On the Margraviate Wars Lore Books

Description

About the wars that Jobst and Procopius fought against each other in the Moravian March and how Sigismund emerged victorious.

Text

On the Margraviate Wars

When Emperor Charles IV had taken his last breath, order in both the Bohemian lands and in the entire Holy Roman Empire began to deteriorate. The new emperor, Wenceslas IV, could not maintain unity and prosperity, and thus this union of states did begin to unravel and its rulers, without a strong hand to guide them, did begin to quarrel and conspire against each other. In the Lands of the Bohemian Crown, and particularly in the Margraviate of Moravia, it led to support for Sigismund of Hungary, the brother of Wenceslas IV, who was seen as a better ruler, who could resolve conflict and quell disorder.

Wars in Moravia began when King Wenceslas, represented by his cousin Prokop, after the death of the Bishop of Olomouc did occupy for himself all of his estates and did consider them to be his own, and the tide of resistance did rise as many of the Moravian nobles claimed these estates as their own according to inheritance rights. Jobst of Moravia stood at the head of the discontented lords and with support from most of the Moravian dukes, he began to openly rebel against the king and did ally himself with Sigismund of Hungary. This act of rebellion was not so much about the Bishop’s estates, but about who would rule Bohemia and Moravia - Wenceslas or Sigismund. For the time being, however, only inheritance rights are spoken about aloud, for no one has yet dared to make mention of dethroning the king.

Moravia has found itself in a whirlwind of fighting and anarchy, for the local nobility have plundered each other’s towns and conquered each other’s castles, depending on whose side they were on and to whom they believed the estates should belong to. How many villages were razed to the ground and how many innocent lives were taken in the name of this tug-of-war? Many knights, who had up to that point demonstrated behaviour and deeds fitting to their rank, now formed robber bands and on the highways attacked and murdered travellers and merchants alike, for there was no one to stop them. Later other Bohemian lords did side with the Moravian cause, with Jobst at the head, and the king was imprisoned and Sigismund was openly supported to become the new king of the land.