Kunigund Slavonskaya

Kunigund was the granddaughter of the Grand Duke of Kiev Mikhail Vsevolodovich . Her father Rostislav Galitsky married in 1243 the daughter of the Hungarian king Bela IV Anna . After an unsuccessful attempt to capture the Galicia-Volyn land, Rostislav returned to his father-in-law forever in 1245, and received a banana from Slavonia from him, and in 1247 a specially created banana Machva (between the Danube, Drina, Sava and Morava rivers with the capital in Belgrade ).

In 1260, Kunigunda’s grandfather Bela IV suffered a serious defeat from the Czech king Przemysl II Otakar in the struggle for Austrian lands, as a result of which he lost Styria . He began to seek peace with the Czechs. Otakar began negotiations on the wedding, divorcing Margarita von Babenberg , the heiress of the Austrian throne, who was almost 30 years older than him and did not give birth to a child.

Initially, Otakar requested the hands of sister Bela Margarita , but she prepared herself for monasticism and refused him. Then Bela offered the Czech king the hand of his granddaughter.

The wedding took place on October 25, 1261 in Presporek . On December 25 of the same year, Otakar held an impressive coronation in Prague for his new wife, which became a big event for modern Europe.

Little is known about Kunigund at that time. She is portrayed as a temperamental and extremely beautiful woman who often accompanied her husband in tournaments. It is also known that in order to entertain her, the king brought lions to the Prague Castle .

Everything changed in 1278 , when the husband of Kunigund, trying to regain control of Austria , died in a battle near Sukhoi Krut with the troops of the German king Rudolph I of Habsburg . Hungarians also fought against Przemysl in that battle, whose king, cousin Kunigunda Laszlo IV Kun , concluded an alliance with the Germans against the Czechs.

After the death of Otakar, two of his relatives claimed to become regents with his young son, Wenceslas II, Kunigunda - the nephew of the deceased king, Margrave of Brandenburg, Otton V and Henrik Probus , prince of Silesia and Wroclaw, the future king of Poland.

Regent, under the influence of Rudolph, became Margrave Otton. In 1279, on behalf of Wenceslas , he signed a peace with Rudolf, according to which he refused Austria, Styria and Carinthia , won by Przemysl Otakar, and gave Moravia for five years. To protect her rights, Kunigunda in negotiations with Rudolph confirmed that she agreed to marry her children with his son and daughter. Rudolph allocated Kunigunde the Principality of Opava , taken from the illegitimate son of Otakar Mikulas , who was captured by the Hungarians in the Battle of Sukhoi Krut.

Soon, however, disagreements began between Kunigunda and Otton, as a result of which the regent sent her and her children to the Bezdez castle, which was not completed by Otakar, in fact making them their captives. Kunigunda managed to escape from there to the Opava land, but she left her son Wenceslas there, for which she is condemned by a number of historians. Otton took the young Czech king to Brandenburg, continuing to rule the country on his behalf.

Kunigunda took refuge in her widow's castle in Hradec nad Moravici.

It was there that in her life an influential Czech knight Zavis from Falkenstein appeared . There was an assumption that he was her lover under Otakar, but modern historians basically reject this version.

Zawish had a conflict with Otakar over territorial disputes, as a result of which he fled to Rudolf Habsburg. Now, with the victory of Rudolph, he returned to the Czech Republic. However, soon after Zavish began friction with the regent, he even participated in the uprising against him.

As a result, Zavis from Falkenstein arrived in Hradec nad Moravici and offered his help to the queen.

Detailed evidence of the meeting of Kunigunda-Kunguta with Zavis was left by one of the most famous medieval Czech chronicles (Chronicon Aulae regiae) - Zbraslav chronicles:

“In the days of this, a pan from the Czech Republic named Zavish, of which King Otakar blamed him for condemnation of the exile, gave him all kinds of households with his repetition of eternal exile, and refused to leave the house. He, after the death of Otakarova, met Queen Kunguta, who was on Morava, met a hunter who was not so in the services, but in conversations, who was the most trusted knights of life, he rested. He claimed that he would take away his places again and would easily get his city back if he achieved close friendship with the Queen of Grace. Anyway, women's thoughts change easily, and the queen, by the tricks of his sorcery, began to love him greatly, having forgiven him from her heart for what she had done wrong with the king, placed him over others in her squad . ”

The knight was also a widower, and their partnership with Kunigunda soon turned into a romance. In 1281, the Queen appointed Zavis the Burggrave of the castle of Hradec nad Moravici.

