Chrudim

Chrudim stands on the Chrudimka in eastern Bohemia. Duke Bretislav I died here in 1055, an event that gave the settlement its first written mention. King Ottokar II founded a royal town on the route from Prague to Moravia in 1276; from 1307 it was one of the dowry towns administered by the queens of Bohemia. The Church of the Assumption became a landmark above the town's streets and square.

At the start of the Hussite Wars Chrudim sided against the Catholic cause, and its German-speaking inhabitants left. The town later opposed the Habsburgs in the Estates Revolt of 1547 and the Bohemian Revolt of 1618–1620. Both failures brought serious consequences. During the Thirty Years' War the town suffered further, and Protestant residents departed as Catholic worship was restored.