y the end of the twelfth century. There is one of
these chapels dedicated to St. Martin, on Vy[vs]ehrad, another to St.
Longinus, rather difficult to find, some half-mile north-east of Emaus;
and a third, the oldest of all, the Chapel of the Holy Cross, stands
near the old Town Tower of the Charles Bridge. There is also a
seventeenth-century _baroque_ imitation of these Romanesque chapels
under the riverside slope of the Letna Hill, which is not worth
troubling about.

While Christianity was striking its roots yet deeper into the soil of
Bohemia, the rulers of that country were being drawn into the quarrel
between the spiritual and the would-be temporal head of the Church; the
"Investiture Strife" gave Vratislav, son of B[vr]etislav I, an
opportunity of strengthening his independence and increasing the
importance of his country. He took sides with Emperor Henry IV against
one of the strongest of the Popes, Gregory VII. The Emperor's Bohemian
allies took part in many of that monarch's battles, chiefly against the
Saxons, who appear to have been hereditary enemies of the sons of Czech,
and the victory at Hohenburg on the Unstrutt in 1075 is attributed to
the bravery of the Bohemian troops. Six years later Bohemian troops
helped Henry IV in his attack on Rome, and their leader, Wiprecht of
Groitch, was one of the first to scale the walls of the Eternal City.
The Czechs have always been good hearty fighters, and of the three
hundred who set out to help the Emperor against Rome only nine returned
home to Bohemia. The Germans, even in those early days, were thorough
utilitarians.

[Illustration: ST. MARTIN'S, VY[vS]EHRAD. B.G.B. 1912.]

As reward for his many and great services Henry IV promoted Vratislav to
the rank of King. It appears to have been, as it were, brevet-rank only;
it was not hereditary. Nevertheless it was a great day for Prague when
the ruler of Bohemia was crowned with the golden diadem, presented by
the Emperor himself. There was no doubt that King Vratislav had earned
the distinction--he had done well by himself, by his country and by his
ally the Emperor--so no doubt the Basilica Church of St. George on the
Hrad[vs]any and its congregation did all honour to the crowning of
Bohemia's first King. It is also interesting to note that Vratislav had
"contributed to the party funds"; he had lent money to the Emperor. This
should strike a homely, familiar note among us.

The frescoes in St. George's Church pr