Ottokar II of Bohemia
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Ottokar II | |
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Nicholas I of Troppau | |
Dynasty | Přemyslid |
Father | Wenceslaus I of Bohemia |
Mother | Kunigunde of Hohenstaufen |
Ottokar II (
With Ottokar's rule, the Přemyslids reached the peak of their power in the Holy Roman Empire. His expectations of the imperial crown, however, were never fulfilled.
Ottokar was the second son of King
Named after his grandfather King
Rise to power
When his brother Vladislaus died in 1247, Ottokar suddenly became the heir to the Bohemian throne. According to popular oral tradition, he was profoundly shocked by his brother's death and did not involve himself in politics, becoming focused on hunting and drinking. His father appointed the new heir as Margrave of Moravia, and Ottokar took up residence in Brno, where he was occupied with the reconstruction of the Moravian lands devastated by Mongol raids of 1242.
In 1248, some discontented nobles enticed him into leading a rebellion against his father King Wenceslaus. During this rebellion he was elected[by whom?] "the younger King" (mladší král) on 31 July 1248 and temporarily expelled his father from Prague Castle. Přemysl Ottokar II held the title of King of Bohemia until November 1249. However, Pope Innocent IV excommunicated Ottokar, whereafter Wenceslaus finally managed to defeat the rebels and imprisoned his son at Přimda Castle.[1]
Father and son eventually reconciled to assist the king's aim of acquiring the neighbouring
Wenceslaus released Přemysl Ottokar very soon and in 1251 again made him Margrave of Moravia and installed him, with the approval of the Austrian nobles, as governor of Austria. The same year Ottokar entered Austria, where the estates acclaimed him as Duke. To legitimize his position, Přemysl Ottokar married the late Duke Frederick II's sister Margaret of Babenberg, who was his senior by 30 years and the widow of the Hohenstaufen king Henry (VII) of Germany.[3] Their marriage took place on 11 February 1252 at Hainburg.[4]
In 1253, King Wenceslaus died and Přemysl Ottokar succeeded his father as King of Bohemia. After the death of the German King Konrad IV in 1254 while his son Conradin was still a minor, Ottokar also hoped to obtain the Imperial dignity - as King of the Romans - for himself. However, his election bid was unsuccessful and Count William II of Holland, the German anti-king since 1247, was generally recognised.
Building an empire
Feeling threatened by Ottokar's growing regional power beyond the
Subsequently, King Ottokar II led the two crusade expeditions against the pagan Old Prussians (1254–1255 and 1268).[5] Königsberg (now Kaliningrad, Russia), founded in 1255 by the Teutonic Order, was named in his honour and later became the capital of the Duchy of Prussia.
After a few years of peace the conflict with Hungary resumed: Ottokar defeated the Hungarians in July 1260 at the Battle of Kressenbrunn, ending years of disputes over Styria with Béla IV.[6] Béla now ceded Styria back to Ottokar, and his claim to those territories was formally recognized by Richard of Cornwall, then king of Germany and nominal ruler of all the German lands. This peace agreement was also sealed by a royal marriage. Ottokar ended his marriage to Margaret and married Béla's young granddaughter Kunigunda of Halych, who became the mother of his children.[7] The youngest of them became his only legitimate son, Wenceslaus II.
During the Imperial
The path to the final battle
After Richard of Cornwall died in April 1272 and Pope Gregory X rejected the claims raised by Alfonso of Castile, a new election for the Imperial German throne took place in 1273. However, the Bohemian king again failed to win the Imperial crown, as the electors voted for the "little count" Rudolf of Habsburg, Ottokar's last and finally victorious rival.
Přemysl Ottokar refused to acknowledge Rudolf's election, and urged the Pope to adopt a similar policy. At a convention of the
Two years later, the Bohemian king made a last attempt to recover his lost lands by force. Přemysl Ottokar again found allies in Bavaria, Brandenburg and Poland. He collected a large army to meet the forces of Rudolf and his ally King Ladislaus IV of Hungary in the Battle on the Marchfeld on 26 August 1278, where he was defeated and killed.[8] Rudolf had his body laid out in state at the Minorites Church in Vienna. (In 1297 Ottokar's mortal remains were finally transferred to St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague.) His 6-year-old son Wenceslaus II succeeded him as King of Bohemia.
