What A Good Leader Might Look Like.

We are in Prague, and just went to Wenceslaus Square, so it is befitting for us to honour the memory of Wenceslaus, one of the few ‘good kings’ in history, and a model of what a ‘good’ leader might look like..

Dave Andrews

Wenceslas, or Wenceslaus, as he was called, was born into the royal family of Bohemia in the year 903. When his father died in 924, Wenceslaus, at the age of twenty-one, became Duke of Bohemia.
The first thing Wenceslaus did when he became King was to put an end to the bloody war between Bohemia and Germany. Wenceslaus did this by taking the risk of personally seeking reconciliation with Emperor Henry of Germany himself . And the alliance Wenceslaus achieved finally brought some peace to his beloved Bohemia.
Later, when the peace broke down, and fighting flared up again along the borders, to save his soldiers from being slaughtered by a much bigger and much better equipped army, the King offered to settle the matter by fighting a duel, one on one, with a powerful opposing General.
As they prepared for mortal combat, apparently the General found himself struck down by a strange attack of paralysis and he was forced to concede victory in the contest to the King.
Typically, Wenceslaus forgave the enemy chief, and spared his life on the condition that he withdraw all his forces from Bohemian soil immediately.
During the period of peace that ensued,Wenceslaus redirected the energy and resources usually committed to the war effort, to reconstruct the infrastructure of the country.
He sought to reform the legal system and brought about many measures to establish social justice. He instituted freedom of religion. He set prisoners free who were unfairly imprisoned. He abolished torture as a form of punishment. And he tore down the gallows that dotted the countryside laden with the corpses of criminals.
At the same time Wenceslaus personally extended his hospitality to strangers, provided rations for the poor, and guaranteed protection for the widows and orphans in his care.
It’s hardly surprising that the people loved their “Good King Wenceslas”.
But the aristocracy, whose arbitrary authority he threatened, hated him with a vengeance. And they took their vengeance out on him, in 935, when they assassinated Wenceslas, at the age of thirty-two, in an ambush organised by the nobles, and led by his brother, Bolislaw.
As he lay dying, Wenceslas said to Bolislaw: “May God forgive you.”
My friend Bob Adams used to say: “Young King Wenceslas, who we sing about at Christmas time, was a hero whose humane ideas were very much ahead of his time.” Perhaps, in some respects, he still is.

GOOD KING WENCESLAS

Good King Wenceslas looked out, on the Feast of Stephan,
When the snow lay round about, deep and crisp and even.
Brightly shone the moon that night, though the frost was cruel,
When a poor man came in sight, gathering winter fuel.

“Hither Page, and stand by me. If thou knowest, telling,
Yonder peasant, who is he, where and what his dwelling?”
“Sire, he lives a good league hence, underneath the mountain,
Right against the forest fence, by St. Agnes’ fountain.”

“Bring me flesh and bring me wine, bring me pine logs hither.
Thou and I shall see him dine, when we bear them hither.”
Page and Monarch, forth they went, forth they went together,
Through the rude wind’s wild lament and the bitter weather.

“Sire, the night is darker now, and the wind grows stronger.
Fails my heart. I know not how. I can go no longer.”
“Mark my footsteps good, my Page. Tread thou in them boldly.
Thou shalt feel the winter’s rage, freeze thy blood less coldly.”

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

Dave Andrews's photo.

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