Bohemia, Moravia," and Silesia

In July, 1260, the dissolution of his marriage with the aged Margareta, his marriage with Cunigunde, the young granddaughter of the Hungarian king (1261), and his investiture with the two duchies of Austria and Styria by the German king Richard (1262), crowned the remarkable prosperity which had marked the first period of the reign of King Přemysl Ottokar II.

The following decade (1273) also brought to the Bohemian king fame and victory in many of his military enterprises, and an increase of territory through his acquisition of Carinthia and Carniola, and of a certain power of protectorate over Eger and the surrounding district. Přemysl Ottokar II had then reached the zenith of his power. The domestic policy of his reign was marked by the continuation and the increase of the work of German colonisation, which his father and grandfather had introduced into the Přemyslid kingdom. In this task he found a zealous helper in Bishop Bruno of Olmütz, who was descended from the family of the Holstein counts of Schaumberg and administered the bishopric of Moravia from 1245 to 1281; he proved the king's best councillor in all diplomatic and political undertakings. Bishop Bruno, together with Bishop Heinrich Zdik of Olmütz and Bishop Adalbert of Prague, formed a spiritual constellation in the history of the Přemyslids. They set in motion a religious, civilizing, and political influence which were felt far beyond the boundaries of their respective dioceses.

The privileges of the German towns greatly increased from that period in Bohemia and Moravia; and the settlements of Germans in villages and towns, with their activity in trade and manufacture, especially in mining, rapidly advanced. This advance in civilization is the permanent result of the wide activities of Přemysl Ottokar II; for that vast political construction, the Bohemian-Austrian monarchy, which he seemed to have erected with so much cleverness, proved to be unstable; it was too largely founded upon the weakness of the German Empire and upon the vacillation and helplessness of the nominal kings of Germany. Hence for Přemysl Ottokar the choice of Rudolf of Hapsburg as the Romano-German emperor (October 1, 1273) marks the beginning of the decline of the Bohemian power. This declension was rapidly completed. Premysl Ottokar refused to acknowledge his feudal dependency upon the new German king, thus challenging the emperor and the empire to war. For almost two years the Bohemian king succeeded in staving off the threatening secession of Styria and Austria, for the reason that Rudolf's attention was fully occupied elsewhere, while his means were insufficient to provide any vigorous support for his open and secret adherents in thesc territories. However, in the autumn of 1276 the Hapsburg led the imperial army through Austria to the walls of Vienna. Ottokar was abandoned, both by the Austrian nobles and by some of his most powerful Bohemian nobility, with the result that the two opponents never met in conflict; the Bohemian king preferred submission to the hazardous alternative of giving battle. The peace of Vienna (November 21, 1276) deprived Přemysl Ottokar II of his position as a great power; he was obliged to surrender Austria, Styria, Carinthia, and other districts which he had conquered and not inherited, and to receive Bohemia and Moravia as the vassal of the German emperor.

This humiliating settlement, however, could not possibly be regarded by the proud prince as a permanent embargo on his schemes. Concerning the future relations of Bohemia with the empire, and regarding certain important points in the peace of Vienna, more particularly the amnesty to the Bohemian lords who had

deserted Přemysl Ottokar, and the proposed marriage of a son and daughter of the two princes, misunderstandings broke out, which soon ended in that fresh struggle with Rudolf which the Bohemian king was anxious to provoke. In the battle of Dürnkrut (on the Marchfeld), on August 26, 1278, Přemysl Ottokar was captured, in a condition of exhaustion after a heroic struggle, and murdered by certain knights who had a private grudge against him.

The Přemyslid territories now surrendered, almost without resistance, to the German king, who was regarded with considerable favour by the German population of the towns, by a portion of the nobility, and not least by Bishop Bruno. However, disturbances and revolts of the nobility were caused by the appointment of the margrave Otto of Brandenburg to act as regent for Wenzel, .the son of Přemysl Ottokar, who was only seven years old; Otto was installed in Bohemia by Rudolf of Hapsburg, who took Moravia entirely under his own care, leaving the administration of it to Bishop Bruno. Additional causes of disturbance were a famine, and the general misery resulting from many years of war. Thus the first years after the death of their great king were a time of misery for Bohemia. When, however, Wenzel II (who became the son-in-law and received the support of the German king) ascended the throne in 1283 (see Fig. 18 of the plate facing page 248) an Indian summer of prosperity seemed to have begun for the house of Přemysl. A return to prosperity was facilitated both by a peaceable and serious government and by the riches of the country, especially the income from the silvermines. The young king, with his vivid interest in art and science, gained a great reputation for the Bohemian court, and made it a favourite resort of artists and scholars.

