Book Launch! “Searching for My Irish-Norman Ancestor” by Josef Ryzec
On February 25, 2026 the Wild Geese Society of Czechia launched the publication of a book by Josef Ryzec in which he documents his voyage of discovery in determining that his ancestor was indeed Irishman Walter Devereux, who assassinated Generalissimo Wallenstein on the orders of the Emperor 392 years earlier, to the day. This publication represents the culmination of 10 years of painstaking research by Josef, assisted and supported by the Wild Geese.
Josef Ryzec spoke at the launch at the Embassy of Ireland in Prague:
Winston Churchill is said to have once made the following remark after one of his speeches: “When I sat in my chair before my speech, I did not know what to say, and when I sat down again, I did not know what I had said.” That is how I felt when I sat in my chair listening to the opening speech of His Excellency, the Irish Ambassador, Mr. Alan Gibbons, at the opening of my book. It was nice, I felt honoured, but I had no idea what I should say after my subsequent thanks, beyond what was already in the published book…
So you understand what I mean: the search for my hitherto mysterious ancestor was of course purely personal, and for it to have any meaning, I had to try to be as impersonal as possible. That itself was not entirely easy, but the result of that search was for me, in a way, a confirmation of the difficult-to-explain feeling that I had many years ago in Ireland in 1999, on the sacred hill of Tara, when I was leaning against the boulder standing on the top – the return of the lost son. You can see a photo of it at the end of the book.
It was like this: in 1999, we were with an exhibition of our Celtic art association Lugh in the premises of the Ministry of Culture of the then Minister Síle de Valera in Dublin, and our then ambassador to Ireland, Mr. Petr Kolář, arranged for my wife Ivana and me to see important memorable places in the wider Dublin area. On that occasion, my wife took a picture of me on top of the Hill of Tara. In the legendary Glendalough, among the ruins of St. Kevin’s monastery, I felt almost at home again, as if I had been there before…
I have loved Ireland since I was a child, and it is certainly influenced by our family legend about an Irish soldier who stayed in Bohemia after the Thirty Years’ War and became our ancestor, as I mention in the book… which probably would not have come into being at all if it were not for the patient insistence of my Irish friend Seán O’ Sullivan that I finally write it all down. And who finally decided to publish my research with the help of my Irish friends from the Wild Geese Historical Society of Czechia.
In conclusion, I would like to express my immense gratitude to Seán and the Wild Geese for all this. I would also like to express my great gratitude to His Excellency, Mr. Alan Gibbons and all the members of the Irish Embassy for their kind Irish, let’s say Celtic, patronage over the publication of my book, along with the creation of a friendly atmosphere at its opening ceremony.
Click here to download the English version of the book.
Click here to download the book in Czech.
A limited number of printed copies are also available: please email [email protected].
