Šárka
Encyclopedia
The story of Šárka is a character in the so-called "Maidens' War" in Bohemia
n tradition. It first appeared in the twelfth-century Chronica Boëmorum of Cosmas of Prague
, and later in the fourteenth-century Dalimil's Chronicle.
Following the death of Libuše
, Vlasta leads a band of Amazons
against the male forces of Libuše's widower, Přemysl
. Šárka, Vlasta's lieutenant, entraps a band of armed men led by Ctirad by tying herself to a tree and claiming that the rebel maidens tied her there and put a horn and a jug of mead out of reach to mock her. Ctirad believes her story and unties her from the tree, whereupon she pours the mead for the men as a celebratory thank-you gift. Little do the men know that Šárka and the maidens have put a sleeping potion into the mead. When all the men have fallen asleep, Šárka blows the horn as a signal for the rebel maidens to come out of their hiding places and join her in slaughtering the men. She is captured and defeated along with the rest of the army soon afterward.
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
n tradition. It first appeared in the twelfth-century Chronica Boëmorum of Cosmas of Prague
Cosmas of Prague
Cosmas of Prague was a Bohemian priest, writer and historian born in a noble family in Bohemia. Between 1075 and 1081, he studied in Liège. After his return to Bohemia, he became a priest and married Božetěcha, with whom he probably had a son. In 1086 Cosmas was appointed prebendary of Prague, a...
, and later in the fourteenth-century Dalimil's Chronicle.
Libuše
Libuše, Libussa or, historically Lubossa, is a legendary ancestor of the Přemyslid dynasty and the Czech people as whole. Libuše was the wisest of the three sisters and prophesied the foundation of Prague from her castle Libušín...
, Vlasta leads a band of Amazons
Amazons
The Amazons are a nation of all-female warriors in Greek mythology and Classical antiquity. Herodotus placed them in a region bordering Scythia in Sarmatia...
against the male forces of Libuše's widower, Přemysl
Premysl, the Ploughman
The Czechs name Přemysl, the Ploughman, as the mythical ancestor of the Přemyslid dynasty, containing the line of princes and kings which ruled in the Lands of the Bohemian Crown from 873 or earlier until the murder of Wenceslaus III in 1306.-Story:According to a legend, Přemysl was a peasant of...
. Šárka, Vlasta's lieutenant, entraps a band of armed men led by Ctirad by tying herself to a tree and claiming that the rebel maidens tied her there and put a horn and a jug of mead out of reach to mock her. Ctirad believes her story and unties her from the tree, whereupon she pours the mead for the men as a celebratory thank-you gift. Little do the men know that Šárka and the maidens have put a sleeping potion into the mead. When all the men have fallen asleep, Šárka blows the horn as a signal for the rebel maidens to come out of their hiding places and join her in slaughtering the men. She is captured and defeated along with the rest of the army soon afterward.