The consequences of these constant internal struggles were twofold; the German influence became stronger, and the power of the sovereign declined, as the nobility on whose support the competitors for the crown were obliged to rely constantly obtained new privileges. In 1197 Přemysl Ottakar became undisputed ruler of Bohemia, and he was crowned as king in the following year. The royal title of the Bohemian sovereigns was continued uninterruptedly from that date. Wenceslas I. (1230-1253) succeeded his father as king of Bohemia without opposition. The last years of his reign were troubled by internal Ottakar II. discord. Wenceslas’s son, Přemysl Ottakar II., who under the sovereignty of his father ruled Moravia, became for a time the chief leader of the malcontents. A reconciliation between son and father, however, took place before the latter’s death. Přemysl Ottakar II. was one of the greatest of Bohemia’s kings. He had during the lifetime of his father obtained possession of the archduchies of Austria, and, about the time of his accession to the Bohemian throne, the nobility of Styria also recognized him as their ruler. These extensions of his dominions involved Přemysl Ottakar II. in repeated wars with Hungary. In 1260 he decisively defeated Bela, king of Hungary, in the great battle of Kressenbrunn. After this victory Ottakar’s power rose to its greatest height. He now obtained possession of Carinthia, Istria and parts of northern Italy. His possessions extended from the Giant Mountains in Bohemia to the Adriatic, and included almost all the parts of the present Habsburg empire west of the Leitha. His contemporaries called Ottakar “the man of gold” because of his great wealth, or “the man of iron” because of his military power. From political rather than racial causes Ottakar favoured the immigration of Germans into his dominions. He hoped to find in the German townsmen a counterpoise to the overwhelming power of the Bohemian nobility. In 1273 Rudolph, count of Habsburg, was elected king of the Romans. It is very probable that the German crown had previously been offered to Ottakar, but that he had refused it. Several causes, among others his Slavic nationality, which was likely to render him obnoxious to the Germans, contributed to his decision. As Rudolph immediately claimed as vacant fiefs of the Empire most of the lands held by Ottakar, war was inevitable. Ottakar was deserted by many of his new subjects, and even by part of the Bohemian nobility. He was therefore unable to resist the German king, and was obliged to surrender to him all his lands except Bohemia and Moravia, and to recognize Rudolph as his overlord. New dissensions between the two sovereigns broke out almost immediately. In 1278 Ottakar invaded the Austrian duchies, now under the rule of Rudolph, but was defeated and killed at the battle of Durnkrut on the Marchfeld.
Ottakar’s son, Wenceslas II., was only seven years of age at the death of his father, and Otto of Brandenburg, a nephew of Ottakar, for a time governed Bohemia as guardian of the young sovereign. Otto’s rule was very unpopular, Wenceslas II. an insurrection broke out against him, and Bohemia was for a time in a state of complete anarchy. The country was at last pacified through the intervention of Rudolph of Habsburg, and at the age of twelve Wenceslas became nominal ruler of the country. All power was, however, in the hands of Zavis of Falkenstein, one of the great Bohemian nobles, who had married the king’s mother, Kunegunda. The power of Zavis at last became invidious to the king, by whose order he was beheaded in 1290. Wenceslas, though only nineteen years of age, henceforth governed Bohemia himself, and his short reign was a period of great happiness for the country. Poland also accepted the rule of Wenceslas and the Hungarian crown was offered to him. Towards the end of his reign Wenceslas became involved in war with Albert, archduke of Austria, afterwards king of the Romans. While preparing to invade Austria Wenceslas died suddenly (1305). His son and successor, Wenceslas III., was then only sixteen years of age, and he only ruled over Bohemia for one year. While planning a warlike expedition against Poland, on which country the Bohemian sovereigns now again maintained their claim, he was murdered by unknown assassins (1306). With him ended the rule of the Přemyslide dynasty over Bohemia.
Albert, king of the Romans, declared that Bohemia was a vacant fief of the Empire, and, mainly by intimidation, induced the Bohemians to elect his son Rudolph as their sovereign; but Rudolph died after a reign of only one year. Though the Habsburg princes at this period already claimed a hereditary right to the Bohemian throne, the Bohemians determined to maintain their right of electing their sovereign, and they chose Henry, duke of Carinthia, who had married a daughter of King Wenceslas II. Henry soon became unpopular, as he was accused of unduly favouring the German settlers in Bohemia. It was decided to depose him, and the choice of the Bohemians now John of Luxemburg. fell on John of Luxemburg, son of Henry, king of the Romans. The Luxemburg dynasty henceforth ruled over Bohemia up to the time of its extinction at the death of Sigismund (1437). Though King John, by his marriage to the princess Elizabeth, a daughter of Wenceslas II., became more closely connected with Bohemia, he does not appear to have felt much interest in that country. Most of his life was spent in other lands, his campaigns ranging from Italy in the south to Lithuania in the north. It became proverbial “that nothing could be done in the world without the help of God and of the king of Bohemia.” The policy of John was founded on a close alliance with France, the country for which he felt most sympathy. Fighting as an ally of France he fell at the battle of Crécy (1346).
