The Bohemian Context 69opinions as to how effectively the dependency was enforced.^2 On the
death of Charlemagne’s successor in 843 the empire was divided, ini-
tially between his three sons, but in subsequent re-partitions up to 880
effectively into two, a West Frankish kingdom which eventually devel-
oped into France, and an East Frankish kingdom which became the
Holy Roman Empire. Again Bohemia was left on the tributary fringe,
but by this time the Pˇremyslid clan from the Prague area was beginning
to establish local dominance, becoming dukes of Bohemia in a dynasty
which lasted over 400 years until 1306 (one of its members being ‘Good
King Wenceslas’, duke from 921 to his murder in 935). Two of the dukes
attained the title of king on an individual basis, in 1085 and 1158 respec-
tively, before the designation became permanent in 1212. Curiously,
the title was granted by the emperor although Bohemia was outside
the Empire, added to which one of the central principles of the Empire
was that there were no kings other than the ‘Roman king’, that is the
emperor. In this period, though, emperors and popes sometimes had to
contend with rival candidates or schismatic competing office-holders,
and in 1212 this honour was probably thequid pro quofor political
support for the young Emperor Friedrich II against his adversary.
Exactly how the king of Bohemia came to be the seventh elector of the
Empire is uncertain, and indeed even how the first six were established is
by no means clear, as like much else in the Empire the election process
evolved gradually. The Frankish kingdoms were originally hereditary,
but there were also long-standing ideas of selection based on the suit-
ability of the available candidates, partly because the church disliked the
heathen origins of clan heredity.^3 Hence a combined approach emerged
in which the king was indeed elected, but the choice was restricted to
the old king’s relatives, with a presumption in favour of a son. If he had
no son the incumbent might designate an alternative relative as his suc-
cessor, so that a wider selection only became necessary in the event of a
failure in the dynastic line.
During the high Middle Ages the king was in theory elected by the
whole people, although in practice participation was limited to the great
of the Empire. Even so the circle of those entitled to vote was wide, and
in one such election of a ‘Roman king’ in 1024 all seven of the later elec-
tors, including the duke of Bohemia, took part, but so did many other
dukes, bishops and abbots from Germany and beyond.^4 Asignificant
change followed a disputed election in 1198, when one party sought the
support of the pope, leading to a ruling that in future the election must
take place ‘on Frankish soil’, and that the involvement of certain indi-
viduals was essential, namely the archbishops of Mainz, Cologne and