Page:Gregor The story of Bohemia.pdf/94

 tice. He gave a great impetus to trade by establishing a uniform system of weights and measures. Václav had squandered most of the crown estates by giving them away to his favorites; and, as these had been gained by fraud, Ottokar did not scruple to restore them to the crown by compulsion. This was done in a very summary manner. The lords were invited to the palace in Prague, and, without any warning, seized and cast into prison, and there kept till they were willing to give up the estates in question. In this way Ottokar gained much wealth, but also the deadly enmity of these lords; and, in time, their vengeance. Besides depriving his nobles of the unlawfully-gained estates, Ottokar humbled them by curtailing many of the rights and privileges granted them by his father. Indeed, the reign of Václav was the golden age of the Bohemian nobility; they had become rich and strong, and consequently very unruly. As an offset to this power, Ottokar established another privileged class; these were corporate cities, the inhabitants of which, enjoying many privileges, were very loyal to their king. Nor was this all; they were also a source of revenue. In the establishment of corporate cities, the king gained a great deal; but, at the same time, a grievous wrong was done to his own subjects. The inhabitants of these cities were mostly German immigrants, the introduction of whom into the country never failed to bring trouble. The two nationalities might have been mutually helpful, but history proves that they never were. The genius of intellectual development for the two races was different, and each was better off when left to grow according to the spiritual laws of its own nation. The intro-