Margrave of Moravia from 1197 until his death. He only served as duke during the year 1197 and was indeed the last ruler of Bohemia to hold that title. It was his brother Ottokar I, whose forces overthrew him, who finally achieved the elevation of the Duchy of Bohemia to the status of a kingdom
starting in 1198.
Early life
Vladislaus Henry was the second son of Duke
Emperor Henry VI. However, the two never paid the demanded sum and so were again deposed in June 1193 by a decision of the Imperial Diet at Worms, which appointed their cousin, the Prague bishop Henry Bretislaus, as duke. Vladislaus was summoned to Prague Castle
, where he had to spend the following years suspiciously eyed by Duke Bretislaus.
Reign
After the death of Emperor Henry VI and Bretislaus in 1197, Vladislaus was released and elected duke on 22 June 1197, with his brother in attendance. Faced with an uprising in favour of Ottokar, Vladislaus abdicated a few months later, on 6 December. The brothers then very nearly came to war, but, their armies encamped facing each other, the two met and negotiated a solution whereby Ottokar took the Bohemian throne–though without imperial approval–and compensated Vladislaus with the hereditary
Vladislaus held Moravia until his death twenty five years thence, in close co-operation with his brother. He reinforced his rule, when he had the rivalling claimant Prince Spytihněv III of Brno blinded and installed his own confessor, Daniel Milík, as Bishop of Prague, the first investiture by a reigning prince in Bohemia. Daniel played a vital role in the reconciliation between Vladislaus and Ottokar; despite several protests to the Roman Curia, he held the see until 1214 without receiving imperial nomination. In 1205, Vladislaus founded the Cistercian abbey of Velehrad as a family monastery and burial ground of the Moravian margraves.
Vladislaus was married with one Heilwida (Hedwig), of unknown origin. He died without issue at his court in Znojmo, whereafter the Moravian margraviate fell back to King Ottokar I, who enfeoffed it to his younger son Vladislaus II. Vladislaus was buried at Velehrad Abbey.
