Bohemian Monarchs Family Tree

Hi, this is Matt Baker. Today, I'm going to show you the family tree of Bohemian monarchs. But before I do that, I want to explain the difference between this type of Bohemian and this type of Bohemian. You see, nowadays, the word Bohemian is mostly used to refer to a certain kind of lifestyle, one that is very unconventional and free-spirited, often associated with artists and writers. It was this sort of Bohemian that Freddie Mercury was referencing in the title of his song Bohemian Rhapsody. But you see, originally, the word Bohemian simply meant someone from the main part of what we now call the Czech Republic or Czechia. From the perspective of Western Europeans, the traveling Romani people came from that direction, and therefore, anyone who adopted a Romani-like lifestyle was called a Bohemian. But it's the original Bohemians that we'll be looking at in this video, in particular, the monarchs of the medieval kingdom of Bohemia. I'll be using our European Royal Family Tree North/East Chart, which is available from our website usefulcharts. com. You can find a direct link in the description or pinned comment. According to legend, the first ruler of the Czech people was a man named Krok. Krok had three daughters named Kazi, Teta, and Libuše. Although she was the youngest, Libuše was also the wisest, and therefore, Krok chose her to be his heir. One day, while looking at a hill, she saw a vision of a great city, and therefore, ordered a new castle to be built there. This ended up being the city of Prague. Libuše married a simple plowman called Přemysl, who went on to become the namesake of the first Bohemian dynasty, which starts with seven more legendary rulers. Now, the interesting thing about this legendary genealogy is that if you string all the names together, it actually forms a coherent sentence in Old Slavonic that translates as follows: "Halt your steps, Tetha, and instead think, I do not want war and wish no evil upon you. Although we do not bow to the cross, we welcome you as guests. " You see, the person who came up with the legendary genealogy was a 12th-century priest named Cosmas. The thinking is that Cosmas found an old document relating to a conflict with the nearby Franks and mistook it for a list of early rulers. The actual first ruler of Bohemia, at least according to verifiable records, was a duke named Bořivoj. He lived during the time when the Western Slavs were converting to Christianity under the guidance of the Byzantine missionaries Cyril and Methodius. Cyril is the namesake of the Cyrillic alphabet, although take note that he himself did not invent it, but rather it was his subsequent disciples. Now, during the reign of Bořivoj, Bohemia was actually a vassal state of Moravia, which is today the eastern part of the Czech Republic. However, during the next few generations, that situation reversed, and it ended up being Bohemia that would control Moravia all the way up until 1918. The next important name to point out is Bořivoj's grandson Wenceslaus I, who is the namesake of the famous Christmas carol Good King Wenceslas. However, Wenceslaus was not actually a king during his lifetime. You see, he was assassinated by his brother Boleslav, and after this was quickly venerated as a saint with all sorts of legends forming about him. Only decades later did the Holy Roman Emperor Otto the Great posthumously give him the title of king. Boleslav actually ended up becoming a good ruler, continuing to make Bohemia into an important regional power. He also developed closer ties with Rome as opposed to Constantinople, which would become important not only to Bohemia, but to Poland also. You see, his daughter married Duke Mieszko the first, and because of this, she ended up playing a major role in the Christianization of Poland. Bohemia's ties to Western Europe were strengthened even more around the time of Oldřich, when it became an official vassal state of the Holy Roman Empire. But take note that at this point, Bohemia was still a duchy and not yet a kingdom. Even when Vratislav and then later Vladislav the second were made kings as rewards for supporting the emperor, in both cases the title was for their lifetime only, not hereditary. The date when Bohemia became a hereditary kingdom was 1212, during the reign of Ottokar the first. This was right in the middle of the conflict between the Welfs and the Hohenstaufens over who should be emperor. Ottokar supported the

