Good king wenceslas born
Good king wenceslas born
Good king wenceslas lyrics.
‘Good King Wenceslas’: what are the lyrics and real story behind the Christmas carol?
20 December , | Updated: 20 December ,
This is the real story behind one of today’s best-loved carols
‘Good King Wenceslas’ may be one of the most popular Christmas carols ever written – but the story behind it is bizarre and gruesome.
The man we know as ‘Good King Wenceslas’ was actually Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia.
He was also known as Vaclac the Good, or Svatý Václav in Czech and lived from c to 28 September
And the reason we have his exact date of death is that he was assassinated – on the orders of his brother, appropriately named Boleslaus the Cruel.
Read more: The 30 greatest Christmas carols of all time
Young Wenceslas
Wenceslas didn’t come from Christian stock: his grandfather had been converted to Christianity by Saints Cyril and Methodius.
And his mother was the daughter of a pagan tribal chief – though she was baptised before she was married.
When young Wenceslas