Good King Wenceslas
This carol was written in 1853 by John Mason Neale to a traditional folk tune (which had been used as a Spring carol for several hundred years!). It was written in the town of East Grinstead, in the county of West Sussex, at Sackville College where he was staying at the time. The story in the carol is about the King (or Duke) of Bohemia (an area in Central Europe which is now part of Czechia) from over 1000 years ago, seeing peasants, on Boxing Day, from his castle and taking food and wood to them. The story in the carol was probably completely made up to reflect the view that you should be charitable at Christmas. In fact the real story of King Wenceslas (907-935) is rather gory!
Wenceslas' father was the Duke of Bohemia and a Christian but it's thought that his mother might have been a pagan. His father died when he was 12 and, as he was not old enough to become Duke until he was 18, his mother took control of the land as regent. During this time his grandmother, Ludmilla, took care of Wenceslas and brought him up as a Christian (she smuggled priests into the house to help teach him). It's thought that his mother had Ludmilla banished to a distant castle where she was murdered by the Queen's guards!
Wenceslas was still a Christian after this and learned to read and write, something which was unusual for even a King/Duke in those days! He had local Bishops smuggled in at night to teach him the Bible. When he reached 18, Wenceslas took control of his dukedom. He then defended Bohemia from a couple of invasions by Dukes of neighboring regions and legend says that he banished his mother and her pagan followers from his castle.
Wenceslas put in a good education system and a successful law and order system, so the parts of the carol story about him being a kind King are certainly true!
Reposted from WhyChristmas.com
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