recently elected, his protest against the decision of the Electoral
College. Beginning with a most glowing and somewhat fulsome description
of the Papacy, he then proceeds as follows:--
“Wherefore, if the commonwealth is ever oppressed, neither reason nor
our wishes allow us to have recourse to any but you. Whence, since
the Princes of Germany who have the power of choosing the Cæsars have
agreed (we would not speak with spiteful poison, nor has detraction
a place in a royal speech) to direct their votes to a less suitable
Count, in spite of the protest of our customary messengers whom we sent
to Wrauenwrt, where the election ought to have been held; and since, to
the injury of the Empire and to our prejudice, after our appeal to the
Apostolic Chair, they have decorated him with the majesty of the sacred
diadem, we return to you as the inexhaustible fountain of justice and
piety, entreating your Holiness not to permit us to be trampled on in
our rights, which the aforesaid princes try to crush down with manifest
injuries; and that you will deign to turn your sacred mind to the
weeping state of the Empire; and that the blessed benignity of Mother
Church will take compassion on it; since that Empire, before which
the whole world has trembled, which was entrusted with all the most
excellent dignities of monarchy, has now fallen to those persons whom
obscurity hides from fame, who are deprived of power and strength, and
weighed down by the burden of poverty. Pity us! holiest Father! lest
_that_ which is so pressed down may be seen to be most unworthy; since,
if the Apostolic Chair permits it, if the world tolerates it, that so
high an exaltation should be granted to those that are low, it would be
reduced to nothing; and _that_ which the Arab has served, the Indian
has obeyed, the Italian has submitted to, the Spaniard has looked up
to, which the whole world has reverenced, should become despicable in
the eyes of all. Him whom the Senate and Roman people, whom law and
virtue, whom God Himself has established on the throne, every one will
despise as scorning the bridle of a poor man. And thus justice will
be stifled, concord will be banished, peace will perish in a reign of
crimes, injuries will flourish unpunished, neighbour will rise against
neighbour, and such calamity and misery will hang over us that all who
live will hate their life.”
Surely a more pathetic appeal was rarely addressed by a great ruler
to the head of the Christian Church. But Gregory X., though willing
like his predecessors to be on good terms with the King of Bohemia,
was probably not so ill-informed of the affairs of Europe as not to
know that many of the evils which Ottakar depicted as likely to follow
on Rudolf’s election, had already disturbed the Empire for many years
past; and he was soon to be convinced that the election of Rudolf might
be the best way of removing them. Rudolf, on his part, lost no time and
spared no pains in destroying in the Pope’s mind the only objection
which might possibly have interfered with his acceptance. While eager
to secure his recognition and coronation as Holy Roman Emperor by the
Pope, Rudolf, more than any Emperor since Henry the Fowler, desired to
be, in all essentials, merely a German King. He eagerly assured the
Pope that he had not the slightest wish to assert those claims in
Italy and Sicily which had brought Frederick II. and other emperors
into collision with the Papacy; nay, he would even defend the nominees
of the Pope in their claims on Sicily, and would in all things be the
faithful servant of the Church. But, though Gregory very soon showed
an inclination to accept the choice of the German Electors, he still
paused on the brink of so important a decision; and this pause was
ingeniously used by the ablest of Ottakar’s advisers, Bruno, Bishop of
Olmütz. Gregory, who seems to have been one of the most high-minded
Popes of the period, was sincerely desirous of restoring a better state
of things in Europe, partly as a preparation for a new expedition to
Palestine. In order to ascertain the real feeling and purposes of the
Christians of Europe, he requested various bishops to report to him
on the condition of the countries with which they were acquainted.
Whatever other results this appeal may have produced, Bruno saw in
it an admirable opportunity for furthering his master’s interests.
The growth of heresy, the maintenance of the Cumani by the King of
Hungary, the extreme poverty and misery of the clergy, the indifference
of the bulk of the people to religious services, the intrusion of
the mendicant friars into the offices of the parochial clergy and
bishops, the unwillingness of the laity to hear their sins denounced,
and the continual encroachment of lay judges on the privileges of the
clergy--all these evils are aggravated by the elevation to high places
of those who ought rather to be subjects. The only trustworthy champion
of the Christian faith is the King of Bohemia; even in the very
diocese of Prague he is the only patron who grants the presentation
of the clergy to the bishops; and on him mainly will fall the burden
of resisting a new Tartar invasion. Bruno undoubtedly stood high in
the opinion of Gregory; and, even apart from his advice, there were
obvious grounds for inquiry in the circumstances of Rudolf’s election.
