Bohemia

After freeing themselves from the rule of the Avars in the 7th century, Bohemia's Slavic inhabitants came (in the 9th century) under the rule of the Přemyslid dynasty, which continued until 1306. With Bohemia's conversion to Christianity in the 9th century, close relations were forged with the East Frankish kingdom, then part of the so-called Carolingian empire, later the nucleus of the Holy Roman Empire of which Bohemia was an autonomous part from the 10th century.

The first to use the title of "King of Bohemia" was Boleslav I after 940, but his heirs again used the title of Duke. The title of King was granted to the Premyslid dukes Vratislav II (1085) and Vladislav II (1158), and became hereditary (1198) under Ottokar I, whose grandson Ottokar II (king 1253-1278) founded a short-lived empire also covering modern Austria. The mid-13th century saw the beginning of substantial German immigration as the court sought to make good the losses resulting from the brief Mongol invasion of 1241. In 1346, Charles IV became King of Bohemia. In 1348 he founded central Europe's first university in Prague. His reign brought Bohemia to its peak both politically and in total area, resulting in his being the first King of Bohemia to be elected as Holy Roman Emperor.

After World War I, Bohemia became the cornerstone of the newly-formed country of Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia became a rich and liberal democratic republic, and Tomáš Masaryk was elected as its first president.

Following the Munich Agreement in 1938, the border regions of Bohemia inhabited predominantly by ethnic Germans, were annexed to Germany - it was the first and only time in the whole history of Bohemia that it was divided. Between 1939-1945, the remaining part of Bohemia together with Moravia formed the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (Reichsprotektorat Böhmen und Mähren) under the Occupation.

Agnes of Bohemia (Sv. Anezka Ceska, 1211-1282) was the first saint from a Central European country to be canonized by Pope John Paul II before the 1989 "Velvet Revolution".

After the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993, Bohemia became part of the new Czech Republic.

The Czech constitution from 1992 refers to the "citizens of the Czech Republic in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia" and proclaims continuity with the statehood of the Bohemian Crown. Bohemia is not currently an administrative unit of the Czech Republic. Instead, it is divided into Prague, the Central Bohemian Region, the Pilsen Region, the Carlsbad Region, the Usti nad Labem Region, the Liberec Region, the Hradec Kralove Region, and parts of the Pardubice, Vysocina and South Bohemian regions.

Habsburg Dynasty Rulers

Ferdinand I (1526-1564)

Maximilian (1564-1576)

Rudolph II (1576-1611)

Matthias (1611-1619)

Ferdinand II (1619-1637)

Frederick, Elector Palatine rival king (1619-1620), Wittelsbach

Ferdinand III (1627-1657)

Ferdinand IV (1646-1654)

Leopold I (1656-1705)

Joseph I (1705-1711)

Charles II (1711-1740)

Maria Theresa (1740-1780)

Joseph II (1780-1790)
Leopold II (1790-1792)
Francis (1792-1835)
Ferdinand V (1835-1848)
Francis Joseph (1848-1916)
Charles III (1916-1918)

German-Bohemian Cookbook