<P> King Přemysl Otakar II earned the nickname Iron and Golden King because of his military power and wealth . He acquired Austria, Styria, Carinthia and Carniola, thus spreading the Bohemian territory to the Adriatic Sea . He met his death at the Battle on the Marchfeld in 1278 in a war with his rival, King Rudolph I of Germany . Ottokar's son Wenceslaus II acquired the Polish crown in 1300 for himself and the Hungarian crown for his son . He built a great empire stretching from the Danube river to the Baltic Sea . In 1306, the last king of Přemyslid line Wenceslaus III was murdered in mysterious circumstances in Olomouc while he was resting . After a series of dynastic wars, the House of Luxembourg gained the Bohemian throne . </P> <P> The 14th century, in particular, the reign of the Bohemian king Charles IV (1316--1378), who in 1346 became King of the Romans and in 1354 both King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor, is considered the Golden Age of Czech history . Of particular significance was the founding of Charles University in Prague in 1348, Charles Bridge, Charles Square . Much of Prague Castle and the cathedral of Saint Vitus in Gothic style were completed during his reign . He unified Brandenburg (until 1415), Lusatia (until 1635), and Silesia (until 1742) under the Bohemian crown . The Black Death, which had raged in Europe from 1347 to 1352, decimated the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1380, killing about 10% of the population . </P> <P> Bohemian Reformation started around 1402 by Jan Hus . Although Hus was named a heretic and burnt in Constance in 1415, his followers (led by warlords Jan Žižka and Prokop the Great) seceded from the Catholic Church and in the Hussite Wars (1419--1434) defeated five crusades organized against them by the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund . Petr Chelčický continued with the Hussite movement . During the next two centuries, 90% of the population in Bohemian and Moravian lands were considered Hussites . Hussite George of Podebrady was even a king . Hus' thoughts were a major influence on the later Lutheranism . Martin Luther himself said "we are all Hussites, without having been aware of it" and considered himself as Hus' direct successor . </P> <P> After 1526 Bohemia came increasingly under Habsburg control as the Habsburgs became first the elected and then in 1627 the hereditary rulers of Bohemia . The Austrian Habsburgs of the 16th century, the founders of the central European Habsburg Monarchy, were buried in Prague . Between 1583--1611 Prague was the official seat of the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II and his court . </P>

Central european region incorporated into the czech republic in 1993