George of Poděbrady

George was the son of Victor of Kunštát and Poděbrady, a Bohemian nobleman whose ancestors were of Moravian origin, one of the leaders of more moderate faction (called Utraquists) of the Hussites during the Hussite Wars. George's mother is not known by name and it is likely that George was born out of wedlock; during his life he repeatedly heard ridicule from his enemies about his origin.

At the age of fourteen, George himself took part in the Battle of Lipany (1434), which marked the downfall of more radical Hussite factions (Taborites and Orebites) and the end of revolutionary phase of the Hussite movement. By that time he was already orphaned, as his father had died in 1427.

Early in life, as one of the leaders of the Hussite party, he defeated Austrian troops of King Albert II, who had succeeded King Sigismund as King of Bohemia, Germany and Hungary. George soon became a prominent member of the Hussite party after the death of Hynce Ptáček of Pirkstein, its leader.[2][3]

King Albert was succeeded by his posthumously born son Ladislaus, during whose reign Bohemia sharply divided into two parties: the party faithful to Rome, led by powerful "viceroy" Oldřich II of Rosenberg, and the Hussite party, led by George.[2]

After various attempts at reconciliation, George sought a military decision. He gradually raised an armed force in north-eastern Bohemia, where the Hussites were strong and where his ancestral Litice Castle was situated. In 1448, he marched this army, about 9000 strong, from Kutná Hora to Prague, and obtained possession of the capital almost without resistance.[3]

Civil war broke out, but George succeeded in defeating the nobles who remained faithful to Rome. In 1451 the Emperor Frederick III, as guardian of the young king Ladislaus, entrusted Poděbrad with the administration of Bohemia. In the same year a diet assembled at Prague also confirmed the regency on George.[3]

George of Poděbrady, "King of Two Peoples": Treaties Are to Be Observed. (1923) A painting by Alfons Mucha, part of his monumental cycle The Slav Epic, depicts papal nuncio Fantinus de Valle reminding to king his coronation promise to bring Bohemia "back to the womb of the true Church" and exterminate "heretics" (i.e. Utraquists / Hussites), while the king passionately objects that he isn't a heretic but maintain faithfulness to the faith – "according to his conscience"

The struggle of the Hussites against the papal party continued uninterruptedly, and the position of George became a very difficult one when the young king Ladislaus, who was crowned in 1453, expressed his pro-Roman sympathies, though he had recognized the compacts and the ancient privileges of Bohemia. In 1457 King Ladislaus died suddenly and some voices accused George of having poisoned him.[3] However, research in 1985 proved acute leukemia as the cause of death.

On 2 March 1458 the estates of Bohemia unanimously chose George as king. Even the adherents of the papal party voted for him, some in honour of his moderate policies, some out of deference to popular feeling, which opposed the election of a foreign ruler.[2][3]

George attempted to rule in a moderate manner based on the Compacta of Prague. He won the loyalty of some Catholics, but had to contend with the opposition of Pope Pius II, which proved one of the most serious obstacles to his rule. Pius declared the Compacta null and void in 1462 and wished George to consent to this. George rejected this demand but endeavoured to curry favour with the Papal See by punishing the more extreme Hussites (Taborites) or members of then newly founded Unitas Fratrum church.

Message of peace

Plaque in Cape Finisterre commemorating the peace mission of George of Podebrady and the travel of Jaroslav Lev of Rožmitál

George attempted to secure peace with Rome by a radical suggestion, which some consider to have been a proposal before its time of a European Union.[4][5] He proposed a treaty among all Christian powers, with Hungary, Poland, Bohemia, Bavaria, Brandenburg, Saxony, France, Burgundy and Italian states and its princes the founding members, but others, especially the Hispanic powers, joining later. The member states would pledge to settle all differences by exclusively peaceful means. There was to be a common parliament and other common institutions. George couched the proposal in Christian terms ("Europe" is not explicitly mentioned) as a way to stop the "abominable Turk", who had conquered Constantinople in 1453.

He sent his brother-in-law Jaroslav Lev of Rožmitál on a tour of European courts with a draft treaty of the message of peace to promote the idea. George hoped that the treaty would come into effect in 1464. It is seen as one of historical visions of European unity foreshadowing the European Union.[6]

That did not happen. All George's endeavours to establish peace with Rome proved ineffectual, but Pius II's plan of a crusade against Bohemia remained unexecuted. After Pius' death in 1464, George attempted to negotiate with the new pope, Paul II,[3] who proved to be an equally determined opponent.

The large Jiřího z Poděbrad Square in Prague 3 with the nearby eponymous metro station are named after him. Other squares named after him are in Ostrava, Hořice, Toužim, Řevnice, Kunštát or Nový Knín.

In 1896, an equestrian statue of King George, sculpted by Bohuslav Schnirch was erected in Poděbrady.

During World War I, early in 1917, the 2nd Czechoslovak Rifle Regiment of the Czechoslovak Legions was formed in Russia and named after King George.[7]

In 1440 he married Kunigunde of Sternberg; they had the following children:

1. Boček (15 July 1442 – 28 September 1496)
2. Victor (29 May 1443 – 30 August 1500), Imperial prince, Duke of Munsterberg and Opava and Count of Kladsko. Married to 1. Margaret Ptáček; 2. Sophie of Silesian Piasts; 3. Helen Margaret Palaiologina, daughter of John IV, Marquess of Montferrat.
3. Barbara (1446–1469), married firstly to Henry of Lipá, and secondly to John of Ronov
4. Henry the Elder (1448–1498), married Ursula of Brandenburg, daughter of Albert III, Margrave of Brandenburg
5. Katharina (11 November 1449 – 8 March 1464), twin of Sidonie, married Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, however died young
6. Sidonie (11 November 1449 – 1 February 1510), twin of Katharina, called Zdeňka, married Albert III, Duke of Saxony

After Kunigunde died in 1449, he married Johana of Rožmitál in 1450, they had the following children:

1. Henry the Younger (18 May 1452 – 1 July 1492) married Catherine, daughter of William III, Duke of Saxony
2. Frederick (1453–1458)
3. Agnes?, believed to have married in Wallachia
4. Ludmila (16 October 1456 – 20 January 1503), married Frederick I of Liegnitz

• Gregory of Heimburg

Wikimedia Commons has media related to George of Poděbrady.

• Claus Bernet (2003). "Podiebrad, Georg von". In Bautz, Traugott (ed.). Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German). Vol. 21. Nordhausen: Bautz. cols. 1183–1203. ISBN 3-88309-110-3.
• Colette Beaune: Chrétienté et Europe : le projet de Georges de Podiebrad au xve siècle, in: Chrétiens et sociétés, vol. 1, 1994, uploaded 8 July 2008 (in French).
• Frederik Dhondt, “Treaty on the Establishment of Peace Throughout Christendom (1464)”. In: Hélène Ruiz Fabri (ed.), Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law (Oxford: OUP, 2021), https://opil.ouplaw.com/view/10.1093/law-mpeipro/e3721.013.3721/law-mpeipro-e3721
• Frederick G. Heymann. George of Bohemia. King of Heretics. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1965.
• Otakar Odložilík. The Hussite King. Bohemia in European Affairs 1440–1471. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1965.
• Anthony D. Smith. "National Identity and the Idea of European Unity" International Affairs, Vol. 68, No. 1 (Jan. 1992), pp. 55–76
• Macek, Josef (1967). Jiří z Poděbrad [George of Podiebrad] (in Czech). Prague: Svobodné slovo.