#codex: characters

— #general

— #characters

— #society

— #crafts

— #events

— #locations

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— #DLC: Legacy of the Forge

— #DLC: Mysteria Ecclesiae

"->" indicates a link to a source for the trivia and additional reading!

CHARACTERS — 94/262 — Jitka of Kunstadt

Future wife of our Hans Capon, the daughter of Erhart the Elder of Kunstadt and Jitka of Medritsch. Unfortunately, we do not know exactly how the marriage was arranged, but it is recorded that thanks to this marriage, Hans Capon expanded his domains in Moravia. He had a son named Hynce with Jitka, later nicknamed the “King of East Bohemia”, a tireless organiser of the Bohemian political scene and a predecessor of the Hussite king George of Podiebrad. Otherwise, all we know about Jitka of Kunstadt is that in 1408, Hans Capon granted her a dowry of 60,000 Prague groschen.

TRIVIA

— The betrothal of heirs of Kunštát to the heirs of Lipá followed a long tradition. The man who arranges the marriage in the game, Boček II of Poděbrad, was himself married to Anna Eliška of Lipá, a daughter of Jan Ptáček's guardian Jindřich of Lipá. And their grandson, Jiří of Poděbrad, the later Bohemian King, would marry his son Viktorin to Markéta Ptáček, Hynce Ptáček's daughter and Jan's granddaughter. Marriages were, in most cases, no contracts made between two loving individuals, but between families and lineages, in which each of them hoped for their child to profit from this union as best as possible. After all, “nullum sine dote fiat coniugium”, no marriage shall be without a marriage gift, was common medieval (church) law, and so one central part of this reciprocal profit was the dowry. Dowries would come in the form of the dos, the dowry itself, typically paid by the bride's family to the spouse, and the donatio propter nuptias (gift on account of marriage), the counter-dowry that the spouse's side gave to the bride. In early medieval times, the sum of both dos and donatio was about equally large, but over time this balance shifted, so that by the 13th century the counter-dowry was would not exceed half or even a quarter of the dowry. There could be multiple reasons for Jitka receiving a dowry from Jan Ptáček in 1408: Dowries could be regathered with the husband's death or the dissolution of the marriage, or in such cases where the husband had been found guilty of mismanaging it. The most probable explanation, however, might be that dowries were often paid on credit and therefore received in the form of instalments over several years. So Jan Ptáček might just have taken some time to pay off his.

CHARACTERS — 109/262 — Sigismund of Luxembourg

Sigismund of Luxembourg, son of Charles IV and his fourth wife Elizabeth of Pomerania, was king of Hungary and Croatia, then king of Germany, Bohemia and Lombardy. His upbringing at the Hungarian court taught him the hard rules of politics. After his abduction by Hungarian nobility, he hardened towards them and tried to increase his prestige by gaining the imperial title of his brother Wenceslas IV. Sigismund was rather positively received by the Bohemian nobility. However, some of them continued to support Wenceslas IV, which led to a prolonged military conflict. Sigismund, with the help of Bohemian and Moravian lords and an army reinforced by Cuman mercenaries, ravaged Bohemia in an attempt to destroy Wenceslas' allies. Eventually, however, he was forced to retreat back to Hungary to suppress a noble rebellion. He entered Bohemian history as a pragmatic ruler and a defender of Christianity. After his brother's death, he fought the Hussite uprising and died soon after being crowned Roman Emperor.

