15.12.1230 Premysl Otakar I died.

Přemysl Otakar I was the prince who gave the Czech state firm borders. In the end, he probably got everything he wanted. Although at the cost of hard fighting.

He was born sometime in 1155. The exact date is unknown, all that is known is that he was the son of King Vladislav II and Judith of Thuringia. Not much is known about his childhood. No records of it have survived. Even as an adult, he is said to have had a bad life. He lived in exile.

"It is certainly not easy to lose one's home. However, in exile, at the court of the Wettins of Meissen, Přemysl Otakar found a wife. She bore him four children, a son, Vratislav, and daughters, Bozislava, Hedvika and Marketa, who later became famous. She married the Danish king Waldemar II. She won the hearts of all her subjects," write Martina Drijverová and Vojtěch Otčenášek in their book Czech Rulers Were Only People Too.

Margaret was very pretty and kind. The Danes renamed her Dagmar, or Lady of the Day.Dagmar came to her homeland and dances Denmark faithfully, the peasant, the burgher lived blissfully without tax and toll, the maiden came from the glorious Czech land... Premysl Otakar could simply be proud of Margaret. On the other hand, he did not get along at all with his son Vratislav, who was getting on his father's nerves....

Přemysl Otakar lived in exile, but he did not care what happened at home. From the mid-1880s he began to interfere in the affairs of the Bohemian lands. When he went to Moravia to defend Přemyslid interests, a fierce battle broke out between him and Prince Konrad Ota at Loděnice. But Přemysl Otakar won. When Conrad died a few years later, another battle broke out.

Přemysl Otakar refused to recognise Wenceslas as a Bohemian prince and rose up against him. He was supported by the Roman emperor Henry VI and the papal bishop Henry the Bretislav. Přemysl Otakar I thus became a Bohemian prince. But the bishop himself began to covet the throne, and moreover Přemysl was betrayed by the Czech nobility and had to flee abroad again. After some time, he set off again with his army for Bohemia, but even the local nobility did not want him as ruler.

They wanted to put Vladislav Henry on the throne, but this would have violated the law of elders, so Vladislav accepted the title of Margrave of Moravia and Přemysl became ruler again. One of the key years of his reign was 1212, when the future Emperor Frederick II issued Přemysl Otakar I.

Přemysl Otakar I died on 15 December 1230. Two years before, he had his son Wenceslas crowned King of Bohemia. He probably accomplished everything he wanted...

Sources:
Martina Drijverová and Vojtěch Otčenášek, Czech rulers were also just people
Jan Bauer, Women of the Přemyslid family
www.c-budejovice.cz