Hohenstaufen candidate Frederick the second, and thus when the Hohenstaufens won, Bohemia was given a new special status within the Holy Roman Empire. Not only was the Bohemian ruler made a hereditary king, he was also made the highest ranking prince elector. The next king, Wenceslaus the first, not to be confused with Good King Wenceslas, had the unfortunate privilege of having to deal with the Mongol invasions into Eastern Europe. He ended up fending them off, but only because they retreated in order to go choose a new Great Khan. He also transitioned Bohemia into a more Western European style kingdom, and was the first to allow ethnic Germans to settle there. But it was his son, Ottokar the second, who ended up becoming the greatest of all the original Premyslid monarchs. He is remembered as the iron and golden king. Iron because he militarily expanded his territory all the way down to the Adriatic Sea, and golden because he increased silver mining in his territory, making Bohemia very rich. He was also a crusader, participating in two crusades against the Old Prussians. During one of these, the city of Königsberg, modern-day Kaliningrad, was founded and named in his honor. Königsberg meaning king's mountain and referring to him. Ottokar the second even almost became Holy Roman Emperor. You see, his reign coincided with the Great Interregnum, a period in which there was no Holy Roman Emperor, and he actually had a very good claim to the title through his mother, who was a Hohenstaufen. But, he did not get elected because the German nobles actually felt that he was too powerful and opted to elect Rudolph of Habsburg instead, because at the time the Habsburgs were a very minor house. Something that obviously went on to change. Rudolph, the new German king, took away Ottokar's newly acquired territories, including Austria. So, in a last attempt to get them back, Ottokar fought Rudolph at the Battle on the Marchfeld, which ended up being one of the largest battles to occur in Europe during the medieval period. Ottokar lost and in fact was killed during the battle, resulting in his son, Wenceslaus the second, becoming king at just six years old. Wenceslaus the second initially married a Habsburg, Judith of Austria, but upon her death, he married Elizabeth of Poland. This gave him a claim to the Polish throne because her father, Premyslid the second, had managed to unite Poland and become their first king in over 200 years. So, in the year 1300, Wenceslaus the second was crowned king of Poland in addition to Bohemia. The following year, Andrew the third of Hungary died, resulting in the extinction of the Arpad dynasty there. Wenceslaus II's mother had been a descendant of the Arpads, meaning that Wenceslaus II now had a claim to Hungary as well. In the end, it was decided that his 11-year-old son, the future Wenceslaus III, would be crowned king of Hungary based on an agreement that he would eventually marry Andrew III's only daughter. But, here's what happened. Wenceslaus II died in 1305, making his now 15-year-old son, Wenceslaus III, king of all three kingdoms: Bohemia, Poland, and Hungary. But, then his betrothal to the Hungarian princess was called off, and therefore Wenceslaus III agreed to give the Hungarian crown to Otto of Wittelsbach, another Arpad descendant. But, then just 1 year later, Wenceslaus III was assassinated at age 16, resulting in the extinction of the Premyslid dynasty. At this point, Bohemia, Poland, and Hungary went in three very different directions. In Poland, Władysław I became king, followed by Casimir the Great. In Hungary, Otto was replaced by Charles I from the Capetian House of Anjou, father of Louis the Great. And in Bohemia, the throne went first to Wenceslaus III's brother-in-law, Henry, and then to his other brother-in-law, John, from the House of Luxembourg. And this was really significant because, you see, John's father ended up becoming Holy Roman Emperor, and then later, his son, Charles, became Holy Roman Emperor as well, becoming the first person to hold both the crowns of Bohemia and Germany. In Bohemia, he was known as Charles but as emperor, IV is generally seen as being the greatest Bohemian monarch of all time. During his reign, Bohemia experienced a golden age with Prague becoming the capital of the Holy Roman Empire, as well as one of the largest and most prominent cities in Europe. During Charles IV's reign, the current St. Vitus Cathedral began to be constructed, as well as the famous Charles Bridge, which bears his name. Charles IV was succeeded by his son

Wenceslaus IV, who served as King of Bohemia and Germany, but was never actually crowned as Holy Roman Emperor. Meanwhile, his half-brother Sigismund became King of Hungary due to his marriage to Mary, the daughter of Louis the Great. Wenceslaus IV ended up being a rather ineffectual ruler, and as such was eventually deposed as King of Germany, with his half-brother Sigismund, about a decade later, being elected instead, this time being actually crowned as Emperor. As Emperor, Sigismund is remembered for ending the Papal Schism between Avignon and Rome, and for building defenses against the growing Ottoman Empire. Now, in Bohemia, because Wenceslaus IV had no children, when he died, Sigismund technically became King there as well. I say technically because around the same time that Wenceslaus IV died, the Hussite Wars began, the Hussites being a group of sort of proto-Protestants, and therefore Sigismund wasn't actually able to take full control of Bohemia until he made a peace agreement with the