TRIVIA

— Sigismund of Luxembourg was not a man who fits neatly into a single story or trivia entry. He was intelligent, well traveled, and capable of charm, spoke seven languages but also stubborn, proud, and often blind to the consequences of his own decisions. Praised by some as a cultivated ruler and condemned by others as unreliable or overbearing, he left behind a trail of anecdotes that reveal both his curiosity and his vanity. These fragments of his life do little to demistify his persona, but do bring us closer to deconstructing his carefully curated motivations from centuries past. Beyond the controversies surrounding the Bohemian throne and its people, Sigismund of Luxembourg was a worldly man who would later prove to be one of the most interesting European rulers of his time. He was the founder and grand master of the Order of the Dragon, a chivalric order established in 1408 to defend Christianity from Ottoman invasion and reinforce royal authority. Membership in this order later gave rise to the moniker "Dracul" adopted by Vlad II of Wallachia, a loyal vassal of Sigismund. Through this connection, Sigismund became indirectly linked to the name that would later inspire the legend of Vlad the Impaler and thus, Dracula. Sigismund also played an unexpected role in the history of Europe’s Romani population. In 1417 he granted a letter of safe conduct and royal protection to a Romani leader named Ladislas, described as a voivode traveling with a large group. As Sigismund was King of Bohemia, Romani groups traveling under similar claims of protection elsewhere in Europe came to be referred to as "Bohemians", a term that persisted for centuries. Sigismund was also sometimes noted as witty, as proven by one of the anecdotes noted at the 1415 Council of Constance. It tells of an event where at one point during the council a cardinal corrected Sigismund's Latin, and Sigismund replied; Ego sum rex Romanus et super grammaticam ("I am king of the Romans and above grammar"). Thomas Carlyle nicknamed Sigismund "Super Grammaticam". The Polish poet Klemens Janicki (Clemens Ianicius) also recounts that Sigismund greatly favoured learned men: this was even described as "his only fault in life, in the opinion of all" ('Cuius id unum / In vita, vulgo iudice, crimen erat'). As he treated learned men as a father would his sons and always wanted them to be by his side, this angered the nobles, who proclaimed that their emperor should not be devoted to "such people, most of whom come from insignificant homes and whom a poor mother nursed in some unknown place" ('Quales parva domus gignit plerumque parensque / Lactat in obscuro non opulenta loco'). The emperor replied;

"These people to whom nature and God gave a genius greater than mine and yours I place above all others. I esteem them according to their virtues. Why do I have to know where they were born?"

CHARACTERS — 92/262 — Jan Ptáček

Son of Ješek Ptáček and Hedvika of Duba. After the death of his father, Jan Ješek, the Lords of Leipa (uncle Henry, his son Hanush and his brothers) became his guardians. After the imprisonment of Master Jan Hus, he sgined a petition in his defence. In the Hussite wars, however, he initially sided with the League of Lords against the Hussites in a few minor battles (in 1419 he took part in the battle against Hussites at Knin), apparently due to the influence of his close neighbour Lacek of Kravař from Šternberk. There are no records indicating he took part in the war later. He was the Lord of Rattay and Polná. He acquired Rattay from his guardians only in 1412. He held positions in the provincial offices and his son was the famous Hynek Ptáček. Unlike his historical precursor, however, we took the poetic license of making Hans Capon a twenty-year-old man in our game.

TRIVIA

— Not much is know about the historical Jan Ptáček of Pirkštejn, and in fact, much of his life is overshadowed by the deeds of his family. As a descendant of the house of Lipá, his ancestry is full of royal chamberlains and kingly advisors, who played a key role in helping the line of Luxembourg ascend the Bohemian throne in 1310. After Jan comes of age in 1406, most talk is spent on his guardian Hanuš and his excesses as a robber lord. It is only in 1410, after a court ruling and threats of King Wenceslas to strip the house of Lipá of its titles and lands, that Jan Ptáček manages to intervene, and in February 1412, he finally convinces Hanuš to bequeath the castle of Rataje to him, for the village of Senohrady and a large sum of silver. In the 1410s, Jan Ptáček is supposed to have been an associate judge of the Moravian provincial court under the name “Jan of Polná”, his main seat until his acquisition of Rataje. In November 1419, when moving against the Hussites at the side of Petr Konopištský of Sternberk, he leads a troop of mercenaries from Kutná Hora. He is still with Sternberk when he moves to Prague two days after the battle, yet in 1420, his son Hynce is named as heir of Rataje and Pirkštejn. With this change in power, Jan leaves perhaps his greatest impact on Czech history. Hynce Ptáček, a strong supporter of the Utraquists, spends most of the 1430s and 1440s negotiating with Hussites and nobility alike in an attempt to reunite the land, and he majorly influences the election of a new Bohemian king after years of uncertainty. Chronicles will later call him a pragmatic diplomat with a clear vision and even the only one “able to bring peace to [Bohemia] without shedding blood”.

