MIKULÁŠ DAČICKÝ About the most renowned inhabitant of the House

The personality of Mikulas Dacicky of Heslov (23 December 1555 – 26 September 1626) evokes mixed reactions. This Renaissance nobleman lived a tumultuous life and was several times imprisoned. Notwithstanding, he continued work on his family chronicle and provided it with his characteristic style. The life of this chronicler, writer, poet, drunkard and rambler inspired many other artists.

Who was Mikulas Dacicky?

Mikulas Dacicky descended from the Dacicky armorial townsmen dynasty. His father was Ondrej Dacicky, formerly known as Ondrej Krivolacek, his mother was Dorota of Prachnany. His brother, Vaclav Dacicky of Heslov, established a brewery, which is situated in the precincts of the former Lorec fortress bought by his father Ondrej and which has been preserved up to now.

In his youth Mikulas Dacicky was sent to the Kladruby cloister in order to be educated under the conduct of Abbot Wron. The outcome of this educational efforts is not however known. In his fifteen, after his father´s death, he returned to Kutna Hora. He did not earn his living by any trade, but instead, the source of his livelihood became the large property bequeathed to him by his father. Even now people use the following saying: “You are as wild as Dacicky“. In order to become an honoured burgher with the right of domicile, he, at the age of 24, acquired his “neighbourhood“ by purchasing a house in Kutna Hora, which was however sold by Mikulas after two years because of his financial adventures.

In 1582 Mikulas fought in a duel with Felix Novohradsky of Kolovraty in the pub “U Svobodu“ in Kutna Hora. Dacicky killed his opponent in the duel, which caused that he spent several following years in prison and on the trials. Finally the legal dispute with the widow of Novohradsky was settled by a private arrangement and penalty of 125 threescore of groschen. In 1590 he got married to Alzbeta Mladkova. The marriage lasted just for twenty years, but remained childless. Towards the end of his life, Dacicky began to run out of money, which was caused by the long-standing legal disputes concerning the duel with Novohradsky and also by the very decline of the Kutna Hora silver mining.

Genuine signature by Mikulas Dacicky

Despite his tumultuous life he continued the work on the chronicle of his family, thereby becoming its best-known and most diligent author and that is why the chronicle bears his name (Memoirs of Mikulas Dacicky of Heslov). The work on this valuable burgher chronicle was started by his great-grandfather, Bartos of Prachnany. Other most significant authors were Mikulas of Prachnany and Ondrej Dacicky. Mikulas Dacicky proofread, edited and re-arranged the records made by his ancestors, thereby providing the chronicle with his distinctive style. He recorded also much information on the contemporary terms, which can be regarded as “oral tradition“. This information was not however issued in printing, but instead it has been preserved just in the form of sketches and notes in the articles deposited in archives.

As an excellent chronicler, Bohemian patriot and action hero of his time, he became a protagonist of the plays “Imp of Zvikov” and “Mint master’s Wife” by Ladislav Stroupeznicky, “A Woman is Not a Violin, which You Can Play for a While and Then Hang up on the Wall” by Ladislav Kadlec and the film “Guild of the Kutna Hora Virgins” by Otakar Vavra.

 

Dacicky´s works:

  • Prostopravda (“Simple Truths”)
    a collection of sayings and poems, mostly satirical, oftentimes dirty.

  • Tragedie Masopusta (“Tragedy of Carnival”)
    a poem with dialogues for carnival plays.

  • Dacickeho z Heslova (“Memoirs of Mikulas Dacicky of Heslov”)
    a chronicle of the Dacicky family and Kutna Hora in the period of 1278 - 1571

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