● Remembrance Day orthodox/Catholic: September 16
● Name means: the love for the people (Slavic)
● Duchess of Bohemia, martyr
● Patroness: of Bohemia, the educator and mothers
● Attributes: Cloth with hanging ends around the neck, rope
● Born about 860 in Bohemia
● Died on 15 September 921 in Tetín near Beraun, today’s Beroun, Czech Republic
Ludmilla, the wife of the first Christian duke of Bohemia, Bořivoj I of the Premyslid dynasty,
baptized by Methodius, was probably baptized together with her husband. She was the
guardian of the Christian tradition in the Premyslid family and ruled after the death of her
husband around 889 as regent for her underage children until her son Spytihněv I took over the
reign in 894, which was then followed by his brother Vratislav I. After his death in 921, Ludmilla
was entrusted with the guardianship and education of her grandson Wenzeslaus. Subjected to
the jealousy and hatred of his mother, Ludmilla’s pagan daughter-in-law and regent Drahomira,
Ludmilla withdrew to Tetín and was strangled in 921 at Drahomira’s instigation by two
murderers at the castle in Tetín. After her death, Ludmila was buried on the wall of her house in
Tetín. In 925, Prince Wenzeslaus had her bones transferred to St. George’s Church at the castle
in Prague. In Tetín, a stone church was built in the 13th century on the site of Ludmila’s tomb,
where a wooden church once stood, which is now dedicated to John Nepomuk. Since the end of
the 12th century, Ludmila has been venerated as the patron saint of Bohemia.
