Bohemian Kingdom around 1400 - amidst disorder, tricks, insecurity and war

Historical background of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 and events in Kingdom of Bohemia in the early 15th century.
Screenshot from the computer game Kingdome Come: Deliverance - Sázava Monastery.
Around the year 1400 the Lands of the Bohemian Crown – and especially the Kingdom of Bohemia itself – were riding waves of uncertainty. Much of this turmoil revolved around the person of King Wenceslas IV, who held both the Bohemian and Holy Roman thrones. Wenceslas, while not a bad person by all accounts, proved not to be the most effective ruler. Thanks to his father Charles IV Wenceslas began his reign with both the Bohemian and Holy Roman thrones secured, but as time went on, it became apparent that Wenceslas lacked his father’s political resolve. Wenceslas quickly grew disheartened, tired, or even bored with complex political situations and negotiations, preferring the quiet of his hunting castles like Točník, Křivoklát, or Nový Hrad (near Kunratice – outer rim of Prague today). His passivity extended to the point where he delayed his journey to Rome to be crowned as Holy Roman Emperor. Furthermore, he appointed his favorites from the lesser nobility to important offices, which proved politically short-sighted, as these appointees often lacked the insight and experience of the high nobility, leading to discontent among the latter.
The high nobility, joined by Archbishop Jan of Jenštejn, quickly entered into opposition against Wenceslas, particularly due to his lack of engagement in sovereign duties. However, Wenceslas’s struggles were not solely of his own making; he came to power during the Papal Schism, which divided the Church and unsettled all of Europe, along with the plague epidemics of 1380-1382 and 1390, which claimed many lives and further darkened the social mood.
Screenshot from the computer game Kingdome Come: Deliverance - fight with the Hungarian Cumans.
The political opposition eventually escalated into open rebellion of „League of Lords“, leading to Wenceslas’s capture in early May 1394 at Králův Dvůr near the town of Beroun. This rebellion was supported also by Margrave Jobst of Moravia. Wenceslas was moved among various castles (including the House of Rosenberg castles Český Krumlov and Vítkův Kámen) and pressured to yield to the high nobility’s demand for greater participation in governance. His release was secured by his half-brother, Duke John of Görlitz, who refused to join the League of Lords. John managed to assemble a formidable military force but ultimately had to ransom Wenceslas, exchanging royal castles like Křivoklát and control over the silver mining in Kutná Hora in favour of noble league. On May 30, 1395 the noblemen opposition presented Wenceslas with a list of demands. Wenceslas accepted the opposition’s conditions on March 19, 1396 but treated John of Görlitz ungratefully, refusing to compensate him for the expenses of his release, nearly driving him toward the opposition.
In 1397, the imperial nobility also rose against Wenceslas due to his neglect of his sovereign duties, leading to his deposition from the Roman throne in 1400. Wenceslas refused to acknowledge this and attempted to gain support by offering his brother Sigismund of Luxembourg the regency of Bohemia. Sigismund seized this opportunity by aggressively taking over castles, which provoked Wenceslas’s resistance, for which Sigismund imprisoned him and held him in Vienna from 1402 to 1404. This sparked opposition to Sigismund from nobles loyal to Wenceslas, as well as from royal towns and adventurers like the mercenary captain and occasional robber Jan Sokol of Lamberka.
During the years 1402-1403, King Sigismund led the campaign in Bohemia to break Wenceslas’s supporters by force. He captured and burned down Stříbrná Skalice and besieged Kutná Hora, forcing the town to surrender. However, resistance persisted, and Margrave Jobst of Moravia, who had previously opposed Wenceslas, joined the new opposition to Sigismund. With a counter-king, Ladislaus I of Naples, rising in Hungary, Sigismund had to withdraw his forces from Bohemia and return to Hungary.
Screenshot from the computer game Kingdome Come: Deliverance - ambush.
Meanwhile, Moravia was also fraught with another drama. The title of Margrave of Moravia was originally held by three brothers, sons of John Henry, the younger brother of Charles IV: Jobst, Soběslav, and Prokop. From 1375, however, Jobst effectively ruled Moravia. Following Soběslav's death in 1380, a dispute over inheritance began between Jobst and Prokop, eventually resolved through an agreement that Jobst would pay Prokop a rent for the inheritance and their joint support of Sigismund of Luxembourg, who granted them Brandenburg as a pledge. In 1394, conflict reignited over Wenceslas IV's imprisonment—Jobst aligned with the League of Lords while Prokop joined the king. The two brothers waged a guerrilla war against each other across Moravia: known as the Margrave Wars. Jobst ultimately captured Prokop in 1402 but later released him in 1405 after Jobst himself switching to the side of Sigismund’s opponents, disapproving of Sigismund’s conquest of Bohemia and the king’s second captivity.
Screenshot from the computer game Kingdome Come: Deliverance - heavy armoured man-at-arms with the coat of arms of the Lords of Talmberk.
As this overview shows, Bohemia around the year 1400 was far from a calm corner of the world. With the king’s weakened authority, recurring plagues, two popes, and the buying and selling of ecclesiastical offices and sacraments, people grew disillusioned and entertained apocalyptic visions. The nobility, under the impression of weakened royal power, began to settle accounts with each other, as the case of the fight between two nobles over the castle and the title of Lord of Talmberk shows. This animosity spread not only among nobles but also among towns: Kutná Hora declared hostilities against Prague because of the fact that the Prague had failed to support Wenceslas when Sigismund imprisoned him in 1402, and Prague retaliated by assisting Sigismund’s forces in besieging Kutná Hora in late 1402 and early 1403. At that time, the Bohemian lands were fertile ground for adventurers, mercenaries, and robbers, the lines between them thin and often blurred...
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