A Council was therefore held at Lyons for the full investigation of
this question; an unusually large number of bishops attended it; and
it doubtless received dignity in the eyes of many by the presence of
Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventura. Bruno’s protest was heard at full;
while, on the other hand, Rudolf’s readiness to meet the demands of
the Pope, and to acknowledge the rights of the clergy was pressed upon
Gregory’s attention. Anxious to treat Ottakar mildly, but conscious
that the Church and the Empire would both gain by the election of
Rudolf, Gregory decided that, though Ottakar’s claim to share in the
election was undoubtedly just, yet, as the six other Electors took
the opposite side to that which he advocated, he was in the minority,
and ought therefore to yield; and the Pope persuaded Bruno to use his
influence with his master in favour of Rudolf.
But the question, in the meantime, was assuming a new aspect. Rudolf’s
alarm at the opposition of Ottakar, and his desire to secure all the
Imperial rights, were combining with other circumstances to induce
him to put forward a claim for the restoration to the Empire of the
Duchies of Austria, Styria, Carniola, and Carinthia. Ottakar had been
unwilling to resist the pressure of the Pope and the advice of Bruno;
but he now demanded that, before doing homage to Rudolf, he should have
a clear guarantee for the possession of the lands that he had conquered.
In his determination to resist the demands of Rudolf, Ottakar seems to
have been strangely unaware of the dangers that were surrounding him.
Rudolf was, in the meantime, making allies with great sagacity. Count
Meinhard of the Tyrol had been the Count of Hapsburg’s most intimate
friend; and he was one of the many who looked with jealous eyes on
Ottakar’s possession of Carinthia. The Archbishop of Salzburg had
claimed some rights in Styria, and was besides continually harassed by
encroachments on the part of Ottakar; Henry of Bavaria had been one
of those to whom the nobles of Styria had offered their dukedom; and
though his friendship for Ottakar shows that he must have abandoned
this claim for a time, the offer of one of Rudolf’s useful daughters
finally detached him from his alliance with Bohemia.
In the meantime, the indefatigable Burggraf of Nürnberg had discovered
and fomented the discontents of the nobles of Austria and Styria; and
he announced to Ottakar that the Ban of the Empire had been proclaimed
against him. But even now Ottakar was unaware of Rudolf’s plans; he
probably despised his military ability; and he thought it sufficient
to send a small force to the defence of the Bohemian frontier, while
he gave himself up to hunting and other amusements. He was, therefore,
terribly startled when, in September, 1276, Rudolf suddenly entered
Austria. Almost at the same time Count Meinhard invaded Carinthia, and
the Styrian nobles, rising in insurrection, drove out Milota from their
country. Still Ottakar hoped to save himself by the devotion of the
towns; for six months, Vienna justified his expectations by holding
out against Rudolf’s army; and Paltram, the Burgomaster, roused the
citizens to a vigorous defence on behalf of the King, who had showed
them such favour. Ottakar, now stirred to action, marched into Austria
and occupied one side of the Danube; from whence he hoped to make an
attack on the rear of Rudolf’s army. But the Count Palatine of the
Rhine hastened to seize the fortresses which lay between him and the
German army; and it was now that Ottakar became thoroughly aware of
the defection of his nobles. Fortress after fortress surrendered to
Rudolf without a struggle; and at last the poorer men in Vienna, seeing
the continual destruction of their vineyards outside the city, called
upon Paltram to surrender. He, finding that Ottakar did not arrive,
despaired of holding out longer; though, before surrendering, he
exacted from Rudolf a promise that he would maintain the liberties of
Vienna.
