13th century (growth) Although some former rulers of Bohemia had enjoyed a non-hereditary royal title during the 11th and 12th centuries (
Vratislaus II,
Vladislaus II), the kingdom was formally established (by elevating
Duchy of Bohemia) in 1198 by
Přemysl Ottokar I, who had his status acknowledged by
Philip of Swabia, elected
King of the Romans, in return for his support against the rival Emperor
Otto IV. In 1204 Ottokar's royal status was accepted by Otto IV as well as by
Pope Innocent III. It was officially recognized in 1212 by the
Golden Bull of Sicily issued by Emperor
Frederick II, elevating the
Duchy of Bohemia to
Kingdom status and proclaiming its independence which was also later bolstered by future king of Bohemia and emperor Charles IV, with his golden bull in 1356. Under these terms, the Czech king was to be exempt from all future obligations to the Holy Roman Empire except for participation in the imperial councils. The imperial prerogative to ratify each Bohemian ruler and to appoint the bishop of
Prague was revoked. The king's successor was his son
Wenceslaus I, from his second marriage. in 1273 (13th century) Wenceslaus I's sister
Agnes, later canonized, refused to marry the Holy Roman Emperor and instead devoted her life to spiritual works. Corresponding with the Pope, she established the
Knights of the Cross with the Red Star in 1233, the first
military order in the Kingdom of Bohemia. Four other military orders were present in Bohemia: the
Order of St. John of Jerusalem from ; the
Order of Saint Lazarus from the late 12th century; the
Teutonic Order from c. 1200–1421; and the
Knights Templar from 1232 to 1312. as depicted in the
Codex Manesse The 13th century was the most dynamic period of the
Přemyslid reign over
Bohemia. German Emperor
Frederick II's preoccupation with Mediterranean affairs and the dynastic struggles known as the Great Interregnum (1254–73) weakened imperial authority in Central Europe, thus providing opportunities for Přemyslid assertiveness. At the same time, the
Mongol invasions (1220–42) absorbed the attention of Bohemia's eastern neighbors,
Hungary and
Poland.
Přemysl Ottokar II (1253–78) married a German princess,
Margaret of Babenberg, and became duke of
Austria. He thereby acquired
Upper Austria,
Lower Austria, and part of
Styria. He conquered the rest of Styria, most of
Carinthia, and parts of
Carniola. He was called "the king of iron and gold" (iron because of his conquests, gold because of his wealth). He campaigned as far as
Prussia, where he defeated the pagan natives and in 1256, founded a city he named Královec in Czech, which later became
Königsberg (now
Kaliningrad). In 1260, Ottokar defeated
Béla IV, king of Hungary in the
Battle of Kressenbrunn near the
Morava river, where more than 200,000 men clashed. He ruled an area from
Austria to the
Adriatic Sea. From 1273, however,
Habsburg king
Rudolf began to reassert imperial authority, checking Ottokar's power. He also had problems with rebellious nobility in Bohemia. All of Ottokar's German possessions were lost in 1276, and in 1278 he was abandoned by part of the Czech nobility and died in the
Battle on the Marchfeld against Rudolf. Ottokar was succeeded by his son King
Wenceslaus II, who was crowned King of
Poland in 1300. Wenceslaus II's son
Wenceslaus III was crowned King of Hungary a year later. At this time, the Kings of Bohemia ruled from Hungary to the
Baltic Sea. The 13th century was also a period of large-scale German immigration, during the , often encouraged by the Přemyslid kings. The Germans populated towns and mining districts on the Bohemian periphery and in some cases formed German colonies in the interior of the Czech lands. Stříbro,
Kutná Hora, Německý Brod (present-day
Havlíčkův Brod), and
Jihlava were important German settlements. The Germans brought their own code of law – the '''' – which formed the basis of the later commercial law of Bohemia and
Moravia. Marriages between Czech nobles and Germans soon became commonplace.
