Kunigunda of Halych: Difference between revisions

Queen of Bohemia from 1278 to 1285

Kunigunda Rostislavna (c. 1245 – 9 September 1285; Czech: Kunhuta Uherská or Kunhuta Haličská) was Queen consort of Bohemia. She was a member of the House of Chernigov, and a daughter of Rostislav Mikhailovich.

She was presumably born in Ruthenia, in the domains of her paternal grandfather Michael of Chernigov. Her grandfather was the last Grand Prince of Kiev, who was deposed not by a more powerful prince but by the Mongol Empire. Her parents were Rostislav Mikhailovich, future ruler of Belgrade and Slavonia, and his wife Anna of Hungary. After the death of her father’s father, Kunigunda’s family relocated to Hungary, where her mother’s father, Béla IV of Hungary, made her father governor of certain Serbian-speaking regions in the Danube Valley. Her father proclaimed himself Emperor of Bulgaria in 1256 but did not stay there to defend his title.

Kunigunda was married – as a token of alliance from her maternal grandfather Béla – to King Ottokar II of Bohemia (ca. 1233 – 1278) in Pressburg (now Bratislava) on 25 October 1261. Ottokar was paternally a member of the Přemyslid dynasty whose marriage to Margaret, Duchess of Austria (ca. 1204 – 1266) was annulled.

Kunigunda, 41 years Margaret’s junior, bore Ottokar several children including:

However, the peace between Bohemia and Hungary ended after 10 years, when Kunigunda’s uncle Stephen came to power as the King of Hungary.

In 1278, King Ottokar tried to recover his lands lost to Rudolph I of Germany in 1276. He made allies and collected a large army, but he was defeated by Rudolph and killed at the Battle of Dürnkrut and Jedenspeigen on the March on 26 August 1278.

Moravia was subdued and its government entrusted to Rudolph’s representatives, leaving Kunigunda in control of her castle in Hradec nad Moravicí, while Otto V the Tall became regent of Bohemia and the young Wenceslaus was betrothed and married to one of Rudolph’s daughters, Judith.^[1]

Kunigunda then entered into romantic relationship with Bohemian magnate Záviš of Falkenstein. They had one child:

Kunigunda and Záviš married at some point, however year is unclear, and it’s unknown if that even happened before or after the couple had their son. Nevertheless, Záviš managed to obtain Weneclaus’s approval of marriage at latest in 1285, before his lover/wife died.^[3]

Záviš survived her and married again to the Hungarian Princess Elisabeth. He was executed on behalf of the King on 24 August 1290.

Kunigunda’s son Wenceslaus II kept the Kingdom of Bohemia, and also succeeded in obtaining Poland and Hungary although not very sustainably. Ultimately, she is one of the pivotal ancestresses of both the House of Luxembourg and the Habsburgs.

• Kateřina Charvátová (2007). Václav II.: král český a polský. ISBN 978-80-7021-841-9.
• Gabriela V. Šarochová (2004). Radostný úděl vdovský: královny-vdovy přemyslovských Čech. ISBN 80-86569-24-1.
• Duczmal, Małgorzata (2010). Ryksa Piastówna. Królowa Czech i Polski (1st ed.). Wydawnictwo Manuskrypt. ISBN 83-923110-1-9.