View source for Ottokar I of Bohemia

{{Short description|Duke/King of Bohemia (c.1155–1230)}}
{{more footnotes|date=February 2013}}
{{expand Czech|date=March 2024|topic=bio}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name            = Ottokar I
| succession      = [[List of Bohemian monarchs|Duke/King of Bohemia]]
| image= File:OttocarusPrimus.jpg
| image_size      = 150px
| caption= Contemporary relief carving of Ottokar I in the tympanum of [[St George's Convent, Prague]]
| reign           = 1192–1193<br /> 1200{{sfn|Sommer|Třeštík|Josef|2009|p=209}}–1230{{sfn|France|2006|page=233}}
| coronation      = 1203, [[Prague]]
| successor       = [[Wenceslaus I of Bohemia|Wenceslaus I]]
| full name       =
| spouses         = {{Plainlist|
* {{marriage|[[Adelheid of Meissen]]|1178|1199|end=divorced}}
* {{marriage|[[Constance of Hungary]]|1199}}
}}
| issue           = [[Wenceslaus I of Bohemia|Wenceslaus I, King of Bohemia]]<br>[[Dagmar of Bohemia|Dagmar, Queen of Denmark]]<br>[[Anne of Bohemia, Duchess of Silesia|Anne, Duchess of Silesia]]<br>[[Vladislaus II of Moravia]]<br>[[Agnes of Bohemia|Saint Agnes]]
| issue-link      = #Family
| issue-pipe      = more...
| dynasty         = [[Přemyslid dynasty|Přemyslid]]
| father          = [[Vladislaus II, Duke of Bohemia]]
| mother          = [[Judith of Thuringia]]
| birth_date      = {{circa}} 1155
| birth_place     = [[Bohemia]]
| death_date      = 15 December 1230 (aged 75)
| death_place     = [[Prague]]
| date of burial  =
| place of burial = [[St. Vitus Cathedral]]
|}}

'''Ottokar I''' ({{langx|cs|Přemysl Otakar I.}}; {{circa}} 1155 &ndash; 1230) was [[Duke of Bohemia]] periodically beginning in 1192, then acquired the title of [[King of Bohemia]], first in 1198 from [[Philip of Swabia]], later in 1203 from [[Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Otto IV of Brunswick]] and in 1212 (as hereditary) from [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick II]].  Ottokar was the first hereditary King of Bohemia; although two previous Bohemian monarchs ([[Vratislaus II of Bohemia|Vratislaus]] and [[Vladislaus II, Duke and King of Bohemia|Vladislaus II]]) had held the title of King, in each case the title was awarded only for the life of the recipient. He was an eminent member of the [[Přemyslid dynasty]]. 

==Early years==
Ottokar's parents were [[Vladislaus II, Duke of Bohemia]], and [[Judith of Thuringia]].{{sfn|Wihoda|2015|page=298}} His early years were passed amid the anarchy that prevailed everywhere in the country. After several military struggles, he was recognized as ruler of Bohemia by Holy Roman Emperor [[Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry VI]] in 1192.{{sfn|Bradbury|2004|p=70}} He was, however, soon overthrown for joining a conspiracy of German princes to bring down the [[Hohenstaufen]] dynasty. In 1197, Ottokar forced his brother, Duke [[Vladislaus III, Duke of Bohemia|Vladislaus III]], to abandon Bohemia to him and to content himself with [[Moravia]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=367}}

Taking advantage of the civil war in Germany between the [[Hohenstaufen]] claimant [[Philip of Swabia]] and the [[House of Welf|Welf]] candidate [[Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Otto IV]], Ottokar declared himself King of Bohemia in 1198,{{sfn|Merinsky|Meznik|1998|p=51}} being crowned in Mainz.{{sfn|Lyon|2013|p=146}} This title was supported by Philip of Swabia, who needed Czech military support against Otto.

