LEITMERITZ (

See also:

• CZECH (in Bohemian, Cech)

Czech, Litomer`

See also:

• ICE (a word common to Teutonic languages; cf. Ger. Eis)

ice)  , a town and episcopal see of Bohemia, 45 M . N. of Prague by rail . Pop . (1900) 13,075, mostly German . It lies on the right bank of the Elbe, which becomes here navigable for steamers and is spanned by an iron bridge 1700 ft. in length . The fine cathedral, founded in 1057, was built in 1671 and contains some valuable paintings . The library of the episcopal palace, built between 1694 and 1701, possesses the oldest maps of Bohemia made in 1518 by Nicolaus Claudianus of Jung-Bunzlau . Of the other churches that of All Saints dates from the 13th century . The town-hall, with its remarkable bell tower, dates from the 15th century . Leitmeritz is situated in the midst of a very fertile country, called the " Bohemian Paradise," which produces great quantities of corn, fruit, hops and wines . The beer brewed here enjoys a high reputation . On the opposite bank of the river, where the Eger discharges itself into the Elbe, lies Theresienstadt (pop .

7046), an important

garrison town . It was formerly an important fortress, erected in 1780 by the emperor Joseph II. and named after his mother Maria Theresa, but the fortress was dismantled in 1882 . Leitmeritz was originally the castle of a royal count and is first mentioned, in 993, in the foundation charter of the convent of St Margaret near Prague . In 1248 it received a town charter, and was governed by the laws of Magdeburg until the time of Ferdinand I., having a special court of jurisdiction over all the royal towns where this law obtained . The town reached its highest degree of prosperity under Charles IV., who bestowed upon it large tracts of forest, agricultural land and vineyards . In the Hussite wars, after its capture by the utraquist, Leitmeritz remained true to " the Chalice," shared also in the revolt against Ferdinand I., and suffered in con-sequence . It was still more unfortunate during the Thirty Years' War, in the course of which most of the Protestant inhabitants left it; the property of the Bohemian refugees being given to German immigrants . The present bishopric was established in 1655 .