Jaromír, Duke of Bohemia

Jaromír
Duke of Bohemia
Bust of Jaromír in Jaroměř
Reign	1003 1004 - 1012 1033 - 1034
Noble family	Přemyslid dynasty
Father	Boleslaus II, Duke of Bohemia
Mother	Emma of Mělník
Died	4 November 1035(1035-11-04) Lysá nad Labem

Jaromír (died 4 November 1035), a member of the Přemyslid dynasty, was Duke of Bohemia, in 1003, from 1004 to 1012, and again from 1034 to 1035.

Life

He was the second son of Duke Boleslaus II the Pious (d. 999). His mother may have been either one of his father's two wives: Adiva or Emma of Mělník.

In 1002, Jaromír rebelled against the rule of his elder brother Boleslaus III, who had him castrated^[1] and expelled with his mother and his brother Oldřich to the Bavarian court at Regensburg. Nevertheless, Boleslaus was unable to secure the Prague throne, as he was deposed by the Bohemian nobility and the rule was subsequently taken by his Přemyslid cousin Vladivoj, backed by the Polish duke Bolesław I the Brave. Vladivoj also secured the support of the German king Henry II, when he received the Duchy of Bohemia as a royal fief.

When Vladivoj died the next year, Jaromír and Oldřich returned to Bohemia and Jaromír was proclaimed duke by the Bohemian nobles. In turn the lands were occupied by the Polish forces of Bolesław who reinstated Boleslaus III as duke. After he he ordered a massacre of the rivalling Vršovci clan, however, he lost the support from the Polish ruler and was finally deprived of power. Meanwhile Jaromír had sought military backing from King Henry II. At Merseburg, he promised to hold Bohemia as a vassal of the king. This action definitively placed Bohemia within the jurisdiction of the Holy Roman Empire.

In 1004, Jaromír occupied Prague with a German army and proclaimed himself Bohemian duke. Nevertheless, the state he regained was a small one, as Polish forces still held Moravia, Silesia, and Lusatia. Jaromír's reign—like so many of the other early Czech rulers—was a struggle to regain lost lands. He remained a loyal supporter of King Henry in the smouldering German–Polish War. Nonetheless, the German king took no action, when in 1012 Jaromír was dethroned by Oldřich (who had him blinded^[1]) and forced once again into exile. In a surprise campaign, Jaromír once again managed to depose Oldřich with the support of Emperor Conrad II in 1033, but his second reign was short-lived. A year later, Oldřich was restored by his son Bretislaus I.

Jaromír was imprisoned at Lysá nad Labem and died in 1035, a year after the death of his brother. He was assassinated by one of the Vršovci clan.

Ancestry

Monarchs of Bohemia
Přemyslid	c. 870–1198 (Dukes) Bořivoj I Spytihněv I Vratislaus I Saint Wenceslaus Boleslaus I Boleslaus II Boleslaus III Vladivoj Boleslaus the Brave1 Jaromír Oldřich Bretislaus I Spytihněv II Vratislaus II (I)2 Conrad I Bretislaus II Bořivoj II Svatopluk the Lion Vladislaus I Sobeslaus I Vladislaus II (I)2 Frederick Sobeslaus II Frederick Conrad II Otto Wenceslaus II Ottokar I Henry Bretislaus Vladislaus III Henry 1198–1306 (Kings) Ottokar I Wenceslaus I Ottokar II Wenceslaus II Wenceslaus III
Non-dynastic	1306–1310 Henry the Carinthian Rudolph I
Luxembourg	1310–1437 John the Blind Charles IV (I) Wenceslaus IV Sigismund
Habsburg	1437–1457 Albert Interregnum Ladislaus the Posthumous
Non-dynastic	1457–1471 George Matthias Corvinus3
Jagiellonian	1471–1526 Vladislaus II Louis
Habsburg	1526–1780 Ferdinand I Maximilian Rudolph II Matthias Ferdinand II Frederick4 Ferdinand III Leopold I Joseph I Charles II Charles Albert (II)3, 5 Maria Theresa
Habsburg-Lorraine	1780–1918 Joseph II Leopold II Francis II (I) Ferdinand V Francis Joseph Charles I (III)
1 Duke of Poland from the Piast dynasty 2 During his reign obtained non-hereditary royal title 3 Antiking 4 Elector Palatine from the Wittelsbach dynasty 5 Prince-elector of Bavaria from the Wittelsbach dynasty

References

1. 1 2 Czech radio