Home > Wenceslaus II of Bohemia

Wenceslaus II Premyslid ( Czech Václav, Polish Waclaw) ( September 17, 1271 - June 21, 1305). King of Bohemia ( 1278 - 1305). Duke of Krakow ( 1291 - 1305). King of Poland ( 1300 - 1305). Wenceslaus II was the son of Ottokar II "The Great", King of Bohemia, and Kunegunda, daughter of Rostislav, the Grand Duke of Kyiv. His father died on August 26August 26 is the 238th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (239th in leap years). There are 127 days remaining. Events Monday, August 26, 55 BC Julius Caesar invades Britain Saturday, August 26, 1071 Battle of Manzikert: The Seljuk Turks defeat the, 1278, shortly before Wenceslaus' seventh birthday. His early reign was tainted by the abuses of power exercised by his regent, Otto, Margrave of BrandenburgSurrounding but excluding the national capital Berlin, Brandenburg is one of Germany's sixteen Bundeslander (federal states). Lying in the east of the country, it is one of the new states created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany a, and later by his mother's secret husband, Zavis of Falckenstein . On January 24January 24 is the 24th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 341 days remaining (342 in leap years). Events 41 Claudius is appointed Emperor of Rome after his nephew, Caligula, is assassinated. 1458 Matthias I Corvinus becomes king of Hunga, 1285 he married Judith (Jutta) von Habsburg, daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf I. In 1290 Wenceslaus had Zavis beheaded, and began ruling independently. In 1291 he was invited by a group of Polish Lords to take over the duchy of Krakow, and in 1300 he was crowned the king of Poland. He was planning to invade Austria when he died in 1305. He was succeeded by his son, Wenceslaus III, the last of the Premyslid kings.

In 1298, silver was discovered at Kutna Hora, on the border between Bohemia and Moravia. Wenceslaus took control of the mine by making silver production a royal monopoly. Kutna Hora was one of the richest European silver strikes ever: between 1300 and 1340, the mine may have produced as much as 20 tonnes of silver a year.

Wenceslaus' daughter with Judith, Elizabeth (Eliska), married John "The Blind" of Luxembourg. Judith died in 1297

Wenceslaus' second wife was Ryksa Elzbieta, daughter of Przemysl II, King of Poland 1295 - 1296. (She married Rudolf III of Austria after Wenceslaus' death).