Spytihněv I, Duke of Bohemia

Spytihněv I
Duke of Bohemia
Fresco, Rotunda of St Catherine, Znojmo
Reign	894–915
Predecessor	Bořivoj I
Successor	Vratislaus I
Noble family	Přemyslid dynasty
Born	c. 875
Died	915

Spytihněv I (c. 875 – 915), a member of the Přemyslid dynasty, was Duke of Bohemia from 894 or 895 until his death.

He was the eldest son of Duke Bořivoj I, the first historically documented Bohemian ruler, and his wife Ludmila. Spytihněv and his younger brother Vratislaus were still minors at the time of their father's death about 889, and the Bohemian lands were placed under the regency of their suzerain, the Great Moravian ruler Svatopluk I.

After Svatopluk died in 894, an inheritance conflict arose between his sons Mojmír II and Svatopluk II. Spytihněv took advantage of the situation to free himself from Moravian vassalage: according to the Frankish chronicle Annales Fuldenses, he appeared at the Imperial Diet (Reichstag) in Regensburg in 895 and paid homage to the East Frankish King Arnulf of Carinthia. He reinforced the Přemyslid rule in Central Bohemia around present-day Prague, having several castles erected along the borders of his realm at Mělník, Libušín, Tetín, Lštění, and Boleslav. He also continued the extension of Prague Castle as the administrative centre of the rising Přemyslid duchy as a replacement for the early medieval gord of Levy Hradec.