This internal development was accompanied by a successful foreign policy. After the struggle with the Mongols, Silesia ceases to rank among the countries of importance in the history of the world, and from 1241 its history is purely local. Once again the country was broken into petty principalities, some of which were in continual hostility with Poland, and were thus driven into connection with the Přemyslid kingdom through affinities of civilization and race. In the decisive battle on the Marchfeld the dukes of Breslau, Glogau (see Fig. 10 of the plate facing page 248, " Bohemian, Moravian, and Silesian Princes "), and Oppeln acted as the independent allies of the Bohemian king. Among the Silesian princes, Heinrich IV of Breslau (1273–1290; see Fig. 12 of the same plate) became prominent at that time; like his grandfather Heinrich II, he acquired the principality of Cracow, and thus gained supremacy over the whole of the Polish Empire. However, when he died, leaving no issue, the confusion in Poland and Silesia broke out the more violently. In the course of these troubles, King Wenzel of Bohemia, supported by several Silesian dukes, who recognised him as their feudal overlord, succeeded in conquering Cracow in 1291, and assumed the crown of Poland in Gnesen in 1300, thus uniting the heritage of the Piasts with that of the Přemyslids.

Nor was this the end. In the following year (1301) the male line of the Hungarian royal house of Árpád became extinct, and one party in the country offered this crown to the Bohemian king; he did not accept it himself, but transferred it to his son Wenzel III, who was crowned king of Hungary at Stuhlweissenburg. However, this period of brilliant prosperity lasted but a short time for the Přemyslids. The Hungarian crown could not be retained in face of the Angevin

claims, and in the year 1304 Wenzel III abandoned Hungary. At the same time Wenzel II became involved in war with the German king Albrecht. In the course of this struggle he died in 1305, at the age of thirty-four. When his heir was meditating an advance upon Poland in the following year (1306) to crush the rising of Vladislav Lokietek, the Polish claimant to the throne, he was murdered by an assassin in the castle of Olmütz; he died at the age of seventeen, the last male descendant of the house of the Přemyslids, leaving no issue, although married.

5. THE LUXEMBURGS

A. KING JOHANN

CLAIMS to the Bohemian inheritance were now raised from two quarters: Duke Heinrich of Carinthia relied upon the claim of his wife Anna, the eldest sister of King Wenzel III; on the other hand the German king Albrecht regarded Bohemia and Moravia as escheated fiefs of the empire, and conferred them upon his eldest son, Duke Rudolf of Austria. After the premature death of Rudolf in 1307, Heinrich of Carinthia succeeded in securing a majority of the votes of the Bohemian nobility, and it was only in Moravia that King Albrecht could secure recognition for his second son Friedrich. However, when Albrecht fell in the following year (1308) under the murderous attack of his nephew Johannes ("Parricida "), Duke Friedrich was obliged to refrain from all attempts to continue the war against Heinrich in Bohemia, and also to surrender Moravia, with the exception of certain towns which remained in his possession as a pledge for the repayment of the expenses of the war.

Heinrich of Carinthia was, however, unable to cope with the difficult party questions which troubled Bohemia. King and nobles, nobles and towns, were in a state of perpetual hostility. The result was seen in disturbances and acts of aggression which lost Heinrich his prestige in the country. A new party arose, led by the abbot Conrad of Königssaal, which attempted to secure a new ruler by the marriage of Elizabeth, the youngest daughter of King Wenzel II. Their choice fell upon Johann, the young son of the new German emperor Heinrich VII of Luxemburg.1 On September 1, 1310, the marriage of the German prince, who was fourteen years of age, with the Bohemian princess, who was eighteen, was celebrated in Speyer. The German emperor had previously released the Bohemians from their oath to the Duke of Carinthia (in the previous July) at Frankfort, and had invested his son with Bohemia and Moravia, as escheated fiefs of the empire. The conquest of the country was not a lengthy task, as King Heinrich, recognising the hopelessness of resistance, speedily entered upon negotiations and voluntarily left the country. The occupation of Moravia was accomplished with equal facility. Johann even assumed the title of king of Poland, as a sign that he proposed to maintain the claims of his Přemyslid predecessors to this crown.

The course of his government was soon, however, considerably disturbed, chiefly in consequence of the hostile feeling entertained by the high Bohemian

1 See Figs. 3 and 4 of the plate facing page 248, "Bohemian, Moravian, and Silesian Princes at the Close of the Middle Ages."

nobility for Archbishop Peter of Mainz and other German counsellors, whom King Heinrich had sent to direct his inexperienced son. Johann found his difficulties increased by the death of his imperial father (1313), which deprived him of the support of the German Empire. He was obliged to consent to the expulsion of the Germans from Bohemia, and to resign the government of the country to Heinrich of Lipa, the most powerful of the Bohemian barons. Peace, however, was not even then secured. Financial disputes between the king and his chief adviser, the extraordinary connection between Lipa and the Dowager Queen Elizabeth, the former consort both of Wenzel II and Duke Rudolf, who resided in Königingrätz, and overshadowed the court of the queen proper, together with other causes, led to the forcible removal of Lipa (1315), whereupon Archbishop Peter again received the position of chief minister. After a rule of two years he was again forced to yield to the powerful nobles (1317). King Johann was weary of these domestic troubles, and turned his attention to foreign affairs, especially to the rivalry between Ludwig of Bavaria and Friedrich the Fair of Austria for the German crown; consequently the government of Bohemia and the work of resistance to the nobles devolved upon his wife Queen Elizabeth, who received very little support from her husband. The result was a general revolt against the king (1318), which he was powerless to suppress. Finally, by the intervention of Ludwig of Bavaria, a somewhat degrading compromise with the revolted barons was effected at Tauss, and the king was forced to content himself with his title, his position, and the rich income of his territory.

