The name is derived from the red shades of colour (in Czech rudá) of the water in the eponymous local brook, caused by the ore subsoil.

[2] Roudnice is located about 12 kilometres (7 mi) west of Hradec Králové.

It lies in a flat agricultural landscape of the East Elbe Table.

At the end of the 14th century at the latest, a fortress was built north of the village.

In 1513, it was acquired by the Pernštejn family and merged with the Pardubice estate.