Boleslav.
Vladivoj.
Bretislav I.
From the time of the introduction of Christianity into Bohemia the
history of the country becomes less obscure. The first attempts to
introduce Christianity undoubtedly came from Germany. They met with
little success, as innate distrust of the Germans naturally rendered the
Bohemians unfavourable to a creed which reached them from the realm of
their western neighbours. Matters were different when Christianity
approached them from Moravia, where its doctrine had been taught by
Cyrillus and Methodius--Greek monks from Thessalonica. About the year
873 the Bohemian prince Borivoj was baptized by Methodius, and the
Bohemians now rapidly adopted the Christian faith. Of the rulers of
Bohemia the most famous at this period was Wenceslas, surnamed the Holy,
who in 935 was murdered by his brother Boleslav, and who was afterwards
canonized by the Church of Rome. As Wenceslas had been an ally of
Germany, his murder resulted in a war with that country, in which, as
far as we can judge by the scanty records of the time. Boleslav, the
brother and successor of Wenceslas, was on the whole successful. During
the reigns of Boleslav and his son, Boleslav II., Bohemia extended its
frontiers in several directions. Boleslav II. indeed established his
rule not only over Bohemia and Moravia, but also over a large part of
Silesia, and over that part of Poland which is now the Austrian province
of Galicia. Like most Slavic states at this and even a later period, the
great Bohemian empire of Boleslav II. did not endure long. Boleslav
III., son of Boleslav II., lost all his foreign possessions to Boleslav
the Great, king of Poland. During his reign Bohemia was involved in
constant civil war, caused by the dissensions between Boleslav III. and
his brothers Jaromir and Ulrick. Though the prince succeeded in
expelling his brothers from the country, his cruelty induced the
Bohemians to dethrone him and to choose as their ruler the Polish prince
Vladivoj. Vladivoj, brother of Boleslav the Great, and son of the
Bohemian princess Dubravka (Dobrawa). Vladivoj attempted to strengthen
his hold over Bohemia by securing the aid of Germany. He consented not
only to continue to pay the tribute which the Germans had already
obtained from several previous rulers of Bohemia, but also to become a
vassal of the German empire and to receive the German title of duke.
This state continued when after the death of Vladivoj the Premyslide
dynasty was restored. The Premyslide prince Bretislav I (1037-1055)
restored the former power of Bohemia, and again added Moravia, Silesia
and a considerable part of Poland to the Bohemian dominions. To obviate
the incessant struggles which had endangered the land at every vacancy
of the throne, Bretislav, with the consent of the nobles, decreed that
the oldest member of the house of Premysl should be the ruler of
Bohemia. Bretislav was therefore succeeded first by his eldest son
Spitihnev, and then by his second son Vratislav.
Vratislav becomes "king".
In 1088 Vratislav obtained the title of king from the emperor Henry IV.,
whom he had assisted in the struggle with the papal see which is known
as the contest about investitures. Though the title of king was only
conferred on Vratislav personally, the German king, Conrad III.,
conferred on the Bohemian prince Sobeslav (1125-1140) the title of
hereditary cupbearer of the Empire, thus granting a certain influence on
the election of the emperors to Bohemia, which hitherto had only
obligations towards the Empire but no part in its government. In 1156
the emperor Frederick I. Barbarossa ceded Upper Lusatia to the Bohemian
prince Vladislav II., and conferred on him the title of king on
condition of his taking part in Frederick's Italian campaigns. It was
intended that that title should henceforth be hereditary, but it again
fell into abeyance during the struggles between the Premyslide princes
which followed the abdication of Vladislav in 1173.
Ottakar II.
The consequences of these constant internal struggles were twofold; the
German influence became stronger, and the power of the sovereign
declined, as the nobility on whose support the competitors for the crown
were obliged to rely constantly obtained new privileges. In 1197 Premysl
Ottakar became undisputed ruler of Bohemia, and he was crowned as king
in the following year. The royal title of the Bohemian sovereigns was
continued uninterruptedly from that date. Wenceslas I. (1230-1253)
succeeded his father as king of Bohemia without opposition. The last
years of his reign were troubled by internal discord. Wenceslas's son,
Premysl Ottakar II., who under the sovereignty of his father ruled
Moravia, became for a time the chief leader of the malcontents. A
reconciliation between son and father, however, took place before the
latter's death. Premysl Ottakar II. was one of the greatest of Bohemia's
kings. He had during the lifetime of his father obtained possession of
the archduchies of Austria, and, about the time of his accession to the
Bohemian throne, the nobility of Styria also recognized him as their
ruler. These extensions of his dominions involved Premysl Ottakar II. in
repeated wars with Hungary. In 1260 he decisively defeated Bela, king of
Hungary, in the great battle of Kressenbrunn. After this victory
Ottakar's power rose to its greatest height. He now obtained possession
of Carinthia, Istria and parts of northern Italy. His possessions
extended from the Giant Mountains in Bohemia to the Adriatic, and
included almost all the parts of the present Habsburg empire west of the
Leitha. His contemporaries called Ottakar "the man of gold" because of
his great wealth, or "the man of iron" because of his military power.
