ized by the Pope and at
least two emperors.

By the time Wenceslaus I came to the throne, the changes were in full
swing which were to lead up to the golden age of Prague a century or so
later. We have already noticed a tendency of German immigrants towards
Prague and other cities of Bohemia. The Germans, mostly tradesmen and
artisans, came with the civic instinct well developed, whereas the sons
of Czech were, and still are, more of the fields and forests and the
free life without walls. The Germans, bringing with them the
appreciation of walled security, were responsible in great measure for
the fortified cities of Bohemia and Moravia. It cannot be said of the
later P[vr]emysl rulers preceding the Kings of Bohemia that they were
inspired by the founder's ardour. Then again the Bohemian nobility had
risen to a strong sense of its own importance encouraged by the
lamentable dissensions in the reigning house, and not uninfluenced by an
infusion of German blood; they also had taken to walling themselves in
on convenient hill-tops. As these nobles were become increasingly
troublesome, it is not surprising that P[vr]emysl rulers induced more
and more Germans to settle in the cities of Bohemia and Moravia, thus
starting a steady-going middle class which might be expected to pay for
peace and protection and which when walled in was conveniently in hand
for the tax-collector's operations. That this scheme was beginning to
succeed even in the early days of the twelfth century is proved by the
fact that Jews were flocking to Prague in ever increasing numbers, so
there must have been business doing in the capital and other cities of
the land, under conditions of reasonable security. It may be taken for
granted that improvements and additions to the defences of Prague, the
decoration of the town by stately churches and other monuments, however
much directed by the sovereign, were paid for by the burghers.

The story of the Jews in Prague makes very interesting reading; it is,
however, beyond the scope of this work to give more than an indication
of the part that the Children of Israel took in the development of the
city. You will remember that a travelling commercial gentleman of
Semitic origin, one Ibrahim Ibn Jacub, had visited Prague in the tenth
century and had noted the place with approval. As far as I can make out
he makes no reference to a colony of his co-religionists already in
existence here, so the story that Jews sett