Wenceslaus I, King of Bohemia

Wenceslaus I
Seal of Wenceslaus I
King of Bohemia
Reign	1230–1253
Predecessor	Ottokar I
Successor	Ottokar II
Born	c. 1205 Kingdom of Bohemia
Died	23 September 1253 (aged c. 48) Králův Dvůr, Kingdom of Bohemia
Spouse	Kunigunde of Swabia
Issue more...	Vladislaus, Margrave of Moravia Ottokar II, King of Bohemia Beatrice, Margravine of Brandenburg
House	Přemyslid dynasty
Father	Ottokar I of Bohemia
Mother	Constance of Hungary

Wenceslaus I (Czech: Václav I. Přemyslovec; c. 1205 – 23 September 1253), called One-Eyed, was King of Bohemia from 1230 to 1253.

Wenceslaus was a son of Ottokar I of Bohemia and his second wife Constance of Hungary.

In 1224, Wenceslaus married Kunigunde of Hohenstaufen, third daughter of Philip of Swabia, King of Germany, and his wife Irene Angelina. Wenceslaus encouraged large numbers of Germans to settle in the villages and towns in Bohemia and Moravia. Stone buildings began to replace wooden ones in Prague as a result of the influence of the new settlers.

Wenceslaus and Kunigunde had five known children:

On 6 February 1228, Wenceslaus was crowned as co-ruler of the Kingdom of Bohemia with his father. On 15 December 1230, Ottokar died and Wenceslaus succeeded him as the senior King of Bohemia.

His early reign was preoccupied by the threat to Bohemia posed by Frederick II, Duke of Austria. The expansionism of Frederick caused the concern and protestation of several other rulers. In 1236, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II was involved in a war against the Lombard League. The Emperor demanded Wenceslaus and other rulers of the Holy Roman Empire to lend him part of their own troops for his war effort. Wenceslaus led a group of princes who expressed their reluctance to divert any troops from the defense of their own territories, citing fear of invasion from the Duchy of Austria. They requested imperial intervention in the situation.