With him, for a time, fell the liberty and independence of Bohemia; and, though his son bore the name of king, and even recovered for a short period an appearance of independence, yet, politically considered, the male line of those Bohemian native rulers, who traced their descent to Libus̆a and Pr̆emysl, came to an end on the plain of Marchfeld in August, 1278. Bohemian independence was, indeed, to revive under a different form; and, nearly two centuries later, a native Bohemian king was once more to rule at Prague; but never again was a purely Bohemian dynasty to be established on the throne. With all its faults, the line of the Pr̆emyslovci had produced as many able and patriotic rulers as most royal houses can boast of. They had steered their country through its difficult progress from Paganism to Christianity. They had reduced the rival kingdom of Poland from the position of a dangerous aggressor into that of a tributary State. They had helped to roll back the tide of Hungarian conquest; they had made themselves a powerful factor in the policy of the German Empire. Amid the despair of Europe, they had stood almost alone against the crushing invasion of the Tartars. And last, and most important of all, they had begun to develop the municipal liberties of their country, in a way which gave good promise of future prosperity. That in this last matter they had borrowed largely from German models, only showed their power of rising superior to a most natural national prejudice; while, in the case of Ottakar II., his enlightened policy towards the Jews must have often brought upon him the rebukes of those clergy on whom he so much relied for help. He failed, because he was not content to be king of Bohemia, but wished to be the head of a powerful State which could dictate the policy of the Empire. Had he been satisfied to develop the liberties of his own country in peace, he might have laid the foundations of a State, which could even now have been playing an independent part in the affairs of Europe. V. TIME OF ANARCHY IN BOHEMIA FROM DEATH OF OTTAKAR II. TO ACCESSION OF CHARLES IV. (1278-1346.)