Czech History Trivia

1. Like many European cities, the story behind Prague's founding is a mix of fact and legend. Prague was said to be the vision of 8th century Princess Libuse who foresaw a grand city centered around a castle on which river?

From Quiz The History of Prague

Answer: Vltava

Princess Libuse (aka Libussa) was a Czech noblewoman who married a commoner named Premysl the Ploughman. She ruled from Bohemia when she had her grand vision of Prague, which was the name of a new castle she envisioned. Premysl began a dynasty that ruled Bohemia for over 400 years. While historians are skeptical of this founding legend, archeological evidence suggests it is possible as Libuse's original castle has been discovered and dating back to the 8th century.

From Quiz Bohemian Rhapsody

Answer: Celtic

The land of Bohemia was part of a territory that was crossed by Germanic and Slavic tribes in a period of time known as the Migration Period. Many of the Boii who had been living there started to move out with the migrating, many of which moved to a land in Germany and helped found the land known as 'Bavaria'.

From Quiz The Defenestrations of Prague

Answer: Czech Republic

Prague is the capital of the Czech Republic and also of Bohemia. For several centuries prior to 1918, Bohemia (and neighboring Moravia) were under Habsburg rule.

From Quiz Bohemia and Moravia, 800-1620

Answer: Cyril and Methodius

Cyril and Methodius were Greeks sent from Byzantium to convert the people of Moravia to Christianity. They translated the Bible and also church services into Old Church Slavonic and were later canonized. However, in both Moravia and more particularly Bohemia, rival missionaries from Western Europe and Byzantium were at that time trying to convert the Czechs to Christianity. By about AD 900 the Byzantine missionaries were expelled, and the Czech lands were soon fully within the orbit of the Western (that is, Catholic) Church.

From Quiz Czechoslovakia 1918-93

Answer: Central Europe

The Cold War, which divided Europe into East and West, tended to make many older sub-divisions of the continent obsolete. However, geographically and culturally, Czechoslovakia was (and its successor states, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, are) part of Central Europe.

From Quiz The History of Prague

Answer: Wenceslas

Prince Wenceslas was murdered by three conspirators who were friends of his brother Boleslav. Wenceslas was murdered on his way to church. There had long been tension between Wenceslas and Boleslav because Wenceslaus had been friendly toward the Saxons. After Wenceslas was murdered, Boleslav became the duke but eventually surrendered to the Saxon Otto I the Great.

From Quiz The Defenestrations of Prague

Answer: The Hussite Wars

The First Defenestration of Prague involved the killing of seven members of the hostile city council by a crowd of radical Czech Hussites on July 30, 1419. The prolonged Hussite Wars broke out shortly afterward, lasting until 1436. (The Hussites campaigned for reform in the Church and were in many respects "early Protestants").

From Quiz Bohemia and Moravia, 800-1620

Answer: Wenceslas

Wenceslas founded the Church of St. Vitus at Prague Castle where his ornate chapel can be visited today. A splendid square in Prague is named after him.

From Quiz Czechoslovakia 1918-93

Answer: Prague & Praha

Prague is also the capital of the province (formerly Kingdom) of Bohemia. It is now the capital of the Czech Republic. In Slav mythology Princess Libusa (or Libussa) prophesied: 'There shall arise a city in Bohemia, whose beauty and glory will reach to the heavens. It will be called "Praha" '. Prague survived WWII relatively unscathed and is arguably the most beautiful major city in Central Europe. A great range of architectural styles from Gothic to Early Modern are well represented there.

From Quiz Bohemian Rhapsody

Answer: Golden Bull

The Golden Bull of Sicily was a decree issued in 1212 that made Bohemia a kingdom, and named Otakar I King of Bohemia. The Golden Bull of 1348 allowed the construction of Charles University in Prague, one of the oldest universities in the world and the oldest in Central Europe. This Golden Bull also established the seven electors of the Holy Roman Empire and it largely removed the Pope and the papacy from the affairs of the Holy Roman Empire.