CHARACTERS — 89/262 — Dry Devil

Originally named Hynek Jevišovský of Kunstadt, he was a fierce and fearless soldier who became famous as a robber knight during the Moravian Margraviate Wars, in which he repeatedly raided Austria in 1401 and 1402, continuing even after the first capture of the Bohemian king in Vienna. Only after the escape of King Wenceslas IV did the Austrian Duke Albrecht lose patience and so in 1404 he marched on Znojmo with 12,000 soldiers supported by another 12,000 soldiers of Sigismund of Luxembourg. However, the Dry Devil knew about the campaign. When the enemy troops stood in front of the town, it was already fortified and with substantial help from his friend Jan Sokol of Lamberg he repelled the attack. It should be noted that a dysentery epidemic, which had spread among the enemy to such an extent that both enemy nobles were infected, also contributed greatly to this. Albrecht IV of Austria even died of the disease. And so the Dry Devil continued to pillage and plunder. Eventually, however, even Wenceslas IV ran out of patience and had Hynek imprisoned in 1407. He was soon released, but did not enjoy his freedom very long, for he died in 1408.

TRIVIA

— And where did the name Dry Devil emerge from? According to a source, the nickname Devil reflects his violent character and unscrupulous behavior. And because Hynek was unusually lean for his time, and tall, he was given an epithet Dry. However there isn't too much information preserved about his looks, but according to one of the few paintings, Dry Devil in his armour looked really sinister.

CHARACTERS — 107/262 — Radzig Kobyla

Radzig Kobyla was a Bohemian yeoman, the Royal Hetman of Weceslas IV and, between 1410 and 1415, Burgrave of Vyšehrad. In 1403 he was the hetman in Silver Skalitz, where he oversaw silver mining. The king was known for his favour towards lower nobility, to whom he awarded high positions in return for their loyalty. Radzig was probably one of these and likely a friend of the king. In 1403 Skalitz was besieged and burned to the ground by King Sigismund and his Cuman army. For his service and loyalty, King Wenceslas IV permitted Radzig to build his own castle at Veseli nad Sazavou (Sasau). He was killed in 1416 in a tavern in Kuttenberg by a mob of miners, incited by priests. "They seized them in the inn where they were staying, cut their bodies into pieces and threw them into the street, where the mob vigorously stomped on their remains and, singing joyful songs, went to the priests' house to be praised for the act they had been encouraged to commit." This occured when he was there to collect taxes for the king. Interestingly, six years earlier he had likely been a robber knight. It is unclear from the sources, how he returned to the king's service.

TRIVIA

— By 1416, tensions between Bohemia and the Council of Constance had escalated into open hostility. Few figures embodied this conflict more clearly than Racek Kobyla, a royal hetman notorious among the clergy for his earlier role in confiscating church property after the burning of Wycliffe’s books.

When King Wenceslas sent Kobyla and his retinue to Kutná Hora to negotiate taxes, local priests seized the opportunity to turn against him. Incited by sermons, a mob of miners attacked Kobyla and his retinue, killing him and mutilating his body in an outburst under the guise of religious fury.

"When he was about to arrive in Kutná Hora, the priests, and especially a certain Master Herman the preacher, a foreigner by birth, incited the rough people of the miners against him. He (Racek) and his companion, having learned of this beforehand, were therefore hesitant to enter the city, but were reassured by respected townsmen who were sent out to meet them and who escorted them in with honour. When they arrived in the city on the day of Svátek Hromnice (February 2nd), the people gathered against them in the street. As they fled to a house that had been appointed to them as an inn, the miners ransacked the building, burst into it, and killed Racek together with twelve of his servants. They cut their bodies into pieces and threw them into the street, where they trampled them in wild rage. Then, covered in blood and singing joyfully, they ran in crowds to the houses of the priests to receive praise for the deed they committed." Only Bořita of Ostředek escaped death, hiding in a privy, which the enraged mass of people in the house did not think to search.

King Wenceslas, in his first anger at the news of this, threatened and was about to personally march against Kutná Hora and avenge the abominable deed on the entire city; but he was subdued by large silver gifts from the miners, who, to redeem themselves, had two of the miners beheaded. However, he accepted compensation and symbolic punishment instead. Rather than breaking with reformist supporters however, the king continued to shield them, further alienating the Council of Constance. Kobyla's death was one of the undeniable turning points which marked the upcoming revolution of the Hussite wars.