14th century ("Golden Age") around 1301 The 14th century – particularly the reign of
Charles IV (1342–1378) – is considered the Golden Age of Czech history. In 1306, the Přemyslid line died out and, after a series of dynastic wars,
John, Count of Luxembourg, was elected Bohemian king. He married
Elisabeth, the daughter of Wenceslaus II. He was succeeded as king in 1346 by his son, Charles IV, the second king from the
House of Luxembourg. Charles was raised at the French court and was cosmopolitan in attitude. Charles IV strengthened the power and prestige of the Bohemian kingdom. In 1344 he elevated the bishopric of
Prague, making it an archbishopric and freeing it from the jurisdiction of
Mainz, and the archbishop was given the right to crown Bohemian kings. Charles curbed the Bohemian, Moravian, and Silesian nobility, and rationalized the provincial administration of Bohemia and Moravia. He created the
Crown of Bohemia, incorporating Moravia,
Silesia and
Lusatia. , the ancient seat of Bohemian dukes and kings, Roman kings and emperors, and after 1918 the office of the Czechoslovak and Czech presidents In 1355 Charles was crowned Holy Roman Emperor. The next year he issued the
Golden Bull of 1356, defining and codifying the process of
election to the Imperial throne, with the Bohemian king among the seven electors. Issuance of the Golden Bull together with the ensuing acquisition of the Brandenburg Electorate gave the Luxemburgs two votes in the
electoral college. Charles also made
Prague into an Imperial capital. Extensive building projects undertaken by the king included the founding of the New Town southeast of the old city. The royal castle,
Hradčany, was rebuilt. Of particular significance was the founding of
Charles University in Prague in 1348. Charles intended to make Prague into an international center of learning, and the university was divided into Czech, Polish, Saxon, and Bavarian "nations", each with one controlling vote. Charles University, however, would become the nucleus of intense Czech particularism. Charles died in 1378, and the Bohemian crown went to his son,
Wenceslas IV. He had also been elected
King of the Romans in 1376, in the first election since his father's Golden Bull. He was deposed from the Imperial throne in 1400, however, having never been crowned Emperor. His half-brother,
Sigismund, was eventually crowned Emperor in Rome in 1433, ruling until 1437, and he was the last male member of the House of Luxemburg.
15th century (Hussite movement) The
Hussite movement (1402–1485) was primarily a religious, as well as national, manifestation. As a religious reform movement (the so-called
Bohemian Reformation), it represented a challenge to papal authority and an assertion of national autonomy in ecclesiastical affairs. The Hussites defeated four crusades from the Holy Roman Empire, and the movement is viewed by many as a part of the (worldwide)
Protestant Reformation. Because many of warriors of the crusades were Germans, although many were also Hungarians and Catholic Czechs, the Hussite movement is seen as a Czech national movement. In modern times it acquired anti-imperial and anti-German associations and has sometimes been identified as a manifestation of a long-term ethnic Czech–German conflict. Hussitism began during the long reign of
Wenceslaus IV (1378–1419), a period of papal schism and concomitant anarchy in the Holy Roman Empire. It was precipitated by a controversy at
Charles University in Prague. In 1403
Jan Hus became rector of the university. A reformist preacher, Hus espoused the anti-papal and anti-hierarchical teachings of
John Wycliffe of England, often referred to as the "Morning Star of the Reformation". Hus' teaching was distinguished by its rejection of what he saw as the wealth, corruption, and hierarchical tendencies of the Catholic Church. He advocated the Wycliffe doctrine of clerical purity and poverty, and insisted on the laity receiving
communion under both kinds, bread and wine. (The Catholic Church in practice reserved the cup, or wine, for the clergy.) The more moderate followers of Hus, the
Utraquists, took their name from the Latin '''', meaning "under each kind". The
Taborites, a more radical sect, soon formed, taking their name from the town of
Tábor, their stronghold in southern Bohemia. They rejected church doctrine and upheld the Bible as the sole authority in all matters of belief. , a medieval silver-mining centre, was once the second most important town of the kingdom. Soon after Hus assumed office, German professors of theology demanded the condemnation of Wycliffe's writings. Hus protested, receiving the support of the Czech element at the university. Having only one vote in policy decisions against three for the Germans, the Czechs were outvoted, and the orthodox position was maintained. In subsequent years, the Czechs demanded a revision of the university charter, granting more adequate representation to the native Czech faculty. The university controversy was intensified by the vacillating position of the Bohemian king Wenceslas. His favoring of Germans in appointments to councillor and other administrative positions had aroused the nationalist sentiments of the Czech nobility and rallied them to Hus' defense. The German faculties had the support of
Zbyněk Zajíc,
Archbishop of Prague, and the German clergy. For political reasons, Wenceslas switched his support from the Germans to Hus and allied with the reformers. On 18 January 1409, Wenceslas issued the
Decree of Kutná Hora: (as was the case at other major universities in Europe) the Czechs would have three votes; the others, a single vote. In consequence, German faculty and students left Charles University en masse in the thousands, and many ended up founding the
University of Leipzig. Hus' victory was short-lived. He preached against the sale of
indulgences, which lost him the support of the king, who had received a percentage of such sales. In 1412 Hus and his followers were suspended from the university and expelled from Prague. For two years the reformers served as
itinerant preachers throughout Bohemia. In 1414, Hus was summoned to the
Council of Constance to defend his views. Imprisoned when he arrived, he was allowed no legal advocate for his defense; the council condemned him as a heretic and relinquished him to an imperial secular court, which decreed he be
burned at the stake in 1415. Hus's death sparked the
Hussite Wars, decades of religious warfare.
