Wonder Woman of the Week: Libuse

Like many of our historic heroines, this week's Wonder Woman's life is now shrouded in mythology. It's hard to know what the real life of Queen Libuse was truly like, but the myths certainly tell an inspiring tale. Libuse was the youngest of three children- all daughters- of the mythical Bohemian Duke Krok. According to stories, each of the three daughters possesses great powers, and Libuse's was foresight. In fact, the queen is often referred to as a prophetess. In real life- no less impressive- the young dutchess likely had a knack for urban planning. One of the most famous stories of Czech history includes Libuse founding the city of Prague. According to the stories, Libuse told her scouts to search the countryside for a man most impressively using his teeth at noon. The scouts eventually found a man using the teeth of his saw to carve a threshold (Prah in Czech) and a new city was founded on the spot- named after the man's work. (Praha being the Czech name for Prague).

Another foundation story involving Libuse involves the ploughman Premysl. Men in Bohemia were growing unhappy with having to serve a woman ruler and demanded that she marry. Libuse wasn't about to let a bunch of men tell her who to marry though, so she told her scouts to find a man with a broken shoe eating from an iron table. Libuse claimed she had seen a prophecy that he would be her husband and Duke of Bohemia. Little did her scouts know, Libuse was already in love with a ploughman names Premysl. One day, Libuse's scouts found Premysl eating a meal using his iron plough as a table- giving Libuse the right to marry him. The two had three sons- one being the historical king Nezamysl of the Premyslid Dynasty.

Unfortunately, Premysl did not turn out to be the husband Libuse hoped he would be. The ploughman- turned-duke stripped most of Libuse's powers as dutchess from her and instated patriarchal reforms. After Libuse's death however, the prophetess dutchess continued to inspire. Under the command of the mythical warrior maiden Sarka, women across Bohemia rose up to fight the patriarchy of the dukedom and challenge the powerful male aristocracy. Although the "Maidens' War" ended in defeat for the warrior women, Sarka and Libuse continued to inspire Czech women to challenge the patriarchy- and both are remembered as two of the most important women of Czech history.