moderate Hussites, just 1 year before his death. Now, Sigismund also did not have any surviving sons, just one daughter named Elizabeth, and therefore when Sigismund died, his titles passed to Elizabeth's husband, Albert, who was a Habsburg. Now, this is important because it marks the beginning of the Habsburgs' near continuous control of the Holy Roman Empire for the next 368 years. Let's briefly switch over to our European royal family tree west chart so I can show you where things went from here in terms of the emperorship. So, here's Sigismund again and here's his son-in-law Albert who, as you can see, was a descendant of King Rudolph of Habsburg who I mentioned earlier. Albert was never actually crowned emperor and died young with no son to succeed him. Therefore, at this point the next German king to be elected was his second cousin Frederick from a different branch of the Habsburg tree, the one that would ultimately stay in power leading to Charles V and his brother Ferdinand. We'll come back to them in a bit, but for now let's return to the north/east chart to continue along the line of Bohemian kings. So, when Albert died, Elizabeth was actually still pregnant with their firstborn son, Ladislaus. At just 2 months old, he was named king of Hungary, although this was contested by Władysław III of Poland. However, in Bohemia, there was actually no king for the next 13 years with the country being split between Catholic nobles and Hussite nobles. Eventually, a Hussite leader by the name of George of Podiebrady gained the upper hand and became a regent for the now 13-year-old Ladislaus V. But then, when Ladislaus V died at age 17, George was named king. However, in Hungary, a man named Matthias Corvinus was elected instead. From here, we get just two more independent kings of Bohemia. The first being Vladislaus II, who was the son of Casimir IV of Poland. However, through his mother, he was the grandson of Elizabeth of Luxembourg and Albert of Habsburg. Because of these genealogical connections, he was given the throne of Bohemia before he was able to inherit Poland. And then, when Matthias Corvinus died, he was given Hungary as well. Finally, when his father died, he could have become a triple king, adding Poland to his realms. But he opted instead to let his brother John reign there. In Bohemia and Hungary, he became known as King Dobsha, Dobsha meaning okay, because he basically let the nobles do whatever they wanted and signed every petition with okay. This lack of strong leadership led to the weakening of Hungary in particular, setting the stage for the Ottomans to make gains there, which they did during the reign of his son Louis II. In fact, Louis died at the Battle of Mohács against the Ottomans, and from that point onwards, Hungary would never be the same. Prior to his death, Vladislaus II agreed to have his daughter Anne marry a Habsburg, so that if Louis's line died out, which it did before it even began, Bohemia and Hungary would be incorporated into the Habsburg domains. So, let's now go back to the West chart to see that more clearly. So, here's Vladislaus II on this chart, and here's his daughter Anne, who married Ferdinand I, the brother of Charles V. Ferdinand became King of Bohemia and Hungary when Anne's brother Louis was killed by the Ottomans in 1526. Now, as you probably know, Charles V inherited both the Holy Roman Empire and Spain. But just before he died, he decided to split his realms, giving the emperorship to his brother Ferdinand and

Spain to his son Philip. Therefore, in 1556, Ferdinand became Holy Roman Emperor in addition to being King of Bohemia and Hungary. And from here on out, those three titles, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, and King of Hungary, would basically stay together until the time of Napoleon. The only two exceptions were in 1619, when Frederick V of the Palatinate, known as the Winter King, became King of Bohemia for about 1 year. And then from 1740 to 1765, when Maria Theresa was able to become Queen Regent of both Bohemia and Hungary, but not a reigning Empress. Eventually, her husband became the Emperor, and the line continued through their sons. When we get to Francis II, though, the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved and replaced in Austria by the Austrian Empire. Thus, for another 100-plus years, we get the three titles of Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, and King of Hungary being held together up until the end of World War I, which is when all three monarchies were dissolved. At this point in 1918, the Czechs and the Slovaks joined together to create Czechoslovakia, which lasted until the end of 1992, after which time it was split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Okay, so that was a look at the monarchs of Bohemia. Once again, if you want to get a copy of the chart as a poster, just head over to usefulcharts. com, or simply click the link in the description, pinned comment, or on screen right now. Thanks for watching.