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Emma (Hemma) (bef. 950 – 1005/06) was a Bohemian duchess consort as the second wife of Boleslaus II of Bohemia.[1][2]
Emma of Mělník | |
|---|---|
 Emma and Saint Wenceslaus | |
| Born | before 950 |
| Died | 1005 or 1006 Mělník, Bohemia |
| Spouse(s) | Boleslaus II of Bohemia |
Her origins are uncertain. Historian Gelasius Dobner (1719–90) thought she was a princess of Burgundy, and this theory has been recently respected. The latest research of historians and numismatists, however, indicate that she was of Italian-Burgundian origin and have identified her with Emma of Italy, widow of King Lothair of France (d. 986). She became the second wife of Boleslaus II about the year 989 and died either in 1005 or 1006. It was traditionally supposed by Czech historians that Emma was the mother of Boleslaus' younger sons Oldřich and Jaromír and that the mother of the oldest son, Boleslaus III of Bohemia, was Adiva, the first wife of Boleslaus II.
Afraid of Boleslaus III, Emma chose to go into exile at the court of Bavaria in 1001 together with Dukes of Bohemia Oldřich and Jaromir. The brothers sought military backing from the German King Henry II, definitively placing Bohemia within the jurisdiction of the Holy Roman Empire.
In 1004, Jaromír occupied Prague with a German army and made himself duke. Emma came back to Bohemia, likely living in the town of Mělník, where she died.
Evidencing her existence are Bohemian denar coins with the inscription EMMA REGINA ("Queen Emma", not Duchess).
References edit
- ^ Schottky, Julius Max (1830). Die karolinische Zeit: oder, Der äussere Zustand und die Sitten und Gebräuche Prag's und Böhmen's überhaupt, vor und insbesondere während der Regierung Kaiser Karl des IV., nebst vorausgehenden geschichtlichen Abhandlungen über den heiligen Johannes von Nepomuk ... ein treues, durch die besten Aktenstücke mit historischer Genauigkeit erläutertes Zeit- und Sittengemälde (in German). Bei Cajetan von Mayregg.
- ^ Good, John Mason (1819). Pantologia. A new (cabinet) cyclopædia, by J.M. Good, O. Gregory, and N. Bosworth assisted by other gentlemen of eminence.
- Jan Kilián and Luboš Polanský (eds.): Emma regina – Civitas Melnic, Mělník-Praha, 2008, ISBN 978-80-903899-1-5.
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