1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ottakar I.

OTTAKAR I. (d. 1230), king of Bohemia, was a younger son of King Vladislav II. (d. 1174) and a member of the Premyslide family, hence he is often referred to as Premysl Ottakar I. His early years were passed amid the anarchy which prevailed everywhere in his native land; after several struggles, in which he took part, he was recognized as ruler of Bohemia by the emperor Henry VI. in 1192. He was, however, soon overthrown, but renewing the fight in 1196 he forced his brother, King Vladislav III., to abandon Bohemia to him and to content himself with Moravia. Although confirmed in the possession of his kingdom by the German king, Philip, duke of Swabia, Ottakar soon deserted Philip, who thereupon declared him deposed. He then joined the rival German king. Otto of Brunswick, afterwards the emperor Otto IV., being recognized as king of Bohemia both by Otto and by his ally. Pope Innocent III. Philip’s consequent invasion of Bohemia was a great success. Ottakar, having been compelled to pay a fine, again ranged himself among Philip’s partisans and still later was among the supporters of the young king, Frederick II. He united Moravia with Bohemia in 1222, and when he died in December 1230 he left to his son, Wenceslaus I., a kingdom united and comparatively peaceable.

Ottakar II., or Premysl Ottakar II. (c. 1230–1278), king of Bohemia, was a son of King Wenceslaus I., and through his mother, Kunigunde, was related to the Hohenstaufen family, being a grandson of the German king, Philip, duke of Swabia. During his father’s lifetime he ruled Moravia, but when in 1248 some discontented Bohemian nobles acknowledged him as their sovereign, trouble arose between him and his father, and for a short time Ottakar was imprisoned. However, in 1251 the young prince secured his election as duke of Austria, where he strengthened his position by marrying Margaret (d. 1267), sister of Duke Frederick II., the last of the Babenberg rulers of the duchy and widow of the German king, Henry VII. Some years later he repudiated this lady and married a Hungarian princess. Both before and after he became king of Bohemia in succession to his father in September 1253 Ottakar was involved in a dispute with Bela IV., king of Hungary, over the possession of Styria, which duchy had formerly been united with Austria. By an arrangement made in 1254 he surrendered part of it to Bela, but when the dispute was renewed he defeated the Hungarians in July 1260 and secured the whole of Styria for himself, owing his formal investiture with Austria and Styria to the German king, Richard, earl of Cornwall. The Bohemian king also led two expeditions against the Prussians. In 1269 he inherited Carinthia and part of Carniola; and having made good his claim, contested by the Hungarians, on the field of battle, he was the most powerful prince in Germany when an election for the German throne took place in 1273. But Ottakar was not the successful candidate. He refused to acknowledge his victorious rival, Rudolph of Habsburg, and urged the pope to adopt a similar attitude, while the new king claimed the Austrian duchies. Matters reached a climax in 1276. Placing Ottakar under the ban of the empire, Rudolph besieged Vienna and compelled Ottakar in November 1276 to sign a treaty by which he gave up Austria and the neighbouring duchies, retaining for himself only Bohemia and Moravia. Two years later the Bohemian king tried to recover his lost lands; he found allies and collected a large army, but he was defeated by Rudolph and killed at Dürnkrut on the March on the 26th of August 1278. Ottakar was a founder of towns and a friend of law and order, while he assisted trade and welcomed German immigrants. Clever, strong and handsome, he is a famous figure both in history and in legend, and is the subject of a tragedy by F. Grillparzer, König Ottokars Glück und Ende. His son and successor was Wenceslaus II.

See O. Lorenz, Geschichte König Ottokars, ii. (Vienna, 1866); A. Huber, Geschichte Oesterreichs, Band i. (Gotha, 1885); and F. Palacky, Geschichte von Böhmen, Band i. (Prague, 1844).