10. - 11. století
Jaromir
Duke of Bohemia of the Premyslid dynasty
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Jaromir was the second of Boleslav II’s three sons. He was twice Duke of Bohemia but was wronged by his brothers and suffered from their merciless behavior (see the legend about him).
Jaromir was the most gentle of Boleslav’s wild sons. In 1001 he had to flee the country with his brother Ulrich and his mother from his cruel brother Boleslav III, who, true to his merciless nature, had decided to eliminate both his brothers. He managed to castrate Jaromir before his escape. After a short episode with the Polish ruler Vladivoj on the Bohemian princely throne, Jaromir became Duke of Bohemia for a short time before being once again driven away by the Polish ruler. He then came to power in the late 1004 thanks to the strong support of the Roman King Henry II.
During the reign of Jaromir, the Bohemian princedom had to deal with the pressure from Poland and Jaromir didn’t even have Moravia under control.
In 1012, Ulrich seized power and Jaromir fled to the Emperor. An agreement concluded between Henry II and Ulrich led to the imprisonment of Jaromir, who was kept in jail for the next 20 years.
The unlucky Jaromir became once again Duke of Bohemia, when the Emperor Conrad II exploited him against the rebellious Ulrich. The latter was however soon released and in 1034 he blinded and deposited Jaromir. After the death of Ulrich, which happened soon enough, Jaromir relinquished all claims to the throne in favor of his nephew Bretislas I and he retired abroad. But it didn’t save him from more sufferings. In 1035, the defenseless Jaromir was murdered, most probably by the Vrshovetz family. Cosmas wrote: “Kochan dispatched his killer, and as the blind man was sitting on the toilet in the nightly hour, emptying his belly, he stabbed him with a sharp spear from behind into his abdominal viscera.”
