Drahomíra

Drahomíra sends her followers Tunna and Gommon to murder Ludmilla, Paris fragment of the Dalimil Chronicle (1330-1340)

Drahomíra von Stodor (* around 890, according to other information 877; † after 934, other information: 936) was a Bohemian princess. She was the wife of Vratislav I and mother of St. Wenceslaus . In 921 she took over the reign of the Přemyslid Principality in Central Bohemia for about four to five years . Drahomíra became known as the author of the assassination attempt on her mother-in-law, Ludmilla of Bohemia , who was later canonized .

Life

Drahomíra came from the Elbe Slavic tribe of the Hevellers . She was probably the sister or aunt of the Heveller prince Tugumir . In 906/907 she married the Bohemian Duke Vratislav I. She gave birth to six or seven children. Her sons were Wenceslas and Boleslav , one of the Wenceslas legends also mentions a third son named Spitihněv. This is possibly a mix-up, because Spytihněv I was a son of Ludmilla and Drahomíra's brother-in-law. Of her four daughters, only Přibislava is known by name. After Wenceslas death she was a nun in Prague.

After Vratislav's death in the spring of 921, the tribal assembly gave her the reign of her underage son Wenceslaus. The upbringing of the heir to the throne and the younger Boleslav, however, should take over their grandmother Ludmilla. Soon there was a conflict between the two women. Wenceslaus was corrupted by Ludmilla and the Christian clergy, Drahomira complained to the Bohemian greats. He should be brought up to be a prince and instead began to look more and more like a monk. She hired two Varangians of her followers named Tunna and Gommon to murder her mother-in-law. On September 16, 921 they penetrated the Tetín Castle and strangled Ludmilla with a rope. Drahomíra then ordered the expulsion of Bavarian missionaries from the country.

The background to the murder is sought in the political and religious fields. Possibly it was about the recognition of the sovereignty of the East Franconian King Henry I over Bohemia. The state had allied itself with Bavaria since 895 to seek protection from the Saxons. However, the Bavarian Duke Arnulf had submitted to Heinrich I in 921 and therefore fell out as an ally against the Saxon expansion. Ludmilla is said to have advocated rapprochement with Saxony, Drahomíra rejected this. The conflict between paganism, represented by Drahomíra, and Christianity, represented by Ludmilla, is said to have played a role in the course of the beginning of Christianization . The statement that Drahomíra was a pagan can be found in some legends that are the only historical sources available for the events of 921 in Bohemia. More recent research questions this information and considers it a hagiographic topos.

A year later, the Bavarian Duke Arnulf attacked Bohemia, but the sources do not record the result of this campaign. What is certain is that Drahomíra had to give up the reign sometime between 922 and 925, as Wenceslaus was now of legal age and capable of governing. He initially had his mother expelled from Bohemia, but brought her back in 925 honor . She lived in Prague, but no longer had any political power. After the murder of Wenceslas (929 or 935) she fled to the Charvaten .

literature

• Pavla Obrazová, Jan Vlk: Maior Gloria. Svatý kníže Václav , Prague-Paseka-Litomyšl 1994, ISBN 80-85192-94-2 .
• Třeštík, Dušan: Počátky Přemyslovců. Vstup Čechů do dějin (530-935) . Praha: Nakladatelství Lidové noviny, 1997. 658 pp., ISBN 80-7106-138-7 .

Web links

Commons : Drahomíra von Stodor  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature and other media by and about Drahomíra in the catalog of the National Library of the Czech Republic
• Text excerpts from three sources on Drahomira

Remarks

1. ↑ Jerzy Strzelczyk: Stát Přemyslovců v západoslovanské Evropě . In: Sommer, Petr; Třeštík, Dušan; Žemlička, Josef, et al: Přemyslovci. Budování českého státu. Praha: Nakladatelství Lidové noviny, 2009. ISBN 978-80-7106-352-0 , p. 34.