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- BIOGRAPHY
Adelheid was born about 1160, the daughter of Otto 'der Reiche', Markgraf von Meissen, and Hedwig von Brandenburg. She met her future husband Przemysl Ottokar I, king of Bohemia, son of Wladislaw II, king of Bohemia, and his second wife Jutta von Thüringen, in the 1170s, in the time of his exile. They had a son Vratislav who did not have progeny, and three daughters of whom Margrete and Bozislawa would have progeny.
Shortly after the marriage the couple could return to Bohemia; Ottokar's brother Friedrich assumed the reins in Bohemia and Ottokar became one of the leaders of his army. In 1192 Ottokar himself became duke but in 1193 he was deposed, and he left Bohemia with his family.
Adelheid came to live with her brother and Przemysl Ottokar became a mercenary for German dukes. At this time the couple became estranged. At the end of 1197 Ottokar became duke for the second time. He repudiated his wife and also his adult son Vratislav. Ottokar was at least 40 at that time and risked losing the heir. Adelheid and her daughters stayed in Meissen, while her son became a mercenary in Germany and Italy.
In 1198 Ottokar (now king) divorced Adelheid on grounds of consanguinity. They were both descendants of Heinrich von Schweinfurt, Markgraf auf dem Nordgau, making them rather distant cousins. He married Konstanze of Hungary, who was Ottokar's fourth cousin thrice removed, later in the same year. Adelheid did not waive her rights. In 1205 she returned to Prague for a time. Ottokar decided to marry his daughter by Adelheid, Margrete (Dagmar) to Valdemar II Sejr, king of Denmark. Konstanze gave birth to a son, later King Wenceslas I, in 1205. Then Adelheid and her daughters left Bohemia permanently.
The pope decided that the divorce was legal. Adelheid still fought against the judgement, but in 1210 she finally lost. She died in Meissen on 1 February 1211.
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