the nationality of all inhabitants of the czech provinces and ...

Chapter I Historical Roots
Czech love lyric, a Czech working of
the popular Alexandreida – albeit
written most likely by an author of
German origin – and The So-called
Chronicle of Dalimil.
THE BOHEMIAN STATE AND
THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE
In the thirteenth century, the Czech
medieval state was among the foremost
European power centres.
During the reign of Pfiemysl Otakar II the territory of the Czech state virtually extended
to the Adriatic.The power of the last Pfiemyslids derived largely from their wealth.
Among the most valuable European coins was the “Prague Groschen”
minted from Kutná Hora silver.
The country had a distinctly
centralised regime as early as the tenth
century. Likewise it was a state with
fairly well defined frontiers, delimited
by mountain ranges which to a degree
protected for centuries the
administrative centre and power base.
The both made it into a state that
attracted major international attention.
From the tenth century the Bohemian
principality was ranked among the
states of the Holy Roman Empire, and
moreover enjoyed a special status:
decisions of the imperial court did not
16
apply on the territory of the Czech
state, the imperial ruler, the Roman
emperor or king, owned no property or
feudal tenure on its territory and Czech
territory was not included in his tours of
his empire; he did not even have the
right to interfere in the election of the
Czech prince or king, which was the
sole right of the indigenous feudal lords
and which derived from older, and even
pagan, customs. The only time the
imperial ruler took it into his head to
intervene in Czech domestic affairs was
at moments of internal crisis. Probably
the best known of those was from the
1170s to the 1190s when Frederick
Barbarossa intervened in Czech internal
affairs on several occasions in his effort
to make it submit to his power. His
endeavours, which were the most
serious attempt to destroy the integrity
of the Bohemian state, ended in failure,
however. The privileged status of the
Bohemian prince and the fact that he
ruled the largest territory in the Empire
made him one of the most powerful
imperial princes.
It is no wonder, then, that he aroused
opposition to his power within the
Empire. This intensified all the more
when the Czech ruler rose higher up the
power ladder and symbolically
enhanced his prestige. The road to
unprecedented heights of power for the
Přemyslid dynasty was paved by the
collaboration of Prince Vladislav II
(1140-1172) with Frederick Barbarossa,
during whose reign he became the
second Czech ruler to obtain the title of