Jaromír (died 4 November 1038), 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 ...

in 1003, from 1004 to 1012, and again from 1034 to 1035.

Early life

He was the second son of Duke Boleslaus II the Pious (d. 999). His mother may have been either one of his father's two wives:

Adiva Adiva was the first wife of Boleslaus II of Bohemia. It has been speculated that she was the progeny of Edward the Elder Edward the Elder (17 July 924) was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 899 until his death in 924. He was the elder son of Alf ...

Emma of Mělník Emma (Hemma) (bef. 950 – 1005/06) was a Bohemian duchess consort as the second wife of Boleslaus II of Bohemia. Her origins are uncertain. Historian Gelasius Dobner (1719–90) thought she was a princess of Burgundy, and this theory has b ...

. In 1002, Jaromír rebelled against the rule of his elder brother Boleslaus III, who had him

castrated Castration is any action, surgical, chemical, or otherwise, by which an individual loses use of the testicles: the male gonad. Surgical castration is bilateral orchiectomy (excision of both testicles), while chemical castration uses pharmaceut ...

Czech radio
/ref> and expelled with his mother and his brother Oldřich to the Bavarian court at

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 ...

. Nevertheless, Boleslaus was unable to secure 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, as he was deposed by the Bohemian nobility and his rule was taken over by his Přemyslid cousin Vladivoj, backed by the

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

duke

Bolesław I the Brave Bolesław I the Brave ; cs, Boleslav Chrabrý; la, Boleslaus I rex Poloniae (17 June 1025), less often known as Bolesław the Great, was Duke of Poland from 992 to 1025, and the first King of Poland in 1025. He was also Duke of Bohemia betw ...

. Vladivoj also secured the support of King

Henry II of Germany Henry II (german: Heinrich II; it, Enrico II; 6 May 973 – 13 July 1024), also known as Saint Henry the Exuberant, Obl. S. B., was Holy Roman Emperor ("Romanorum Imperator") from 1014. He died without an heir in 1024, and was the last ruler o ...

when he received the

Duchy of Bohemia The Duchy of Bohemia, also later referred to in English as the Czech Duchy, ( cs, České knížectví) was a monarchy and a principality of the Holy Roman Empire in Central Europe during the Early and High Middle Ages. It was formed around 870 ...

as a royal

fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an Lord, overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a for ...

Reign

When Vladivoj died the next year, Jaromír and Oldřich returned to Bohemia and Jaromír was proclaimed duke by the Bohemian nobles. The Bohemian lands were occupied in turn by the Polish forces of Bolesław, who reinstated Boleslaus III as duke. After he ordered a massacre of the rival

Vršovci The Vršovci (also Vrshovici; singular: Vršovec) were a Czech noble family in the Duchy of Bohemia. History In Bohemia First noted in the power struggles of the 10th–12th centuries in Bohemia. The Vršovci were the third most powerful politi ...

clan, however, he lost the support of the Polish ruler and was finally deprived of power. Meanwhile, Jaromír had sought military backing from King Henry II. At

Merseburg Merseburg () is a town in central Germany in southern Saxony-Anhalt, situated on the river Saale, and approximately 14 km south of Halle (Saale) and 30 km west of Leipzig. It is the capital of the Saalekreis district. It had a diocese ...

, he promised to 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 a vassal of the king. This action definitively placed Bohemia within the jurisdiction of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...

. In 1004, Jaromír occupied Prague with a German army and proclaimed himself Bohemian duke. Nevertheless, the state he regained was a small one, as Polish forces still held

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 ...

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

, and

Lusatia Lusatia (german: Lausitz, pl, Łużyce, hsb, Łužica, dsb, Łužyca, cs, Lužice, la, Lusatia, rarely also referred to as Sorbia) is a historical region in Central Europe, split between Germany and Poland. Lusatia stretches from the Bóbr ...

. Jaromír's reign—like so many of the other early Czech rulers—was a struggle to regain lost lands. He remained a loyal supporter of King Henry in the smouldering German–Polish War. Nonetheless, the German king took no action when, in 1012, Jaromír was dethroned by Oldřich (who had him blinded) and forced once again into exile. In a surprise campaign, Jaromír once again managed to depose Oldřich with the support of Emperor

Conrad II Conrad II ( – 4 June 1039), also known as and , was the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 1027 until his death in 1039. The first of a succession of four Salian emperors, who reigned for one century until 1125, Conrad ruled the kingdoms ...

in 1033, but his second reign was short-lived. A year later, Oldřich was restored by his son Bretislaus I. Jaromír was imprisoned at

Lysá nad Labem Lysá nad Labem (; german: Lissa an der Elbe) is a town in Nymburk District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 9,700 inhabitants. It is situated on the Elbe river. The town centre is well preserved and is protected b ...

and died on 4 November 1035 or 1038, a year after the death of his brother. He was assassinated by one of the Vršovci clan.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaromir, Duke Of Bohemia Christian monarchs Dukes of Bohemia 1035 deaths Assassinated royalty Burials at St. George's Basilica, Prague Castrated people Year of birth unknown