How did the Kralice Bible become a model for classical Czech?

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Czech literature Jan Hus at the stake, colored woodcut from a Hussite prayer book, 1563.

The Kralice Bible (1579–1593) became the model for classical Czech primarily because it was a monumental scholarly achievement produced by the scholars of the Unitas Fratrum (Bohemian Brethren).

Unlike earlier versions, this translation was meticulously rendered directly from the original biblical languages rather than from secondary sources. By synthesizing the linguistic standards of the era, the work served as a definitive reference for the language, effectively setting the standard for literary and scholarly Czech. It is widely regarded as the finest extant specimen of classical Czech, and its influence was so profound that it remained the standard Protestant version of the Bible for centuries.12