Vladivoj, Duke of Bohemia
Duke of Bohemia from 1002 to 1003
Vladivoj (c. 981 – January 1003) was Duke of Bohemia from 1002 until his death.
Life
Valdivoy's family is unknown; he is speculated by some historians to be a son of Mieszko I and Doubravka of Bohemia, based on very lose statement of Thietmar of Merseburg that he came to Bohemia from Poland and he was somehow 'related' to Bohemian royal family.
When Duke Boleslaus III was dethroned during a revolt by the Czech Vršovci clan, the Bohemian nobles declared Vladivoj, the Duke in 1002. The Czech historian Dušan Třeštík writes that Vladivoj assumed the Bohemian throne with the support of the Polish duke Bolesław I the Brave. In November, he also obtained the support by the German king Henry II who enfeoffed him with the Bohemian duchy.
After Vladivoj died in 1003, Bolesław the Brave invaded Bohemia and restored Boleslaus III who had many Bohemian noblemen murdered. It is said that Vladivoj was an alcoholic, and drinking was a possible contributor to his death. A massacre of the Vršovci clan at Vyšehrad ordered by Boleslaus III led to his deposition and the succession of his younger brother Jaromír.
References
Bibliography
Berend, Nora; Urbańczyk, Przemysław; Wiszewski, Przemysław (2013). Central Europe in the High Middle Ages: Bohemia, Hungary and Poland, c.
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