dence of Bohemia. Lothair consented to these terms, and from this time peace between Germany and Bohemia remained undisturbed for some years.
As a proof of this we read that Conrad III, Lothair's successor, conferred on Soběslav the title of hereditary cup-bearer of the Empire, thus granting him a certain influence on the election of the German kings. "Bohemia, which hitherto had only had certain obligations towards its powerful neighbour the German Empire, henceforth also enjoyed certain rights with regard to Germany."[1]
Soběslav seems, on the whole, to have been successful in suppressing the intestine dissensions which constantly broke out afresh, particularly now that the members of the Přemysl dynasty had become very numerous. At a Diet which assembled at Sadska in 1138, he obtained the consent of the nobles to a change in the order of succession, by which his eldest son Vladislav was declared heir to the throne.
Soběslav died two years afterwards (1140). On his death the nobles, who had only consented to the succession of his son from dread of the father, elected Vladislav II,[2] son of Vladislav I and nephew of Soběslav, as their prince.
Vladislav II had probably been elected in the place of his cousin because the nobles hoped to find him more amenable to their wishes; but, relying on the German alliance which he maintained, he soon attempted to rule as an autocrat. An insurrection broke out only two years after the beginning of his reign, and the malcontents, among whom was Vladislav, son of Soběslav, now proclaimed another member of the Přemysl dynasty, Conrad of Znoymo,[3] as their prince.
Vladislav, though at first defeated by the insurgents, finally—with the aid of the German Emperor Conrad—succeeded in re-establishing his sovereign rights over the whole of Bohemia and Moravia (1143).
We read that in the same year the Pope sent Cardinal Guido as his legate to Bohemia, with the mission of re-establishing order among the Bohemian clergy, which had been greatly disturbed during the many civil wars. Cardinal
