Svatopluk, Duke of Bohemia
| Svatopluk of Olomouc | |
|---|---|
| Duke of Bohemia | |
Image of Svatopluk from a fresco in Znojmo
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| Duke of Bohemia | |
| Reign | 1107 – 21 September 1109 |
| Predecessor | Bořivoj II |
| Successor | Vladislaus I |
| Born | c. 1075 |
| Died | September 21, 1109 Głogów, Kingdom of Poland |
| Burial | Saint Wenceslas Cathedral, Olomouc |
| Spouse | ? |
| Issue | Wenceslaus Henry of Olomouc |
| House | Přemyslid dynasty |
| Father | Otto I of Olomouc |
| Mother | Euphemia of Hungary |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Svatopluk the Lion (Czech: Svatopluk Olomoucký; died 21 September 1109) was Duke of Bohemia from 1107 until his assassination in 1109. His rule was overshadowed by the fierce conflict around the Bohemian throne in the 12th century.
A member of the Přemyslid dynasty, he was the son of Prince Otto I of Olomouc and Euphemia, daughter of King Béla I of Hungary. His father was the youngest son of Duke Bretislaus I of Bohemia. When Bretislaus died in 1055, the Bohemian ducal dignity first passed to his eldest son, Svatopluk's uncle Spytihněv II, and upon Spytihněv's early death in 1061, it passed to Bretislaus's second son Vratislaus II, according to the patrilineal principle of agnatic seniority.
Vratislaus, who had received the title of a Bohemian king by order of Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV in 1086, elevated Svatopluk's father Otto (the fourth son of Bretislaus I) to the rank of a prince at Olomouc in Moravia. However, when his father died the next year, young Savatopluk had to yield the inheritance claims raised by Bretislaus's third son, his uncle Conrad I, who took over the rule in the Moravian lands.
Svatopluk himself received the title Prince of Olomouc in 1091, but again had to wait to ascend the Bohemian throne. At the death of Duke Conrad in 1092 after eight months of rule, the Bohemian throne was awarded to Bretislaus II, the son of the late King Vratislaus, according to the rules of agnatic seniority. Nevertheless, the enmity with the Moravian branch of the Přemyslids increased, more so when Duke Bretislaus II appointed his half-brother Bořivoj II ruler of the Moravian lands and made an application to Emperor Henry IV to acknowledge Bořivoj's succession as Bohemian duke, thus precipitating a civil war with the sons of his uncle Conrad I. In 1099, he prevailed when the Emperor had an Imperial charter written out, and after the death of Bretislaus II in 1100, Bořivoj took power.
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