Johanna von Rosental

The prayer book of George of Podebrady with Johanna's dedication

Johanna von Rosental († November 12, 1475 ) ( Johana z Rožmitálu in Czech ) was the Bohemian queen and wife of King George of Podebrady . She came from the Bohemian noble house Rosental .

Life

The second wife of the Bohemian king had two brothers and a sister. Although her family belonged to the Catholic camp, her father and uncle sympathized with the Hussites . After the death of George's first wife, who died giving birth to twins, the widower married Johanna with five children in 1450. Shortly afterwards, Georg was appointed provincial administrator and elected king on February 27, 1458. On May 8, 1458, Johannas was crowned queen.

For the next eighteen years, it determined the fate of the Kingdom of Bohemia directly and indirectly . Her wish was to restore peace between the religions in the country. Even their wedding was groundbreaking for an open denomination at that time. Although Catholic, she married according to the faith of the Reformers and thus set a sign of compatibility of faith and mutual respect.

As queen she took part in the meetings of the royal council, traveled with her husband to political conferences and negotiated with warring parties herself. In addition, she also had mother duties for five children from Georg's first marriage and another two children whom she gave birth to in the first few years after the wedding. In addition, she took in the young Matthias Corvinus and a Saxon princess.

She also stood up for the weak and poor and demanded leniency and justice towards prisoners and rebels. She gave her husband a prayer book for Christmas in 1466 , noteworthy because it was the first historically documented donation of books in Bohemia. The gift also came at a time when the Pope was losing patience with the Bohemian king, proclaiming him a heretic and organizing a crusade against Bohemia. Later the queen and her children were also put under a ban by the Pope.

That tied her even more to her husband and his office. When Georg had to leave Prague during the fighting against Corvinus, Johanna took over his duties. In 1470 she called together the Junkers loyal to the king and led the way against their former pupil, the Hungarian king, who was shortly before Prague.

In 1471, after the death of George, she convened the national assembly in which she succeeded in enforcing the legacy of her husband, who had appointed the Polish prince Vladislav as his successor. She supported the new king with the political knowledge, authority and power she had acquired. She was considered a co-regent who called meetings, called the Bohemian nobility to unity and called for the reunification of the country, which was partly occupied by the Hungarian Matthias.

In 1473 she withdrew to her seat in Mělník , but from here continued intensive negotiations with Bavarian and Saxon dukes.

Her son Hynek von Podiebrad was an imperial prince, Duke of Münsterberg, Count von Glatz, diplomat and writer.

literature

• Rudolf Urbánek: Ženy husitského krále: Kunhuta ze Šternberka a Johana z Rožmitálu . In: Zdena Karešová, Jiří Pražák: Královny a kněžny české. Prague X-Egem, Nova Kniž. klub 1996, ISBN 80-7199-010-8 , pp. 148-152.
• Josef Macek: Jiří z Poděbrad . Svobodné slovo, Prague 1967.

predecessor	Office	Successor
Elisabeth of Luxembourg	Queen of Bohemia 1458–1470	Barbara of Brandenburg