Kryštof Harant

Kryštof Harant of Polžice and Bezdružice (, 1564 – 21 June 1621) was a Czech nobleman, traveller, humanist, soldier, writer and composer. He joined the Protestant Bohemian Revolt in the Lands of the Bohemian Crown against the House of Habsburg that led to Thirty Years’ War. Following the victory of Catholic forces in the Battle of White Mountain, Harant was executed in the mass Old Town Square execution by the Habsburgs. As a composer he represented the school of Franco-Flemish polyphony in Bohemia. Harant is also noted for his expedition to the Middle East summarised in a travel book Journey from Bohemia to the Holy Land, by way of Venice and the Sea (1608). Life Harant was born at Klenová Castle, near Klatovy, western Bohemia. From 1576 he studied singing and counterpoint as a member of a local court band at Innsbruck, at the court of Archduke Ferdinand II, learning 7 languages, discovering his talent for music and the other arts and his interest in history, geography and political science. He returned to Bohemia in 1584 in a vain attempt to get a post at the court of Rudolf II, and so enlisted as a soldier, participating in the 1593 and 1597 campaign against the Turks. In 1589 h