The Unofficial British Royal Family Pages

Monday 4 October 2004

Bohemian Crowns - Part I

Back in June, I read some royal news on the Unofficial Royal Family Pages that surprised me for its rarity – a royalty article on the Czech Republic. 

The article chronicled some of the issues surrounding a recent visit to that country by the exiled Princess Mercedes Dietrichstein, who had made a permanent loan of priceless art to the Regional Museum of Mikulov – once her family’s ancestral castle – in southern Moravia. With little personal knowledge of that particular country’s royal history, the article was all it took to whet my appetite and make we want to take a closer look. So, in light of the fact that the Unofficial Royal Family Pages now includes all royal families, and in keeping with the recent theme of introductions to various monarchies, I give you this overview of the history of Czech royalty.  

This week, in Part I, we’ll look at the early evolution of Czech sovereignty, from the shaping of princes and states beginning in the 7^th century to the emergence and turbulent existence of the Kingdom of Bohemia. Next week, we’ll cover foreign rule, including the reign of the Hapsburgs, and we’ll also explore some of the various branches of Czech-related royal descendants circulating the world today. 

Shaping Princes and States

What we know today as the Czech Republic hasn’t had a royal ruler since 1918, but its royal history is just as rich as many of the remaining European monarchies. Although the earliest history of the modern Czechs goes back to the Celts and Germanic tribes who inhabited that particular region of Central Europe between about 400 BC and 500 AD, the known history of Czech sovereigns starts in 623 with King Samo, who was actually a Frank. While Samo didn’t rule over a Czech “state” of roughly the same specific geographic area as the modern country, he did rule over the first known organized community, or tribal union, of the Slavs, including those who lived in Moravia and Bohemia - both portions of today’s Czech Republic. It would appear that Samo was truly the glue that held his empire together, as – after his death in 658 – it appears to have dissolved. 

It wasn’t until the later part of the 8^th century that power once again began to centralize, leading to the development and organization of both Great Moravia and Bohemia – two states that would soon find themselves jockeying for power and domination. But, at least in the beginning, relations between the neighboring states were largely amicable. The first of the two states to secure a memorable sovereign was Great Moravia, which consisted of many of the lands of King Samo and was ruled first by Prince Mojmír I, beginning in 833. In scarcely more than 60 years, Mojmír and his successors succeeded in creating a vast empire that not only included other parts of the modern day Czech Republic, but also areas of Austria, Hungary and Poland. 

Not long after Prince Mojmír I came to power in Great Moravia, his geographical neighbor, Bohemia, also gained a new ruler. Sometime before the 880s, Borivoj I – a Premyslid chief – pronounced himself Prince (or Duke, depending on the history book) of Bohemia around 870. As the first ruler of what would become the House of Premyslid, Borivoj not only created the first royal Bohemian dynasty, but gave the Czechs their name, as the Premyslid chiefs were members of the Cechové tribe, from which the word Czech is derived.  

Shortly after Borivoj became Prince of Bohemia, he was officially recognized by his overlord, Great Moravia’s latest ruler, Prince Svatopluk, who – perhaps more significantly – prompted the conversion of the Bohemians to Christianity. Borivoj ruled from his seat of government in Prague until his once benevolent overlord conquered Bohemia between 888 and 890. Around 895, however, Borivoj’s son, Spytihnev, managed to once again wrest Bohemia from Great Moravia. Not that it mattered much. The empire of Great Moravia collapsed in 906. In the aftermath, Bohemia, Hungary and Poland all clamored to claim the lands of the former empire and the three powers struggled for control until the reign of Prince Oldrich of Bohemia in the early 11^th century, when Bohemia finally won domination over Moravia. Although it would remain under Bohemian control for most, but not all, of the next several centuries, Moravia was actually run as a separate margravate, usually under the control of a younger son of the Bohemian ruler. 

The Kingdom of Bohemia

The House of Premyslid continued to rule in Bohemia until 1306, though they were turbulent years. For one thing, the small principality couldn’t hide from the might of the Holy Roman Empire, and, in 950, Bohemia became a fief of the great Empire. The noose became even tighter when the bishopric of Prague was subordinated to the German archbishopric of Mainz. And little did the Czech’s know that this was just he beginning of a long and troubled history with Germany. Among Bohemia’s other problems were: an unruly aristocracy, the wars with Poland and Hungary, power struggles among the Premyslid rulers, and increasing foreign influence.  

One ray of light was welcomed in 1198, when the state finally become a kingdom. King Otakar I of Bohemia ensured the security of the royal title for his successors by securing a Golden Bull – or formal edict – from the Holy Roman Emperor that formally confirmed the title and the succession. Also secured was official authority of the Bohemian kings over Moravia. With the kingdom secured and powerful, Bohemia’s position had advanced far enough that King Otakar II was considered important enough to marry a German princess, Margaret of Babenberg, making the king duke of Austria.  

The marriage prospects were even better for Otakar II’s son, Wenceslaus II, who married Judith von Habsburg, daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf, in 1285. Things were really looking up for the Bohemian monarchy under Wenceslaus, who was invited to take over the duchy of Krakow in 1291, and was eventually crowned king of Poland in 1300. Before his death in 1305, he was even planning to invade Austria, which had been both gained and lost under his father. But the good fortune of the House of Premyslid would soon disappear under the reign of Wenceslaus II’ son, Wenceslaus III.  

Already king of Hungary when he succeeded his father as king of Bohemia and king of Poland in 1305, Wenceslaus III soon waived his right to the kingdom of Hungary, failed to successfully claim his right to the Polish throne, and was murdered before he could produce a male heir for Bohemia. Did I mention bad luck? Thus was the end of the House of Premyslid in Bohemia and the beginning of a very involved history of foreign rule. That, and more, next week in Part II of Bohemian Crowns.

Until then, 

- Tori Van Orden Martínez