Then, redeemed from captivity, her former ruler Mikulas returned to Opava, who began to seek restoration of his power over the principality. The lovers had to flee to Moravia, in one of the tribal possessions of Zavis. In the same year they had a son, Jan , nicknamed Yeshek. According to legend, this happened in one of the castles near the Svoyanov.

Everything changed in 1283, when the son of Kunigunda, Czech King Wenceslas II, turned 12 years old. Dissatisfied with the German regent, Czech nobles began to group around the mother of the young king Kunigunda, and Otton had to return Wenceslas to Prague. Then the Queen returned to his court, along with Zavis.

Kunigunda became the actual regent of the Czech Republic with her son. Zavish was able to achieve the location of the young king and became his second father.

Under the influence of Zavish, former leaders whom he replaced with his relatives or friends were removed from public administration. Falkenstein himself concentrated all power in the Czech kingdom in his hands and was a kind of unofficial viceroy.

The same chronicle narrates:

“When the king was silent, he himself spoke and single-handedly decided the affairs of the whole kingdom, they were always more afraid of him than the king, he installed everything himself, everyone listened to him self-united”

Falkenstein, first of all, again strengthened royal power in the Czech Republic, torn by strife and riots and given to the looting of foreign soldiers.

To go directly against Rudolf Habsburg, however, the Czech rulers did not have enough strength. Kunigunda fulfilled the promise of the marriage of her children with the children of Rudolph. In January 1285, in the city of Cheb , the wedding of Wenceslas II with the daughter of the German king Judit took place. Since Judit was still very young (she was 13 years old), after the wedding, Rudolph took her back to Germany.

In May of that year, another wedding took place in Prague. The Queen remarried - to her lover, Zavisha. The marriage union was officially sealed. According to the testimony of the Viennese chronicler, the wedding happened after the Holy Trinity, that is , May 20 . His consent was given by the young King Wenceslas himself. As the Zbraslav Chronicle narrates:

“Zavis, turning to the king with honey-sweet speeches, asked that he give him Kungutu as his legal wife. The king, still young, thinking that it was suitable, easily satisfied the latter’s request, and his mother, who liked it too, following the wishes of both, publicly betrothed Zavish, so that they would come together in an illegal union after majesty (celebration) legal marriage, then they lived together according to the law ”

However, the marriage did not last long. On September 9, 1285, the queen died.

Death occurred, most likely from tuberculosis. According to the chroniclers, the proof of this was a too bright blush on her face and the fact that her son Czech King Wenceslas II died of the same illness in 1305.

Kunigunda was buried in the Anega Monastery in Prague, next to the parents of Otakar II, her daughter Margarita and Saint Agnes .

In the situation of Zavis, at first nothing changed. The young king Wenceslas II still trusted him and saw him as his second father. Zavish stole the sister of the Hungarian king and married her, appropriated the title of Prince of Opava, on the grounds that he lived in these lands with Kunigunda. However, he often began to be absent at court, which his enemies took advantage of, having slandered him before Wenceslas. In 1289, the young king gave the order to seize Zavish, and in 1290 Mikulas Opavsky executed him demonstratively in front of his relatives.

The relationship of King Wenceslas to his mother, under whose strong influence he was, is evidenced by the fact that he did not name any of his daughters by the name Kunigunda-Kunguta. Although he named one of them in honor of his breadwinner - Elishka .

The first husband - from October 25, 1261 Przemysl Otakar II ( 1233 - August 26, 1278 ), king of the Czech Republic.

Children from their first marriage:

• Henry died in infancy
• Kungut Czech ( 1265 - November 27, 1321 ), from 1291 the wife of Boleslav II (no earlier than 1251 - 1313 ), Prince of Mazowiecki
• Agnes Czech ( September 5, 1269 - May 17, 1296 ), from 1289 the Austrian Duke Rudolph II ( 1271 - 1290 )
• Vaclav II ( September 17, 1271 - June 21, 1305 ), King of the Czech Republic since 1278

Chronicles of the Luxembourg dynasty mention that they also had a son and daughter Margarita-Marketa, who died in childhood.

Second husband - from May 20, 1285, Zavis from Falkenstein (c. 1240 - August 24, 1290 )

Son (born before marriage):

• Jan of Falkenstein ( 1281 - not earlier than 1337 ), Comtur of the Teutonic Order

• Kateřina Charvátová (2007). Václav II .: král český a polský
• Gabriela V. Šarochová (2004). Radostný úděl vdovský: královny-vdovy přemyslovských Čech
• Listy královny Kunhuty králi Přemyslovi . Praha: Akropolis, 1997