considered a dependency of their crown, but which at that time was also claimed by the Hungarian King Stephen. Břetislav succeeded in defeating the Hungarians; and war was ended in 1031 by a treaty which divided the ancient Moravian lands. The country now known as Moravia returned to Bohemia, whilst the other former Moravian lands (now the Slav districts of Northern Hungary) fell to the Hungarian king. The line of boundary then agreed upon has remained the frontier between Moravia and Hungary up to the present day. Ulrich appointed his son Břetislav ruler of Moravia under his own supremacy, and this position has since then often been held by the heir of the Bohemian crown.
Unfortunately, Ulrich soon became jealous of his son and drove him from Moravia. Břetislav, who had also incurred his father's displeasure by taking the part of his uncle Jaromir (whom Ulrich had released from the castle of Lysa and who claimed to share the sovereignty with his brother), fled to the court of the German Emperor Conrad. The Germans, ever glad of an opportunity for interfering in the affairs of Bohemia, supported the claims of Jaromir and Břetislav, and invaded the country, into which they were summoned by some claimants to the Bohemian throne. Ulrich's death at this time (1037), however, secured the crown to Břetislav, in whose favour Jaromir also renounced all claims.
Břetislav I, whom Palacký calls the restorer of Bohemia, strengthened his country both by conquests and by re-establishing internal order. One of the chief causes that defeated Břetislav's plans (and undoubtedly these plans aimed at nothing less than the formation of a great West-slav empire) was the accession about this time of Henry III of Franconia, one of the most powerful sovereigns Germany ever possessed.[1] Poland, at the time of the accession of Břetislav I, was in a state of complete anarchy, and he seized on this opportunity to attempt the conquest of that country. Břetislav successfully overran Silesia and subsequently the western districts of Poland, where the town of Cracow was taken by storm. The victorious Bohemian army then marched further into Poland and captured
- ↑ Palacký notices that the most enterprising princes of ancient Bohemia, Boleslav I and Břetislav I, were contemporaries and adversaries of Germany's two greatest emperors, Otho I and Henry III.
