Saint Ludmila was born into a princely family around 860. Her father Slavibor ruled in one of the smaller principalities, either directly in Bohemia, probably at Pšov Castle in the vicinity of today’s town of Mělník, or in nearby Lužice. Ludmila was 15 when married to Duke Bořivoj, who was the ruler of Central Bohemia and perhaps, sources suggest, a leader recognized de facto throughout Bohemia.
Together with her husband, Ludmila was baptized and became one of the greatest movers of Czech history.
The emerging Czech state took up the path of Christianity.
Ludmila was soon widowed – her husband was not even 40 years old when he departed this life, leaving his wife with six children, only two of whom are known to history, her two sons: Spytihněv and Vratislav. In the complicated circumstances of the latter 9th century, Ludmila managed to sustain the family’s influence until her eldest heir, Spytihněv could take the reigns of power on his own. At that time, Bohemia had extricated itself somewhat from under the declining power of the Franconian and Moravian realms, and Spytihněv and his brother Vratislav consolidated the country’s place in the Christian world by building churches, which stand to this day, in Budeč (the Romanesque rotunda of St Peter and Paul) and in Prague (St George’s Basilica).
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