Judith of Thuringia

Judith of Thuringia (Czech: Judita Durynská ; * probably between 1130 and 1135 at the Wartburg ; † September 9 after 1174 ) was Queen of Bohemia from 1158 to 1172 . The oldest stone bridge over the Vltava is connected with its name .

Life

The bridge towers on Prague's Lesser Town as seen from Charles Bridge . The smaller tower on the left is the Judithsturm.

Judith's wedding denarius

Judith was the daughter of Landgrave Ludwig I of Thuringia . She grew up on the Wartburg . In 1153 she married the Bohemian prince Vladislav II, who was about twenty years her senior . The prince was a widower. His first wife Gertrud von Babenberg, who had died two years earlier, had left him four children. Judith's arrival in Bohemia was initially viewed with suspicion, as the Prague court still remembered her predecessor too well. Two years after their marriage, their son Přemysl Ottokar was born, who is said to have been the first Přemyslid to bear the name of the legendary founder of the dynasty, Přemysl . Judith later gave birth to a second son, Vladislav Heinrich, and daughters Richsa and Agnes.

Judith endeavored to promote her son Přemysl; she often had arguments with her stepchildren. She introduced Western culture to the farm. Through the friendship with the Prague bishop Daniel I , who was one of the most influential personalities in Bohemian politics at the time, she was also able to exert political influence on the prince. In 1158, Vladislav II received the royal crown from Friedrich Barbarossa for his help in Italy. Judith's coronation is not recorded in writing. The sources show that she was entitled to the title of queen and that she used it. She represented the prince during his absence and made her own, not always popular decisions. So she succeeded in ensuring that her relatives Gotpold (1169) and Friedrich (1169–1179) were able to occupy the Prague bishopric one after the other.

Judith founded several monasteries with Vladislav, including the Benedictine monastery in the north Bohemian town of Teplice in the years 1158–1164 . It finally went down in the history of the country when the first stone bridge was built over the Vltava in the 1160s . The stone bridge replaced an older wooden bridge that went down in 1157 after a flood. It was 514 meters long, about 7 meters wide and had 21 arches. Medieval sources name Judith as the builder, and the building was named after her. To what extent she actually took the initiative for the construction project is controversial. The bridge was destroyed in a flood in 1342 and replaced a few years later by the famous Charles Bridge . Remains of the pillars and bridge arches can be found in Prague houses and in the Vltava to this day. The former bridge tower on Prague's Lesser Town , which is called the Judith Tower ( Juditina věž ), has also been preserved.

Judith was queen for fourteen years. After Vladislav renounced the throne in favor of his son Friedrich in 1172 without the consent of Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa , he was forced to emigrate abroad. Judith accompanied him to Thuringia. Two years later he died on Judith's wedding estate, Meerane Castle , without having seen his son Ottokar Přemysl ascend to the throne. Judith's further fate is unknown. According to an analysis of her skull, she died at the old age of around 75 to 80 years. She was buried in Teplitz in the church of the monastery she founded.

literature

• Alžběta Birnbaumová: Královna Judita . In: Zdena Karešová, Jiří Pražák: Královny a kněžny české. Prague X-Egem, Nova Kniž. klub 1996, ISBN 80-7199-010-8 , pp. 57-58.
• Petr Sommer, Dušan Třeštík, Josef Žemlička (eds.): Přemyslovci. Budování českého státu . Praha, Nakladatelství Lidové noviny, 2009. ISBN 978-80-7106-352-0 , pp. 201–205.

Web links

• Ženy ve stínu Přemyslovců - díl 6. Ctižádostivá Judita Durynská, stavitelka mostu
• Emanuel Vlček: Judita Durynská - paní znamesité krásy a ducha neobyčejného. Vesmír 81, 561, 2002/10