Good King Wenceslas

(I'm a few days late posting this.  Here's the song stuck in my head from Sunday morning)

You know the song, but if you're ignorant like me you're going "who the crap is King Wenceslas?" 

Well, I'll tell you:





King Wenceslas was actually the duke of Bohemia from 921 A.D. until his assassination (by his brother!) in 935 A.D.



So why does the song call him a king? 

Well, I'll tell you:





Soon after Wenceslas' death, word spread throughout Europe about his kindness and he was considered a martyr.  That's why the holy Roman Emperor Otto I was like "we should totally make this guy be a king even though he really wasn't."  That's the thing about Emperors whatever they say goes, friends.  So he was a king that was really a duke. 




So what's the deal with the song?

Well, I'll tell you:





In 1853 this English dude named John Mason Neale decided that he'd write a song about "King" Wenceslas even though he had died nearly 1000 years earlier.  And since John Neale had a thing for old historical figures and things, he decided he might as well rip off the melody from a 14th century Finnish songbook.  Isn't that neat?

So what's the song really about?
Well, I'll tell you:



It tells the story of the good king and the efforts he makes to travel in harsh winter conditions on the day of the feast of Stephen (December 26th) to deliver goods to the poor.  During the journey, his page, exhausted and cold, has to travel in the King's footsteps to keep going.  It's not typical Christmas musical material in our society, but somehow it's endured the test of time and stayed part of our broad music catalogue. 




My favorite lyric from the song is the last verse-




In his master's steps he trod, where the snow lay dinted;
Heat was in the very sod which the saint had printed.
Therefore, Christian men, be sure, wealth or rank possessing,
Ye who now will bless the poor, shall yourselves find blessing.




Just for funzees, I took a screen shot (from Google Earth) of what the basilica looks like that was built at the site of the martyrdom of Wenceslas in modern day Czech Republic.  I'd love to go visit someday.