I´m glad somebody stopped by
After Premysl divorced Margarethe, he needed to marry again, this time to sombody of not only political importance, but also somebody, who could actually give him a legal heir. And so we come to a woman, who according to historians was probably the most amazing creture that ever sat on the Czech throne.
Princess Kunhuta was born sometimes about 1246 and through her father she came from the Russian house of Rurik. She spent her early days in what today is Croatia, later she was taken to the court of her grandfather king Bela IV. of Hungary. When Premysl´s proposal for marriage came, the supposed bride was Kunhuta´s aunt Marketa, but she declined and became a nun. But Bela needed the aliance with Czech king and so he offered him his granddaugher.
The wedding took place on 25th October 1261 in Bratislava (today capital of Slovakia) and on 25th December of the same year Premysl and his young wife were crowned in Prague.
As a Czech queen Kunhuta was known for her extraordinary beauty. Although we don´t have any precise portrait of her, we can asume she had rahetr exotic features, but from her father´s side she inherited beautiful golden hair. She was also known for her temperament and love of tournaments. She gave Premysl five children, but only two daughters - Kunhuta and Agnes lived. The heir to the throne was finally born in September 1271.
She was very regal and enchanting, but also very proud. As a wife of the wealthies and most powerful man of her time (he was known as Golden and Iron King), she had a great difficulty getting over the fact that Premysl was not elected new roman Emperor- That was because other monarchs were affraid he would becoma far too powerful, and so they elected absolutely unimportant and unknown - Rudolf of Habsburg! Who would have guessed that this man´s line would in the end be one of th most famous in history! Some historians blame Kunhuta that she forced her husband to fight against Rudolf, which eventually led to Premysl´s untimely and violent death in 1278 in the battle on Moravian fields and consequently to hard years under patronage of foreign nobles in Czech kingdom, but that has never been proved.
After her husband´s death Kunhuta and her three children were under supervising of Ota of Brandenburg, who turned out to be a villain whose hordes were only stealing and killing Cezch people to enrich themselves. Former Queen and her children were held prisoners, until Kunhuta managed to escape. Although she could take her daughters with her, her beloved nad only son stayed in captivity and she never stopped trying to secure his life and position.
Kunhuta fled to Opavský Hradec in Moravia, and there she grew very close to the frontman of Czech nobility - Záviš (Zaavish) of Falkenstein. She also seeked out help of Rufol Habsburg, whom she had despised nad promised to wed her two younger children to his ones, since her eldest daughter has become a nun.
Much has been told about love between Kunhuta and Záviš. They are a legend, much like Guinevere and Lancelot. There had been rumours even during Premysl´s life, but none of them were true. Only after a long time Kunhuta found herself deeply in love with him, while he had loved since the first time they met. Some people say he only used her to gain power, but his devotion was sincere. They even secretly married and she bore him a son.
After her son Václav, now Czech king, returned from capitivity in 1283 (he was 12), he accepted his mother and her new husband and even had them married legally and publicly. Záviš gained a great influence on young Václav, which lasted even after Kunhuta´s untimely death in 1285. She died most probably of tuberculosis and was burried in a monastery of her aunt-in-law Agnes. Her second husband was grief-stricken, and thought hemarried again, he never forgot his beloved Queen, who only for a little while fulfiled his youthful dreams.
Kunhuta Rurikovna
Záviš is courting Kunhuta