirds of your own opera in favor of some random men in a land dispute.

Noble Blood is a production of IHeart Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Manky. Noble Blood is hosted by me, Dana Schwartz, Additional writing and researching done by Hannah Johnston, Hannah Zwick, Mira Hayward, Courtney Sender, and Lori Goodman. The show is produced by Rima Il Kiali, with supervising producer Josh Thane and executive producers Aaron Manky, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from IHeartRadio, visit the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. This is Amy Roboc alongside T.J. Holmes from the Amy and T.J. And there is so much news, information, commentary coming at you all day and from all over the place.

What's fact, what's fake, and sometimes what the F. So let's cut the crap, okay? Follow the Amy and T.J. podcast, a one-stop news and pop culture shop to get you caught up and on with your day. And listen to Amy and T.J. on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Thank you.