History of the Kings’ Ride

The Ride of the Kings has its roots in history. Across the centuries it carries echoes of memories that reach deep into our national past. Archive records and court files show that this ancient folk custom was kept alive for centuries both in Moravian Slovácko and in the Haná region. Taxes owed to the princes, and later to the kings – needed to maintain the king’s armed forces and to pay for his court – were collected from the subject people by fair means or foul. Anyone who refused to pay was punished by having to feed the king’s troops, who camped or spent the winter in the region; with no regard for the hardship of the population, the soldiers could eat a town and the surrounding villages bare, down to the last grain and the last stalk of hay and straw.

In turbulent times Moravia was divided into appanage principalities. Members of the ruling dynasty quarrelled with one another and often rose against the king, which led to punitive campaigns from which ordinary people suffered most. Raiders frequently crossed into Moravia from the Hungarian border. Under such conditions it happened that a prince or king, after an unlucky clash with a stronger enemy, rode through the countryside in disguise – dressed in women’s clothes and with a rose in his mouth – with a small retinue of his most loyal men, to escape his pursuers. Such events were imprinted on the memory of the common people. Folk poetry reshaped them in its own way, not without a good dose of distinctive humour and irony. This can be seen both in the whole arrangement of the custom and in every line spoken by the royal heralds.

On Whit Monday, dozens of the most capable young men rode out of the Moravian villages on the finest horses – the pride of every good farmer – to accompany their “king” on his journey around the area. On the way they tried to capture a rival “enemy king”, for whom they then demanded a considerable ransom equal to the price of a horse. This led to skirmishes that did not always end well, because the young men were armed. Such clashes took place, for example, near Halenkovice and Ivanovice and on the Určice plain. In 1819, four royal retinues happened to meet on the hunting pastures near Přerov and challenged one another to surrender their kings. Naturally none of them complied, and a real battle broke out between the young men of Moštěnice and Šířava on one side and those of Lověšice on the other. The outcome was more than tragic: of the 80 young men barely 10 escaped unharmed, 8 were killed and 20 seriously wounded.

Soon afterwards the provincial authorities banned the carrying of firearms at the Rides, and in 1835 also of swords and other bladed weapons. Events like these meant that the Ride of the Kings in the Haná region gradually lost its popularity and eventually fell into oblivion. Yet whether or not this sad memory still clings to the otherwise beautiful custom, the fact remains that tall young men in folk costumes riding noble horses were, and still are, the most beautiful sight and a deep, unforgettable experience that our native region can offer.