Vladislaus III of Moravia

Vladislaus III, also called Vladislaus Henry III (c. 1227 – 3 January 1247),^[1] was the margrave of Moravia and duke of Austria from 1246 until 1247.^[2]^[3]

Vladislaus was born around 1227.^[1] A member of the Přemyslid dynasty, he was the eldest son and heir of Wenceslaus I, King of Bohemia, and his wife Kunigunde, daughter of Philip of Swabia, King of Germany. His younger brother was the latter King Ottokar II.^[4] He was named after his uncle and great uncle, who were also margraves of Moravia.^[5] When his other uncle, Přemysl, died in 1239, Wenceslaus took control of Moravia. In 1246, he appointed Vladislaus margrave.^[6] Pope Innocent IV wrote a letter to Vladislaus on 24 November 1246 concerning the activity of the papal collector Gotfryd.^[7]

As Duke Frederick II of Austria was without a male heir, Wenceslaus sought to acquire the Duchy of Austria by arranging the marriage of Vladislaus with the late duke's niece Gertrude, daughter of Duke Henry II of Mödling, second son of Duke Leopold VI of Austria. Frederick was forced to consent to this arrangement under duress. In 1246, however, Frederick reneged, alleging that the couple was related within the prohibited degree. Wenceslaus obtained a dispensation from the pope.^[8] The wedding took place after Frederick's death later that year.^[9]^[10] He was recognized as duke and is so titled in contemporary Austrian sources.^[3]^[11] He received the homage of the Austrian nobility, but died suddenly on 3 January 1247, before he could take possession of the duchy.^[1] His death was most likely natural.^[1] He had no children in his short marriage.^[11] According to the Anonymous Austrian Chronicle:

M^o.cc.xlvj^o. Rex Bohemie misit filium suum in Austriam. Hic dux Gerdrudim filiam ducis Heinrici de Medlico in uxorem [habuit].
M^o.cc.xlvij. Filius regis Bohemie dux Austrie obiit.^[12]

[1246] The king of Bohemia sent his son into Austria. This duke took to wife Gertrude, daughter of Duke Henry of Mödling.
[1247] The duke of Austria, the son of the king of Bohemia, died.

The Annals of Prague give substantially the same account:

Fridricus, dux Austriae, ab Ungaris in bello occisus est, et filia fratris sui senioris Henrici, quondam ducis Austriae, cum Wladislao, filio regis Bohemiae, matrimonium contraxit, et per hoc Wladislaus habebat Austriae ducatum.
Wladislaus obiit, filius regis Wenceslai, qui Fridrico successerat in Austriae ducatu.^[13]

[1246] Frederick, duke of Austria, was killed by the Hungarians in the war, and the daughter of his elder brother Henry, formerly duke of Austria, contracted marriage with Vladislaus, the son of the king of Bohemia, and by this Wladislaus held the duchy of Austria.
[1247] Vladislaus, the son of King Wenceslaus, who succeeded Frederick in the Austrian duchy, died.

Vladislaus was succeeded in Moravia by his younger brother, who soon rebelled against their father.^[14]^[15] After his death, she married Prince Roman Danylovych.^[9] As a result, central Europe was plunged into the War of the Babenberg Succession.^[10]

Ancestry

Ancestors of Vladislaus III of Moravia

16. Vladislaus I of Bohemia

8. Vladislaus II of Bohemia

17. Richeza of Berg

4. Ottokar I of Bohemia

18. Louis I, Landgrave of Thuringia

9. Judith of Thuringia

19. Hedwig of Gudensberg

2. Wenceslaus I of Bohemia

20. Géza II of Hungary

10. Béla III of Hungary

21. Euphrosyne of Kiev

5. Constance of Hungary

22. Raynald of Châtillon

11. Agnes of Antioch

23. Constance of Antioch

1. Vladislaus, Margrave of Moravia

24. Frederick II, Duke of Swabia

12. Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor

25. Judith of Bavaria

6. Philip, King of the Romans

26. Renaud III, Count of Burgundy

13. Beatrice I, Countess of Burgundy

27. Agatha of Lorraine

3. Kunigunde of Hohenstaufen

28. Andronikos Dukas Angelos

14. Isaac II Angelos

29. Euphrosyne Kastamonitissa

7. Irene Angelina

30. George Komnenodoukas Palaiologos
(1125–1168)

15. Unknown Palaiologina?, afterwards Irene

31. ?Irene Komnene Kantakouzene?

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "77. schůzka: Vzpoura syna proti otci" (in Czech). Czech Radio. 24 May 2019. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
^ Martin Wihoda, Vladislaus Henry: The Formation of Moravian Identity (Brill, 2015), p. 297.
^ ^a ^b Jeremi K. Ochab, Jan Škvrňák and Michael Škvrňák, "Detecting Ottokar II's 1248–1249 Uprising and Its Instigators in Co-witnessing Networks," Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History 55, 4 (2022): 189–208, at 191. doi:10.1080/01615440.2022.2065397
^ Wihoda (2015), p. 234.
^ Wihoda (2015), p. 234.
^ Wihoda (2015), p. 268.
^ Mikolaj Gladysz, The Forgotten Crusaders: Poland and the Crusader Movement in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries (Brill, 2012), p. 292.
^ Robert H. Vickers, History of Bohemia (Charles H. Sergel, 1894), pp. 223–224.
^ ^a ^b Wihoda (2015), p. 274.
^ ^a ^b Robert Antonín, "The Foreign Policy of the Last Premyslids: A First Attempt at Unifying Central Europe?", in Paul Srodecki, Norbert Kersken and Rimvydas Petrauskas (eds.), Unions and Divisions. New Forms of Rule in Medieval and Renaissance Europe (Routledge, 2022), pp. 143–157, at 143–144.
^ ^a ^b Kamil Krofta, "Bohemia to the Extinction of the Premyslids", in The Cambridge Medieval History, Vol. 6: Victory of the Papacy (Cambridge University Press, 1957), pp. 422–446, at 437–438.
^ "Anonymi Chronicon Austriacum", in Adrian Rauch (ed.), Rerum Austriacarum Scriptores, vol. 2 (Vienna, 1793), p. 247.
^ "Annales Bohemiae 1196–1278 = Letopisy ceské od roku 1196 do roku 1278", in Josef Emler (ed.), Fontes rerum Bohemicarum, Part 2 (Prague, 1874), pp. 282–303.
^ Wihoda (2015), p. 268.
^ Nora Berend, Przemysław Urbańczyk and Przemysław Wiszewski, Central Europe in the High Middle Ages: Bohemia, Hungary and Poland, c.900–c.1300 (Cambridge University Press, 2013), p. 411.