Frederick ( cs, Bedřich) ( – 25 March 1189), a member of the
Přemyslid dynasty
The Přemyslid dynasty or House of Přemyslid ( cs, Přemyslovci, german: Premysliden, pl, Przemyślidzi) was a Bohemian royal dynasty that reigned in the Duchy of Bohemia and later Kingdom of Bohemia and Margraviate of Moravia (9th century–130 ...
, was
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 1172 to 1173 and again from 1178 to his death.
Life
Frederick was the eldest son of King
Vladislav II of Bohemia and
Gertrude of Babenberg
Gertrude of Austria (also named ''Gertrude of Babenberg'') (1226 – 24 April 1288) was a member of the House of Babenberg, Duchess of Mödling and later titular Duchess of Austria and Styria. She was the niece of Duke Frederick II of Austria, the ...
, a daughter of Margrave
Leopold III of Austria. His father had ruled as a
Bohemian duke since 1140; in 1158 he obtained the royal title by the
Hohenstaufen
The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynasty ...
emperor
Frederick Barbarossa
Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (german: link=no, Friedrich I, it, Federico I), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death 35 years later. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on ...
, godfather and namesake of Frederick. His elevation expressed the emperor's gratitude for Vladislav's loyalty and faithful service; he thereby became the second Přemyslid king after his grandfather
Vratislav 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 ...
(d. 1092). His son Frederick ruled as a
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 ...
n prince of
Olomouc
Olomouc (, , ; german: Olmütz; pl, Ołomuniec ; la, Olomucium or ''Iuliomontium'') is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 99,000 inhabitants, and its larger urban zone has a population of about 384,000 inhabitants (2019).
Located on th ...
from 1164 onwards.
King Vladislav's relations with the emperor deteriorated when in 1172 he abdicated in favour of Frederick, trying to implement a line of succession in accordance to the principle of
agnatic seniority
Agnatic seniority is a patrilineal principle of inheritance where the order of succession to the throne prefers the monarch's younger brother over the monarch's own sons. A monarch's children (the next generation) succeed only after the males o ...
, but without consulting Barbarossa. While the
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 ...
throne was claimed by Vladislav's cousins, sons of the late Duke
Soběslav I, Frederick was unable to hold on to his duchy, as his tenancy was approved by neither the Bohemian
diet
Diet may refer to:
Food
* Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group
* Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake
** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...
nor the emperor. Father and son were eventually declared deposed in September 1173 by the emperor at an
Imperial Diet in
Hermsdorf (Erbendorf). In agreement with the Bohemian nobility, Barbarossa offered the throne to Vladislav's cousin
Oldřich. However, Oldřich declined the honour and renounced the rule over Bohemia in favour to his elder brother
Soběslav II
Soběslav II (also Sobeslaus II), called ''Prince of the Peasants'' or ''King of the Peasants'' (c. 1128 – 9 or 29 January 1180), was the Duke of Bohemia from 1173 to 1178. He was the second son of Soběslav I. Supported by neither nobles nor ...
, who was sympathetic to the peasantry.
While aged Vladislav II left Bohemia and retired to the
Thuringian
Thuringian is an East Central German dialect group spoken in much of the modern German Free State of Thuringia north of the Rennsteig ridge, southwestern Saxony-Anhalt and adjacent territories of Hesse and Bavaria. It is close to Upper Saxon spo ...
estates of his second wife
Judith, Frederick had to serve at the Imperial court. Nevertheless, Soběslav II turned out antagonistic to both the Bohemian nobles and the emperor. He was reluctant to support Barbarossa on his
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
campaign against the
Lombard League, where the Imperial forces suffered a major defeat in the 1176
Battle of Legnano
The Battle of Legnano was a battle between the imperial army of Frederick Barbarossa and the troops of the Lombard League on May 29, 1176, near the town of Legnano in present-day Lombardy, in Italy. Although the presence of the enemy nearby wa ...
. Moreover, Duke Soběslav campaigned the
Babenberg
The House of Babenberg was a noble dynasty of Austrian Dukes and Margraves. Originally from Bamberg in the Duchy of Franconia (present-day Bavaria), the Babenbergs ruled the imperial Margraviate of Austria from its creation in 976 AD until its e ...
lands of
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
in the south, whereby Duke
Henry Jasomirgott
Henry II (german: Heinrich; 1107 – 13 January 1177), called Jasomirgott, a member of the House of Babenberg,Lingelbach 1913, pp. 91–92. was Count Palatine of the Rhine from 1140 to 1141, Duke of Bavaria (as ''Henry XI'') and Margrave of Austria ...
, Barbarossa's uncle, was killed in an accident. While Soběslav ignored a summons to appear at the Imperial court, Frederick was able to forge an alliance with the Moravian prince
Conrad III Otto of Znojmo and the Babenberg duke
Leopold V of Austria. Backed by Emperor Barbarossa, they marched against Prague where Frederick was elected duke in 1178. First attacked and defeated by Soběslav's forces at the Battle of
Loděnice, he finally prevailed in a decisive victory outside the Prague city walls, in the area of present-day
Nové Město, on 27 January 1179. Soběslav was removed and died in exile the following year.