He was succeeded as king of Bohemia by his son Charles, whom the German electors had previously elected as their sovereign at Rense (1346). Charles proved one of the greatest rulers of Bohemia, where his memory is still King Charles. revered. Prague was his favourite residence, and by the foundation of the nové město (new town) he greatly enlarged the city, which now had three times its former extent, and soon also trebled its population. He also added greatly to the importance of the city by founding the famous university of Prague. Charles succeeded in re-establishing order in Bohemia. The country had been in a very disturbed state in consequence of feuds that were incessant during the reign of John, who had almost always been absent from Bohemia. Charles also attempted to codify the obscure and contradictory laws of Bohemia; but this attempt failed through the resistance of the powerful nobility of the country. During the reign of Charles, the first symptoms of that movement in favour of church reform that afterwards acquired a world-wide importance, appeared in Bohemia. As Charles has often been accused of undue subserviency to the Church of Rome, it should be mentioned that he granted his protection to several priests who favoured the cause of church reform. In his foreign policy Charles differed from his father. The relations with France gradually became colder, and at the end of his reign Charles favoured an alliance with England; he died in 1378 at the age of sixty-two, prematurely exhausted by arduous work.
Charles was succeeded by his son Wenceslas, who was then seventeen years of age. His reign marks the decline of the rule of the house of Luxemburg over Bohemia. He was a weak and incapable sovereign, but the very exaggerated Wenceslas IV. accusations against him, which are found principally in the works of older historians, are mainly due to the fact that the king and to a larger extent his queen, Sophia, for a time furthered the cause of church reform, thus incurring the displeasure of Romanist writers. During the earlier part of the reign of Wenceslas a continual struggle took place between the king and the powerful Bohemian nobles, who indeed twice imprisoned their sovereign. Wenceslas also became involved in a dispute with the archbishop, which resulted in the death of the famous John of Nepomuk.
The later part of the reign of Wenceslas is a record of incipient religious conflict. The hold of the Church of Rome on Bohemia had already been weakened during the reign of King Charles by attacks on the immorality of the clergy, Huss and the Hussites. which proceeded from pious priests such as Milić and Waldhauser. The church schism, during which the rival pontiffs assailed each other with all the wild threats and objurgations of medieval theological strife, necessarily alienated the Bohemians to a yet greater extent. Almost the whole Bohemian nation therefore espoused the cause of Huss (q.v.). Wenceslas on the occasion of these disputes displayed the weakness and irresolution that always characterized him, but Queen Sophia openly favoured the cause of Huss, who for some time was her confessor. Huss was tried before the council of Constance (q.v.), to which he had proceeded with a letter of safe conduct given by Wenceslas’s brother Sigismund, king of the Romans. He was declared a heretic and burnt on the 6th of July 1415. The inevitable and immediate result of this event was the outbreak of civil war in Bohemia, where Huss was greatly revered by the large majority of the population. The nobles of Bohemia and Moravia met at Prague on the 2nd of September 1415, and sent to the council the famed Protestatio Bohemorum, in which they strongly protested against the execution of Huss, “a good, just and catholic man who had for many years been favourably known in the Kingdom by his life, conduct and fame, and who had been convicted of no offence.” They further declared that all who affirmed that heresy existed in Bohemia were “liars, vile traitors and calumniators of Bohemia and Moravia, the worst of all heretics, full of all evil, sons of the devil.” They finally stated “that they would defend the law of our Lord Jesus Christ and its pious, humble and steadfast preachers at the cost of their blood, scorning all fear and all human decrees that might be contrary to them.”