at with the secrecy required, as both Ruler and
Church forbade the practice of worshipping Slavonic deities, the
practice must have been quite as exciting as _petits chevaux_.

Whether it was this interference with the Ruegen pilgrims or his action
in stamping out the custom of holding religious services in the language
of the country, B[vr]etislav II was not popular; he was eventually
murdered by some of his nobles. The successors of B[vr]etislav seem to
have been cantankerous and inefficient; it is wearisome to read of those
hopeless people throwing away the fruits of good work done by such stout
fellows as B[vr]etislav I or even the hearty heathen Boleslav. In all
this distressing muddle of brothers, cousins, etc., fighting, getting
beaten and running off to the German Emperor to howl to him about it,
there are occasional bright spots. So for instance, one Sob[ve]slav, who
came to the throne in 1125, and found things in the usual mess, with
half the country against him; nevertheless he managed to beat Emperor
Lothair most heartily. Lothair had crossed the Giant Mountains in order
to support the claims of some other P[vr]emysl, had met Sob[ve]slav's
hastily gathered army at Kulm, near Teplitz, and had been handsomely
beaten. Not only that, but Lothair and the remnants of his army were
surrounded, and it was up to the Bohemian Prince to impose terms this
time. Sob[ve]slav was thus able to improve the status of Bohemia
considerably, and he added to his country's dignity by receiving the
high office of hereditary cup-bearer of the Empire, from Conrad III,
Lothair's successor. Cupbearer in perpetuam to an Empire sounds very
important and suggests great possibilities of influencing people. As a
matter of fact the office gave Bohemia certain rights within the Empire
which went some way to balance the obligations; nevertheless German ties
were fastened yet more securely on the sons of Czech.

Sob[ve]slav was succeeded by his nephew Vladislav, another P[vr]emysl to
rise to royal rank. This Prince passed through the usual troubles before
securing the throne to himself, and was perforce driven to invoke the
German Emperor Conrad in order to establish his sovereign rights over
the whole of Bohemia and Moravia. The reign of Vladislav I (as King) is
relieved by a certain picturesqueness, by a touch of romance, from the
usual sordid course of events in the life of the P[vr]emysl dynasty with
its rivalries, treachery, conspiracies a