Чеська держава Пршемисловичів: дві спроби створення універсальних монархій у Центральній Європі в Х і ХІІІ ст.

Abstract

The article traces the process of establishing two universal monarchies in Central Europe by the Czech rulers from the dynasty of the Przemyslovych. The first attempt to create such superpower was made in the tenth century by the Czech prince Boleslav 1 the Cruel. At the heart of its formation was a commercial interest, the desire to profit from the control of the trade road. His son Boleslav II the Pious who inherited his father's universal monarchy, continued his father’s business. It was during the reign of Boleslav II the Pious that the bishopric was established in Prague, which he aimed to raise to the status of the archbishopric, and that would mean ecclesiastical independence and open the way to the royal crown. In the middle of the thirteenth century, the Czech king Przemysl Otakar II created a powerful universal monarchy by incorporating into its possession the duchies of Austria, Styria, Carinthia, and Krajina. Such state formation was, above all, a matter of prestige of the Czech monarch and made it possible to strengthen himself on the German throne. Unlike Boleslav I, Przemysl Otakar II combined military expansion with dynastic (marriage) diplomacy. He also endorsed the plans to increase the Olomouc Bishopric to the status of the archbishopric.