Benatky nad Jizera lies approximately 30km northeast of Prague on important trade routes crossing east and west in an area that was settled by Celts in pre-Christian times. The first mention  of it appears around 1052 as the town, Obodr. In 1356, Jan of Drazice applied to build a town with a monastery at the crest of the hill. The church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary was built in 1349 adjacent to the new found monastery. The village of Drazice is within walking distance  from Benatky where ruins from the ancient castle can be found.

 The Benatky arms  include two shields bearing  three golden grapeleaves on a blue background, representing the Drazic heraldry. The Drazic nobility provided at least three Bishops of Prague and the first Archbishop of  Prague.

Jan 1 Bishop of Prague  11341134-1139     

Jan II of Drazice  1227-1236  bishophry

Jan III of Drazice  1258-1278  bishophry                          

Jan IV of Drazice  1301-1345   bishophry

The  Drazic arms can be seen on the Bishop's House in Prague, located on Drazicke Square on the left side of Charles Bridge in Malostrana.  The Bishop's House was established as the original bishop's palace in Prague. Later Charles IV established the Archbishophry at St Vitus at the castle.

Other associations to the Drazic family include the development Cesky Brod.  Under Jan I, Bishop of Prague, a marketplace was  established by the church of St Gothard and  a town called Biskupsky Brod, established under Jan III in 1268. The name was altered to Cesky Brod in 1315 during the occupation of the Romovs.

Jan IV of Drazic knew Pope Boniface VIII, the last pope before the Avignon Papacy.  Where his loyalties lay in the struggle between church and state is not clear since he was also a  friend to  John of Luxemburg. John I was a strong ally of Philip the Fair who rebelled against the avaricious taxation of the Church in Rome. Philip the Fair made the succeeding pope, Clement V,  his vassal and refused to concede to the superiority of the Pope over King.  Charles I also  maintained his independence from the papal supremacy and appointed the first Archbishop of Prague,who was also a descendent from this family.

After 1385, the  Drazic lineage vanished and little can be discovered. During the Hussite Wars,  the monastery was destroyed. The area became Hussite territory. In 1526,  Friedrich of Drazice, burgrave of Donin moved his residence to Benatky where he built the Italian renaissance palace on the hill over the ruins of the monastery.

The  large shield on the Benatky arms displays a castle with a rampant golden basilisk or cockatrice which represents  the heraldry of Oldrich of Vrazda  from Kunwald. Kunwald became the source for the stream of Hussitism known as the Unitas Fratrum,  later called the Moravian Brethern. A certain John of Rokyzana gained permission from George of Podebrady to establish a new community centered with the supremacy of the Bible to Catholic ecclessiastical authority.

 

Ironically the town that produced three  bishops shifted allegiance with a stong following of the Bohemian Brothers ( Church of the Moravian Brotherhood), administered by John Augusta in New Benatky. Brother Lucas, the second leader of the Bohemian Brothers (Unitas Fratrum or Moravian Brothers) died in  1528 to be succeeded by John Augusta who was persecuted by the Spanish Hapsburg Ferdinand I of Austria (1503-1564).  Ferdinand I was a staunch Catholic and intolerant of  dissenting beliefs in the Bohemian lands. In 1547, the Bohemian Estates rebelled against  Ferdinand, in retaliation of his intolerance and brutal dictatorial powers.  The combined forces of Charles V and Ferdinand defeated the  Estates.  Ferdinand imprisoned John Augusta for his leadership in the rebellion in the White Tower of Prague where he was tortured and then transferred with Bilek to Pürglitz where Ferdinand maintained a seat.  In 1551, Ferdinand I  introduced the Jesuits  into the Bohemian lands to enforce rigorous acknowledgement of Catholicism and suppress dissenting beliefs. The  Bohemian Brethern  and their associates were driven into hiding. In 1561, John Augusta was confronted in debate with the Jesuit, Jindrich Blissem. He was released from prison in 1564 and died in Jungbunzlau.

To get to Benatky                                                           Bus from Florenc, Stand 12  7am, 7:55am, 9:20 am, 12:15pm pay on bus, approx 45 kc one-way

Return                                                                         catch bus at Ceska Sporitelna in Benatky  18:05, 20:40, 21:40                                                                              or walk to Lysa to catch the train. 18km train ticket

Museum entrance: 20kc

Offering of postcards and mementos. Small medals range in price from 80kc for the small basilisks and 300kc for a Tycho medallion.

Open Tuesday –Sunday   9:00 – 12:00 a 13:00 – 17:00 Zámek 49, 294 71 Benátky nad Jizerou                          Telefon - 326 316 682