Sigismund, the pro-papal king of
Hungary and successor to the Bohemian throne after the death of Wenceslas in 1419, failed repeatedly to gain control of the kingdom despite aid by Hungarian and German armies. Riots broke out in Prague. Led by a Czech yeoman,
Jan Žižka, the Taborites streamed into the capital. Religious strife pervaded the entire kingdom and was particularly intense in the German-dominated towns. Hussite Czechs and
Catholic Germans turned on each other; many were massacred, and many German survivors fled or were exiled to the rest of the Holy Roman Empire. Emperor Sigismund led or instigated various crusades against Bohemia with the support of Hungarians and Bohemian Catholics. The Hussite Wars followed a pattern. When a crusade was launched against Bohemia, moderate and radical Hussites would unite and defeat it. Once the threat was over, the Hussite armies would focus on raiding the land of Catholic sympathizers. Many historians have painted the Hussites as religious fanatics; they fought in part for a nationalist purpose: to protect their land from a King and a Pope who did not recognize the right of the Hussites to exist. Žižka led armies to storm castles, monasteries, churches, and villages, expelling the Catholic clergy, expropriating ecclesiastical lands, or accepting conversions. During the struggle against Sigismund, Taborite armies penetrated into areas of modern-day
Slovakia as well. Czech refugees from the religious wars in Bohemia settled there, and from 1438 to 1453 a Czech noble,
John Jiskra of Brandýs, controlled most of southern Slovakia from the centers of Zólyom (today
Zvolen) and Kassa (today
Košice). Thus Hussite doctrines and the Czech Bible were disseminated among the Slovaks, providing the basis for a future link between the Czechs and their Slovak neighbors. When Sigismund died in 1437, the Bohemian estates elected
Albert of Austria as his successor. Albert died and his son,
Ladislaus the Posthumous – so called because he was born after his father's death – was acknowledged as king. During Ladislaus' minority, Bohemia was ruled by a regency composed of moderate reform nobles who were Utraquists. Internal dissension among the Czechs provided the primary challenge to the regency. A part of the Czech nobility remained Catholic and loyal to the pope. A Utraquist delegation to the
Council of Basel in 1433 had negotiated a seeming reconciliation with the Catholic Church. The
Compacts of Basel accepted the basic tenets of Hussitism expressed in the Four Articles of Prague: communion under both kinds; free preaching of the Gospels; expropriation of church land; and exposure and punishment of public sinners. The pope, however, rejected the compact, thus preventing the reconciliation of Czech Catholics with the Utraquists.
George of Poděbrady, later to become the "national" king of Bohemia, emerged as leader of the Utraquist regency. George installed another Utraquist,
John of Rokycany, as archbishop of Prague and succeeded in uniting the more radical Taborites with the Czech Reformed Church. The Catholic party was driven out of Prague. After Ladislaus died of
leukemia in 1457, the following year the Bohemian estates elected George of Poděbrady as king. Although George was noble-born, he was not a successor of royal dynasty; his election to the monarchy was not recognised by the Pope, or any other European monarchs. George sought to establish a "Charter of a Universal Peace Union". He believed that all monarchs should work for a sustainable peace on the principle of national sovereignty of states, principles of non-interference, and solving problems and disputes before an International Tribunal. Also, Europe should unite to fight the
Turks. States would have one vote each, with a leading role for France. George did not see a specific role for Papal authority. Czech Catholic nobles joined in the League of Zelená Hora in 1465, challenging the authority of George of Poděbrady; the next year,
Pope Paul II excommunicated George. The
Bohemian War (1468–1478) pitted Bohemia against
Matthias Corvinus and
Frederick III of Habsburg, and the Hungarian forces occupied most of Moravia. George of Poděbrady died in 1471.