As soon as Bruno of Olmütz heard of this loss, he advised Ottakar
to yield. Ottakar was most reluctant that the struggle should end
without a pitched battle; but another enemy now threatened to appear
on the scene. Ladislaus, the new king of Hungary, was smarting under
the recollection of the defeats which his predecessor had sustained;
and he prepared to invade Bohemia. This new danger seems to have
decided Ottakar to yield. He therefore publicly surrendered to Rudolf
all his claims on Austria, Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola, and did
homage to him as Emperor for his kingdom of Bohemia and Moravia.
Such a settlement could not possibly be lasting. Ottakar had not yet
been defeated in any pitched battle; his wife Kunigunda is said to
have reproached him for his weakness in yielding so soon; and, in
the carrying out of the treaty which followed, numerous questions,
of doubtful interpretation, quickly came to the front. In this case,
one of Rudolf’s otherwise successful daughters proved a source of
contention rather than of unity. Guta, the daughter whom Rudolf had
offered as a bride to Ottakar’s son, had been promised large lands as
her dowry; and Ottakar maintained that, as these lands must necessarily
lie in Austria, he was not bound to evacuate those territories, but
should rather claim them as his due. Rudolf, on the other hand,
insisted that the terms of the treaty involved the evacuation of the
whole of Austria.
A question which must have touched Ottakar far more nearly was the
interpretation of the clause about the extension to the supporters of
each King of all the securities gained by the peace. The discontent
of the nobles with Ottakar’s rule had extended even to Bohemia and
Moravia; and many of the king’s native subjects had entered into
intrigues with Rudolf. Rudolf maintained that, as these men must be
considered his supporters, they were entitled to the same concessions
as the other champions of his cause. It was obvious that such grounds
of division as these, by whatever compromise they might be settled
at the moment, must leave a lasting sting behind them; and there is
no sign in the letters of either King of even such a pretence of
friendship, as the ordinary exigencies of diplomacy might seem to
require. Both Rudolf and Ottakar were, in fact, preparing for a new
struggle, and looking about for allies.
At this stage the chances seemed to be in favour of Ottakar. In the
first struggle he could rely on nothing but the military forces of his
own kingdom, and the sympathies of those citizens whom he had favoured;
while Rudolf was backed by the approval and encouragement of the great
princes of the Empire, by the sanction of the Pope, by the assistance
of the King of Hungary, and by the eager sympathy and co-operation of
the discontented subjects of Ottakar.
Now, these supporters seemed to be gradually dropping off from the
Emperor. Rudolf had by no means abandoned that championship of the
towns for which he had been so distinguished before his election to the
Imperial throne; and of all the enemies of the town life of Germany the
prince-bishops were looked upon as the most determined and dangerous.
Rudolf had therefore to choose between adherence to his old policy
and the favour of his archiepiscopal supporters. With a courage which
was doubtless united to far-sighted wisdom, he boldly defended the
municipal rights of Köln against the encroachments of its Archbishop.
That powerful Elector was thus completely alienated from Rudolf’s
cause; and he speedily succeeded in persuading his brother Archbishops
of Trier and Mainz to desert their nominee. The defection of Werner of
Mainz so alarmed Rudolf that he seemed disposed to make some sacrifice
of principle in order to conciliate him. But the concessions which
the Emperor offered were not sufficient to appease the jealousies and
suspicions of the Archbishop; and Werner now began to listen only too
readily to the advances of Ottakar.
The Margrave of Brandenburg can never have been a warm supporter of
Rudolf. He had married Ottakar’s sister; and he was united to him
also by the still closer link of military comradeship; for Ottakar
and he had fought side by side in one of those invasions of Prussia,
which were supposed to be so advantageous to the souls of the heathen
population, and which undoubtedly tended to increase the power and
territory of the Margrave of Brandenburg. Nor does the Duke of Saxony
seem to have been finally secured to the interest of Rudolf by the
marriage with his daughter. Even the Dukes of Bavaria did not feel that
they had profited as much as they had hoped to do by their support
of the Emperor; and they were not a little alarmed at his evident
intention to turn the provinces, which he had won for the Empire, into
a private possession of the House of Hapsburg. Nor was Rudolf more
fortunate when he tried to find allies abroad whose support might
compensate him for the loss of his friends at home. In vain he made
advances to our Edward I.; and an attempt to strengthen his hands by
alliances with the princes of Italy, had the sole result of exciting
the suspicions and enmity of Pope Nicholas III.
