Ottokar II., Přemysl#
b. around 1230, d. near Duernkrut (Lower Austria), Aug. 26, 1278, Margrave of Moravia, 1251 Duke of Austria, 1253 King of Bohemia, 1261 Duke of Styria, 1269 Duke of Carinthia and Carniola. Was made Duke in 1251 by the estate officials of Austria, married Margarete in 1252, sister of the last Babenberg Friedrich II, but divorced her in 1261. Took Styria from Hungary and founded the towns of Marchegg, Bruck an der Mur, Leoben and Radkersburg in order to strengthen his power. In Vienna started to build the Imperial Palace and St. Stephen's Cathedral. The separation of Upper Austria from Lower Austria began in this period.
Initially a mild ruler, from 1265 O. ruled with rigour ( Seifried von
Mahrenberg), causing many nobles to change sides to the newly elected
German king Rudolf I von Habsburg from 1273. Since he did not
ask for enfeoffment, was dispossessed of the territories of the
Babenbergs and Sponheims; in Nov. 1276 submitted near Vienna, but
started war against Rudolf again in 1278, suffering defeat on August
26, 1278, at the battle of Marchfeld between Duernkrut and
Jedenspeigen. He was killed while trying to escape.
Literature#
A. Kusternig, Die Zeit Koenig O. in Oesterreich, 1978; Ottokar-Forschungen, Jahrbuch fuer Landeskunde von Niederoesterreich, NF 44/45, 1979; J. K. Hoensch, Přemysl Otakar II. von Boehmen, 1989; J. Kuthan, P. O. Kg., Bauherr und Maezen, 1996.