In 1199, Ottokar divorced his wife [[Adelheid of Meissen]],{{sfn|Lyon|2013|p=146}} a member of the [[Wettin (dynasty)|Wettin dynasty]], to marry [[Constance of Hungary]], the young daughter of Hungarian King [[Béla III of Hungary|Béla III]].{{sfn|Lyon|2013|p=146-147}}

In 1200, with Otto IV in the ascendancy, Ottokar abandoned his pact with Philip of Swabia and declared for the Welf faction.{{sfn|Toch|1999|p=379}} Otto IV and later [[Pope Innocent III]]{{sfn|Berend|Urbańczyk|Wiszewski|2013|p=410}} subsequently accepted Ottokar as the hereditary King of Bohemia.{{sfn|Bradbury|2004|p=70}}

==Golden Bull of Sicily==
<!--[[File:Ottokar I Premysl nahrobek.jpg|thumb|left|Tomb of Přemysl Ottokar I in St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague]]-->
Ottokar was quickly forced back into Philip's camp by the imperial declaration of a new duke of Bohemia, Děpolt III.{{sfn|Berend|Urbańczyk|Wiszewski|2013|p=410}} Subject to his recognition as duke, Ottokar had to allow his divorced wife to return to Bohemia.{{sfn|Berend|Urbańczyk|Wiszewski|2013|p=410}} Having been completed this condition, he again ranged himself among Philip's partisans and still later was among the supporters of the young King [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick II]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|pp=367–368}} In 1212 Frederick granted the [[Golden Bull of Sicily]] to Bohemia. This document recognised Ottokar and his heirs as Kings of Bohemia.{{sfn|Merinsky|Meznik|1998|p=51}} The king was no longer subject to appointment by the emperor and was only required to attend [[Diet (assembly)|Diets]] close to the Bohemian border.  Although a subject of the Holy Roman Empire, the Bohemian king was to be the leading electoral prince of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] and to furnish all subsequent emperors with a bodyguard of 300 knights when they went to [[Rome]] for their coronation.

Ottokar's reign was also notable for the start of German immigration into Bohemia and the growth of towns in what had until that point been forest lands.  In 1226, Ottokar went to war against Duke [[Leopold VI of Austria]] after the latter wrecked a deal that would have seen Ottokar's daughter ([[Saint Agnes of Bohemia]]) married to Frederick II's son Henry II of Sicily.  Ottokar then planned for the same daughter to marry [[Henry III of England]], but this was vetoed by the emperor, who knew Henry to be an opponent of the [[Hohenstaufen]] dynasty. The widowed emperor himself wanted to marry Agnes, but by then she did not want to play a role in an arranged marriage. With the help of the pope, she entered a convent.

==Family==
[[File:Premyl1 konstancie.jpg|thumb|Ottokar and Constance, from the ''{{ill|Landgrafenpsalter|de}}''  (1211–13)]]
Ottokar was married first in 1178 to [[Adelheid of Meissen]] (after 1160 - 2 February 1211),{{sfn|Wihoda|2015|p=299}} who gave birth to the following children:
* Vratislav of Bohemia (d. bef. 1225).{{sfn|Wihoda|2015|p=299}}
* [[Dagmar of Bohemia]] (d. 24 May 1212),{{sfn|Wihoda|2015|p=299}} married to King [[Valdemar II of Denmark]].
* Božislava of Bohemia (d. 6 Feb bef. 1238), married to Count Henry I of Ortenberg.
* Hedvika of Bohemia, became a nun in [[Gernrode]].

In 1199, he married secondly to [[Constance of Hungary]] (1181 – 6 December 1240),{{sfn|Wihoda|2015|p=299}} who gave birth to the following children:
* Vratislav of Bohemia (c. 1200 – bef. 1209).{{sfn|Wihoda|2015|p=299}}
* Judith of Bohemia (Judita) (- 2 June 1230), married to [[Bernhard von Spanheim|Bernhard von Spanheim, Duke of Carinthia]].{{sfn|Loud|Schenk|2017|p=xxxii}}
* [[Anne of Bohemia (1204-1265)|Anne of Bohemia]] (Anna Lehnická) (1204 - 23 June 1265), married to [[Henry II the Pious|Henry II the Pious, High Duke of Poland]].{{sfn|Klaniczay|2000|p=204}}
* Anežka of Bohemia, died young.
* [[Wenceslaus I of Bohemia]] (Václav I.) (c. 1205 - 23 September 1253), became [[King of Bohemia]].{{sfn|Wihoda|2015|p=299}}
* [[Vladislaus II of Moravia|Vladislaus of Bohemia]] (Vladislav) (1207 - 18 February 1227), [[Margrave of Moravia]].{{sfn|Wihoda|2015|p=299}}
* Přemyslid (Přemysl) of Bohemia (1209 - 16 October 1239), [[Margrave of Moravia]], married to Margaret of Merania, daughter of [[Otto I, Duke of Merania]].{{sfn|Wihoda|2015|p=299}}
* [[Agnes of Bohemia|Saint Agnes of Bohemia]] (Anežka Česká) (20 January 1211 – 6 March 1282)
The Milanese mystic [[Guglielma]] (1210s – 24 October 1281) claimed to be a Princess of Bohemia<ref name="Milano 1300">{{cite book |title=Milano 1300: I processi inquisitoriali contro le devote e i devoti di santa Guglielma |publisher=Libri Scheiwiller |year=1999 |editor=Marina Benedetti |location=Milan}}</ref> and has therefore been identified as a daughter of Ottokar and Constance with the name Vilemína or Božena, but there is an absence of any corroborating Bohemian documents.

