Venceslas I of Bohemia

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Wenceslaus I Premyslid (Czech Václav) (c. 1205 – September 23, 1253) was King of Bohemia from 1230 to 1253.

Wenceslaus was the son of Ottokar I of Bohemia and Konstancia of Hungary. His maternal grandparents were Béla III of Hungary and his second wife Agnes of Antioch (Agnes de Châtillon), a daughter of Raynald of Chatillon and Constance of Antioch (joint princes of Antioch).

He married Cunigunde of Hohenstaufen, daughter of Philip of Swabia, King of Germany and Irene Angelina. He encouraged large numbers of Germans to settle in the villages and towns in Bohemia and Moravia. As a sign of increasing development, courtesy of the new settlers, stone buildings began to replace wooden ones in Prague.

In 1241 Wenceslaus successfully repelled a raid on Bohemia by Batu Khan, although Moravia suffered devastation at the hands of the Mongols. Wenceslaus' foreign policy was focused on uniting the Duchy of Austria with the Kingdom of Bohemia following the death of the last Babenberg duke of Austria, Frederick II, during the battle of the Leitha river in 1246. Wenceslaus' eldest son, Vladislav, was married to Frederick's niece Gertrude and received the homage of the Austrian barons as their future ruler, but died before he could be formally acclaimed as duke. Wenceslaus' second son Premysl Otakar then married Frederick's sister Marguerite and claimed the duchy for himself.

The Austrian question was put on hiatus when in 1249 Premysl Otakar led an uprising of nobles against his father. The rebellion was quelled, but Wenceslaus decided to have Otakar crowned as 'junior king' and to give him control of Moravia. Wenceslaus died in 1253 and was succeeded by Premysl Ottokar.

Preceded by: Premysl Ottokar I

King of Bohemia

Succeeded by: Premysl Ottokar II