Jaromir, Bishop of Prague

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Jaromir (Czech: Jaromír) was the bishop of Prague from 1068 when he was appointed by his brother, Vratislaus II of Bohemia. The two were both sons of the Duke Bretislaus I.

In 1063, Vratislaus had established a diocese at Olomouc and raised a monk of Brewnow, John, to the see. Jaromir was resentful of the loss of tithes and fiefs and the brothers entered into a long rivalry. Jaromir even attacked the new bishop of Olomouc and carried off by force of arms the relics which had been removed from Prague to the new see. Vratislaus, for his part, spited his brother by wearing his episcopal vestments—an honour conferred by the pope for the price of 100 marks per annum—in his brother's presence at official functions.

Pope Alexander II sent a legate Rudolph to hold a diet in Prague in response to the conflicts surrounding the new see. Jaromir did not attend and was deposed. Gregory VII summoned the bishops to Rome. At an Easter synod in 1074, Jaromir confessed his ill-treatment of John, but refused to yield Podvin. Gregory ordered that Vratislaus should remove his brother by force if necessary.

Jaromir was an ally of the Emperor Henry IV during the Investiture Controversy. Jaromir was appointed chancellor by Henry and took the name Gebhard in 1077. In 1085, John died and a reichstag convened in Mainz suppressed the Moravian see, reuniting it to Prague by Jaromir's insistence. Vratislaus fell out with Henry over the loss of Meissen and raised his chaplain Wecel to Olomouc as Bishop Andrew I. Jaromir went to Rome to protest to Pope Urban II. He was preparing to fight Wecel at Esztergom when he died.

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This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.


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