King Johann, a restless, cheerful, somewhat extravagant, but highly gifted and chivalrous character, secured a great extension of territory for Bohemia in the course of the numerous enterprises and intrigues in which he was continually involved. After the death of the margrave Waldemar of Brandenburg, the Oberlausitz fell into his hands (1319). In 1322 he received in pawn from Ludwig of Bavaria the town of Eger, with its territory, which have ever since remained in the possession of Bohemia. He was able definitely to liberate Moravia from all the claims and demands which the Hapsburgs could make upon that province. For a few years (1331-1333) he even secured possession of part of Lombardy, the government of which he intrusted to his eldest son Karl, while his youngest son, Johann Heinrich, received the province of Tyrol, with the hand of Margareta Maultasch, in 1330; but Johann Heinrich was unable permanently to maintain his hold of this possession (only to 1441).

The most important acquisition made by King Johann was that of Silesia, which gave to Bohemia an enormous increase of extent and power. The connection of the Silesian princes (see Figs. 13 to 15 of the plate facing this page) with Bohemia had begun under the last of the Přemyslids, and had been dissolved upon the extinction of this race; it was made permanent under the rule of King Johann. As early as the year 1327, upon the occasion of an expedition against Poland, Johann received the homage of the dukes of Upper Silesia, including those of Teschen, Falkenberg, Auschwitz, Ratibor, and finally of Oppeln. In the same year Breslau recognised the Bohemian king as its feudal over-lord; this example was followed in 1328 by most of the duchies of Lower Silesia, Liegnitz, Brieg, Sagan, Öls. In 1331 Johann forced Glogau to do homage by a threat of invasion. These acquisitions were further secured by a treaty between King Johann and the Polish king Casimir, son of Vladislav Lokietek (p. 247), in 1335, whereby Johann

EXPLANATION OF THE DOUBLE PLATE OVERLEAF

1 and 2. Duke Wenzel the Saint (Saint Wenceslas, † 935).

1. The left third of the triptych of Thomas of Modena; Madonna with child between St. Wenzel and St. Palmatius. Until 1780 on the wall of the high altar of the Kreuzkapelle of Karlstein, now in the Hofmuseum at Vienna. (After Josef Neuwirth's work: "Mediæval Wall Paintings and Panels of Castle Karlstein in Bohemia.")

2. Statue of the fourteenth century with the sign manual of Peter Parler, from Prague cathedral.

3. King John (1311-1346), and

4. Queen Elisabeth of Bohemia.

(From a manuscript in the Vienna Hof bibliothek. After Josef Neuwirth; "The Cycle of Luxemburg Paintings at Karlstein.")

(5-8 after miniatures in the Iglau Bergrecht manuscript preserved in the town archives at Iglau.) 9-15. Seals of Silesian Princes.

9. Boleslav the Long (1162-1201); the only genuine seal, from a document dated Leubus, 1175. Inscription: Bolezlaus dux Zle(sie).

10. Conrad I (—1266) of Glogau. First ducal seal engraved both on obverse and reverse; from a document dated Leubus, 1253. Obverse: Conradus dei gra(tia) dux Zlesie et Polonie. Reverse: S(igillum) ducis Conradi.

11. Heinrich III (1241–1266), in coat of mail and armour, with sword and eagle shield, bareheaded, under the gate of a castle or town; from a document dated Breslau, 1266. 12. Heinrich IV (1266-1290); the features somewhat obliterated; bareheaded, the figure in striking correspondence with that on the tomb in the Breslau Kreuzkirche; a great seal of high technical excellence from a document dated Breslau, 1288. Outer inscription: Sigil(lum) Henrici quarti dei gra(tia) ducis Slesie. Inner inscription: et domini Wratizlavie.

13. Konrad of Öls; from a document dated Trebnitz, 1341.

14. Wenzel I of Brieg; from a document dated Breslau, 1353.

15. Ladislaus of Oppeln; from a document dated Breslau, 1386.

(9 and 10 after Alwin Schultz, Silesian seals to 1250; 11 and 12 after Paul Pfotenhauer, Silesian seals from 1250 to 1300; 13-15 after vol. xxvi of the Vereins für Geschichte und Altertum Schlesiens.)

16-24. Seals of Bohemian Kings.

16. Wenceslaus I (1230-1253); from a document dated 1232. Obverse.

17. Přemysl Ottocar II (1253-1278). Obverse.

18. Wenceslaus II (1283–1305), the last but one of the Přemyslids. Obverse.

19. Sigismund (1419-1437).

20. Ladislaus Postumus (1452-1457); imperial seal.

21. Georg Podiebrad (1458-1471).

22. Wladislaw (1471-1516).

23. Matthias Corvinus (1479-1-490).

24. Ludwig (1516-1526).

(16-24 from the originals in the Moravian State Archives at Brünn.)