Vladislav’s queen, Judith, favoured the party of Pope Alexander III.; and by her advice a Saxon bishop, who had taken the Papal side, was elected as Daniel’s successor. As the new bishop was totally ignorant of the Bohemian language, his election weakened Vladislav’s popularity with his people as much as his favour with the Emperor. Three years later, the enemies of the king once more found their opportunity to make use of these discontents against him. Vladislav, without any consultation with the nobles, and without any notice to the Emperor, resigned his power to his son Frederick; and the intriguers, whom he had with such difficulty suppressed, were now easily able to rouse an insurrection against his successor. Then followed twenty-five years of miserable dynastic squabbles, during which Conrad of Moravia was able to play the part of king-maker, and, by the help of the puppets whom he placed on the throne of Bohemia, to secure a temporary independence for the province which he governed. At last the contest was brought to an end by the accession of King Pr̆emysl to the throne in 1198; and he settled the question of Moravian government by conceding the rule of that province to his brother Vladislav. Pr̆emysl came at the right moment to recover for Bohemia the power and influence of which the civil wars of a quarter of a century had deprived her. Once more, as in the time of Henry IV., Germany’s difficulty was Bohemia’s opportunity. The death of Henry VI., the son of Barbarossa, had thrown the Empire into all the disorder which arises from a disputed succession; and Pr̆emysl found his interest in playing off one rival emperor against another, just as the Emperors had previously played with the rival candidates to the Bohemian throne. Philip and Otto soon found that their respective causes were practically at the mercy of the Bohemian king; and, if Dubravsky has any authority for saying that Pr̆emysl’s surname of Ottakar was a tribute to his devotion to Otto, never, certainly, did a nickname convey keener irony.