Marriage and children
On 11 February 1252, Přemysl Ottokar II married
- Henry (1262–1263)
- Boleslaus II of Masovia
- Agnes (5 September 1269 – 17 May 1296), married Rudolf II, Duke of Austria
- Wenceslaus II (17 September 1271 – 21 June 1305)[9]
Ottokar also had two extramarital sons and daughters. The most important was his firstborn,
Legacy
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Přemysl Ottokar is considered one of the greatest kings of Bohemia, along with
As Czech traditional law was different from that of his other domains, many principles introduced during his reign formed core of the Czech law for the following centuries. From his time stems the oldest preserved source of Czech law, Zemské desky, and also the oldest written Czech communal law, recorded in the founding deeds of the respective towns. By supporting the city of Jihlava (German: Iglau) with its mines, he laid foundation of the silver wealth of later Bohemian kings. Privileges of civic charters usually excluded the towns from obedience to the traditional courts held by members of nobility. This can be seen as a step towards equality and a precursor of modern civil law.
In the country, Ottokar's introduction of the Law of Emphyteusis into the Czech law is sometimes interpreted as "Germanization". In fact it was creative, for it freed subjects from feudal obligations, except for rent — and tax, if such was levied. Free selling and leaving of estates could also be bought and soon became common. Thus, Ottokar can be reckoned an early Bohemian ruler who furthered Bohemian rights in medieval times. This change of legal environment in Bohemia was introduced by systematic founding of villages chartered under this law.
He issued also a general privilege to the Jews (1254), which established principles of integration of the Jews into the Czech society until 1848. The Jews were now eligible for various positions, such as servants of crown, thereby being somewhat less subject to discrimination. Instead of being able to claim only the support of individual lords, the Jews could from then on claim support of any royal officer.
Ottokar followed with a systematic policy of strengthening his domains by building fortifications. Besides supporting towns, he built many fortresses himself —
Some of the fortresses built by Ottokar were for centuries the strongest in Bohemia. Ironically,
Before his conflict with
Ottokar is a significant figure in history and legend. In the Divine Comedy by Dante, Ottokar is seen outside the gates of Purgatory, in amiable companionship with his imperial rival Rudolf. He is also the protagonist of a tragedy by the 19th-century Austrian playwright Franz Grillparzer, titled König Ottokars Glück und Ende.
There is a statue dedicated to him.
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Burial crown of Ottokar II of Bohemia at Prague Castle
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Tomb of Ottokar II in St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague
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Ottokar II Přemysl in a miniature from the Gelnhausen Codex
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Depiction in the Zbraslav Chronicle by Peter of Zittau, 14th century
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Otacarvs II. rex, statue byLudwig von Schwanthaler (1847) placed at the National Museum in Prague (symbol of keepat his right foot is reminiscent of the many castles and towns, which he founded)
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Ottokar II of Bohemia
References
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition
- ^ Engel 2005, p. 106.
- ^ a b c Haverkamp 1988, p. 266.
- ^ Kuthan 1996, p. 14.
- ^ Königsberg (now Kaliningrad, Russia), founded in 1255 by the Teutonic Order, was named in his honour and later became the capital of the Duchy of Prussia.
Gladysz, Mikolaj (2002). The Forgotten Crusaders: Poland and the Crusader Movement in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries [Zapomniani krzyzowcy]. The Northern World. Vol. 56. Translated by Barford, Paul. Leiden: Brill (published 2012). pp. 330, 344. ISBN 9789004185517. Retrieved 22 Feb 2019.
Ottokar II must have been well-remembered in Poland due to his great Prussian crusade in 1254–55 [...]. [...] in January 1268 King Ottokar II took part for a second time in a Prussian crusade.
- ^ Tucker 2010, p. 283.
- ^ a b Kuthan 1996, p. 17.
- ^ Tucker 2010, p. 289.
- ^ Sedlar 1994, p. 443.
- ^ a b Veszpremy & Schaer 1999, p. 153.
Sources
- Engel, Pál (2005). Realm of St. Stephen: A History of Medieval Hungary. I.B. Tauris.
- Gladysz, Mikolaj (2012). The Forgotten Crusaders: Poland and the Crusader Movement in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Century. Brill.
- Haverkamp, Alfred (1988). Medieval Germany 1056–1273. Translated by Braun, Helga; Mortimer, Richard. Oxford University Press.
- Kuthan, Jiří (1996). Přemysl Ottokar II (in German). Translated by Cemus, Petronilla; Reinerova, Lenka; Sedmidubska, Ursel. Bohlau Verlag Wien.
- Sedlar, Jean W (1994). East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000–1500. Vol. III. University of Washington Press.
- Tucker, Spencer C., ed. (2010). A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East. Vol. I. ABC-CLIO.
- Veszpremy, Laszlo; Schaer, Frank, eds. (1999). Deeds of the Hungarians. Central European University Press.
Further reading
- Parrott, Cecil (1966). "Otakar Premysl, King of Bohemia". History Today. 16 (11): 765–72.
- Ochab, Jeremi K.; Škvrňák, Jan; Škvrňák, Michael (2022). "Detecting Ottokar II's 1248–1249 uprising and its instigators in co-witnessing networks". Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History.