At the beginning of his life, Peter Vok of Rosenberg lived in seclusion in the shadow of his more famous and successful brother William. He did not even achieve any particularly important position.
He was only a "Chamberlain of His Imperial Highness", and then he executed the office of sheriff of the Bechyně region several times between 1571 and 1591. From the middle of the 1560s onwards, he definitely preferred indulging his likes and vices. Of course, this led him to split with William, but the dispute was settled in a "nice brotherly" way as was well recorded by the biographer of the last Rosenbergs, Václav Březina. On 14th September 1565, Peter Vok got three dominions under his administration. Of course, William the ruler retained the final word in important matters.
It is true that Peter became independent, but the dominions he got were only peripheral. Choustník castle along with the dominion and town of Soběslav, Želeč stronghold in the Tábor region, and finally, Vimperk, could not fill their new owner with great enthusiasm. The young magnate settled at Vimperk, which was the best equipped for living, but that put him far away from a busy social life. Not even frequent hunting in the virgin forests of Boubín and the feasts that followed could improve this fact.
The youngest Rosenberg had got used to a life of parties, splendour, and celebrations on his journeys through Renaissance Europe. He had absorbed a new life style, and he was oblivious of the fact that he would finish his life in the austere Gothic rooms of the residences assigned to him. Because he did not want to throw over his social life, he acquired a house in the Old Town district of Prague in the autumn of 1569. In June of the same year, he had concluded an agreement to purchase the Bechyně dominion for 23,750 Bohemian three-scores groschens. (He paid off this amount only in 1577.) He moved in immediately, and this cosy residence became his home for the next 23 years. He took such a fancy to Bechyně that he had Italian and Czech craftsmen change it into a splendid Renaissance manor house.
Before long, however, a big problem, called debt, arose. Peter Vok had to borrow more and more money for the restoration of Bechyně, and he did not particularly hurry to pay it back.
Withal, this was normal even for other lords who borrowed money from thrifty knights, burgesses, and Jewish moneylenders and then had to pay the money back with six-percent or even higher interest. Not so the Lord of Bechyně. According to Václav Březina, the "merry, good-natured, feast-loving, and rather generous master" ran up debts in the amount of about 180 thousand Meissen three-scores groschens in the 70s. For comparison, the whole Bechyně dominion had cost one-fourth as much.
His financial problems culminated between 1573 and 1577. His creditors refused to lend him more money; financial resources had run dry and moneylenders began to seek to what was theirs. Papers of confinement were issued for Peter. This meant that he could not leave his dominions because everywhere else he might be arrested and imprisoned in the debtor's prison. Moreover, relations between the last two Rosenbergs had come to a standstill. William's words, "Lord keep me from pushing him in such an inappropriate way", speak for themselves. Yet, William provided assurance for his brother in 1575 and the situation settled down again.
In spite of all odds, one did not live badly in Bechyně in those times. Master Vok could not go away too much, so he invited his friends to his place. According to the traditional facts, he was a real Renaissance host as well as consumer. He had the most delicious food of that time prepared, and foremost, he enjoyed good drink. To this he was addicted very much indeed. He loved the famous and renowned Rakovník beer and he had wine delivered in bulk from Bohemia as well as Austria, Hungary, and the Rhineland.
The copious resources of the Třeboň archive tell about carousing at Bechyně, which lasted even for days. Through drink, the young Rosenberg tried to forget his grievous fate as the younger son, his debts, his responsibility to the family tradition, and who knows what else? The feasts at Bechyně became famous also because they had a fixed order and roots in particular and exact rules of feasting that it was advisable to follow. If anyone broke them, the "unfortunate" was forced to drink a so-called fine or an extra cup and this was recorded in the fine Register kept by Peter Vok during the time of his carousing between 1573 and 1576.
Leafing through the yellowed pages today, we can find a wide variety of records of not very profound but still very interesting thoughts. The wine plucked a different string in each participant. Sidonius Březský wrote: "Whatever you do, remember God". Alexis Volbram began likewise but his words, "God, my Benefactor, and Marion, pleasure of mine", told of something else. Allusions to women present and serving at the table were rather frequent and some of them were pretty raw. For example, Alexis Dejm of Střítež wrote heartily: "Caty has the best", whereas the reeve of Písek sadly expressed: "Casta est quam rogavit - Virtuous is she whom nobody wants".
Some of the wine drinkers even mentioned their homes. However, these were not always merry thoughts. "My mare is lame and my wife has no chastity", Simeon Běšín of Běšiny despaired. Another feaster, Víta of Rzavé, who had, like his host, come to forget his hard fate, wrote resignedly: "I have nothing - an old flirt". All the writers then finished their records with the customary words: "I drank a fine".
Among the guests listed, we would find quite a varied company, from lords and knights to spiritual representatives and commoners. As for well-known persons, we can look at the flowing record of the vigorous Jacob Krčín of Jelčany and Sedlčany and on the other hand, we can find here even Master John Mattioli, a physician and apiarist, who cheerfully confessed in Latin: "Venus, thou art my death".
The feasting hall of the Bechyně manor house was a merry place. There was such an abundance of food and drink that some, like Henry Kořenský, had to admit that he "cannot d-d-drink". However, Bohuslav of Buzice was even worse off; he had to acknowledge that: "I have been sick over the bar". As can be seen, everything was not just very jolly at the Lord of the Rose. Generally, however, the records are of a sprightly nature and many times, they teeter on the limits of the proper upbringing of the revellers.
Still, every coin has two sides. The flirtations of Master Vok came to an end in February 1580, when at the age of 41 years he married the then 13-year old Catherine of Ludanice whom he really loved very much and with whose help he was able to abstain from his former revelry. After the death of his brother William, he became the head of the vast Rosenberg dominion, and he turned into a really good manager and a kind governor. Towards the end of his life and especially after Catherine's death in 1601, he apparently often took his fine Register into his hands and remembered the heroic carousing and the doughty feasts, but he also added crosses and the dates of the deaths of his fellows. Well, such is life.