Prague in 1200 is not yet one town but a cluster of settlements under two royal castles: Prague Castle on the hill on the left bank, seat of the king and the bishop, with St Vitus, the nuns of St George and the bishop's palace; Vyšehrad on its rock upstream on the right bank with its exempt chapter; the craftsmen's and merchants' suburb below the castle (the later Malá Strana), joined to the right bank by the stone bridge that Vladislaus II built and named after Queen Judith; and on the right bank the great market settlement (the later Old Town) round its market place and the Týn court, where foreign merchants lodge, store their goods and pay the duke's toll.
German merchants live at Poříčí round St Peter's under their own law, granted by Duke Soběslav II (1174-1178); Romance merchants and Jews trade here too, the Jews with one settlement below the castle (its synagogue burned in the siege of 1142) and another on the right bank, the core of the later Jewish Town. The right bank has many churches and stone Romanesque houses but no wall: Wenceslaus I walls it and makes it a royal town only about 1230-1234. Prague is the greatest market between Regensburg and Kraków and the seat of the Prague mint.
Who holds it
- Name
- Ottokar I, king of Bohemia; his castellan of Prague (not pinned by name)
- Title
- Lord of Prague
- Since
- 6 December 1197
- Family
- See Kingdom of Bohemia (Ottokar I)
- Confidence
- high
de.wikipedia (Prager Altstadt) for the settlements of German and Jewish merchants and craftsmen under the two castles and the walls of 1230-1234; campaign notes for the bishop.
Lord in 1200
The king, through his castellan of Prague; the bishop of Prague (Daniel II) holds his own court and men; the Germans of Poříčí live under their own law and judge by Soběslav II's privilege.
How things stand that morning
Held by the king; quiet.
Charter
No town charter. The Germans of Prague hold Duke Soběslav II's privilege (1174-1178): their own law and judge and freedoms of person (the text survives only in later confirmations; the terms are not re-checked here). The right-bank settlement becomes a walled royal town only about 1230-1234.
Council
None: the settlements are ruled by the king's officers; the Germans by their own judge.
Communities
Czech townsfolk and craftsmen; German merchants at Poříčí (St Peter's) under their own law; probably merchants from the Romance lands (not pinned); Jews in two settlements under the ruler's protection; the clergy of the castle, Vyšehrad, the bishop's household; the Hospitallers at the bridge (1169); the canons of the Holy Sepulchre at Zderaz; the Premonstratensians of Strahov and the Benedictines of Břevnov nearby.
Fairs and markets
A standing market on the right bank (the later Old Town Square) with the Týn court for foreign merchants; fair days not pinned.
Militia
None as a town; the castle garrisons and the king's following.
Walls and castle
Prague Castle and Vyšehrad, both royal; the Judith Bridge (begun about 1158, finished by 1172) with the Hospitallers' fortified house at its castle end; no wall round the right-bank settlement until about 1230-1234.
Trade and crafts
Long-distance trade between the Danube (Regensburg), the Rhine and Nuremberg, Saxony, Poland and the Rus: cloth, salt, metals, wine, horses, wax, furs and slaves in earlier centuries; the Týn toll (ungelt); the craftsmen of the castle suburbs; the Prague mint striking the denar.
Places of note
- Prague Castle: Seat of the king and the bishop
- Vyšehrad: Second royal castle and exempt chapter
- Týn court (Ungelt): Court of the foreign merchants and the toll
- St Peter at Poříčí: Church of the German merchants
- Judith Bridge: Stone bridge, about 1158-1172
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The settlement pattern is well known from archaeology and the chronicles; the institutions of 1200 (castellan, judge of the Germans) are not pinned by name.
Primary sources for Kingdom of Bohemia (Ottokar I)
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- Annals of Jarloch (Gerlach), abbot of Milevsko, Jarloch of Milevsko (about 1200 to 1220). The last Bohemian narrative before 1200, continuing Vincentius of Prague. Read online
- The Austrian and Salzburg annals (kept in the 12th and 13th centuries, with continuations to the late 13th century). A family of monastic annals from Austria, Styria and Salzburg, printed together. Read online
- Regesta Imperii V: calendar of the acts of Philip, Otto IV and Frederick II, 1198 to 1272 (calendar of documents of 1198 to 1272, published 1881 to 1901). A dated calendar of every known act of King Philip and King Otto IV, with the acts of popes and princes that bear on the Empire. Read online
- The Registers of Pope Innocent III for 1199 to 1201, Innocent III and the papal chancery (22 February 1199 to 21 February 1201). The pope's outgoing letters for the year, in his chancery's own copy, touching nearly every realm in the atlas. Read online
- Charters and letters of the kingdom of Bohemia, volume 2, 1198 to 1230 (documents of 1198 to 1230, edited 1912). The critical edition of every Bohemian and Moravian charter and letter from Ottokar I's accession to 1230.
- Constitutions and public acts of the emperors and kings, volume 2, 1198 to 1272 (documents of 1198 to 1272, edited 1896). The public documents of the throne war in full text: the election notices of 1198, the princes' declaration of Speyer of 28 May 1199 to Innocent III, the pope's replies, Philip's and Otto's letters and promises, and the imperial acts of 1200 and 1201 including Otto's promises at Neuss in June 1201. Read online
Sources and studies
- Prager Altstadt (de.wikipedia)
- campaign notes on the Church, Part 6 D
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.