4th - 10th centuries

4th century
The present day Czech Republic was populated by Celts and it was the Celtic Boii tribe who gave the country its Latin name, Boiohaemum (Bohemia).

6th Century
First Slavs travel from the east to the Prague area.
7th Century
According to legend a princess named Libuše marries a ploughman and founds the Premysl dynasty. She prophesies that one day a great city would rise above the banks of the Vltava.
10th Century
Vaclav I, misleadingly later to be called the Good King Wenceslas in the Christmas carol, is murdered by his brother Boleslav. He becomes the country's patron saint and his feast day is celebrated on Sep 28.

14th Century
In 1346 Charles IV is crowned King of Bohemia, and in 1348 he founds Charles University in Prague, the first university in the Holy Roman Empire. Prague becomes the largest city in Europe, with 40,000-50,000 inhabitants.

15th Century
On July 6, 1415, the protestant reformer Jan Hus is burnt at the stake. He becomes a martyr for the nationalist and Protestant movement that adopts his name.

16th Century
In 1526 the Hapsburg Duke Ferdinand I is elected as King of Bohemia. The dynasty will rule the Czech lands until 1918.