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Birth:          ABT 1005 of Praha, Bohemia
Death:          10 Jan 1055 Chrudim, Bohemia

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bretislav_I
Bretislav I (Czech: Bretislav I.; 1002/1005–10 January 1055), known as the "Bohemian 
Achilles", of the Premyslid dynasty, was Duke of Bohemia from 1035 until his death.
Youth[edit]

Bretislav was the son of Duke Oldrich[1] and his low-born concubine Božena. As an 
illegitimate son could not obtain a desirable wife by conventional means, he chose to 
kidnap his future wife Judith of Schweinfurt (Czech: Jitka), a daughter of the Bavarian 
noble Henry of Schweinfurt, Margrave of Nordgau, in 1019 at Schweinfurt.

During his father’s reign, in 1019 or 1029,[2] Bretislav took back Moravia from Poland. 
About 1031, he invaded Hungary in order to prevent its expansion under king 
Stephen. The partition of Bohemia between Oldrich and his brother Jaromír in 1034 
was probably the reason why Bretislav fled beyond the Bohemian border, only to come 
back to take the throne after Jaromír’s abdication.

Raid into Poland[edit]

In 1035, Bretislav helped Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II in his war against the 
Lusatians. In 1039, he invaded Lesser and Greater Poland, captured Poznan, sacked 
Gniezno, and brought the relics of St. Adalbert, Radim Gaudentius and the Five 
Brothers back with him. On the way back, he conquered part of Silesia, including 
Wroclaw. His main goal was to set up an archbishopric in Prague and create a large 
state subject only to the Holy Roman Empire. His raid had an unintended enduring 
influence on Polish history, as the plundering and destruction of Gniezno pushed the 
next Polish rulers to move their capital to Kraków, which would retain this role for 
many centuries ahead.

In 1040, the German King Henry III invaded Bohemia, but was forced to retreat after 
he lost the Battle at Brudek (a pass in the Bohemian Forest). The following year, 
Henry III invaded again, skirted the border defences and laid siege to Bretislav in 
Prague. Forced by a mutiny among his nobles and betrayed by Bishop Šebír of Prague, 
Bretislav had to renounce all of his conquests save for Moravia and recognize Henry 
III as his sovereign.[1]

In 1047, Emperor Henry III negotiated a peace treaty between Bretislav and the Poles. 
This pact worked in Bretislav's favour, as the Polish ruler swore never again to attack 
Bohemia in return for an annual subsidy to Gniezno.

Domestic policy[edit]

Bretislav was the author of decrees concerning the rules of Christianization, which 
included a ban on polygamy and trade on holidays.

It was in 1030 that Bretislav married the afore-mentioned Judith. In 1054, he 
established rules for the ducal succession and issued the famous Seniority Law that 
introduced agnatic seniority for order of succession. Younger members of the dynasty 
were supposed to govern fiefs (technically, parts of Moravia), but only at the duke's 
discretion. The result of this succession policy was the relative indivisibility of the 
Czech lands, but also bitter conflicts over succession and territorial primacy between 
members of the dynasty. It was effectively ended by the elevation of Bohemia to the 
status of a kingdom under Ottokar I of Bohemia, which led to the establishment of 
primogeniture as the ruling principle for succession rights.

Bretislav's eldest son Spytihnev was to succeed him as Duke of Bohemia with control 
over it domains. Moravia was incorporated into the Bohemian duchy, but divided 
between three of his younger sons. The Olomouc Appanage went to Vratislaus; the 
Znojmo Appanage went to Konrád; and the Brno Appanage went to Otto. The 
youngest son, Jaromír, entered the church and became Bishop of Prague.

Bretislav died at Chrudim in 1055 during preparations for another invasion of Hungary 
and was succeeded by his son Spytihnev II as Duke of Bohemia. His sons Otto and 
Vratislav were shut out of the government by Spytihnev, but after his death both 
gained control of Moravia and Bohemia, respectively.

Family[edit]

Bretislav married Judith, the daughter of Margrave Henry of Schweinfurt. The House 
of Premysl wished to confirm its good relationship with the Babenbergs through a 
marriage to Judith in 1020. Judith was a desirable bride, but Oldrich of Bohemia had 
only one son, Bretislav, and he was of illegitimate birth, thus complicating the 
prospect of a marriage with the high-born Judith. Bretislav solved the problem by 
kidnapping Judith from a monastery in Schweinfurt,[3] although he was never 
punished for the crime. He married Judith some time later. Their first son Spytihnev 
was born after almost ten years, which led to the hypothesis that the kidnapping 
happened in 1029, although Judith may have given birth to daughters before her first 
son. In all, there were four sons from the marriage that survived into adulthood:
Spytihnev II, Duke of Bohemia
Vratislaus II of Bohemia
Conrad I, Duke of Bohemia
Otto I of Olomouc

Parents
____ Udalrich (Oldrich) (ABT  975 - 9 Nov 1034)
____ Bozena (ABT  984 - 1052)

Siblings
____ Bretislaw (Bretislav) I "the Warrier" (ABT 1005 - 10 Jan 1055)

Marriage To VON SCHWEINFORT Judith (ABT 1007 - 2 Aug 1058)
    m. ABT 1021 

Notes

Parents
VON SCHWEINFURT Henry (Heinrich) (ABT  970 - 18 Sep 1017)
VON GLEIBERG Gerberga (ABT  970 - AFT 1036)

Children by VON SCHWEINFORT Judith ABT 1007 - 2 Aug 1058
____ Wratislaw (Vratislav) II (ABT 1035 - 14 Jan 1092)

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