Ottokar II of Bohemia
King of Bohemia from 1253 to 1278
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| Ottokar II | |
|---|---|
 Ottokar's royal seal | |
| King of Bohemia | |
| Reign | 23 December 1253 – 26 August 1278 |
| Coronation | 1261, Prague |
| Predecessor | Wenceslaus I |
| Successor | Wenceslaus II |
| Born | c. 1233 Městec Králové, Bohemia |
| Died | 26 August 1278 (aged c. 44–45) Dürnkrut, Austria |
| Burial | Saint Vitus Cathedral |
| Spouses | Margaret of Austria Kunigunda of Slavonia |
| Issue more... | Kunigunde of Bohemia Wenceslaus II of Bohemia (illeg.) Nicholas I of Troppau |
| Dynasty | Přemyslid |
| Father | Wenceslaus I of Bohemia |
| Mother | Kunigunde of Hohenstaufen |
Ottokar II (Czech: Přemysl Otakar II.; c. 1233, in Městec Králové, Bohemia – 26 August 1278, in Dürnkrut, Lower Austria), the Iron and Golden King, was a member of the Přemyslid dynasty who reigned as King of Bohemia from 1253 until his death in 1278. He also held the titles of Margrave of Moravia from 1247, Duke of Austria from 1251, and Duke of Styria from 1260, as well as Duke of Carinthia and landgrave of Carniola from 1269.
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 Wenceslaus I of Bohemia (reigned 1230–1253). Through his mother, Kunigunde, daughter of Philip of Swabia, he was related to the Holy Roman Emperors of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, which became extinct in the male line upon the execution of King Conradin of Sicily in 1268.
Named after his grandfather King Přemysl Ottokar I, he was originally educated for the role of an ecclesiastical administrator, while his elder brother Vladislaus was designated heir of the Bohemian kingdom. He was possibly educated by the Bohemian chancellor Philip of Spanheim, who would later become a rival for the rule of the Duchy of Carinthia.
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 Duchy of Austria, where the last Babenberg duke, Frederick II had been killed in the 1246 Battle of the Leitha River.[2] King Wenceslaus had initially attempted to acquire Austria by marrying his heir, Vladislaus, to the last duke's niece Gertrude of Babenberg. That marriage came to an end after half a year with Vladislaus's death in January 1247, and in 1248 Gertrude married the Zähringen margrave Herman VI of Baden. Herman, rejected by the Austrian nobility, could not establish his rule. Wenceslaus used this as pretext to invade Austria when Herman died in 1250 — according to some sources, the estates called upon him to restore order.
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 Leitha River, his cousin King Béla IV of Hungary challenged the young king. Béla formed a loose alliance with the Wittelsbach duke Otto II of Bavaria and tried to install his own son Stephen as Duke of Styria, which since 1192 had been ruled in personal union with Austria under the terms of the Georgenberg Pact of 1186. Papal mediation settled the conflict : the parties agreed that Ottokar would yield large parts of Styria to Béla in exchange for recognition of his right to the remainder of Austria.
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 Imperial interregnum of 1250 to 1273, Ottokar could increase his personal influence while Richard of Cornwall and Alfonso of Castile jostled to attain the Imperial dignity. In 1266 he occupied the Egerland in north-west Bohemia, and in 1268 he signed an inheritance treaty with the Sponheim duke Ulrich III of Carinthia, succeeding him in Carinthia, Carniola and the Windic March the next year. In 1272 he also acquired Friuli. His rule was once again contested by the Hungarians on the field of battle. After another victory, Ottokar became the most powerful king within the Empire.
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 Imperial Diet at Nuremberg in 1274, Rudolf decreed that all Imperial lands that had changed hands since the death of the last Hohenstaufen emperor Frederick II must be returned to the crown. This would have deprived Ottokar not only of the Egerland, but also of the Austrian, Styrian, and Carinthian duchies. In 1275 Rudolf placed Ottokar under the Imperial ban and besieged his Hofburg residence in Vienna, while a rebellion led by the Vítkovci noble Záviš of Falkenstein disrupted the Bohemian lands. This compelled Přemysl Ottokar in November 1276 to sign a new treaty by which he gave up all claims to Austria and the neighboring duchies, retaining for himself only Bohemia and Moravia. Ottokar's son Wenceslaus became betrothed to Rudolf's daughter Judith. There followed an uneasy peace.
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 Margaret of Austria.[3] Margaret was 26 years older than he, and the couple's childless marriage ended with an annulment.[3] On 25 October 1261, Ottokar married Kunigunda of Slavonia.[7] They probably had four children:
- Henry (1262–1263)
- Kunigunde (January 1265 – 27 November 1321), married 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, Nicholas.[10] He was never accepted as heir apparent to the Bohemian crown by the sitting pope, but was given the Duchy of Opava as fief in 1269.[10] Other illegitimate children include John, provost of Vyšehrad Chapter.
