Boleslav II (Bohemia)

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Boleslav II, the Pious on a segment of the Gnesen bronze door : the relief shows negotiations with Adalbert von Prague to buy Christian slaves free

Boleslav II. († February 7, 999 ), also Boleslav the Pious (Czech Boleslav II. Pobožný), was a Bohemian prince from the Přemyslid family . He ruled as Duke of Bohemia from 972 (traditionally 967) to 999 over the central region around Prague , the dominant territory of Bohemia.

Life

Boleslav II

Boleslav II was a son of Boleslav I the Cruel . His date of birth is unknown; Estimates mostly place it in the 930s to 940s. In the sources he is mentioned for the first time on the occasion of his assumption of government after the death of his father in 972 (traditionally on July 15, 967). Widukind von Corvey mentions a son of Boleslav I, who in 950 supported his father in the fight against Otto I ; However, in the opinion of most historians, this nameless son was not identical with Boleslav II and may have died in 972. The other descendants of Boleslav I were also out of the question for the succession to the throne: Doubravka was married to the Polish duke, the younger children Strachkvas and Mlada intended for the clergy.

Bohemian domestic politics

Denarius Boleslav II

After the death of his father, Boleslav II inherited a difficult inheritance. Bohemia was under pressure from outside, but also from claims to power on the part of the Bohemian princes of the Slavnikid family , through whose territory in northeastern Bohemia the important trade route ran from Spain via Prague and Kiev to China. After the death of Slavník , the head of the house, in 981, his son Soběslav began to strive for the independence of his territory and leaned against Poland and Saxony. Because of serious conflicts with Boleslav Soběslav had to leave the country twice in the following years. When the first Prague bishop Thietmar died in 983 , Adalbert of Prague , a brother of Soběslav, succeeded him. This further strengthened the power of the Slavnikids. 995, during a campaign by Otto III. against the Lutizi , in which Boleslav took part, troops sent by Boleslav the pious attacked Soběslav's castle and murdered a large part of his family members, whereby the opposition collapsed and the Slavnikids died out after the death of Soběslav, who had fled to Poland. In Czech historiography, this extermination is regarded as a decisive event in the final unification of Bohemia. But it also led to the further destabilization of the country, which reached its climax when Boleslav II died in 999 and lasted around 30 years.

Alliance policy

Bohemia in the 10th century under the rule of Duke Boleslav II.

Along with the Polish prince Mieszko I and his son Bolesław Chrobry , Boleslav was one of the most important allies of the rebellious Duke of Bavaria, Henry the Quarrel . At first the Bohemian fighters, who also operated north of the Ore Mountains, achieved some successes, but in the end Emperor Otto II got the upper hand. In 976 the brawler fled to Boleslav. Militarily Otto could not defeat the Bohemian Duke despite two campaigns to Prague. Nevertheless, Boleslav submitted to Otto in 977 and was solemnly accepted into his grace by him in 978 on the occasion of Easter in Quedlinburg .

This rapprochement with Otto went hand in hand with a fundamental change in Boleslav's policy: he turned against his former ally Poland. The permanent competition between the two empires was to determine the development of East Central Europe for centuries. Even the brief renewed gain in importance of Heinrich the Quarrel after the death of Otto II could no longer reverse this reorientation, although Mieszko and Boleslav jointly recognized Heinrich as king in 984. While Mieszko's son Bolesław married a daughter of the Margrave of Meißen , Boleslav II took possession of Meißen Castle himself with the agreement of the brawler and had Meißen Bishop Volkold driven out. Bolesław of Poland then dissolved his marriage to the margrave's daughter, which had become worthless for him, and married a Hungarian princely daughter of the Arpad family . This created the danger for Bohemia of being enclosed by Poland and Hungary .

In the following years, Boleslav tied himself more closely to Heinrich, while Mieszko had recognized early on that the party around the still underage Otto III. would prevail and take their side. Even after Heinrich for his part Otto III. recognized and with the duke in Bavaria had contented Boleslav held on to direct allegiance to Henry. At the end of this process, Poland and Hungary, both in the favor of the imperial government, stood against the Bavarian-Bohemian alliance. Boleslav had a relatively weak position in this field of conflict: he had to evacuate 987 back, 990 a war to break the Meissen Silesia and Malopolska openly. In this phase, Boleslav's alliance with the pagan Lutizenbund also turned out to be politically disadvantageous because the Lutizen threatened to thwart attempts by the Archbishop of Magdeburg between Bohemia and Poland. In 992 he dropped this alliance and took part in a campaign against the Lutizen. During this campaign he suffered a stroke and was unable to rule for a while . Over time, his health improved, but he never got completely healthy.

Even in the last years of his life he tried to change the unfavorable political situation. In order not to lose any country, however, he had to increase his army. To do this, he needed money, which he obtained by minting more coins and trading in slaves. In contrast to his father, who only traded with so-called pagans, his son was forced to sell residents of Bohemia and Moravia, including those who professed Christianity .

Church politics

At the ecclesiastical level, Boleslav tried to establish an independent regional church that was largely independent of the imperial church. Here, too, he came into conflict with Otto II, who successfully counteracted Thietmar Boleslav's efforts in 973 by founding the diocese of Prague under the Archdiocese of Mainz and occupying the bishopric with the Saxon . In 999 he founded the Ostrov Benedictine monastery .

progeny

Boleslav II was married to Emma , but possibly had other wives before or at the same time. Four of his sons are known by name: Boleslav III. , Václav, Jaromír and Oldřich .

Reception history

Both additions to the name, "the pious" for Boleslav and "the cruel" for his father, come from the chronicler Cosmas of Prague , who saw the father as the fratricide and bloody warrior, while he regarded his son as the noble, Christian ruler. ("... the most Christian man who believes in the general Church, father of orphans , protector of widows, comforter of the afflicted ...").

literature

See also

Bolesław VI. the pious of Greater Poland-Kalish (Polish: Bolesław Pobożny, 1224 / 27–1279)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jiří Sláma: Český kníže Boleslav II. , Pp. 9-10. In: Přemyslovský stát kolem roku 1000: na pamět knížete Boleslava II (7. února 999). Praha, Nakl. Lidové Noviny, 2000. ISBN 80-7106-272-3
  2. ↑ Michal Lutovský, Zdeněk Petráň: Slavníkovci. ISBN 80-7277-291-0
  3. ^ Zdeněk Fiala: Přemyslovské Čechy. Český stát a společnost v letech 995-1310. Nakladatelství politické literatury Praha, 1965.
predecessor Office successor
Boleslav I. Duke of Bohemia
967–999 		Boleslav III.
personal data
SURNAME Boleslav II
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Boleslav the Pious
BRIEF DESCRIPTION bohemian prince
DATE OF BIRTH 10th century
DATE OF DEATH February 7, 999