The city was founded by Hirzo, a knight of King Ottokar II of Bohemia and was granted its municipal charter in 1265. The royal city was created as a platform of the king's power in South Bohemia and to counterbalance the powerful noble House of Rosenberg, which finally became extinct in 1611.
In 1341 King John of Bohemia accorded permission to Jewish families to reside within the Budweis walls and a first synagogue was erected in 1380, however several pogroms occurred in the late 15th and early 16th century. Since the Hussite Wars, the city was traditionally a bulwark of the Catholic Church during the long-lasting religious conflicts in the Kingdom of Bohemia. A part of the Habsburg Monarchy from 1526, Budweis remained a loyal supporter of Emperor Ferdinand II in the Thirty Years' War. In 1762 the Piarists established a gymnasium here and Emperor Joseph II founded the Budweis diocese in 1785. In 1847 the production of Koh-i-Noor Hardtmuth pencils was relocated from Vienna to Budweis.
The city remained a German-speaking enclave until 1880, when during the industrialization of the city, Czechs became the ethnic majority. Until the expulsions after World War II, the city contained a significant German minority (about 15.5% in 1930). Some population figures: 1828: 6,800; 1832: 8,100; 1851: 15,200; 1880 (the first to report nationality): 11,829 Germans and 11,812 Czechs; 1890: 11,642 and 16,585; 1900: 15,400 and 23,400; 1910: 16,900 and 27,300; 1921 (the first held under Czech rule): 7,415 and 35,800
