Świętosława of Poland

Swatawa of Poland (Polish Świętosława, Czech Svatava Polská; * before 1050, † September 1, 1126 ) was the third wife of the Czech king Vratislav II and the first Bohemian queen.

Life

She was born before 1050 as the daughter of the Polish ruler Casimir I. Karl and his wife Maria Dobroniega, daughter of Grand Prince Vladimir I of Kiev. Dubrawka, her great-grandmother on the paternal side, was the daughter of Přemyslids - Prince Boleslav I.. Swatawa was so distantly related to the Czech rulers. She married about fifteen years old in winter 1062, a year after the death of Vratislav second wife Adelheid of Hungary. Vratislav had four children at this time. To 1063 came the common son Boleslav, the still Bořivoj, Vladislav, Soběslav and Judith followed.

Easter 1085 was Prince Vratislav of Henry IV in Mainz the royal crown. In June, he was crowned with his wife in Prague from the Archbishop of Trier Egilbert and anointed. Swatawa so became the first Bohemian queen. It supported the establishment and construction of the new collegiate chapter at Vysehrad and endowed it generously with lands from, among others, with an area around the town of Dolni Kralovice at the Želivka, which was named after the original owner Svatavin újezd.

After the death Vratislav 1092 she lived 34 years as a widow in Bohemia. She was involved in the mediation of disputes and their sons Vladislav Soběslav. According to the Chronica Boemorum she played in 1125 even the decisive role in the mediation of a succession dispute that threatened to escalate to war. Vladislav I, then terminally ill, certain his cousin Otto II as his successor. This was older than your own brother Soběslav. The Queen intervened and made the decision reversed. With the saying " blood is thicker than the coat," she lets the chronicler for her son to take sides. Successors and legal representatives of children Vladislav was Soběslav I Swatawa had seen ascend the Czech throne after the death of her husband six subsequent rulers, including three children of their own. Though none of these rulers regained the kingship, she kept all her life the title of Queen at.