Ottakar was, of course, greatly encouraged by these secessions from
his rival; and he hoped still further to strengthen his own position
by detaching the King of Hungary from his alliance with Rudolf, and by
stirring up an insurrection in Austria. In both these efforts, however,
he was unsuccessful. The conspiracy formed by some of the Austrian
nobles, in concert with the still discontented Burgomaster of Vienna,
was detected by Rudolf before it had come to a head; and while Paltram
was forced to save himself by flight, one of the leading nobles was
seized and condemned to death.
The discovery of this conspiracy seems to have been the signal for the
new outbreak of war; and it was now apparent that Rudolf had not been
wholly weakened by the desertion of his powerful supporters. The forces
on which he could still rely were more ready to act under his command
than the great princes of the Empire would have been; and his one
independent ally probably gave him more efficient help than he could
have derived from any distant general. This was Ladislaus of Hungary,
who had been firmly secured to Rudolf’s side, partly by the gift of one
of his inexhaustible tribe of daughters, and partly by a vague promise
of extension of territory. Ottakar was apparently unaware of the
firmness of this alliance; and he entered Austria with a somewhat small
force, expecting an easy victory. One or two fortresses fell quickly
into his hands; but the sudden appearance of the King of Hungary at
the head of a large army took him completely by surprise; and, after
suffering a slight defeat, he found it convenient to retreat to some
distance.
Rudolf in the meantime had rallied round him his most determined
supporters. Chief among these was Frederick of Hohenzollern; and the
Emperor also received ready help from Count Meinhard of the Tyrol,
the Archbishop of Salzburg, and the Bishop of Basel. Besides these
supporters, he had under his command a strong force of South Germans;
while fiercest and keenest of all the soldiers in his ranks were those
who fought under the banners of the discontented Styrian nobles.
The rival armies met on the banks of the river Morava on the plain
called the Marchfeld. The battle was a fierce one. The Bishop of Basel
and Frederick of Hohenzollern broke the left wing of the Bohemian army;
while, on the other side, Ottakar, at the head of a chosen band of
knights, drove back the right wing of the Imperialists, and even struck
down the Emperor himself. But the Styrian nobles so fiercely resisted
the advance of the Bohemians, that they gave time to Rudolf to reform
his troops; while Frederick of Hohenzollern followed up his success by
attacking the reserve guard, which ought to have advanced to Ottakar’s
rescue. These reserves were headed by Milota, Ottakar’s Governor of
Styria. It is said that Milota himself had a bitter grievance against
the king, on account of an injury inflicted on his brother. Whether
this is true or not, it seems certain that, just when these troops
ought to have hastened to the support of the main army, they were
suddenly seized with a panic, and fled in confusion. The panic quickly
spread to the troops posted next to them; and the battle was hopelessly
lost. Ottakar fought with desperate courage to the last; and, whether
he died sword in hand, or whether, as others say, he was killed by the
Styrian nobles after he had surrendered, it is certain that his body
was found on the battlefield.
With him, for a time, fell the liberty and independence of Bohemia;
and, though his son bore the name of king, and even recovered for
a short period an appearance of independence, yet, politically
considered, the male line of those Bohemian native rulers, who traced
their descent to Libus̆a and Pr̆emysl, came to an end on the plain of
Marchfeld in August, 1278. Bohemian independence was, indeed, to revive
under a different form; and, nearly two centuries later, a native
Bohemian king was once more to rule at Prague; but never again was a
purely Bohemian dynasty to be established on the throne.
With all its faults, the line of the Pr̆emyslovci had produced as many
able and patriotic rulers as most royal houses can boast of. They had
steered their country through its difficult progress from Paganism
to Christianity. They had reduced the rival kingdom of Poland from
the position of a dangerous aggressor into that of a tributary State.
They had helped to roll back the tide of Hungarian conquest; they had
made themselves a powerful factor in the policy of the German Empire.
