9. - 10. století
Saint Ludmila
Wife of Duke Borivoj and martyr
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Ludmila was the pious wife of Duke Borivoj, and this piety was the cause of her death at the hands of her pagan daughter-in-law, Drahomira.
The question of her origin is unclear. According to the legend about the monk Kristian, she came from the Psovan principality (present-day Melnik), and according to an old Slavic legend, from as far as Serbia. In any case it is certain that she married the first Bohemian duke, Borivoj, and bore him six children, two of which we know by name, Spytihnev and Vratislas.
In 885 she was baptized, shortly after her husband, by the archbishop
Methodius. After the death of her husband, she actively participated to the preparation of her young sons for governance. Following the death of her youngest son, Vratislas, she continued to raise her grandson Wenceslas whom she led to Christianity, and who later became a saint. This was observed with great resentment by his mother and Ludmila’s daughter in law, Drahomira. The latter soon ordered Ludmila’s execution for political reasons, the act was carried out at the Tetín castle by her personal Viking guards. Ludmila was canonized in the 11th century.