From Quiz The Defenestrations of Prague

Answer: A window

On May 23, 1618, in Prague, a few royal (Habsburg) officials were thrown out a window of Hradcany Castle by a group of Bohemian noblemen who were not willing to elect a Habsburg as King of Bohemia.

From Quiz Bohemia and Moravia, 800-1620

Answer: Premyslids

The Premyslid dynasty claimed to originate from a ploughman who married the seer, Libussa. This man was Premysl, whose stronghold was Praha, the site of Prague Castle.

From Quiz Czechoslovakia 1918-93

Answer: Tomas Masaryk

Masaryk also served as president of Czechoslovakia from 1918-35. Smetana (1824-84) is a well known Czech composer. President Wilson supported the establishment of Czechoslovakia, but that doesn't make him the 'founding father'.

From Quiz The History of Prague

Answer: Charles University

Charles University and Charles Bridge are named after Emperor Charles IV who greatly expanded Prague's influence economically and culturally. He was the first of Bohemia's rulers from the Luxembourg Dynasty. Some of his other accomplishments were renovating Prague Castle and building the New Town district of Prague. On the wider European stage he is famous for establishing the procedure for the election of the Holy Roman Emperor.

From Quiz Bohemian Rhapsody

Answer: Luxembourg

John I from the House of Luxembourg accepted an invitation to the throne and became king in 1310. Charles IV, who also went on to become the Holy Roman Emperor, oversaw many projects including Charles University, Charles Bridge, Charles Square, Prague Castle, and the Saint Vitus' Cathedral. (There is also a much earlier St. Vitus Church within the precincts of Prague Castle).

From Quiz The Defenestrations of Prague

Answer: A cart full of manure

The Second Defenestration of Prague that occured in 1618 resulted not in death, but in the soiling of official royal garments, and the 30 Years War. This is not to be confused with the earlier (or First) Defenestration of Prague in 1419, which resulted in seven deaths as a result of the defenestraters having neglected to place the cart of manure in the appropriate place, or indeed any cart at all. By 1618 defenestration had been perfected in Prague.

From Quiz Bohemia and Moravia, 800-1620

Answer: The Golden Age

Charles IV was a talented ruler whose architect, Petr Parler, shaped the Cathedral of St. Vitus, built many churches and constructed the Charles Bridge.

From Quiz Czechoslovakia 1918-93

Answer: Svejk & Svejk & Schweik & Schwejk

Jaroslav Hasek succeeded in creating a new archetype - the now surly, now cheerful 'awkward guy', passive resister and clown, too.

From Quiz The History of Prague

Answer: Supporters of Jan Zelivsky threw members of the city council

The First Defenestration of Prague came about when Jan Zelivsky and supports led a protest arguing for reform of the Catholic Church, which they saw as corrupt. During the march, someone threw a rock at Zelivsky and that led to his supporters to storm the town hall and throw about a dozen city council members and others out of the window. Most of them died as a result.

From Quiz Bohemian Rhapsody

Answer: Head of the Bethlehem Chapel in Prague

The Bethlehem Chapel was established 10 years before Hus was appointed. The chapel was associated with a new approach to Christianity, which many said was very radical. Sermons were in the native Czech language, which was understood by ordinary people. The preachers of the church wanted a much simpler religion, without the worldly grandeur of the Catholic Church and the papacy. For his actions, the Catholic Church burned Hussat at the stake as a heretic. The Church also led a series of crusades against Bohemia, which naturally had to defend itself. These crusades are known as the Hussite Wars, in which Bohemia was trying to achieve for religious freedom in the face of fierce opposition from Church.

From Quiz Bohemia and Moravia, 800-1620

Answer: the first university in Central Europe

Although Prague University started as a theological school, it branched out into other areas of learning and became a voice of oppositon to the Catholic church in the 15th century.

