Equestrian monument of George of Podebrady, Podebrady, Czech Republic
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N 50° 08.542 E 015° 07.095
33U E 508449 N 5554466
The equestrian statue of the King George of Podebrady, last of the Czech sovereigns to be of Bohemians origin.
Waymark Code: WM8CJK
Location: Středočeský kraj, Czechia
Date Posted: 03/12/2010
Views: 170
The Neorenaissance Equestrian Monument of the Czech King George of Podebrady was erected in Podebrady by the citizens of the town in 1891. At first the statue was displayed at Anniversary National Exposition in Prague. On August 15, 1896 was the monument installed and dedicated in the Podebrady.
The name of King George, last of the sovereigns to be of Bohemian origins, is inextricably linked to that of the town of Podebrady. While local tradition holds that he was born in Podebrady Castle, it is impossible to confirm exactly where the son of Viktorin of Kunštát came into the world. Like his father, he was one of the Bohemian Calixtine nobility. After the Battle of Lipany, in which he participated on the side of the victorious forces of the Estates, he stood at the side of the leader of the Czech Utraquists, Hynek Ptácek, and after the latter’s death led the East Bohemian landfried, one of the most powerful groups in the country. His political and economic position improved through the 1440’s, and in 1448 he took the heart of the Kingdom, Prague.
He was perhaps most responsible for consolidating the unsettled and disordered state after the long wartime and post-war years. It therefore came as no surprise to anybody when, in 1452, he was named administrator of the Kingdom of Bohemia by the Provincial Diet, a decision ratified by King Ladislav Posthumous a year later. George gained many adherents from among his own estate, the nobility, too, and thus it was that after the demise of the young sovereign, and thanks to his own diplomacy, he was elected King of Bohemia in 1458.
He ascended to the throne of a country the population of which had for the preceding forty years been split by rivers of blood into two camps. George thus became king of a double people, the Calixtine majority and the Catholic minority. This duality was typical of the entire Kingdom, and even within the King’s own family. George himself was a Calixtine, but this did nothing to prevent his brother-in-law and friend Lev of Rožmitál, from being decisively on the Catholic side. The monarch brought into his service advisors from abroad, including Gregory of Heimburg, Martin Mair and Antonio Marini of Grenoble, who assisted him in restoring the country and in his diplomatic missions.
The religious settlement in the country was meant to be guaranteed by the Compact of Basle, which George regarded as a fundamental pillar of his government, and which he attempted to ensure was subsequently adhered to. After his ascent to the throne, however, relations with the Papal See grew ever worse. The conflict came to a head in 1462, when the head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Pius II, declared the Compact void. After unsuccessful negotiations by George’s embassy in Rome, the King began to order his plans for defence.
It was apparently in 1462 that, somewhere around George, the idea of an organisation of Christian monarchs was born. This was to be directed against the enemies of Christendom, the Turks who were penetrating ever further through the Balkans, but also against the Pope himself. It’s birth was evidently stimulated by the educated and enlightened counsellor, Antonio Marini of Grenoble.
It proposed the creation of a super-national organisation that would concern itself with ensuring conditions for the peaceful resolution of international disputes. At the same time, it was to respect the mutual equality and sovereignty of its member states. To obtain peaceful co-operation and co-habitation, multi-party treaties, open to all European states, could be used. A common defence was to be organised against attackers of any kind. It anticipated even the possibility of a common throne and common currency, and presumed the creation of an international court overseeing adherence to the treaty and a permanent office of the organisation, led by a syndic or kind of secretary general. The primary organs were to be a Council of Monarchs and an Assembly of Delegates from the various countries, with full powers to decide on the fate of the fellowship. The head of the Council of Monarchs was to be the French King, Louis XI.
George’s emissaries explained the project. The King of France rejected the proposal, however, and this – with the dissent of Burgundy and Venice – condemned the whole project to failure. This in no way altered the fact that, thirty years before the modern discovery of America, an exception document came out of the Czech Lands in which George of Podebrady sketched the outlines of an international organisation that until the 20th century was an unrealisable dream, shedding light on his project for a united world, a conjoined Europe, his idea of an Organisation of United Nations and a European Union.
The end of George’s reign was occupied by a fight with both internal and external enemies for the very existence of the Kingdom of Bohemia, a fight which almost destroyed his life’s work, a consolidated and peaceful Czech kingdom. Ultimately he resigned the succession of his son, and placed on the Bohemian throne the Polish kralevich Vladislav Jagiello, who after George’s death in 1471 became King of Bohemia.
Identity of Rider: King George of Podebrady. Czech king who reigned from 1458–1471
Identity of Horse: bronze horse
Name of artist: Bohuslav Schnirch
Date of Dedication: August 15, 1896
Material: Stone
Unusual Features: Vytepana z medenych platu
Position: One Hoof Raised
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