Medieval NDA: John of Nepomuk

A king’s temper, a vicar’s signature, and a midnight plunge off the Charles Bridge—this is the real John of Nepomuk, stripped of centuries of rumor and retold from the sources that watched it happen. We kick off light—birthday confessions, beer swaps, and a reflexology detour—before following a clue from Dan Brown to Bohemia’s most statue‑worthy figure. What we find isn’t a jealous husband demanding secrets from a queen’s confessor. It’s sharper: a fight over church law, abbey wealth, and who gets to appoint power in a land split by the Western Schism.

We chart John’s rise through Prague’s cathedral ranks, his role as vicar general, and the spark that set everything ablaze—the lawful confirmation of a new abbot at Kladruby Abbey. King Wenceslas IV wanted that revenue and control; John’s seal said otherwise. The backlash is brutal: arrests under false pretenses, torture in the castle, and a body thrown from the Charles Bridge into the Vltava. Contemporary reports called it what it was—a martyrdom for ecclesiastical rights—but decades later a cleaner, more romantic story took hold: the “queen’s confession” myth that turned governance into gossip and helped the Counter‑Reformation recast John as a model of sacramental secrecy.

We follow the afterlife of the story: five stars over the river becoming his emblem; Jesuits elevating his cult across bridges and city squares; beatification, canonization, and a curious “miracle” tongue later identified as brain tissue. Then the modern pivot—historians and the Church itself (in 1961) revising the official narrative to match the record. Along the way we keep it lively with sips, side‑quests, and a quick game of baseball idioms that, yes, hits it out of the park.

Curious how legends overtake facts—and why the facts are often more compelling? Press play, subscribe for more smart history with a wink, and share this episode with a friend who loves a good origin story. Got a myth you want us to untangle next? Drop us a note and leave a review to help others find the show.

The Secret of Secrets: A Novel (Robert Langdon) Hardcover by Dan Brown

https://amzn.to/4nkXl2m

Atlas Obscura

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/location-of-saint-john-of-nepomuk-s-martyrdom

The Most Famous Person You’ve Never Heard of: St John of Nepomuk- Author: Zachary Mazur

https://culture.pl/en/article/the-most-famous-person-youve-never-heard-of-st-john-of-nepomuk

Executed Today- 1393: John of Nepomuk, Bohemian Rhapsody

https://www.executedtoday.com/2011/03/20/1393-john-of-nepomuk-bohemia-prague-saint/#:~:text=This%20Wenceslaus%20%E2%80%94%20not%20be,with%20powers%20ecclesiastical%20and%20temporal

New Advent- St. John Nepomucene

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