The Merry Wives

In 1590 Kutná Hora is a wealthy and important town. Silver is mined, coins are minted, and the town is the seat of the chief master of the mint. But the lust for wealth has lured many foreigners and crooks to the town. Their swindling has lowered revenues from the mines and it is the miners who bear the burden of economising measures. When miner Jakub protests against this in public, he is arrested and condemned to death. Knight Mikuláš Dačický then arrives in the town, a cultivated man and poet but also a great profligate and lover of beautiful women. The alchemist Wolfram persuades the aldermen to give him money in return for a promise to produce a great quantity of silver. Mikuláš urges the honourable citizens to expell the swindling thieves and aliens. The aldermen, concerned for the virtue of their wives and daughters, take advantage of this and accuse Mikuláš of witchcraft. Emperor Rudolf II, who judges the case, takes kindly to Mikuláš and grants him safe-conduct out of Prague. Mikuláš returns to Kutná Hora just in time to save Jakub's life and to expose Wolfram as a trickster who was trying to sneak away with the aldermen's money. (official distributor synopsis)