From political rather than racial causes Ottakar favoured the
immigration of Germans into his dominions. He hoped to find in the
German townsmen a counterpoise to the overwhelming power of the Bohemian
nobility. In 1273 Rudolph, count of Habsburg, was elected king of the
Romans. It is very probable that the German crown had previously been
offered to Ottakar, but that he had refused it. Several causes, among
others his Slavic nationality, which was likely to render him obnoxious
to the Germans, contributed to his decision. As Rudolph immediately
claimed as vacant fiefs of the Empire most of the lands held by Ottakar,
war was inevitable. Ottakar was deserted by many of his new subjects,
and even by part of the Bohemian nobility. He was therefore unable to
resist the German king, and was obliged to surrender to him all his
lands except Bohemia and Moravia, and to recognize Rudolph as his
overlord. New dissensions between the two sovereigns broke out almost
immediately. In 1278 Ottakar invaded the Austrian duchies, now under the
rule of Rudolph, but was defeated and killed at the battle of Durnkrut
on the Marchfeld.
Wenceslas II.
Ottakar's son, Wenceslas II., was only seven years of age at the death
of his father, and Otto of Brandenburg, a nephew of Ottakar, for a time
governed Bohemia as guardian of the young sovereign. Otto's rule was
very unpopular, an insurrection broke out against him, and Bohemia was
for a time in a state of complete anarchy. The country was at last
pacified through the intervention of Rudolph of Habsburg, and at the age
of twelve Wenceslas became nominal ruler of the country. All power was,
however, in the hands of Zavis of Falkenstein, one of the great Bohemian
nobles, who had married the king's mother, Kunegunda. The power of Zavis
at last became invidious to the king, by whose order he was beheaded in
1290. Wenceslas, though only nineteen years of age, henceforth governed
Bohemia himself, and his short reign was a period of great happiness for
the country. Poland also accepted the rule of Wenceslas and the
Hungarian crown was offered to him. Towards the end of his reign
Wenceslas became involved in war with Albert, archduke of Austria,
afterwards king of the Romans. While preparing to invade Austria
Wenceslas died suddenly (1305). His son and successor, Wenceslas III.,
was then only sixteen years of age, and he only ruled over Bohemia for
one year. While planning a warlike expedition against Poland, on which
country the Bohemian sovereigns now again maintained their claim, he was
murdered by unknown assassins (1306). With him ended the rule of the
Premyslide dynasty over Bohemia.
John of Luxemburg.
Albert, king of the Romans, declared that Bohemia was a vacant fief of
the Empire, and, mainly by intimidation, induced the Bohemians to elect
his son Rudolph as their sovereign; but Rudolph died after a reign of
only one year. Though the Habsburg princes at this period already
claimed a hereditary right to the Bohemian throne, the Bohemians
determined to maintain their right of electing their sovereign, and they
chose Henry, duke of Carinthia, who had married a daughter of King
Wenceslas II. Henry soon became unpopular, as he was accused of unduly
favouring the German settlers in Bohemia. It was decided to depose him,
and the choice of the Bohemians now fell on John of Luxemburg, son of
Henry, king of the Romans. The Luxemburg dynasty henceforth ruled over
Bohemia up to the time of its extinction at the death of Sigismund
(1437). Though King John, by his marriage to the princess Elizabeth, a
daughter of Wenceslas II., became more closely connected with Bohemia,
he does not appear to have felt much interest in that country. Most of
his life was spent in other lands, his campaigns ranging from Italy in
the south to Lithuania in the north. It became proverbial "that nothing
could be done in the world without the help of God and of the king of
Bohemia." The policy of John was founded on a close alliance with
France, the country for which he felt most sympathy. Fighting as an ally
of France he fell at the battle of Crecy (1346).
King Charles.
He was succeeded as king of Bohemia by his son Charles, whom the German
electors had previously elected as their sovereign at Rense (1346).
Charles proved one of the greatest rulers of Bohemia, where his memory
is still revered. Prague was his favourite residence, and by the
foundation of the nove mesto (new town) he greatly enlarged the city,
which now had three times its former extent, and soon also trebled its
population. He also added greatly to the importance of the city by
founding the famous university of Prague. Charles succeeded in
re-establishing order in Bohemia. The country had been in a very
disturbed state in consequence of feuds that were incessant during the
reign of John, who had almost always been absent from Bohemia. Charles
also attempted to codify the obscure and contradictory laws of Bohemia;
but this attempt failed through the resistance of the powerful nobility
of the country. During the reign of Charles, the first symptoms of that
movement in favour of church reform that afterwards acquired a
world-wide importance, appeared in Bohemia. As Charles has often been
accused of undue subserviency to the Church of Rome, it should be
mentioned that he granted his protection to several priests who favoured
the cause of church reform. In his foreign policy Charles differed from
his father. The relations with France gradually became colder, and at
the end of his reign Charles favoured an alliance with England; he died
in 1378 at the age of sixty-two, prematurely exhausted by arduous work.
Wenceslas IV.
Charles was succeeded by his son Wenceslas, who was then seventeen years
of age. His reign marks the decline of the rule of the house of
Luxemburg over Bohemia. He was a weak and incapable sovereign, but the
very exaggerated accusations against him, which are found principally in
the works of older historians, are mainly due to the fact that the king
and to a larger extent his queen, Sophia, for a time furthered the cause
of church reform, thus incurring the displeasure of Romanist writers.
During the earlier part of the reign of Wenceslas a continual struggle
took place between the king and the powerful Bohemian nobles, who indeed
twice imprisoned their sovereign. Wenceslas also became involved in a
dispute with the archbishop, which resulted in the death of the famous
John of Nepomuk.