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VON SCHWEINFORT Judith
Birth: ABT 1007 of Schwienfurt, Unterfranken, Bavaria
Death: 2 Aug 1058 Hungary
Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_of_Schweinfurt
Judith of Schweinfurt (Czech: Jitka ze Schweinfurtu; before 1003 – 2 August 1058)
was Duchess consort of Bohemia from 1034 until 1055, by her marriage with the
Premyslid duke Bretislav I.[1]
Family[edit]
Her parents were Henry of Schweinfurt (d. 1017), margrave in the Bavarian Nordgau,
[1] and his wife Gerberga of Henneberg. Margrave Henry and his father Berthold may
have been descendants of Duke Arnulf of Bavaria and related to the Luitpolding
dynasty. Berthold's brother (or nephew) Margrave Leopold I of Austria became
progenitor of the Younger House of Babenberg. She was raised at the nunnery her
family had founded in Schweinfurt.
Bretislav and Jitka[edit]
According to František Palacký, the young Bohemian prince Bretislav, son of the
Premyslid duke Oldrich of Bohemia, on his way to the court of Emperor Conrad II in
1029 passed through Schweinfurt, where he met Judith and immediately fell in love
with her.
Duke Oldrich had forged an alliance with the German king Henry II to depose his elder
brothers Boleslaus III and Jaromír. He also had been able to reconquer large Moravian
territories occupied by the Polish duke Boleslaw I the Brave by 1019. Therefore,
Oldrich was not averse to confirm his good relationship with the German nobility
through a marriage to Judith.
Beautiful Judith was a desirable bride, however, Oldrich's only son Bretislav was of
illegitimate birth from his misalliance with the farmer's daughter Božena. Judith's
relatives were very proud of their noble origins, thus complicating the prospect of
Bretislav's marriage with the high-born Judith. The young man solved the problem in
his own way by sneaking into the monastery and abducting Judith on a wild ride out of
Schweinfurt, shattering locks and chains with his sword.[1] Bretislav was never
punished for the crime. He and Judith settled at Olomouc in Moravia.
Bretislav 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.
Exile in Hungary[edit]
After Bretislav died in 1055, Judith was expelled by her son Spytihnev out of Bohemia,
like many other Germans, and moved to the Kingdom of Hungary with her younger son
Vratislaus. In Hungary she may have secondly married the former king Peter Orseolo,
who had been deposed in 1046. Judith died in 1058 and her mortal remains were
transferred to St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague.
Legacy[edit]
The marriage of Bretislav and Judith was perpetuated in the theatre play Bretislaus,
also named Bretislav and Jitka, written by the Czech author Jan Campanus Vodnanský
(1572–1622) in 1614. The performance was then forbidden, considered detrimental to
the reputation of the Bohemian monarchs. According to legend, Judith during her
kidnapping lost a shoe when Bretislav's horse galloped downhill from the Schweinfurt
monastery; since the 19th century a masonry cave with a stone shoe marks the site.
Parents
VON SCHWEINFURT Henry (Heinrich) (ABT 970 - 18 Sep 1017)
VON GLEIBERG Gerberga (ABT 970 - AFT 1036)
Siblings
VON SCHWEINFURT Otto III (ABT 1004 - 28 Sep 1057)
VON SCHWEINFURT Henry (ABT 1005 - AFT 1043)
VON SCHWEINFURT Eilika (Elica) (ABT 1005 - 1059)
VON SCHWEINFORT Judith (ABT 1007 - 2 Aug 1058)
Marriage To ____ Bretislaw (Bretislav) I "the Warrier" (ABT 1005 - 10 Jan 1055)
m. ABT 1021
Notes
Parents
____ Udalrich (Oldrich) (ABT 975 - 9 Nov 1034)
____ Bozena (ABT 984 - 1052)
Children by ____ Bretislaw (Bretislav) I "the Warrier" ABT 1005 - 10 Jan 1055
____ Wratislaw (Vratislav) II (ABT 1035 - 14 Jan 1092)
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