Judith of Bohemia

Judith of Bohemia
Judith of Bohemia
Duchess consort of Poland
Reign	1080–1086
Spouse	Władysław I Herman
Issue
Bolesław III Wrymouth
Full name
Judith Přemyslid
House	Přemyslid dynasty House of Piast
Father	Vratislaus II of Bohemia
Mother	Adelaide of Hungary
Born	ca. 1056/58 Prague, Bohemia
Died	25 December 1086

Judith of Bohemia (ca. 1056/58 – 25 December 1086), also known as Judith Přemyslid, was a Bohemian princess of the Přemyslid dynasty, and Duchess of Poland by marriage.

She was a daughter of Duke Vratislaus II of Bohemia by his second wife Adelaide, daughter of King Andrew I of Hungary.^[1][2] She was named after her paternal grandmother Judith of Schweinfurt, who died shortly after her birth.

Life

Family

Judith was the second of four children born from Vratislaus II's marriage with the Hungarian princess Adelaide. The others were Bretislaus II, Ludmila (later a nun) and Vratislaus, who died young in battle. Judith's uncle Duke Spytihněv II died in 1061 and was succeeded by his brother Vratislaus II. One year later, in 1062, Duchess Adelaide died.

Duke Vratislaus II re-married in 1063 to Świętosława, daughter of Duke Casimir I of Poland. From this marriage, Judith gained five half-siblings: Boleslav (Duke of Olomouc, who died shortly before his father), Borivoj II, Vladislav I, Soběslav I Oldřich and Judith, later wife of Wiprecht II of Groitzsch, Burgrave of Magdeburg.

Marriage

Around 1080, Judith married Władysław I Herman, Duke of Poland (nephew of her stepmother), to solidify the recently established Bohemian-Polish alliance.

According to contemporary chroniclers, Duchess Judith performed remarkable charity work, helping the needy and ensuring the comfort of subjects and prisoners. After almost five years of childless marriage, the necessity for an heir increased:

Because she was barren pray to God every day with tears and orations, made sacrifices and paying debts, helping widows and orphans, and given very generous amounts of gold and silver for the monasteries, commanded the priests to pray to the saints and the grace of God for a child.

On 10 June 1085, Judith and her husband were present at the coronation of her father Duke Vratislaus II as the first King of Bohemia. One year later, in on 20 August 1086, she gave birth to the long-awaited son and heir, the future Bolesław III Wrymouth. Sadly, the duchess never recovered from the effects of childbirth and died four months later, on 25 December.

Three years later, in 1089, her husband was re-married to the widow of Judith's uncle King Solomon of Hungary, Judith of Swabia, who was renamed Sophia in Poland in order to distinguish herself from Władysław I's first wife.

Ancestry

References