28.9. 995 Murder of the Slavníkovs

Boleslav II is associated with the slaughter of the Slavonians. First he had their seat Malín occupied in 990 and five years later also another seat Libice. It was captured a day later when all the inhabitants were killed. This included those who sought help in the local church of Our Lady.

Libice nad Cidlinou, located at the confluence of the Cidlina and Elbe rivers, is one of the most important historical sites in Bohemia. Slavs lived here since the 6th century and at the beginning of the 9th century a princely stronghold of the Slavníkovs was established here. Their principality also extended over a large part of eastern and southern Bohemia.

However, the Slavs were massacred in 995. At that time the Slavnik army was on a military expedition of Prince Ota III against the Obodrites, so only a very small military garrison remained in Libice. "Only the members who lived outside Bohemia survived this massacre. These were, for example, Prince Soběslav of Slavnik, his brother St. Vojtěch, who was the second bishop of Prague, and his half-brother St. Radim, who later became Archbishop of Hnězden," writes Jiří Glet in his book Interesting and Mysterious Places in Bohemia.

The castle was still used as one of the administrative centres of the Přemyslids until the 13th century. The foundations of the Slavník Palace, the church and the entrance gate are marked there. In front of the foundations of the church stands a bronze sculpture of the important Slavonians, St. Vojtěch and St. Radim. In the building of the municipal office in Libice nad Cidlinou there is the Memorial Hall of Slavníkovská Libice with an exhibition about the region from the beginning of the 6th century to the end of the fortress in the 13th century. There is also an exposition on the history of Libice nad Cidlinou in the Middle Ages and the modern era.

Boleslav II is associated with the slaughter of the Slavník family. First he had their seat Malín occupied in 990 and five years later another seat Libice. It was captured a day later when all the inhabitants were killed.

"This included those who sought help in the local church of Our Lady. The greatest credit for the successful execution of the whole action was given to the Vršovians, who at that time, of course, had no idea how true the saying was that the love of a lord after capturingand that their family would soon suffer a similar fate in Libice, which they received as a reward," writes Stanislava Jarolímková in her book What is not in the textbooks.

According to Jarolímková, historians wonder why Boleslav II, who was almost 70 years old, ordered the slaughter of the Slavníkovs in the first place. After all, it is likely that the first Nightingale was installed at Libice by Boleslaus I, and it does not seem logical that he would have chosen someone determined to compete with him. Moreover, the Nightingale family was probably already on the verge of bankruptcy by the end of the 10th century, so their Libice could not have served Boleslaus II as a bottomless treasury of money, which he would have needed especially for the salaries of his retinue.

"And it does not seem likely to me that the Slavs intended to threaten the Přemyslids by force, since they are said to have voluntarily acknowledged their superiority. So it seems more like a kind of preventive measure and evidence of an effort to strengthen the position of Prague Castle as a power centre," Jarolímková adds.

Sources.

As Archeo LP 2010 has been cooperating on excavations at the Libice hillfort for many years, I am adding some links to some of the articles on LP from these excavations.

Elmara

https://www.lovecpokladu.cz/s/hhb-o-s/archeo-akce/libice-2012-5824

https://www.lovecpokladu.cz/s/hhb-o-s/archeo-akce/kourim-libice-6074

https://www.lovecpokladu.cz/home/detektory-archeo-lp-2010-libice-no-5-6325

Etc. If you type Libice into the LP search engine, you can find all the articles that have been published on the LP.