ilitia fought bravely under the Prague Banner. It was later captured by Swedish troops on their raid in 1649 and eventually placed in the Royal Military Museum in Stockholm; although this flag still exists, it is in very poor condition.
This swallow-tailed banner is approximately 4 by 6 feet, with a red field sprinkled with small white fleurs-de-lis, and a silver old Town Coat-of-Arms in the center. The words "PÁN BUH POMOC NASSE" (The Lord is our Relief) appeared above the coat-of-arms, with a Hussite chalice centered on the top. Near the swallow-tails is a crescent shaped golden sun with rays protruding.
When the banner was first made and used is open for debate, but earliest evidence indicates that a gonfaion with a municipal charge painted on it was used for Old Town as early as 1419. Since this city militia flag was in use before 1477 and during the Hussite Wars, it is the oldest still preserved municipal flag of Bohemia.
In the following two centuries, Prague strengthened its role as a merchant city. Many noteworthy Gothic buildings were erected and Vladislav Hall of the Prague Castle was added.
Habsburg era
In 1526, the Bohemian estates elected Ferdinand I of the House of Habsburg. The fervent Catholicism of its members was to bring them into conflict in Bohemia, and then in Prague, where Protestant ideas were gaining popularity. These problems were not pre-eminent under Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, elected King of Bohemia in 1576, who chose Prague as his home. He lived in the Prague Castle, where his court welcomed not only astrologers and magicians but also scientists, musicians, and artists. Rudolf was an art lover too, and Prague became the capital of European culture. This was a prosperous period for the city: famous people living there in that age include the astronomers Tycho Brahe and Johann Kepler, the painter Arcimboldo, the alchemists Edward Kelley and John Dee, the poetess Elizabeth Jane Weston, and others
