Vitislav

Vitislav (also Witizla or Utizla ) was a Bohemian prince in the late 9th century and probably a member of the noble Slavnikid family .

When, in 895, after the collapse of Great Moravia, a delegation of all the Bohemian greats ( omnes duces Boemanorum ) paid a visit to the East Franconian King Arnulf of Carinthia in Regensburg , two princes led the embassy: Spytihněv , the son of the first known Přemyslid ruler Bořivoj I . , and Vitislav ( ui utizla ). As one of two representatives of the whole country, Vitislav must have been a respected and powerful figure.

Vitislav has been the first known member of the Slavnikids in Bohemian historiography for more than a hundred years. At the end of the 9th century, Bohemia was divided into several domains. Their number, extent and borders are not exactly known, but two large areas seem to be able to be distinguished: the emerging Přemyslid domain in Central Bohemia and the rule of the Slavnikids. However, the area in which Vitislav ruled could not yet be proven on the basis of historical documents.

Sources and literature

• Kurz, Friedrich: Annales Fuldenses sive Annales regni Francorum orientalis, Hanover 1891, for the year 895.
• Jiři Sláma: Vitislav (UI UTIZLA) . In: Seminář a jeho hosté. Sborník prací k 60. narozeninám doc. dr. Rostislava Nového. Ed .: Petr Kreuz and Vojtěch Šustek. Prague 1992, pp. 11-19. ISBN 80-86852-03-2