Bretislaus II (; c. 1060 – 22 December 1100) was the

duke of Bohemia The Duchy of Bohemia was established in 870 and raised to the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1198. Several Bohemian monarchs ruled as non-hereditary kings beforehand, first gaining the title in 1085. From 1004 to 1806, Bohemia was part of the Holy Roman ...

from 14 September 1092 until his death. He was the eldest son of King

Vratislaus II Vratislaus II (or Wratislaus II) ( cs, Vratislav II.) (c. 1032 – 14 January 1092), the son of Bretislaus I and Judith of Schweinfurt, was the first King of Bohemia as of 15 June 1085, his royal title granted as a lifetime honorific from Holy R ...

and

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, daughter of

Andrew I of Hungary Andrew I the White or the Catholic ( hu, I. Fehér or ; 1015 – before 6 December 1060) was King of Hungary from 1046 to 1060. He descended from a younger branch of the Árpád dynasty. After spending fifteen years in exile, he ascended ...

. He was a major enemy of

paganism Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christianity, early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions ot ...

Life

He succeeded his uncle Conrad I and worked for the destruction of the old Slavic culture. In 1097, he expelled the Slavonic monks of the monastery in Sazava founded in 1033 by Procopius. Bretislaus also wished to end the elective principle of succession and replace it with a type of seniorate as conceptualised by Bretislaus I: the eldest prince of the reigning family would hold

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

as sovereign over the entire state while the younger scions of the dynasty would rule as territorial dukes over the regions of

Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The me ...

. This was to the benefit of his half-brother Bořivoj II. He invested Bořivoj as duke of

Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...

in 1097, thus removing the sons of Conrad I from the succession. Bretislaus also succeeded in receiving a long-desired imperial investiture at the Diet of

Regensburg Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the f ...

on 19 April 1099. Bretislaus was assassinated by his adversaries at the hunting lodge of Zbecno in western

on 22 December 1100.

Marriage

In 1094 Bretislaus married Luitgard of Windberg, with whom he had one son: Bretislaus, who rebelled against Soběslav I and was killed on 8 March 1130.

Sources

* Roman Catholic monarchs Dukes of Bohemia 1060s births 1100 deaths Czech military leaders Czech murder victims Sons of kings {{Europe-royal-stub