Amid the despair of Europe, they had stood almost alone against the
crushing invasion of the Tartars. And last, and most important of all,
they had begun to develop the municipal liberties of their country,
in a way which gave good promise of future prosperity. That in this
last matter they had borrowed largely from German models, only showed
their power of rising superior to a most natural national prejudice;
while, in the case of Ottakar II., his enlightened policy towards the
Jews must have often brought upon him the rebukes of those clergy on
whom he so much relied for help. He failed, because he was not content
to be king of Bohemia, but wished to be the head of a powerful State
which could dictate the policy of the Empire. Had he been satisfied to
develop the liberties of his own country in peace, he might have laid
the foundations of a State, which could even now have been playing an
independent part in the affairs of Europe.
V.
TIME OF ANARCHY IN BOHEMIA FROM DEATH OF OTTAKAR II. TO ACCESSION OF
CHARLES IV.
(1278-1346.)
If tried by the standard of ordinary conquerors, Rudolf of Hapsburg
must be admitted to have been merciful, and even generous, in his
dealings with Bohemia. Although, after the death of Ottakar, he
continued for some time to hold Moravia as a conquered province, he set
himself to restore those Moravian cities which had suffered by the war;
and he readily confirmed all the municipal liberties, which had been
granted by Ottakar and previous kings. He always treated Kunigunda as a
Queen; he secured to her, not only her own money dowry, but also that
district of Opava (in Moravia) which had been specially settled upon
her; and, as will be seen, he protected her from the cruelty of the
friends in whom she had too rashly trusted. To her son, Wenceslaus, he
was even more generous. The daughter whom he had promised in 1276 to
the son of the still powerful King of Bohemia, he was still ready to
give to the orphan of a defeated and conquered man.
As soon as the boy’s age permitted such a step, he restored him to his
father’s throne, and helped him, sometimes by wise advice and sometimes
by force of arms, to maintain his power over his subjects. Doubtless
this policy, however magnanimous, was part of a scheme of action which
tended to strengthen and increase Rudolf’s power. The towns in Moravia,
whose liberties he confirmed, he raised into free cities of the German
Empire; and he saw the wisdom of winning to his side, and holding
in friendly subjection, the young and spirited King of a kingdom
which had so often been a hindrance to schemes of Imperial policy.
Yet, allowing for these considerations, it cannot be denied that the
consistent execution of such a policy must have required a masterly
self-restraint, and a splendid coolness of judgment, not often found in
conquerors of any time.
But the feat which he had attempted was one which many circumstances
combined to make impossible; and men, of a very opposite type to
Rudolf’s, speedily frustrated his efforts for a peaceable and gradual
absorption of Bohemia in the German Empire. Queen Kunigunda had
naturally desired to make a further stand against her husband’s
conqueror; and she called to her aid the son of that Otto of
Brandenburg who had been Ottakar’s companion in arms, and afterwards
his brother-in-law. He came; and the queen had speedy cause to regret
her invitation. The struggle between Otto and Rudolf was of short
duration, and the Margrave was soon willing to accept the Emperor’s
terms of peace and one of his inexhaustible tribe of daughters.
Otto soon showed that it was not for the sake of the wife and son
of his old friend that he had come to Bohemia. Under pretence of
investigating some old charter of Ottakar’s, Otto sent German soldiers
to Prague to find out the places where Ottakar’s bailiff had kept the
royal treasure. These soldiers entered one of the chief monasteries,
and there discovered a large chest which had been used by many people
during the war as a storehouse for food, clothes, and other property.
This chest the Germans at once broke open and plundered of its
contents; and then, as if determined to offend the national feeling to
the utmost, they rushed into the chapel of St. Wenceslaus and rifled
the tomb of the saint.
These outrages were followed by a yet more daring act of violence.
Otto suddenly entered Prague by night, seized the queen and prince
in their rooms, while still half dressed, and carried them off to a
fortress, where he set German soldiers to guard them, and would permit
no Bohemian to see them. Some Bohemian nobles demanded the release of
these captives, and Otto promised to set them free; but he broke his
promise. Kunigunda, indeed, by a series of ruses, succeeded in escaping
from her imprisonment and taking refuge in her own special dominions at
Opava; but her boy remained a prisoner in Otto’s hands.