The goal of this article is to indicate the political circumstances which led to the Czech king’s assumption of the Prague throne as an oath of fealty to the ruler of the Reich. The article discusses the political situation in the late 10th and the early 11th centuries: the weakness of Bohemia following the death of Boleslaus II, the power of Bolesław the Brave and the circumstances accompanying his occupation of Prague together with king Henry II’s interference in Czech affairs.
The goal of this article is to show the narration contexts in which a medieval author set strongholds by referring to the following terms: oppidum, castrum or urbs, castellum, possibly civitas. I highlight the frequency with which selected medieval writers mentioned one centre or another. In the article I ponder a question if selected chroniclers’ narrations could indicate a regularity which helps to establish the function performed by a stronghold for the benefit of its ruler accounted most frequently.