Ulrich reverted to type, and once again the stout peasant stock of Czech
came to the rescue of a fading dynasty; the son of Ulrich and Božena,
Břetislav I, was destined to restore the house of Přemysl to a
position more in keeping with its great traditions. Before succeeding
his father, Břetislav was given an opportunity of proving what good
stock he came from. Boleslav of Poland had died, his sons quarrelled
over their heritage, and their dissensions gave the neighbours an excuse
for interfering. One of these neighbours was King Stephen of Hungary,
afterwards called "the Saint." He had only recently been converted from
paganism, but he took part in this Polish dispute just as if he had been
a ripe old Christian monarch of some standing. Stephen had the happy
thought of taking Moravia for himself, no doubt in pious memory of his
ancestor who first stole it. The same idea occurred to Ulrich of
Bohemia, who sent young Břetislav into Moravia, where the latter
defeated the Magyars rather badly; Moravia thereupon was added to
Bohemia, whereas Slovakia remained with Hungary.
Břetislav failed to realize his ideal of forming a strong national
Slavonic State, independent of German rule--he had too strong an Emperor
against him, Henry III; but he certainly restored Bohemia and the
Přemysl dynasty to a position of some importance in Europe. He was,
however, unable to shake off the German grasp of his country; German
armies had arrived before Prague and threatened that city with
destruction, so Břetislav submitted to the inevitable, paid tribute
to the Emperor and spent the last and peaceful years of his reign in
restoring order and prosperity to his country. The city of Prague
benefited by the bravery of Břetislav, for as a result of that
Prince's successful campaign against the Poles the body of St. Adalbert,
whom you have met before as Bishop of Prague, was captured by the
Bohemians and restored to their capital. There was, I believe, some
trouble about this operation of Břetislav. The ruler and people of
Poland had appointed Adalbert as their patron saint; he had been killed
in their country, had been buried there some time, and had even a
cathedral to himself at Gnesen. The Pope launched a bull or two at
Břetislav over this business. I do not know whether any of them took
effect. The Bohemians were ordered to return Adalbert to the Poles, but
I do not know that they did so, neither have I seen him lying about in
Prague, probably because I have not looked for him. Adalbert is the
patron saint of Emaus in Prague among many other churches in Bohemia,
but no doubt he can find time to patronize Poland as well. Anyway, I do
not anticipate any strained relations between the Republics of
Czecho-Slovakia and Poland on this account; both countries are more
interested in a yet older fossilized form of creation--coal to wit.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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