The young Prince Charles (Jaromír Hanzlík), the future King of his country Charles IV, is being educated at the French court in the company of his fiancée Blanche (Daniela Kolárová). One day he receives a summons from his father John of Luxembourg (Milos Kopecký) in Italy. He leaves for Italy accompanied by a deputation from Bohemia. On the way the prince's company fights a battle with armed Milanese against heavy odds. Thanks to Charles's perspicacity, the prince's almost naked soldiers win through. In Lucca in Italy Charles joins his father, and here he experiences an amorous adventure and escapes from the traps laid by the Italian rebels.
This historical film by Hynek Bočan touches upon the indecisiveness of the Czech nation, ready to bend the backbone in face of foreign rule. Situating the story at the close of the Thirty Year War enabled the depiction of the misery of the people that affects even an impoverished aristocratic milieu. Rudolf Hrušínský appears here in the role of an indecisive knight, persuaded for a long time and in vain to join the anti-Habsburg movement. The story does not only captivate through the depiction of manifold human characters, intrigues and sycophancy, but also through the circumstances ruling over the devastated farmstead, sunk in mud and crudeness. One of the best films with an updating tendency has come into being here, rightly being named along the such greats as Kladivo na čarodějnice (Witches' Hammer).
중세 시대 체코, 폭압적 영주 코즐릭은 아들들과 함께 도적질을 일삼는다. 어느 겨울, 코즐릭은 왕의 측근인 주교 일행을 공격하고, 주교의 아들을 납치한다. 왕의 공격에 코즐릭은 숲으로 도망가고, 그의 아들 미콜라슈는 이웃 영주 라자르에게 도움을 구한다. 그러나 미콜라슈 덕에 목숨을 부지했던 라자르는 협조하지 않고, 화가 난 미콜라슈는 수녀가 되려던 라자르의 딸 마르케타를 데려간다. 독특한 문체의 체코 작가 블라디슬라프 반추라의 동명 소설을 각색했다. 체코의 화가이자 (1984, 밀로스 포먼) 등의 의상을 맡았던 저명한 복식 디자이너 테오도르 피슈텍이 의상을 담당했다.
