Barefoot and Bearded, and the Anger of Tycho Brahe

The Capuchins came here barefoot and bearded in November 1599, summoned to Bohemia from Vienna by Archbishop Zbyněk Berka of Dubá and led by Lawrence of Brindisi; at first they lodged with the Crusader Knights. In May 1600 they walked here to the building site in procession, each carrying a large wooden cross. Noblemen built them a church, plain and poor, on the site of Markéta Lobkovicová's former garden, and it was consecrated in 1602. The astronomer Tycho Brahe is said to have opposed them: he complained that their frequent bell-ringing disturbed his work at the nearby observatory, and told the emperor that the Capuchins were plotting against his life — and he nearly had them driven out of Prague. They held their ground, however, through the favour of the nobility.