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The Duchy of Bohemia was a monarchy and a principality of the Holy Roman Empire in Central Europe during the Early and High Middle Ages. It was formed around 870 by Czechs as part of the Great Moravian realm.

The Great Moravian realm was was the first major state that was predominantly West Slavic to emerge in the area of Central Europe, possibly including territories which are today part of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Germany, Poland, Romania, Croatia, Serbia and Ukraine.

Bohemia separated from disintegrating Great Moravia after Duke Spytihněv swore fealty to Arnulf of Corinthia, King of East Francia in 895. Arnulf of Corinthia was also the disputed King of Italy from 894 and the disputed Emperor from February 22, 896, until his death at Regensburg, Bavaria.

Bohemia was at first ruled by the Přemyslid Dynasty. The dynasty’s origin dates back to the 9th century, when the Přemyslids ruled a tiny territory around Prague, populated by a tribe of the Western Slavs. Gradually they expanded, conquering much of the region of Bohemia, located in the Bohemian basin where it was not threatened by the expansion of the Frankish Empire. The first historically-documented Přemyslid duke was Bořivoj I (867). DNA testing on the remains of his son, Spytihněv I, reveal the family’s Y-haplogroup to be R1b, second most common haplogroup in Czech republic.

While the Bohemian dukes of the Přemyslid dyntasty, at first ruling at Prague Castle and Levý Hradec, brought further estates under their control, the Christianization initiated by Saints Cyril and Methodius was continued by the Frankish bishops of Regensburg and Passau. In 973, the Diocese of Prague was founded through the joint efforts of Duke Boleslaus II and Emperor Otto I the Great. Late Duke Wenceslaus I of Bohemia, killed by his younger brother Boleslaus in 935, became the land’s patron saint.

While the lands were occupied by the Polish king Bolesław I and internal struggles shook the Přemyslid Dynasty, Duke Vladivoj received Bohemia as a fief from the hands of Emperor Heinrich II in 1002 and the duchy became an Imperial State of the Holy Roman Empire.

The Přemyslids remained in power throughout the High Middle Ages, until the extinction of the male line with the death of King Wenceslaus III in 1306.

Although some former rulers of Bohemia had enjoyed a non-hereditary royal title during the 11th and 12th centuries (Vratislaus II, Vladislaus II), the kingdom was formally established in 1198 by Přemysl Ottokar I, who had his status acknowledged by Philipp of Swabia, elected King of the Romans, in return for his support against the rival Emperor Otto IV.

In 1204 Ottokar’s royal status was accepted by Otto IV as well as by Pope Innocent III. It was officially recognized in 1212 by the Golden Bull of Sicily issued by Emperor Friedrich II, elevating the Duchy of Bohemia to Kingdom status and proclaiming its independence which was also later bolstered by future king of Bohemia and emperor Charles IV, with his golden bull in 1356.

Under these terms, the King of Bohemia was to be exempt from all future obligations to the Holy Roman Empire except for participation in the imperial councils. The imperial prerogative to ratify each Bohemian ruler and to appoint the bishop of Prague was revoked. The king’s successor was his son Wenceslaus I, from his second marriage.

The King of Bohemia was a Prince-Elector of the Empire. The Kings of Bohemia, besides the region of Bohemia itself, also ruled other lands belonging to the Bohemian Crown, which at various times included Moravia, Silesia, Lusatia, and parts of Saxony, Brandenburg, and Bavaria.

The Kingdom of Bohemia was later ruled by the House of Luxembourg, the Jagiellonian Dynasty, and from 1526 the House of Habsburg and its successor, the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. From 1526 until the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved in 1806, the Kingdom of Bohemia was part of the greater Habsburg Hereditary Lands.

Numerous kinrgs of Bohemia were also elected Holy Roman Emperors, and the capital, Prague, was the imperial seat in the late 14th century, and again at the end of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th centuries.

After the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the territory became part of the Habsburg Austrian Empire, and subsequently the Austro-Hungarian Empire from 1867. Bohemia retained its name and formal status as a separate Kingdom of Bohemia until 1918, known as a Crown Land within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and its capital Prague was one of the empire’s leading cities.

The Czech language (called the Bohemian language in English usage until the 19th century) was the main language of the Diet and the nobility until 1627 (after the Bohemian Revolt was suppressed).

German was then formally made equal with Czech and eventually prevailed as the language of the Diet until the Czech National Revival in the 19th century. German was also widely used as the language of administration in many towns after the Germans immigrated and populated some areas of the country in the 13th century. The royal court used the Czech, Latin, and German languages, depending on the ruler and period.

Following the defeat of the Central Powers in World War I, both the Kingdom and Empire were dissolved. Bohemia became the core part of the newly formed Republic of Czechoslovakia.

In 1989, as Marxist–Leninist governments and communism were ending all over Central and Eastern Europe, Czechoslovakia peacefully deposed their communist government during the Velvet Revolution, which began on November 17, 1989 and ended 11 days later on November 28th when all of the top Communist leaders and Communist party itself resigned. On December 31, 1992 Czechoslovakia peacefully split into the two sovereign states of the Czech Republic and Slovakia.