At this time there were in Bohemia 13,360 villages,[1] 300 towns, and 100 fortified cities. In the larger towns and cities, there were schools connected with the churches or monasteries, where boys obtained quite a thorough education, such education being sought with a view to official or clerical life.
During the reign of Charles, architects from other lands were invited into the country, and many beautiful churches commenced. Art and Architecture.The most promjnent of these were the St. Vitus Cathedral, the Church of Mary of the Snow in New Town, and the Slavonic convent of Emaus. The public buildings were the royal palace and the chateau of Carlstein.
Æneas Silvius, the historian, declared that there was no other European State that equaled Bohemia in the number, size, and magnificence of its churches.
Among the painters may be mentioned Theodoric, who painted the frescoes in Carlstein; Zbysek of Trotiny, famous for miniature-painting. His pictures excel in vividness, originality, brilliant coloring, and fine finish. Some of them are still extant, being kept in the museum at Prague. Hodek also helped with the frescoes of Carlstein, but he was famous for the many illuminated pontificals that he executed for the bishops and higher clergy.
Mathew Hutsky was at the head of the fraternity of artists. He is chiefly known as the teacher of Ferdinand from Eyser, who afterwards became famous as a painter.
- ↑ In Bohemia the peasants live in villages; consequently there are many more villages to a given population than in the United States, where the farmers live on isolated farms.
