Conrad II Otto (; /1140 – 9 September 1191), a member of Přemyslid dynasty, was the first margrave of Moravia from 1182 to 1189 and duke of Bohemia from 1189 until his death.

Family history

Conrad was the son of count

Conrad II of Znojmo Conrad II of Znojmo ( cz, Konrád II. Znojemský; d. 1161), a member of the Přemyslid dynasty, was a Bohemian prince who ruled in the Moravian principality of Znojmo from 1123 to 1128 and again from 1134 until his death. Life Conrad II was the ...

and Maria, a daughter of Grand Prince Uroš I of Serbia. Conrad was the grandson of Luitpold, the first ruler of the Přemyslid appanage of

Znojmo Znojmo (; german: Znaim) is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 33,000 inhabitants. Znojmo is the historical and cultural centre of southwestern Moravia and the second most populated town in the South Moravian ...

in southern Moravia. Conrad's sister Helen of Znojmo became a Polish duchess by her marriage to High Duke

Casimir II the Just Casimir II the Just ( pl, Kazimierz II Sprawiedliwy; 28 October 1138 – 5 May 1194) was a Lesser Polish Duke of Wiślica from 1166–1173, and of Sandomierz after 1173. He became ruler over the Polish Seniorate Province at Kraków and thereby Hi ...

Rule over Znojmo

After the death of his father in 1161, he assumed the rule over the Znojmo principality. In 1173 he occupied the lands of Brno, which controlled more than the half of the Moravian territory (except for Olomouc) at that time. When in summer 1176 he also invaded the region north of the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

that belonged to Duke Soběslav II of Bohemia, he became entangled in the duke's conflict with his nephew Frederick (''Bedřich''). Conrad attacked churches and monasteries and was excommunicated by Pope Alexander III. After Frederick had again obtained the support of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, Conrad and Duke Leopold V of Austria joined him on his campaign into Moravia and the occupation of

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

in 1178. Frederick was re-installed as Bohemian duke and Conrad expected to be rewarded with Olomouc, however, his hopes were dashed.

Margrave of Moravia

Conrad took a chance on revenge when he rose against the unpopular Frederick in 1182. The duke fled from Prague and only with the emperor's consent was able to retain the Bohemian throne. At the same time, Frederick Barbarossa aimed at weakening his rule: he summoned the adversaries to the Imperial Diet at Regensburg, where he appointed Conrad ruler of the united principalities of Znojmo, Brno and Olomouc, elevated to the

Margraviate of Moravia The Margraviate of Moravia ( cs, Markrabství moravské; german: Markgrafschaft Mähren) was one of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown within the Holy Roman Empire existing from 1182 to 1918. It was officially administrated by a margrave in cooperat ...

. Deliberately or not, these measures only fuelled the internal Přemyslid quarrels. The conflict between the Bohemian and the Moravian branches culminated in a bloody battle at Loděnice on 10 December 1185, after which both sides chose to enter into peace negotiations. Conrad and Frederick met at Knín, where the margrave recognised Frederick's suzerainty and was acknowledged in turn as ruler of Moravia by the duke and as his successor upon his death.

Duke of Bohemia

When Frederick died on 25 March 1189, Conrad was made duke with the unanimous support of the Bohemian nobility. He renounced his margravial title in order to unite the Bohemian and Moravian lands under his rule. In May of that year, he received the formal affirmation of the emperor. Conrad assumed an active role in Imperial politics, arbitrating in the conflict around the disputed succession of Margrave

Otto II of Meissen Otto II, the Rich (german: Otto der Reiche; 1125 – 18 February 1190), a member of the House of Wettin, was Margrave of Meissen from 1156 until his death. Life He was the eldest surviving son of Conrad, Margrave of Meissen and Lusatia. When hi ...

During his short reign in Bohemia, Duke Conrad was beholden to the nobles. He was forced to concede them a set of privileges by the ''iura Conradi'' (Czech: ''Statuta Konrádova''), the first Bohemian codex issued at Sadská in 1189. Among the concessions were these: *freemen guaranteed against the abuses of the duke or the provincial courts under his zhupans *extension of the right of inheritance to the daughters and brothers of deceased lords *confiscation of property only after a long legal procedure conforming to local custom. In 1190, Conrad and his mother Maria founded the Premonstratensian Louka Abbey in Znojmo. Released from the obligation of participating in the Third Crusade, Conrad accompanied Henry VI, the emperor's son, to Southern Italy as part of his attempt to conquer the Kingdom of Sicily from

Tancred Tancred or Tankred is a masculine given name of Germanic origin that comes from ''thank-'' (thought) and ''-rath'' (counsel), meaning "well-thought advice". It was used in the High Middle Ages mainly by the Normans (see French Tancrède) and espe ...

in right of Henry's wife Constance. On the campaign, Conrad died of the

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pes ...

in an Imperial military camp near besieged

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...

. First buried in Monte Cassino Abbey, his mortal remains were later transferred to

. Conrad's marriage with

Hellicha of Wittelsbach Hellicha of Wittelsbach ( cs, Hellicha z Wittelsbachu, german: Heilika von Wittelsbach; – 13 August 1198), was Duchess consort of Bohemia from 1189 to 1198, married to Duke Conrad II. Life She was born in Bavaria, the daughter of Count palatin ...

remained childless. He was succeeded by Wenceslaus II, a younger brother of late Duke Soběslav II of Bohemia.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Conrad Ii, Duke Of Bohemia Dukes of Bohemia Year of birth unknown 1191 deaths People excommunicated by the Catholic Church Roman Catholic monarchs Czech people of Serbian descent 12th-century deaths from plague (disease) 12th-century Bohemian people