In spite, then, of Vratislav’s partial success, the divisions which followed his death could not fail to weaken Bohemia; and at last one of the Dukes resolved upon a terrible method for suppressing internal disorder. This duke bore the name of Svatopluk; and his career was not wholly unlike that of his namesake in the old Moravian times. By the help of Mutina and Boz̆ej, two of the leaders of the Vrs̆ovici, he had deposed Duke Bor̆ivoj, and placed himself upon the throne of Bohemia. Bor̆ivoj appealed to Polish support for the recovery of his kingdom; and, during Svatopluk’s absence, he invaded Bohemia at the head of a Polish army. Mutina, who had been left as one of Svatopluk’s chief representatives, offered little resistance to the invaders, and he was, in consequence, denounced to the Duke as having intrigued with Bor̆ivoj. Thereupon Svatopluk resolved to destroy the whole race of the Vrs̆ovici. He summoned all the nobles to a banquet in Breslau; and among them came Mutina, not suspecting what was to follow. At the close of the banquet Svatopluk suddenly turned upon Mutina, and accused him and his family of being the authors of all the treasons in Bohemia for many years past. Then he made a sign to an officer, who rushed upon Mutina and cut off his head as he was trying to rise from his seat. His sons were then seized and their eyes put out. Then messengers were despatched all over the country, who hunted out every member of the family of the Vrs̆ovici, and killed all whom they could seize--men, women, and children. Some of them fled, to Poland, and others to Hungary; and for a long time the family was unknown in Bohemia. But this savage act of vengeance did not produce the general results at which its author had aimed. Svatopluk himself was murdered during an invasion of Poland by one of the exiled Vrs̆ovici; and the succeeding reign was as much disturbed by family quarrels as any which had preceded it.
But the real stability of Bohemia, and the substantial unity which under-lay its divisions, were to be proved very soon, by a most searching test. In 1125 the line of the Franconian sovereigns of Germany ended; and Lothar, Duke of Saxony, was chosen Emperor. It will be remembered that the Saxons had now for some time been recognised as the most dangerous rivals of Bohemia; and, at the time of Lothar’s accession, an opportunity seemed to offer itself for using the Imperial power to crush out Bohemian independence. Sobeslav, the next Duke of Bohemia, had just obtained the throne by the influence of his mother Svatava, who had persuaded the Bohemian nobles to ignore the claims of her eldest son, Otto. Otto at once appealed to Lothar, who asserted his right, as Emperor, to decide the succession to the Dukedom of Bohemia.