The history of Bohemia reaches from the first settlements on the territory of Bohemia to the present. In 1085 the Bohemian kingship was created, which ended with the proclamation of democratic Czechoslovakia in 1918. The first ruler of the Slavs, was a native of Franconia named Samo. The empire of Samo, included the present territories of Slovakia, Moravia, Lower Austria, later probably Bohemia, Lusatia. The names Bohemia and Moravia first appear in the 9th century. Charlemagne tried to conquer Bohemia, ultimately in vain. In the interior, the preliminary stages of the later Bohemian state developed in the 9th century. Bohemia was divided among about eleven different tribes, according to older research. It is certain that in the 9th century there was no "central power", but always several, apparently equal princes who appeared as representatives of the country. In the course of the 9th century the Christianization of Bohemia took place. The Bohemian kingship was conferred personally by Vratislav II in 1085, and became hereditary under Ottokar I Přemysl in 1198, demonstrating Bohemia’s special position in the Holy Roman Empire. With King John, the Luxembourg dynasty came to the Bohemian throne in 1310 and continued the policy of the Přemyslids. In 1347 he was succeeded by his son Charles, later Emperor Charles IV, who pursued a balancing nationalities policy. He protected and promoted the Germans in Bohemia. In Prague, at the same time, the foundations of modern German were laid with the Prague Chancery German, and through the pen of the religious reformer Jan Hus, the foundations of the modern Czech language were laid. After the death of the Habsburg Ladislaus Postumus, imperial administrator George of Podiebrad was elected king of Bohemia in 1458. Podiebrad strictly observed the Treaty of Jihlava and tried to maintain peace in Bohemia despite further tensions between the Hussite and Catholic sides. After Podiebrad’s death, his supporters elected the Polish prince Vladislav II as king of Bohemia, and in 1471 Jagiellonian Vladislav II was elected king by the Bohemian estates. From his predecessor, the Utraquist George of Podiebrad, he inherited the war against the opposing king Matthias Corvinus. The war ended with the Peace of Olomouc in 1479. Matthias was able to keep the Bohemian tributary lands of Moravia, Silesia, Upper and Lower Lusatia. Vladislav II and Matthias were allowed to use the title "King of Bohemia". With Matthias’ death in 1490, Vladislav became the sole king of Bohemia by treaty. Vladislav II was succeeded in 1512 by his six-year-old son, Louis II, who died without descendants in 1526. Thereupon the Estates elected his brother-in-law Ferdinand I of Habsburg as King of Bohemia. After years of Protestant uprisings, in 1618 the Protestant estates rebelled against Emperor Matthias. The Defenestration of Prague was the trigger for the Estates Revolt in Bohemia and thus for the Thirty Years’ War. In the Battle of White Mountain (Bílá hora) in November 1620, the Bohemian estates under their king Frederick of the Palatinate were defeated by the troops of the Catholic League led by the Bavarian commander Count von Tilly. Frederick, the so-called Winter King, was forced to flee Bohemia and Emperor Ferdinand II was able to assert his claim to the crown of Bohemia. The Battle of White Mountain was followed by the period called temno ("darkness") in the older national Czech historiography. Emperor Ferdinand II harshly enforced the Counter-Reformation almost throughout the country and suppressed all non-Catholics. The 30 Years War devastated Bohemia badly. After 1620, Bohemia was initially administered in a strict absolutist manner. The Habsburg Maria Theresa was Archduchess of Austria and Queen of Hungary and Bohemia from 1740 until her death in 1780. In 1804 the Habsburg lands became the Empire of Austria. After the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Cheb region was incorporated into Bohemia under state law. In 1848 there was the Prague Whitsun Uprising against Austrian rule in Bohemia. In 1897, the Austrian Prime Minister Count Badeni issued a nationality decree for Bohemia and Moravia, according to which all political communities there were to be administered bilingually. While the mixed situation led to political deadlock, it was extremely productive in other respects: Bohemia had the most modern industry among the Austrian crown lands. A census in December 1900 showed 63 percent Czechs and 36 percent German-Bohemians in Bohemia.
Adina Sommer
Antique and Contemporary Art
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