From Quiz Czechoslovakia 1918-93

Answer: The Sudetenland

The Sudentenland bordered Germany and Austria, and the population was predominantly German-speaking. The Nazis' claim that the German-speaking population was persecuted by the government of Czechoslovakia was untrue.

From Quiz The History of Prague

Answer: Either by angels or by falling in a pile of dung

Jaroslav Borzita and Vilem Slavata were both Catholic regents in Prague and were accused of violating the rights of Protestants within Prague. They were sentenced to death by Jindrich Matyas Thurn, a Protestant leader. The two men and their secretary were thrown from a third floor window nearly 70 feet high, but they all survived. Word spread amongst the Catholics that angels had intervened with the execution. Protestants countered and said the men only survived because they landed in a pile of manure. How they survived exactly is unknown but historians give some credit to the manure theory. The Second Defenestration of Prague was one of the main events that caused the Thirty Years' War that saw the attempt by the Habsburg monarchy to reassert its power in the Holy Roman Empire fail and also its attempt to restore Roman Catholicism.

From Quiz The Defenestrations of Prague

Answer: Throwing out of a window

Defenestration is the act of throwing someone or something out of a window. It's hardly ever used except in the phrase "defenestration(s) of Prague".

From Quiz Bohemia and Moravia, 800-1620

Answer: It was named as an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire

Bohemia had become a kingdom much earlier - already in 1198, and the title of king had sometimes been used earlier by the dukes of Bohemia. The other electorates of the Holy Roman Empire named in the Golden Bull were: Brandenburg, Saxony, the Palatinate and the archbishoprics of Cologne, Mainz and Trier.

From Quiz The History of Prague

Answer: Maria Theresa

The Jews had flourished in Prague during the 17th century and into the 18th. However, the Maria Theresa was staunchly Catholic and instituted several policies against the Jews and Protestants. Some of these policies included exorbitant taxes and forced conversions. She expelled the Jews from Prague in 1745 against the advice of her advisors. Three years later, the Jewish people were given permission to return. In the later years of her reign, she instituted policies that were more favorable to the Jews, although it is said she still hated them. Much of this may have had to do with her son, the future Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, who abhorred his mother's policies, especially when she tried to expel Protestants in 1777. Maria Theresa was also the mother of Marie Antoinette.

From Quiz The Defenestrations of Prague

Answer: They were rebelling

The Bohemian aristocracy was effectively in revolt following the election of Ferdinand, Duke of Styria and a Catholic zealot, to rule the Holy Roman Empire, which included Bohemia. They wanted to elect their own king.

From Quiz Bohemia and Moravia, 800-1620

Answer: Jan Hus

Jan Hus went to discuss his views on reform at the Council of Constance (1415). Though he had been given safe conduct - that is a guarantee of personal safety, he was arrested, tried as a heretic and burnt at the stake.

From Quiz Czechoslovakia 1918-93

Answer: Heydrich&Reinhard Heydrich

Heydrich was the 'Protector' (= Governor) of Bohemia and Moravia, an SS-general and was in charge of the 'Final Solution.' (He was also Head of the 'Reichssicherheitshauptamt' (RSHA) - the Reich Main Security Office - which co-ordinated the activities of the SS from late September 1939 till the end of WWII). After his assassination he was officially revered by the Nazi régime as if he were some kind of Germanic 'saint'.

This is category 7364
Last Updated Oct 12 2024 5:46 AM

= Top 5% Rated Quiz, Top 10% Rated Quiz, Top 20% Rated Quiz, A Well Rated Quiz
= added recently, = Editor's Pick = FunTrivia Editor = Gold Member
Teachers / educators: FunTrivia welcomes the use of our website and quizzes in the classroom as a teaching aid or for preparing and testing students. See our education section. Our quizzes are printable and may be used as question sheets by k-12 teachers, parents, and home schoolers.

 ·  All questions, answers, and quiz content on this website is copyright FunTrivia, Inc and may not be reproduced without permission. Any images from TV shows and movies are copyright their studios, and are being used under "fair use" for commentary and education.