The (fictitious) story told in the song was written by a Czech poet Václav Alois Svoboda in 1847. Boleslav invited Wenceslas to celebrate a saint's day with him, but on the way to the Church, Wenceslas was attacked and stabbed to death by three of Boleslav's followers! Wenceslas put in a good education system and a successful law and order system, so the parts of the carol story about him being a kind King are certainly true!Īfter four years of happiness, when Wenceslas was 22, his brother Boleslav, became very jealous of Wenceslas and plotted (possibly with the pagan followers of their mother) to kill Wenceslas. He then defended Bohemia from a couple of invasions by Dukes of neighboring regions and legend says that he banished his mother and her pagan followers from his castle. When he reached 18, Wenceslas took control of his dukedom. Wenceslas was still a Christian after this and learned to read and write, something which was unusual for even a King/Duke in those days! He had local Bishops smuggled in at night to teach him the Bible. It's thought that his mother had Ludmilla banished to a distant castle where she was murdered by the Queen's guards! During this time his grandmother, Ludmilla, took care of Wenceslas and brought him up as a Christian (she smuggled priests into the house to help teach him).
His father died when he was 12 and, as he was not old enough to become Duke until he was 18, his mother took control of the land as regent.
Wenceslas' father was the Duke of Bohemia and a Christian but it's thought that his mother might have been a pagan. In fact the real story of King Wenceslas (907-935) is rather gory! The story in the carol was probably completely made up to reflect the view that you should be charitable at Christmas. The story in the carol is about the King (or Duke) of Bohemia (an area in Central Europe which is now part of Czechia) from over 1000 years ago, seeing peasants, on Boxing Day, from his castle and taking food and wood to them. It was written in the town of East Grinstead, in the county of West Sussex, at Sackville College where he was staying at the time. This carol was written in 1853 by John Mason Neale to a traditional folk tune (which had been used as a Spring carol for several hundred years!). Sing along to I Saw Three Ships! (on a different site)Īnd where they sailed those ships all three?Īnd all the the angels in heaven shall sing, The most common lyrics used today are about Mary and Jesus traveling to Bethlehem. However, since the Middle Ages, when it was first written, there have been many different lyrics with different Bible characters being on the ships. In the original version of the carol, the Three Ships were the ones taking the supposed skulls of the wise men to Cologne cathedral in Germany. The tune of this carol is a traditional English folk song and the words of this carol (of which there are several versions) were written by wandering minstrels as they traveled through the country. On this page, there are some of the stories behind the carols below. Christmas Misconceptions - Is Christmas Pagan?.
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