CHARACTERS — 102/262 — Musa of Mali

The travelling scholar Musa, who often has more respect for a pretty bathmaid than a powerful nobleman, may be a fictional figure, but his origins, name, and even character are based on real people. The first of these is King Mansa Musa, ruler of the Mali Empire, who lived in the early 14th century. Musa contributed significantly to the spread of Islam across North Africa and the Middle EAst and to the development of the city of Timbuktu, where he built a mosque and university that still stand today. According to modern estimates, Musa was the richest man in history. with a fortune estimated at the current equivalent of 500 billion dollars. Our other model for Musa is Ibn Battuta. An Arab scholar and one of the most important travelers and cartographers of the 14th century. He spent nearly thirty years on the road, during which he covered much of the then known world. He visited countries of North Africa, the Middle East, India, China and Europe, surpassing all of his contemporaries in the scope of his travels. At the end of his life, he dictated his experiences in the travelogue Rihla (Journey).

TRIVIA

— After Ibn Battuta left his home in Morocco in 1325 at the age of 22, he travelled for almost 30 years, covering about 117,000 kilometres, passing through regions that would encompass more than 50 countries today, meeting with more than 2,000 people, including 60 sultans and the Byzantine Emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos. Originally, his unprecedented journey began rather small: with a dream, in which he was flying on a large bird across various lands. After the prayer on the next morning, the local sheikh told Ibn Battuta that he knew of this dream and had himself foreseen a pilgrimage for him, and so Ibn Battuta set out for his first journey – performing the Hajj, the sacred pilgrimage to Mecca, which would keep him away from home for the next decades. He wasn't the only one leaving for the Hajj. Just two years before Ibn Battuta reached Cairo in 1326, the King of Mali, Mansa Musa, came here on his way to Mecca – together with thousands of slaves, soldiers, wives and officials, a hundred camels each carrying a hundred pounds of gold, spending so much gold in the markets of Cairo that it upset the local gold market for over a century. Perhaps inspired by these tales, Ibn Battuta sets out for Mali himself in 1351, passing through harsh deserts and salt-mining towns where even the houses are made entirely of salt. When he finally arrives in Mali – at this time under the rule of Mansa Sulayman, the younger brother of the deceased Mansa Musa – his impression isn't the best. Too many naked women and poets in feathers and bird masks. He also feels so badly insulted by the King's gift that he even confronts him personally about it – because how dare he offer him, Ibn Battuta who has travelled so far and wide, only three loaves of bread, a piece of beef and a gourd with some yogurt?

CHARACTERS — 91/262 — Jan Hus

Jan Hus was a priest, thinker and one of the most important Czech and European religious reformers and preachers. His works, inspired by the theological writings of John Wycliffe, was key to understanding the essence of the Church Reformation. As of 1398 he taught and spread his views at Prague University and from 1402 he preached at the Betlehem Chapel in Prague. From there he initiated discussion among the broad classes of burghers on current religious and secular issues. For his strong, but very popular, criticism of conditions in the Curch, he was eventually excommunicated by the Pope in 1412 and had to take refuge in the countryside. At the Council of Constance, where he was invited by Emperor Sigismund to defend his views, he was condemned and burned as a heretic. His legacy, however, sparked a strong uprising in the Czech lands against the existing order. This began a period known as the Hussite Wars (1420—1434).

TRIVIA

— John Wycliffe’s criticism of Church authority included a rejection of the doctrine of transubstantiation (belief that bread and wine become Christ’s body and blood during eucharist), which he considered unscriptural. This view was not accepted by most reform-minded scholars of his time and contributed to a decline in his influence, even among those who supported his calls for moral renewal. His writings nevertheless circulated widely in Central Europe and reached Prague at the turn of the 15th century.

Jan Hus studied Wycliffe’s works and adopted many of his institutional criticisms, but he did not follow Wycliffe in denying transubstantiation. Hus accepted the traditional teaching on the Eucharist, while focusing his attention on issues he considered more pressing, such as the moral state of the clergy and the withholding of the chalice from the laity.

Although Hus did not renounce transubstantiation, his insistence that the laity should receive the chalice placed him in a position between traditional doctrine and emerging reformist views. It is interesting that, whether intentionally or not, this stance created a kind of intermediary bridge between those who upheld the medieval teaching and those who questioned it. By preserving the sacrament’s meaning while challenging its restricted practice, Hus offered a form of reform that appealed to both sides of the debate.