Budeč was a gord in

Duchy of Bohemia The Duchy of Bohemia, also later referred to in English as the Czech Duchy, (Old Czech: ) was a monarchy and a Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, principality of the Holy Roman Empire in Central Europe during the Early Middle Ages, Early and High M ...

within the modern

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

, founded by the

Přemyslid dynasty The Přemyslid dynasty or House of Přemysl (, , ) was a Bohemian royal dynasty that reigned in the Duchy of Bohemia and later Kingdom of Bohemia and Margraviate of Moravia (9th century–1306), as well as in parts of Poland (including Silesia ...

. It is connected with the presence of

St. Wenceslaus Wenceslaus I ( ; 907 – 28 September 935), Wenceslas I or ''Václav the Good'' was the Prince (''Knyaz, kníže'') of Duchy of Bohemia, Bohemia from 921 until his death, probably in 935. According to the legend, he was assassinated by his you ...

. Today it is known as a place with the oldest preserved building in the country, the Church of Saints Peter and Paul.

Location

Budeč is located on a hill in what is today the municipality of

Zákolany Zákolany is a municipality and village in Kladno District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 600 inhabitants. Administrative division Zákolany consists of three municipal parts (in brackets population according to ...

in the

Central Bohemian Region The Central Bohemian Region ( ; ) is an administrative unit () of the Czech Republic, located in the central part of its historical region of Bohemia. Its administrative centre is in the Czech capital Prague, which lies in the centre of the regio ...

, about northwest of Prague. The remains of the gord have an area of . It makes Budeč one of the largest early medieval settlements in the country.

History

According to archaeological findings, the hill was inhabited already in prehistoric times. The oldest evidence of the settlement comes from the period dating from the Middle Bronze Age and

Knovíz culture The Knovíz culture () was an upper Danubian subgroup of the Late Bronze Age Urnfield culture, located mainly in Bohemia, Thuringia, and Bavaria. The eponymous type site for this culture, in the Czech village of Knovíz, is located near Prague. ...

of the Late Bronze Age. The first wall in the Slavic period was built right on the remains of prehistoric walls in the 9th century AD, perhaps by the Duke Bořivoj I. The written sources show that at the end of 9th and at the beginning of 10th century Budeč belonged to the main bases of

. The Church of Saints Peter and Paul is a

rotunda A rotunda () is any roofed building with a circular ground plan, and sometimes covered by a dome. It may also refer to a round room within a building (an example being the one below the dome of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.). ...

built by the Duke Spytihněv I after the year 895. Its

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

is the oldest standing building in the country. Budeč was the place where Saint Wenceslaus (

Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia Wenceslaus I ( ; 907 – 28 September 935), Wenceslas I or ''Václav the Good'' was the Prince (''Knyaz, kníže'') of Duchy of Bohemia, Bohemia from 921 until his death, probably in 935. According to the legend, he was assassinated by his you ...

) stayed in his youth. According to "St. Wenceslaus legends", he lived here and learned the basics of education, reading Latin books and singing

psalms The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of B ...

. The last mention of Budeč is from the second half of the 13th century, when Queen

Kunigunda of Halych Kunigunda Rostislavna ( 1245 – 9 September 1285; Czech: ''Kunhuta Uherská'' or ''Kunhuta Haličská'') was Queen consort of Bohemia and its regent from 1278 until her death. She was a member of the House of Chernigov, and a daughter of Rostis ...

donated Budeč to the

Vyšehrad Chapter The Vyšehrad Chapter (), officially the Royal Collegiate Chapter of Ss. Peter and Paul at Vyšehrad (), is a collegiate chapter established at the church dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul in Vyšehrad (now in Prague Prague ( ; ) is th ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Budec Former populated places in the Czech Republic