==References==
{{reflist|3}}

==Sources==
*{{cite book |title=Central Europe in the High Middle Ages: Bohemia, Hungary and Poland, c.900–c.1300 |first1=Nora |last1=Berend |first2=Przemysław |last2=Urbańczyk |first3=Przemysław |last3=Wiszewski |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2013}}
*{{cite book |title=The Routledge Companion to Medieval Warfare |first=Jim |last=Bradbury |publisher=Routledge |year=2004}}
*{{cite book|last1=France|first1=John|title=The Crusades and the Expansion of Catholic Christendom, 1000–1714|date=2006|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1134196180|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KYn9hbUQgSsC&q=ottokar+I+died+in+1230&pg=PA233}}
*{{cite book |title=Holy Rulers and Blessed Princesses: Dynastic Cults in Medieval Central Europe  |first=Gábor |last=Klaniczay |translator-first=Eva |translator-last=Palmai |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2000 }}
*{{cite book |title=The Origins of the German Principalities, 1100-1350: Essays by German Historians |editor-first1=Graham A. |editor-last1=Loud |editor-first2=Jochen |editor-last2=Schenk |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2017 }}
*{{cite book |first=Jonathan R. |last=Lyon |title=Princely Brothers and Sisters: The Sibling Bond in German Politics, 1100-1250 |publisher=Cornell University Press |year=2013}}
*{{cite book |title=Bohemia in History |chapter=The making of the Czech state: Bohemia and Moravia from the tenth to the fourteenth centuries |first1=Zdenek |last1=Merinsky |first2=Jaroslav |last2=Meznik |editor-first=Mikulas |editor-last=Teich |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1998}}
*{{cite book |last1=Sommer |first1=Petr |author-link1=Petr Sommer |last2=Třeštík |first2=Dušan |author-link2=Dušan Třeštík |last3=Josef |first3=Žemlička |author-link3=Josef Žemlička |title=Přemyslovci Budování českého státu |year=2009 |publisher=Nakladatelství Lidové noviny |location=Praha |language=Czech |trans-title=The Přemyslids Building the Czech State |isbn=978-80-7106-352-0}}
*{{cite book |chapter=Germany and Flanders: Welfs, Hohenstaufen and Habsburgs |first=Michael |last=Toch |pages=375–404 |title=The New Cambridge Medieval History |volume=5, C.1198-c.1300 |editor-first1=David |editor-last1=Abulafia |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1999 }}
*{{cite book|last1=Wihoda|first1=Martin|title=Vladislaus Henry: The Formation of Moravian Identity|date=2015|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-9004303836|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0aGXCgAAQBAJ&q=Vladislaus+III+1160}}

==External links==
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Ottakar I.|volume=20|pages=367–368}}
{{Commons category|Ottokar I Premysl}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-bef | before=[[Wenceslaus II, Duke of Bohemia|Wenceslaus II]]}}
{{s-ttl | title = [[Duke of Bohemia]]|years=1192&ndash;1193}}
{{s-aft | after=[[Bretislaus III]]}}
{{s-bef | before=[[Vladislaus III of Bohemia|Vladislaus III]]}}
{{s-ttl | title = [[Duke of Bohemia]]|years=1197&ndash;1198}}
{{s-non|reason=Elevated to kingship}}
|-
{{s-vac| last=[[Vladislaus II, Duke of Bohemia|Vladislaus II]]}}
{{s-ttl | title = [[King of Bohemia]]|years=1198&ndash;1230}}
{{s-aft | after=[[Wenceslaus I, King of Bohemia|Wenceslaus I]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Monarchs of Bohemia}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ottokar 01 Of Bohemia}}
[[Category:1150s births]]
[[Category:1230 deaths]]
[[Category:12th-century monarchs of Bohemia]]
[[Category:13th-century monarchs of Bohemia]]
[[Category:Kings of medieval Bohemia]]
[[Category:Dukes of Bohemia]]
[[Category:Burials at St. Vitus Cathedral]]
[[Category:Czech military leaders]]