11. století
Vratislas II
Czech duke, he was the first King of Bohemia
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He was a powerful duke who strongly supported the Emperor against the Pope, for which he was rewarded with the royal title.
Vratislas was a high-principled and a far-sighted politician as well as an excellent warrior, but he was also “choleric and vindictive”.
He was the most loyal ally of Emperor Henry IV in his battle against the Pope and the German princes. The Emperor even granted him the margrave of Austria, which he wanted to seize from Leopold II of Babenberg. And later, despite their relations having cooled off, Vratislas never shifted his loyalty. He managed to improve the status of the Czech territories within the Empire, for which he stopped collecting the age-old tribute and only kept the symbolic duty to send 300 horsemen to Rome for the coronation of emperors. In April 1085 at the famous Reichstag in Mainz he was rewarded by the Emperor with the royal crown. He was crowned king of Bohemia and of Poland, although his forays in Poland weren’t too successful.
Vratislas’ reign in Bohemia is mainly marked by the conflict
with his brother Jaromír, who became Prague’s bishop after the death of Bishop Severus and despite the duke’s opposition. In fact in 1063 Vratislas had greatly restricted the bishop’s power by founding the diocese of Olomouc, and the following year he also called back the Slavic monks, who had been driven out of the Sazava monastery by his brother Spytihněv. The founding of the Vyšehrad Chapter, which was directly subordinated to the papal court as required by Vratislas, was also directed against the power-hungry Jaromír. News crossed the borders about a violent assault by Jaromir on the old Bishop Jan of Olomouc, which prompted Vratislas to urge the Pope to take action. The latter sent an official emissary to Bohemia to settle the quarrel. Vratislas’ request incidentally suited the Curia, which endeavored to centralize the Church and to restrict the independence of local churches. The conflict went on until Jaromir’s death in 1090 and the next bishops of Prague never contested the legitimacy of the diocese of Olomouc.
