Page:Bohemia An Historical Sketch.djvu/58

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34
Bohemia

Guido was also instructed to affirm the regulations of the Roman Church with regard to the celibacy of the clergy, and he decreed that all married priests were either to separate from their wives, or to renounce their dignities.[1]

During the reign of Vladislav II the second crusade took place. The Bohemian prince took part in this crusade, the leaders of which were his ally the Emperor Conrad III, and King Louis VII, of France. Vladislav himself led the Bohemian forces to the East; but, discouraged by the unfavourable results of the campaign, he left his army in Asia, and, recommending his troops to the protection of the French king, returned to his country by way of Constantinople.[2]

After the death of the German Emperor Conrad III (1152), the relations between his successor Frederick I (Barbarossa) and Vladislav were at first somewhat strained. The German sovereign favoured the claims of several of the Přemysl princes who had appealed to him; and he occupied Upper Lusatia, which Vladislav, after the extinction of the line of local rulers, claimed as a fief of the Bohemian crown.

A settlement was soon arrived at, as Frederick Barbarossa at that time desired to collect a large army against Milan and the confederate towns of Northern Italy. By a treaty concluded in 1156 the German king ceded Upper Lusatia to the Bohemian prince, and also conferred the title of king on him and all his successors.

On the other hand, Vladislav promised to join the German army in its march to Italy with a large force, though the former treaties only obliged him to send three hundred auxiliaries. Vladislav assembled an army of ten thousand men; and we are told that this campaign, more than any previous one, spread the fame of the bravery of the Bohemians through the most distant lands. The Bohemian army took part in the siege of Milan, and

  1. It may be noticed as a proof of how frequent marriage at that time was among the Bohemian clergy, even of the highest rank, that we find Jurata provost of Prague, Peter dean of the cathedral of Prague, Hugo provost of Vyšehrad, Thomas dean of the cathedral of Olmütz, mentioned among the married ecclesiastics.
  2. Palacký tells us that while at Constantinople Vladislav concluded a treaty with the Greek Emperor Emanuel, and that he was henceforth by the Greeks considered as a vassal of their Emperor. Palacký gives us no details as to these mysterious negotiations.