Judith of Schweinfurt



Judith of Schweinfurt (Jitka ze Schweinfurtu; before 1003 – 2 August 1058), known in Czech as Jutka or Jitka, was the Duchess consort of Bohemia in the period of 1034–1055, as the wife of Duke Bretislav I.

Family
She was the wife of Bretislav I of Bohemia. Her parents were Henry, margrave of Nordgau (Bavaria), and his wife Gerberga. She was a scion of the House of Babenberg.

Bretislav and Jitka
The House of Přemysl wished to confirm its good relationship with the Babenbergs through a marriage to Judith in 1020. Judith was a desirable bride, but Oldřich of Bohemia had only one son, Bretislav, and he was of illegitimate birth, thus complicating the prospect of a marriage with the high-born Judith. Bretislav solved the problem by kidnapping Judith from a monastery in Schweinfurt, although he was never punished for the crime. He married Judith some time later. Their first son Spytihněv was born after almost ten years, which led to the hypothesis that the kidnapping happened in 1029, although Judith may have given birth to daughters before her first son.

Exile in Hungary
After Bretislav died in 1055, Judith may have been sent by Spytihněv out of Bohemia, like other Germans, and moved to Hungary. In Hungary she may have married the former king Peter Urseolo of Hungary, who had been deposed in 1046. Judith died in 1058 and was buried in St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague.

Literature

 * KRZEMIENSKA, B. Břetislav I. - Čechy a střední Evropa v prvé polovině XI. století. Praha : Garamond, 1999.
 * ŽEMLIČKA, J. Čechy v době knížecí 1044–1198. Praha : NLN, 2002. 660 s. ISBN 80-7106-196-4.