Oldrich

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Oldřich and Božena in Dalimil's Chronicle , Latin translation, 14th century. The upper picture shows the laundry scene, in the lower the Duke Božena leads into his castle.

Oldřich , German also Udalrich († November 9, 1034 ), was from 1012 to 1034 Duke of Bohemia from the Přemyslid dynasty . Under his rule, after the decline of Bohemia around the turn of the millennium, the country was first consolidated and Moravia was recaptured from Polish occupation.

Life

Oldřich was the third son of Boleslav II and his wife Hemma . Before his brother Boleslav III. he fled to Regensburg with his mother and second brother Jaromír in early 1002 at the latest . After the fall of Boleslav III. and the death of the briefly reigning Duke Vladivoj , Jaromír and Oldřich were recalled by the Bohemian nobility in 1003 and Jaromír was appointed reigning Duke. A few days later, the Polish Duke Bolesław Chrobry occupied Bohemia and set Boleslav III. back on. Jaromír and Oldřich had to flee again, but returned to Bohemia in 1004 after a military intervention by the Roman-German King Henry II .

On May 12, 1012, in agreement with King Heinrich II , he deposed his brother as duke. He initially accepted the Roman-German king or emperor as feudal lord over Bohemia, but later tried several times to break away from his dependence on the emperor. During this period of rule there was a slight consolidation of unrest-shaken Bohemia. Oldřich eliminated the noble opposition in the country in 1014. Above all, members of the Vršovci , main competitors of the Přemyslid dynasty , fell victim to the act of violence . In 1019 he conquered Moravia , which was under Polish rule. He passed control of the conquered area to his son Břetislav I. The annexation of Moravia helped to stabilize the political and economic situation. Oldřich's grandfather Boleslav I had conquered large areas in the north and east in the 10th century, but they had been lost by the turn of the millennium. Such a course of expansion was no longer feasible in relation to the strengthened neighboring countries Poland and Hungary at the beginning of the 11th century. Oldřich sent the "superfluous" warriors and officials to Moravia and began to transform the medieval Bohemian state into an organization that was no longer dependent on conquest. The territories of Bohemia and Moravia have remained connected with each other since then.

In 1033 the duke was summoned to the court conference in Merseburg , but did not appear there. Then the son of Emperor Konrad II , who later became Emperor Heinrich III , took him . , captured, the emperor had him deposed and appointed Jaromír prince again. Oldřich was pardoned the following year, returned to Bohemia and had Jaromír captured and blinded. He also had his son Břetislav I, who had been enfeoffed with Moravia by the emperor, expelled. But he died a short time later, on November 9, 1034.

Oldřich was married, the name of his wife is unknown. The marriage remained childless. He ensured the continuation of the dynasty with the help of his second wife Božena , the mother of Břetislav I. According to a story by the chronicler Cosmas of Prague, she was the daughter of a farmer whom the duke had met and married while washing clothes on his return from the hunt . without breaking his first marriage.

reception

Oldřich and Božena - monumental painting by František Ženíšek

The romantic story of Duke Oldřich and the beautiful laundress Božena has been a popular subject in literature, art and music since the Middle Ages. The works that made use of the motif include B .:

literature

  • Josef Žemlička: Společnost v područí státu . In: Sommer, Petr; Třeštík, Dušan; Žemlička, Josef, et al: Přemyslovci. Budování českého státu. Praha: Nakladatelství Lidové noviny, 2009. 779 pp. ISBN 978-80-7106-352-0 , pp. 165-171
  • Barbara Krzemieńska: Knežna Božena . In: Peruc v mýtech a dějinách. Peruc 2004, pp. 24-33.
  • Barbara Krzemieńska: Politický vzestup českého státu za knížete Oldřicha . In: Československý časopis historický 25, 1977, pp. 246–272.

Web links

Commons : Oldřich, Duke of Bohemia  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
predecessor Office successor
Jaromír Duke of Bohemia
1012-1033 		Jaromír
personal data
SURNAME Oldrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Udalrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Duke of Bohemia from the Přemyslid dynasty (1012-1034)
DATE OF BIRTH 10th century or 11th century
DATE OF DEATH November 9, 1034