Page:Bohemia An Historical Sketch.djvu/48

 Boleslav II died in 999, and with him for a time also the greatness of his country, which rapidly declined during the rule of his successors.

 

great Bohemian Empire of Boleslav II, like most Slavonic States at that and even later periods, was not destined to be of long duration. As after the death of Vratislav I of Bohemia and Svatopluk of Moravia, dissensions in the reigning family were the first cause of the decline of the country. Boleslav II had three sons—Boleslav III, who succeeded him, Jaromir, and Ulrich.

Boleslav III is described as being cruel, avaricious, and distrustful. An old chronicler tells us that he "vice basilisci noxii regnans populum ineffabiliter constrinxit." The dissensions between Boleslav and his brothers appear to have begun immediately after their father's decease; and in the very year of the death of Boleslav II (999) the Polish Prince Boleslav, surnamed Chrobri (the Brave), son of the Bohemian Princess Dubravka, invaded the territories of his brother-in-law. Boleslav (the Brave), first attacked and stormed Cracow; the Bohemian garrison of which town was slaughtered after a brave defence. We are told that in the almost incredibly short period of one year Boleslav the Brave also conquered Moravia, Silesia, and the whole dominion over which Boleslav II had reigned, with the exception of Bohemia itself. Poland now for a time took the place of Bohemia as the great West-Slav power.

Boleslav III, entirely occupied by the internal divisions of Bohemia, seems to have made little or no effort to defend the dominion to which he had succeeded. Having driven his two brothers out of Bohemia, he hoped now to reign uncontestedly; but the Bohemian nobles and people, to whom his tyranny and cruelty had become intolerable, called to the throne the Polish Prince Vladivoj, a brother of Boleslav the Brave, and son of the Bohemian Princess