After 1471: Jagiellonian and Habsburg rule Upon the death of the Hussite king,
George of Poděbrady, the
Bohemian Diet elected the Polish prince
Vladislaus of the
Jagiellonian dynasty as king. In 1479, Mattias and Vladislaus made the
Peace of Olomouc, which ceded some of Bohemia's territory to Hungary ended the
Bohemian–Hungarian War. After Matthias died in 1490, the
Diet of Hungary elected Vladislaus as king of Hungary as well, holding both Bohemia and the
Kingdom of Hungary in
personal union. The Jagiellonian dynasty governed Bohemia as absentee monarchs because the Hungarian nobility insisted on them putting their capital into Hungary; their influence in the kingdom was minimal, and effective government fell to the regional nobility. Czech Catholics accepted the
Compacts of Basel in 1485 and were reconciled with the
Utraquist Hussites. The Bohemian estrangement from the Empire continued; not considered an
Imperial State, the Lands of the Bohemian Crown were not part of the
Imperial Circles established by the 1500
Imperial Reform. In 1526, Vladislaus's son, King
Louis II of Hungary, was killed at the
Battle of Mohács, fighting the
Ottoman Empire. Louis' death ended the Jagiellonian dynasty in Bohemia and Hungary; Louis' lands were partitioned between the Ottoman Empire, the
Habsburg monarchy, and the newly formed
Eastern Hungarian Kingdom. The Bohemian Diet elected Louis' brother-in-law,
Archduke Ferdinand, as the new king of Bohemia, beginning almost four centuries of Habsburg rule for both Bohemia and
Hungary. From 1599 to 1711, Moravia (a
Land of the Bohemian Crown) was frequently
subjected to raids by the Ottoman Empire and its vassals (especially the
Tatars and
Transylvania). Overall, hundreds of thousands were enslaved whilst tens of thousands were killed. The incorporation of Bohemia into the
Habsburg monarchy against the resistance of the local
Protestant nobility sparked the 1618
Defenestration of Prague, the brief reign of the
Winter King, and the
Thirty Years' War. Their defeat at the
Battle of White Mountain in 1620 put an end to the Bohemian autonomy movement. In 1624, Emperor
Ferdinand II issued a patent that allowed only the Catholic religion in Bohemia.
Defeat and dissolution unofficial
artwork of the Coat of arms of the kingdom (with the
Crown of Saint Wenceslas, part of the
Bohemian crown jewels) In 1740 the
Prussian Army conquered Bohemian
Silesia in the
Silesian Wars and forced
Maria Theresa in 1742 to cede the majority of Silesia, except the southernmost area with the duchies of Cieszyn, Krnov and Opava, to
Prussia. In 1756 Prussian King
Frederick II faced an enemy coalition led by Austria, when Maria Theresa was preparing for war with Prussia to reclaim Silesia. The Prussian army conquered
Saxony and in 1757 invaded Bohemia. In the
Battle of Prague (1757) they defeated the Habsburgs and subsequently occupied Prague. More than one quarter of Prague was destroyed and the
St. Vitus Cathedral suffered heavy damage. In the
Battle of Kolín, however, Frederick lost and had to vacate Prague and retreat from Bohemia. With the
dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Bohemian kingdom was incorporated into the now two years old
Austrian Empire and the royal title retained alongside the title of
Austrian Emperor. In the course of the 1867
Austro-Hungarian Compromise the provinces of Bohemia, Moravia and Austrian Silesia became
k. k. crown lands of
Cisleithania. The Bohemian Kingdom officially ceased to exist in 1918 by transformation into the
Czechoslovak Republic. The current Czech Republic consisting of Bohemia, Moravia and
Czech Silesia still uses most of the symbols of the Kingdom of Bohemia: a two-tailed lion in its coat-of-arms, red-white stripes in the
state flag and the
royal castle as the
president's office. ==Economy==