About the anniversary

On the evening of August 31st, 1310, the Archbishop of Cologne legally united John, the only son of the Roman King Henry VII of the family of counts of Luxembourg, with Elisabeth of Přemyslids, daughter of the Czech King Wenceslas II in the western hall of the Speyer cathedral. The following day their union was blessed by the Archbishop of Mayence, Peter of Aspelt, in front of the main altar of the cathedral.

After the murder of her brother, King Wenceslas III in 1306, the short reign of Rudolph of Habsburg (died in 1307) and the failed domination attempt of Henry of Carinthia, Princess Elisabeth was designated by the representatives of the Church and the nobility and bourgeoisie of the Bohemian Kingdom as the only heir apparent to the Bohemian throne. A significant role in the intermediation of the marriage was played by abbots of the most powerful Cistercian monasteries – Conrad, abbot of Zbraslav and Heidenreich, abbot of Sedlec, with the crucial help of the Archbishop of Mayence, Peter of Aspelt, former chancellor and counselor of King Wenceslas II.

On February 7th, 1311, the royal couple was crowned in the St. Vitus basilica at Prague Castle by Pierre of Aspelt.

With the marriage of John and Elisabeth, a new chapter of the Bohemian Kingdom (which at the time boasted the strongest economy in Central Europe due to the silver fields in Kutná Hora), but also of the Luxembourg dynasty and the Roman Empire began, to the throne of the latter three of Elisabeth and John’s descendants would settle successively during the 14th and the beginning of the 15th century.

An impressive number of cultural and social activities will take place in the Czech Republic to commemorate this key date in European History.

PhDr. Klára Benešovská, CSc.