The emperor now recognised Frederick as an
Imperial prince
Prince of the Holy Roman Empire ( la, princeps imperii, german: Reichsfürst, cf. ''Fürst'') was a title attributed to a hereditary ruler, nobleman or prelate recognised as such by the Holy Roman Emperor.
Definition
Originally, possessors o ...
. The duke confirmed the drawing of the Bohemian-Austrian border and also maintained peace with his
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
,
Meissen
Meissen (in German orthography: ''Meißen'', ) is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, the Albrecht ...
and
Hungarian neighbours. In 1184 he came to
Mainz
Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...
to join the
Diet of Pentecost
The ''Mainzer Hoffest'' (literally "Mainz court festival") or Diet of Pentecost was a ''Hoftag'' (imperial diet) of the Holy Roman Empire started in Mainz on 20 May 1184.accolade
The accolade (also known as dubbing or adoubement) ( la, benedictio militis) was the central act in the rite of passage ceremonies conferring knighthood in the Middle Ages. From about 1852, the term ''accolade'' was used much more generally to ...
of the emperor's sons
Henry VI and
Frederick of Swabia. However, his reign remained overshadowed by the internal struggles of the Přemyslid dynasty: when he tried to assert the rule of his younger half-brother
Ottokar
Ottokar is the medieval German form of the Germanic name Audovacar.
People with the name Ottokar include:
*Two kings of Bohemia, members of the Přemyslid dynasty
** Ottokar I of Bohemia (–1230)
** Ottokar II of Bohemia (–1278)
*Four Styrian m ...
over Moravia, his former ally Prince Conrad of Znojmo turned against him and temporarily drove him out of Prague. Though re-instated by Barbarossa in 1182, Frederick had to face the elevation of Moravia to an Imperial
margraviate under Conrad's rule. The emperor also raised the
Prague bishop, Frederick's Přemyslid cousin
Henry Bretislaus, to
princely
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...
status, and thus divided the Bohemian lands into three parts all dependent on him.
After years of wrangling, Duke Frederick, weakened by the internal struggles, was practically a puppet of the emperor. When Margrave Conrad was defeated by the forces of Frederick's half brother Ottokar in a bloody battle at
Loděnice, the Bohemian and Moravian Přemyslids finally met at
Knín in 1186. To settle the dispute, Conrad acknowledged Frederick's overlordship, while the duke confirmed Conrad's rights and his succession to the Bohemian throne. Frederick died in 1189, while he prepared to follow the emperor on the
Third Crusade
The Third Crusade (1189–1192) was an attempt by three European monarchs of Western Christianity (Philip II of France, Richard I of England and Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor) to reconquer the Holy Land following the capture of Jerusalem by ...
. According to the Knín agreement, he was succeeded by Conrad (as Duke Conrad II) who once again united Bohemia and Moravia under his rule.
Marriage and children
Frederick married
Elizabeth
Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to:
People
* Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name)
* Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist
Ships
* HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships
* ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...
, a daughter of the
Árpád
Árpád (; 845 – 907) was the head of the confederation of the Magyar tribes at the turn of the 9th and 10th centuries. He might have been either the sacred ruler or ''kende'' of the Hungarians, or their military leader or '' gy ...
king
Géza II of Hungary
Géza II ( hu, II. Géza; hr, Gejza II; sk, Gejza II; 113031 May 1162) was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1141 to 1162. He was the oldest son of Béla the Blind and his wife, Helena of Serbia. When his father died, Géza was still a child a ...
and his consort
Euphrosyne of Kiev
Euphrosyne of Kiev (also ''Euphrosine of Novgorod'';Jirí Louda and Michael MacLagan, ''Lines of Succession: Heraldry of the Royal Families of Europe'', 2nd edition (London, U.K.: Little, Brown and Company, 1999), table 89. hu, Eufrozina; 1130 ...
. They had the following issue:
*Helena (born 1158), affianced to Peter, son of
Manuel I Komnenos
Manuel I Komnenos ( el, Μανουήλ Κομνηνός, translit=Manouíl Komnenos, translit-std=ISO; 28 November 1118 – 24 September 1180), Romanization of Greek, Latinized Comnenus, also called Porphyrogennetos (; "born in the purple"), w ...
, in 1164
*Sophia (died 25 May 1185), married
Albert, Margrave of Meissen
*
Ludmilla (died 14 August 1240), married Count Albert III of
Bogen in 1184, and then
Louis I, Duke of Bavaria
Louis I (german: Ludwig; 23 December 1173 – 15 September 1231), called the Kelheimer or of Kelheim, since he was born and died at Kelheim, was the Duke of Bavaria from 1183 and Count Palatine of the Rhine from 1214. He was a son of Otto I an ...
, in 1204
*Vratislaus (died 1180)
*Olga (fl. c.1163)
*Margaret (died 28 August 1167)
Notes
References
Sources
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External links
Medieval Lands Project on Duke Friedrich of Bohemia
{{Authority control
Přemyslid dynasty
Roman Catholic monarchs
Dukes of Bohemia
1189 deaths
Year of birth unknown
1140s births
Sons of kings