[2] This protest was a declaration of war against the Roman church, and marks the beginning of the Hussite wars. The council, indeed, summoned the nobles before its tribunal, but they refused to appear. A large number of the nobles and knights who had met at Prague formed a confederacy and declared that they consented to freedom of preaching the word of God on their estates, that they declined to recognize the authority of the council of Constance, but would obey the Bohemian bishops and a future pope lawfully elected. Meanwhile they declared the university of Prague the supreme authority in all matters of religion. The members of the confederacy attempted, though unsuccessfully, to induce King Wenceslas to become their leader. The Romanist nobles, who were not numerous, but some of whom owned vast estates, now also formed a confederacy, pledging themselves to support the pope and the council. After the closing of the council in 1418, Sigismund, who—Wenceslas being childless—was heir to the Bohemian throne, sent a letter to his brother, which was practically a manifesto addressed to the Bohemian people. He threatened with the severest penalties all who should continue to resist the authority of Rome. Wenceslas maintained the vacillating attitude that was characteristic of his whole reign, though Queen Sophia still extended her protection to the reformers. By doing this, indeed, she incurred the wrath of the Church to so great an extent that an act of accusation against her was drawn up at the council of Constance. Intimidated by his brother, Wenceslas now attempted to stem the current of religious enthusiasm. Immediately after the death of Huss many priests who refused to administer communion in the two kinds—now the principal tenet of the adherents of Huss—had been expelled from their parishes. Wenceslas decreed that they should be reinstated, and it was only after some hesitation that he even permitted that religious services according to the Utraquist doctrine should be held in three of the churches of Prague. Some of the more advanced reformers left Prague and formed the party known as the Taborites, from the town of Tabor which became their centre. Troubles soon broke out at Prague. When on the 30th of July 1419, the Hussite priest, John of Zelivo, was leading a procession through the streets of Prague, stones were thrown at him and his followers from the town hall of the “new town.” The Hussites, led by John Žižka (q.v.), stormed the town-hall and threw the magistrates from its windows. On receiving the news of these riots King Wenceslas was immediately seized by an attack of apoplexy; a second fit on the 16th of August ended his life.
The news of the death of the king caused renewed rioting in Prague and many other Bohemian cities, from which many Germans, mostly adherents of the Church of Rome, were expelled. Finally a temporary truce was Sigismund. concluded, and, early in the following year, Sigismund, who now claimed the Bohemian crown as successor of his brother, arrived at Kutna Hora (Kuttenberg). Pope Martin V. on the 1st of March 1420 proclaimed a crusade against Bohemia, and crusaders from all parts of Europe joined Sigismund’s army. “On the 30th day of June the Hungarian king, Sigismund, with a large army consisting of men of various countries, as well as of Bohemians, occupied the castle of Prague, determined to conquer the city, which they considered a heretical community because they used the sacred chalice and accepted other evangelical truths.”[3] But the attempt of the crusaders to conquer Prague failed, and after an attack by them on the Vitkov (now Zizkov) hill had been repulsed by the desperate bravery of the Taborites, led by Žižka, Sigismund determined to abandon the siege of Prague. An attempt of Sigismund to relieve the besieged garrison of the Vyŝehrad fortress on the outskirts of Prague also failed, as he was again entirely defeated at the battle of the Vyŝehrad (November 1, 1420).
Royal authority now ceased in Bohemia. At a meeting of the diet at Caslav (June 1, 1421) Sigismund was deposed. It was decided that a Polish prince should be chosen as sovereign, and that meanwhile a provisional government, composed of twenty men belonging to the various parties, should be established. In 1422 Sigismund again invaded Bohemia, but was decisively defeated by Žižka at Nêmecký Brod (Deutschbrod). The Polish prince, Sigismund Korybutoviĉ, now arrived in Bohemia, and was recognized as regent by the large majority of the inhabitants; but through the influence of the papal see Religious War. he was recalled by the rulers of Poland after a stay of only a few months. After his departure, civil war between the moderate Hussites (Calixtines or Utraquists) and the advanced Taborite party broke out for the first time, though there had previously been isolated disturbances between them. The return of Prince Korybutoviĉ and the menace of a German invasion soon reunited the Bohemians, who gained a decisive victory over the Germans at Aussig in 1426. Shortly afterwards Korybutoviĉ, who had taken part in this great victory, incurred the dislike of the extreme Hussites, and was obliged to leave Bohemia. All hope of establishing an independent Slav dynasty in Bohemia thus came to an end. In 1427 several German princes undertook a new crusade against the Hussites. With the German and other invaders were 1000 English archers, bodyguard to Henry Beaufort, bishop of Winchester, who took part in the crusade as papal legate. The crusaders were seized by a sudden panic, both at Mies (Střibro) and at Tachau, as soon as they approached the Hussites, and they fled hurriedly across the mountains into Bavaria. Though internal disturbances again broke out, the Bohemians after this success assumed the offensive, and repeatedly invaded Hungary and the German states.
