Soběslav (Slavnikid)

Soběslav (also Zobezlavs ) († 1004 near Prague ) was a member of the Slavnikid family in early medieval Bohemia and brother of the Prague bishop Adalbert .

The Slavnikids were an influential Bohemian noble family. Family ties to the ruling Přemyslid dynasty and the German nobility are considered likely. Their rule was in the eastern part of Bohemia; The location and size of their sphere of influence are controversial. The castles of Libice nad Cidlinou and Malín near Kutná Hora could be identified as the centers of the Slavnikids.

Soběslav, Slavník's eldest son , succeeded the head of the family after his father's death in 981. Coins that he had minted and that bear his name (ZOBEZLAVS) bear witness to the fact that he held a certain position of power. Some coins even seem to prove that he claimed the title of duke ( dux ) for himself; the reading is widespread in numismatic research, but not without controversy.

The Slavnikid rule ended with an attack by the Přemyslid Boleslav II in September 995, in which Libice nad Cidlinou burned down and family members present were killed. Soběslav was not in the country at the time of the attack. He took on the side of the Bohemian heir to the throne Boleslav III. on the campaign of Emperor Otto III. against the Abodrites . When he found out about the tragedy, he went into exile at the court of his friend, Prince Bolesław I. Chrobry . In the wake of this he returned to Prague in 1003. When the Polish army withdrew in 1004, Soběslav was wounded in battle on a bridge over the Vltava and fell.

Reports about Soběslav come from the legends of Adalbert of Prague, Cosmas of Prague in the Chronica Boemorum and the chronicle of Thietmar of Merseburg .

literature

• Michal Lutovský, Zdeněk Petráň: Slavníkovci. mýtus českého dejěpisectví. Prague, Libri 2005, ISBN 80-7277-291-0
• Rostislav Nový, Jiří Sláma, Jana Zachová: Slavníkovci ve středověkém písemnictví . Prague, Vyšehrad 1987.
• Zdeněk Petráň: Soběslavův titul libického knížete - další slavníkovský mýtus . In: Od knížat ke králům. Sborník u příležitosti 60. narozenin Josefa Žemličky. Lidové Noviny, Praha 2007, pp. 73-81. ISBN 978-80-7106-896-9