Page:Bohemia An Historical Sketch.djvu/54

 defeated the Austrians in the great battle of Mailberg (1082) he did not succeed in permanently retaining their country. In 1086 the Emperor, as a further reward, granted Prince Vratislav the title of king, and presented him with a golden crown. The coronation of Vratislav at Prague is an event of great importance in Bohemian history, for the title of king was then for the first time borne by a ruler of that country. Henry, however, stipulated that the title of king should only be used by Vratislav himself, and should not be hereditary. It was settled, probably at the same time, that in consequence of the sums lent by Vratislav to the Emperor the former tribute should no longer be paid by the Bohemian prince. They were, however, obliged to send three hundred soldiers as auxiliaries to the German kings on the occasion of their expeditions to Italy, which were undertaken for the purpose of being crowned at Rome by the Pope. Henceforth, down to the fifteenth century, this remained the only real charge and obligation by which Bohemia was permanently rendered dependent on the supremacy of the German Empire.

The dissensions among the reigning family, so frequent in the history of Bohemia, did not cease under King Vratislav. We read of conflicts between him and his brothers, the rulers of Moravia, and a serious quarrel broke out in 1092 between the king and his eldest son, Břetislav. Břetislav, having been insulted by a courtier of his father named Zderad, caused him to be murdered, and fled to the Hungarian court, where he remained until his father died. Vratislav was killed by a fall when out hunting (1092), and was succeeded by his brother Conrad, as the family regulations made by Břetislav I awarded the throne to the eldest member of the house of Přemysl, not to the eldest son of the late reigning prince.

Conrad only lived eight months after his accession to the throne, and Břetislav II now became prince of Bohemia. We are told that he greatly exerted himself to extirpate paganism, which still lingered in the outlying districts of Bohemia; and that he forbade the pilgrimages which the heathen in Bohemia still undertook to the pagan sanctuary of Arcona, their temples in Bohemia having been destroyed.

As a proof that the custom of holding religious services