The impossibility of conquering Bohemia had now become obvious, and it was resolved that a council should meet at Basel (q.v.) to examine the demands of the Hussites. The Germans, however, influenced by Sigismund, determined to make a last attempt to subdue Bohemia by armed force. The Bohemians, as usual united in the moment of peril, defeated the Germans at Domažlice (Taus) on the 1st of August 1431, after a very short fight. In the course of the same year negotiations began at Basel, the Hussites being represented by a numerous embassy under the leadership of Prokop the Great. The negotiations proceeded very slowly, and in 1433 the Bohemians returned to their own country, accompanied, however, by envoys of the council. Dissensions had meanwhile again broken out in Bohemia, and they were now of a political rather than a religious nature. The more aristocratic Hussites raised an armed force which was known as “the army of the nobles.” The Taborites also collected their men, who formed “the army of the towns.” The two armies met at Lipan, near Kolin, on the 30th of May 1434. The Taborites were defeated, and the two Prokops and most of their other leaders perished on the battlefield. The victory of the moderate party paved the way to a reconciliation with Sigismund and the Church of Rome. The Bohemians The “Compacts.” recognized Sigismund as their sovereign, but obtained considerable concessions with regard to religious matters. These concessions, which were formulated in the so-called Compacts, granted to the Bohemians the right of communion in both kinds, and of preaching the gospel freely, and also to a certain extent limited the power of the clergy to acquire worldly goods.
After the Compacts had been formally recognized at Iglau in Moravia, Sigismund proceeded to Prague and was accepted as king. He died in the following year (1437) and was succeeded by his son-in-law, Albert of Austria, whom the estates chose as their king. Albert died after he had reigned over Bohemia less than two years. Though it was known that Albert’s widow Elizabeth would shortly give birth to a child, the question as to the succession to the throne again arose; for it was only in 1627 that the question whether the Bohemian crown was elective or hereditary was decided for ever. The nobles formed two parties, one of which, the national one, had George of George of Poděbrad. Poděbrad (q.v.) as its leader. Ulrich of Rosenberg was the leader of the Roman or Austrian division of the nobility. The two parties finally came to an agreement known as the “Letter of Peace” (list mirný). Those who signed it pledged themselves to recognise the Compacts, and to support as archbishop of Prague, John of Rokycan, who had been chosen by the estates in accordance with an agreement made simultaneously with the Compacts, but whom the Church of Rome refused to recognize. On the other hand, the national party abandoned the candidature to the throne of Prince Casimir of Poland, thus paving the way to the eventual succession of Albert’s heir. On the 22nd of February 1440 Queen Elizabeth gave birth to a son, who received the name of Ladislas. The Bohemians formally acknowledged him as their king, though only after their crown had been declined by Albert, duke of Bavaria. Ladislas remained in Austria under the guardianship of his uncle Frederick, duke of Styria, afterwards the emperor Frederick III., and Bohemia, still without regular government, continued to be the scene of constant conflicts between the rival parties of the nobility. In 1446 a general meeting of the estates of Bohemia together with those of Moravia, Silesia and Lusatia—and so-called “lands of the Bohemian crown”—took place. This meeting has exceptional importance for the constitutional history of Bohemia. It was decreed that at the meeting of the estates their members should be divided into three bodies—known as curiae—representing the nobles, the knights and the towns. These curiae were to deliberate separately and only to meet for a final decision. An attempt made at this meeting to appoint a regent was unsuccessful. The negotiations with the papal see continued meanwhile, but led to no result, as the members of the Roman party used their influence at the papal court for the purpose of dissuading it from granting any concessions to their countrymen. Shortly after the termination of the diet of 1446 George of Poděbrad therefore determined to appeal to the fortune of war. He assembled a considerable army at Kutna Hora and marched on Prague (1448). He occupied the town almost without resistance and assumed the regency over the kingdom. The diet in 1451 recognized his title, which was also sanctioned by the emperor Frederick III., guardian of the young king. Poděbrad was none the less opposed, almost from the first, by the Romanists, who even concluded an alliance against him with their extreme opponents, Kolda of Žampach and the other remaining Taborites. In October 1453 Ladislas arrived in Bohemia and was crowned king at Prague; but he died somewhat suddenly on the 23rd of November 1457. George of Poděbrad has from the first frequently been accused of having poisoned him, but historical research has proved that this accusation is entirely unfounded. The Bohemian throne was now again vacant, for, when electing Ladislas the estates had reaffirmed the elective character of the monarchy. Though there were several foreign candidates, the estates unanimously elected George of Poděbrad, who had now for some time administered the country. Though the Romanist lords, whom Poděbrad had for a time won over, also voted for him, the election was considered a great victory of the national party and was welcomed with enthusiasm by the citizens of Prague.