This study takes as its rough starting point the end of the reign of Duke Břetislav I. The four decades after his death in 1055 were dominated by his five sons: Spitihněv, duke from 1055–61; Vratislav, duke from 1061–92 and king after 1086; Conrad, vice-duke of Brno and duke of Bohemia for less than a year in 1092; Jaromír, bishop of Prague from 1068 to 1090; and Otto, vice-duke of Olomouc. Spitihněv died relatively young, leaving his four brothers locked in mutual fear and antagonism for the next thirty years. Otherwise this period is most notable for developments in ecclesiastical affairs: the establishment of a bishopric in Moravia, at Olomouc; the fight over the Catholic Slavonic liturgy at the Benedictine monastery of Sázava; the first recorded visit of papal delegates; and a general intensification of contacts with the papacy. These activities, together with a host of others both known and unknown to us, furthered and substantially completed the Christianization of Czech society in this period. Vratislav’s reign also witnessed new, closer connections to the German emperor, as both the duke and Bishop Jaromír allied themselves with Henry IV in the civil wars that rocked the Empire. As a reward for his staunch military support, Henry crowned Vratislav king in 1086.
TABLE 1. DUKES OF BOHEMIA
| Duke | Reign |
| Břetislav I | 1037–55 |
| Spitihněv | 1055–61 |
| Vratislav | 1061–92, king after 1086 |
| Conrad | 1092 |
| Břetislav II | 1092–1100 |
| Bořivoj | 1100–1107; 1117–20 |
| Svatopluk | 1107–9 |
| Vladislav I | 1109–17; 1120–25 |
| Soběslav I | 1125–40 |
| Vladislav II | 1140–73, king after 1158 |
| Soběslav II | 1173–78 |
| Frederick | 1173; 1178–89 |
| Conrad Otto | 1189–91 |
| Václav | 1192 |
| Přemysl Otakar | 1193; 1198–1232 as king |
| (Bishop) Henry | 1193–97 |
| Vladislav Henry | 1197 |
The deaths of Vratislav and Conrad, both in 1092, marked the end of one generation of Přemyslids; the next generation, comprising Břetislav I’s eleven grandsons, created a situation considerably more complicated. This period began peaceably enough with the accession to power of Vratislav’s eldest son, Břetislav II. But a series of assassinations, succession conflicts, and attempts at deposition ensued after Břetislav’s murder in 1100. In essence, only the enthronement of Soběslav I and his subsequent victory in February 1126 over Otto II of Olomouc, the only other living Přemyslid of his generation, brought the dynastic strife to an end. Cosmas, in Book III of the Chronica Boemorum, describes in detail the intense jockeying between freemen around the duke and various Přemyslid pretenders of this period. Its most spectacular result, perhaps, hardly concerned the throne at all: the widespread massacre of a broad kin-group (perhaps) called the Vršovici, ordered by Duke Svatopluk (1107–9) in 1108. On the whole, however, these were not decades of chaos. Outside specific instances of conflict, in preparations for and actually fighting on the battlefield, life in the Czech Lands went on as usual. The reigns of Vladislav I (1109–25) and Soběslav I (1125–40), in particular, were long, relatively quiet ones.
Vladislav II succeeded his uncle, Soběslav, in 1140. Almost immediately thereafter, in 1142, he successfully defended his hold on power against a massive revolt of senior freemen and Přemyslids; in his camp were his brothers, Theobald and Henry, a substantial number of younger magnates, and the German ruler, Conrad III. Together with the powerful, activist, Premonstratensian bishop of Olomouc, Henry Zdík (1126–50), Vladislav supported a renaissance in monastic life: many new monasteries were established throughout Bohemia and Moravia, including convents for women as well as houses for Cistercians, Premonstratensians, and Hospitallers. Both Henry Zdík and Bishop Daniel of Prague (1148–67) assiduously cultivated contacts in the Empire and in Rome; they were frequent travelers, the former even preaching to the pagan Prussians and the latter serving as imperial diplomatic envoy. Perhaps the most noteworthy pair of events of the twelfth century came at the midpoint of Vladislav’s long rule: his elevation to the rank of king in 1158 and the participation of a Czech army in Barbarossa’s war against Milan. The king’s last years were spent trying to secure the succession of his eldest son Frederick, in whose favor he abdicated in 1173.
Vladislav’s reign, first as duke and then as king of Bohemia, hardly passed free of dynastic tension. His efforts to contain it were largely successful so long as he ruled, but they erupted dramatically upon his abdication. Some Přemyslids and freemen demanded the release of his cousin Soběslav, the son of Soběslav I, incarcerated for fifteen years. With the backing of the Czech freemen and Barbarossa’s intervention, Frederick was passed over and Soběslav enthroned. Vladislav II ended his days in exile. After four years, however, Soběslav II proved unpopular (though the chronicler, Gerlach, would extol him as a defender of the poor and of the church), and Frederick was able to regain the throne. Duke Frederick seems to have been a weak, inept, and rather corrupt ruler; although aided by his capable wife, Elizabeth, he barely managed to stave off a pair of serious challenges to his power before dying a natural death in 1189.
A motley assortment of Přemyslids were alive at the time of Frederick’s death: the younger brother of Soběslav II, Václav; his own brothers, Vladislav and Přemysl; his cousins, Theobald and Bishop Henry of Prague; plus Conrad Otto and the minor sons of Otto III in Moravia. Conrad Otto, who governed the combined appanages of Moravia during most of Frederick’s reign and was his chief rival, must have been recognized as the senior Přemyslid in 1189: he succeeded to the throne apparently without contest and then died on campaign in Italy two years later. The 1190s then witnessed a series of short ducal reigns, as various Přemyslids made bids for, or were ousted from, the throne. The longest-ruling was, remarkably, Bishop Henry—who seized the throne from his young cousin Přemysl in 1193 and ruled jointly as duke of Bohemia and bishop of Prague for four years, before his death in 1197. Vladislav succeded him but almost immediately faced a challenge from Přemysl. The two brothers agreed, before battle ensued, to divide the Czech Lands between them: Přemysl thus became duke of Bohemia and Vladislav margrave of Moravia. (Both subsequently adopted double names: Přemysl Otakar and Vladislav Henry.) That same year, in the midst of an imperial civil conflict, Přemysl was crowned king. Because the Czech Lands would be ruled by kings, rather than dukes, in the centuries after 1198, this seemed a fitting closing date for this study.