Conrad II Otto (died 9 September 1191) was a member of Přemyslid dynasty

Premyslid dynasty

The Přemyslids , were a Czech royal dynasty which reigned in Bohemia and Moravia , and partly also in Hungary, Silesia, Austria and Poland.-Legendary rulers:...

, son of Duke Conrad II of Znojmo. He was the duke of Znojmo from 1177 until he was made margrave of Moravia from 1182 to 1186. He was then duke of Bohemia from 1189 to his death. Conrad was the son of the Serb

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

 princess Maria of the Vukanović dynasty, and thus grandson of the zhoupan

Zupan

Żupan was a long garment, always lined, worn by almost all males of the noble social class in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, typical male attire from the beginning of the 16th to half of the 18th century, still surviving as a part of the Polishnational dress.- Derivation :The name żupan has...

 Uroš I of Serbia.

In Summer 1176, he invaded the region north of the Danube

Danube

The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....

 which belonged to Duke Sobeslav II

Sobeslav II of Bohemia

Sobeslav II, called Prince of the Peasants or King of the Peasants, was the duke of Bohemia from 1173 to 1179. He was the second son of Sobeslav I. Supported by neither noblesse nor emperor, he was backed solely by the lowest classes....

. He attacked churches and monasteries and was excommunicated by Pope Alexander III

Pope Alexander III

Pope Alexander III , born Rolando of Siena, was Pope from 1159 to 1181. He is noted in history for laying the foundation stone for the Notre Dame de Paris.-Church career:...

.

Conrad rose against his predecessor, Frederick

Frederick of Bohemia

Frederick was the duke of Olomouc from 1164 and then duke of Bohemia from 1172 to 1173 and again from 1178 to his death. He was the son of King Vladislaus II, who abdicated in 1172 in his favour...

 in 1182 and his naming as margrave was by the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, an opponent of the Bohemian duke. On the Duke Frederick's death in 1189, he was made duke with the unanimous support of the nobility. In May of that year, he accepted the formal affirmation of the emperor.

During his short reign, he was beholden to the nobles. He was forced to concede them a set of privileges, the Iura Conradi (1189). Among the concessions were:

• freemen guaranteed against the abuses of the duke or the provincial courts under his zhupans
• extension of the right of inheritance to the daughters and brothers of deceased lords
• confiscation of property only after a long legal procedure conforming to local custom

Released from the obligation of participating in the Third Crusade

Third Crusade

The Third Crusade , also known as the Kings' Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin...

, Conrad II accompanied Henry VI

Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor

Henry VI was King of Germany from 1190 to 1197, Holy Roman Emperor from 1191 to 1197 and King of Sicily from 1194 to 1197.-Early years:Born in Nijmegen,...

, the emperor's son, to Southern Italy as part of his attempt to conquer the Kingdom of Sicily

Kingdom of Sicily

The Kingdom of Sicily was a state that existed in the south of Italy from its founding by Roger II in 1130 until 1816. It was a successor state of the County of Sicily, which had been founded in 1071 during the Norman conquest of southern Italy...

 from Tancred

Tancred of Sicily

Tancred was King of Sicily from 1189 to 1194. He was an illegitimate son of Roger III, Duke of Apulia, the eldest son of King Roger II, and of Emma, daughter of Achard II, Count of Lecce...

 in right of his wife, Constance

Constance of Sicily

Constance of Hauteville was the heiress of the Norman kings of Sicily and the wife of Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor...

. Conrad died of the plague

Bubonic plague

Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...

 in Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

. He was succeeded by Wenceslaus II

Wenceslaus II, Duke of Bohemia

Wenceslaus II was the son of Sobeslav I and brother of Sobeslav II. He was the duke of Bohemia following Conrad II in 1191.He was the duke of Olomouc and Brno, but was deposed by Duke Frederick in 1179 and exiled. He returned from exile after thirteen years on Conrad's death.Wenceslaus was...

, son of Sobeslav I

Sobeslav I of Bohemia

Sobeslaus I was Duke of Bohemia from 1125 until his death. He was a member of the Přemyslid dynasty, the youngest son of Vratislaus II , the first Bohemian duke to also rule as king, with his third wife Svatava of Poland.-Life:...

.