Turning Good King Wenceslas upside down

In the foyer of the Lucerna Palace in Prague – an Art Nouveau building housing a concert hall, shopping centre and café, hangs a statute of St Wenceslaus. Unlike the figure on the monumental plinth which stands at the top of Wenceslaus Square, this depiction of the saint, by the sculptor David Černý, sits rather uncomfortably on a dead horse which is suspended upside-down, its lifeless tongue hangs limp, pointing at the shoppers below.

If, like me, you thought you knew all about St Wenceslaus (or Václav, which means ‘praised with glory’ in its original Czech) prepare to have most of what you thought you knew turned upside down, just like Černý’s horse!

Good King Wenceslaus (John Mason Neale who wrote the eponymous carol dropped the ‘u’) was not a King during his lifetime but a Duke and, unlike the images of the old and wise bearded man we see in Victorian prints, Václav was just twenty-two years old when he died. Whilst the mythology surrounding Wenceslaus is that of a ‘good’ or pious and generous ruler, the connection to his act of charity on Boxing Day (the “Feast of Stephen”) is likely to have been invented by Neale himself, linking the myth of the charitable king with the tradition of boxing day alms-giving. The text of the carol, published in 1853, is said to have been based on an 1847 poem by the Czech nationalist – and appropriately named - Václav Alois Svoboda and titled Sankt Wenceslaw und Podiwin (Saint Wenceslaus and the Crocheteer) – although the original seems to have been lost. The subject of St Wenceslaus – and the lives of other saints – had long been of interest to Neale, whose “Deeds of Faith” published in 1849 and dedicated to his daughter, was written to inspire children to become interested in ecclesiastical history. Chapter 11 describes the Legend of St Wenceslaus, where we find a longer version of the familiar story from the carol, with the peasant gathering firewood named as Rudolph the swineherd and the page who accompanies the King and follows in his footsteps to make the journey through the snowstorm easier, given the name Otto. Neale ends his version of the story with a glowing testimony to the generosity of Wenceslas;

“…so great was the virtue of this Saint of the Most High, such was the fire of love that was kindled in him, that, as he trod in those steps, Otto gained life and heat. He felt not the wind; he heeded not the frost; the footprints glowed as with a holy fire, and zealously he followed the King on his errand of mercy.”

The lyrics of the carol are set to the melody of "Tempus adest floridum" ("The time is near for flowering) which was probably composed in Scandinavia and sung in the springtime. Whilst the St Stephen’s Day snowstorm may be the product of artistic licence, Wenceslaus’s charity was recorded in numerous hagiographies and early writings. In the long tradition of dukes and kings becoming saints, it is unusual that any accounts focus on their piousness. In the Dark Ages, Christianity was viewed by most of the elite as a ‘prosperity religion’ – whereas in multiple versions of the life of Wenceslaus, evidence is found that he saw his faith as a day-to-day religious practice, living almost like a monk. Cosmas of Prague, writing in 1119 explained;

“..no one doubts that, rising every night from his noble bed, with bare feet and only one chamberlain, he went around to Gods churches and gave alms generously to widows, orphans, those in prison and afflicted by every difficulty, so much so that he was considered, not a prince, but the father of all the wretched.”

Wenceslaus was born around 907 - the first generation of the ruling Přemysli dynasty to have been raised a Christian. His grandfather had been converted to Christianity by Saints Cyril and Methodius. His father died when he was just thirteen, leaving his mother, Drahomíra, to act as regent. It is said that Drahomia, the daughter of a pagan tribal chief, treated the people of Bohemia badly.  Wenceslas was raised predominantly by his grandmother, Ludmila; a fact his mother apparently disliked - and Ludmila was murdered on her instructions. When Wenceslaus became Duke, he banished his mother from the kingdom. He split the country in two, giving the larger part to his younger brother, Boleslaus. Wenceslaus reigned for just eleven years. He was one of the few rulers of the time who could read and write and it is said that he introduced an education system which allowed those born outside the nobility to receive teaching. His promotion of Christianity was unpopular with the elite, but his foreign policy proved even more divisive. Wenceslaus formed an alliance with Henry I, the first saxon King of Germany and while Bohemia regained some independence it fell under German control.

This move was unpopular with many nobles – a fact which, it is thought, led to the death of Wenceslas. There are a number of myths surrounding his murder on 28 September 929. In one account, three noblemen - Tira, Česta, and Hněvsa – stabbed Wenceslas before his own brother ran him through with a lance. In another, Boleslav invited his brother to a celebration on the feast of Saints Cosmas and Damian. Boleslav attacked his brother on their way to mass, striking him dead in cold blood.

Boleslav – who became Duke – moved his brother’s remains to St Vitus Cathedral and chose not to reverse Wenceslas’s foreign policy. A cult of Wenceslas quickly spread and he became known as the epitome of the rex justus – the righteous king. Wenceslas became patron saint of the Czech republic and, while the carol is little known in that country, his legacy lives on. In 2007 on the feast of St Wenceslas on 28^th September, Archbishop Diego Causero said;

“Good King Wenceslaus was able to incarnate his Christianity in a world filled with political unrest. He stood for Christian values and died for them. He has a call for all Christians and men of good will of this Country: to become involved in positive social change and political activity, no matter how much it costs, in order to bring harmony and justice to society.”

Links

Medieval Slavic Lives of Saints and Princes (translated by Marvin Kantor)
The Life of Wenceslas

Tempus Adest Floridum