Introduction

Baron lev z rožmitálu a blatné a na přimdě, to give him his full title, came of an ancient and noble stock. The ancestral castle stood above the town of Rozmital, or Rosenthal, some twenty-four miles E.S.E. of Pilsen in the district of Blatna. He was born in 1426, at a time when Bohemia was torn by the religious wars which followed the burning of Huss in 1415. Very little is known of his youth, but he was no doubt brought up to the profession of arms. In due course he married and had three children. He died in 1480, and was buried in the cathedral church of St Veit at Prague. Rozmital was a devout Catholic. George Poděbrad, the Bohemian King, was an ardent Hussite, and they were at first in opposite camps, but when Rozmital’s sister, Joanna, married George Poděbrad in 1450, Rozmital threw in his lot unreservedly with his brother-in-law. There is no doubt that the King was anxious to compose his quarrel with the Papacy, and Rozmital’s long and hazardous journey must have had some diplomatic object. His aim seems to have been, if not actually to obtain the support of the other crowned heads of Europe, at least to ascertain their views and persuade them to intercede with the Pope. ¹ But no hint of this occurs in either the Latin or German account of the travels, although the King of Bohemia appears to have written to the Doge of Venice asking for his support in his attempt at reconciliation with the Papacy, to which the Doge readily agreed.