
Meeting point at: 9.30, in front of Conservatory

Departure at: 10.11, railway station České Budějovice

Arrival in Vyšší Brod at: 11.25

Conducted Monastery tour: 12.00 - 13.00

Abbot Nature trail: trail to Eternal well (about 3 km)

Refreshment in Vyšší Brod, in sunny weather taking bath in Vltava river

Departure from Vyšší Brod, individually, or together by train at 16:35

Return to České Budějovice approx. 18.30
DO NOT FORGET: Raincoat, sport shoes, swimsuit and snack
The foundation of the Monastery of Vyšší Brod
The monastery of Vyšší Brod was founded in 1259 by Petr Vok of
Rožmberk, of the House of Vítek / Witigon, so powerful and famous in
the early history of Bohemia. The castle and little town of Rožmberk
are situated a few kilometres down the Vltava from Vyšší Brod. The
real incentive for founding the monastery remains, as is common with
many old monasteries, cloaked in the darkness of the past. An legend
has it that Petr Vok, who was Marshal of the entire Kingdom of Bohemia, rode to Vyšší Brod,
where he wanted to say his prayer at a chapel situated in the site of the present-day St. Ann’s
Church (later the monastery cemetery). To reach it he had to cross the Vltava, for there was
a ford nearby, as is obvious from the name Hohenfurth, which translates into English as "the
high ford". Because the river was swollen, Petr Vok got into a quandary and promised that he
would build a monastery in the place of the little church if he escaped death. There is,
however, no historical evidence behind this legend. A later wall painting depicting this event
stands on the epistle side of the presbytery in the Abbey Church, while a corresponding
painting on the opposite side of the presbytery shows the foundation of Vyšší Brod and the
founder transferring the new monastery to the first monks, who came from Wilhering Abbey
on the Danube, near Linz. A very old, undated document reports that Petr Vok of Rožmberk
wanted to found a monastery and give it to the Cistercian Order for the sake of his and his
relatives’ spiritual welfare. Therefore he turned to the Abbot General of the Cistercian Order
with the request to inhabit the newly established monastery with monks from Wilhering.
Wilhering itself was populated by monks from the Abbey of Rein in 1146. This line of descent
then goes from Rein to Ebrach to Morimond, which is the fourth daughter monastery of
Citeaux.
According to a document dated 23rd
May, 1259, Bishop John III of Prague
confirmed the donation made by Vok of
Rožmberk, together with his patronage
right over the churches of Rosenthal /
Rožmitál and Priethal / Přídolí.
According to a document dated the 1st
June of the same year, he granted the
first church of the monastery the
benediction while confirming all
property, incomes and rights granted to
the monastery by Vok of Rožmberk.
Therefore, the 1st of June 1259 has long been accepted as the foundation day of the
Monastery of Vyšší Brod. This document of the 1st of June 1259 also mentions Vyšší Brod as a
settlement with its own church, which existed at that time probably as a border garrison on
the route from Linz on the Danube through Haselgraben, across the pass of Vyšší Brod as far
as the Vltava ford and into the interior of the country. The monastery obtained further
donations from the noble family that founded it. It was the remote location in the vast border
forests of Bohemia that protected and spared Vyšší Brod many a military battle whereas
several other monasteries were destroyed, especially in the 15th century during the Hussite
Wars. Whether and to what extent the Monastery of Vyšší Brod suffered because of the
Hussite Wars remains unclear to this day. Contemporary documents are unclear or
contradictory. According to Janauschek (a 19th century historian of the Order), the monastery
was spared by the Hussites as the only Cistercian monastery in Bohemia. Nor does the
monastery tradition know anything of a Hussite attack. However, Hussites seem to have
advanced as far as the town of Vyšší Brod and burnt down the unfortified settlement. The
monastery was protected by its fortification wall with towers, which are preserved as they
were then to this day. The Hussites probably made an attempt to set the monastery on fire.
However, they only managed to set fire to the roofs, in particular that of the monastery
church. In times of grave danger, the monastic community found asylum behind the firm
walls of the town of Český Krumlov. Serious damage was inflicted upon the monastery
property and some patronage churches, some of which were destroyed and had to be
reconstructed in the latter half of the 15th century.
According to the land register of 1530, the domain of Vyšší Brod at that time included two
market towns (Vyšší Brod and Hořice) and owned serfs in 108 villages. The number of serfs
amounted to 900, most of whom lived in the vicinity of Vyšší Brod as far as Český Krumlov
und the surroundings of České Budějovice. It had moderate property, especially in
comparison with the royal monastery of Zlatá Koruna, which had, in its heyday, land
amounting to over 800 square kilometres, i.e. more than
many a miniature German principality. When Protestantism
spread widely in Bohemia in the latter half of the 16th
century, it found fairly few adherents among the Vyšší
Brod's serfs. Nevertheless, the consequence of the
decreasing religious life was a shortage of pastoral clergy,
so that we hear for the first time in the late 16th century
that a monk went out to serve as a parish priest. Prior to
that time pastoral service had been provided by secular
clergy. This shortage of priests became so common that in
the course of time the exception became the rule and
gradually, especially during the Thirty Years’ War, all
patronage parishes had to be staffed permanently bz
monk-priests, a development that was also common elsewhere.