of the Kingdom of Bohemia, an office held hereditarily by the Lords of Lipá. This brought him info contact with the royal court at Prague, with whom he had not had any contact since 1472. In 1487, he transferred, with permission of both Kings involved, the office of High Treasurer of Moravia to his younger brother Vratislav. Royal ascent at Prague under King Vladislav II After the death of Matthias Corvinus in 1490, King Vladislav II appointed Vilém II of Pernštejn to his Lord Chamberlain. In the same year, Vladilav pledged him the lands of the Monastery of Třebíč, the Castle and Lordship of Hluboká nad Vltavou and in 1491, Kunětice Mountain Castle in East Bohemia, and the surrounding villages, which had belonged to the Monastery at Opatovice, which had perished in the Hussite Wars. Vilém expanded the castle generously, however, he nerver resided there. Presumably in order to round his eastern Bohemian possessions he acquired the Lordship of Pardubice in 1491. He remodeled Pardubice Castle in the late Gothic style and moved in. During his reign, Pardubice experienced an economic boom, encouraged by trade, commerce, agriculture and mining. In 1516 he acquired the East Bohemian Lordship of Nový Bydžov, which he enlarged by the acquisition of other villages. In the East Bohemian villages in his domain, he created more than 200 ponds, where fish farming was practiced. This changed the area into one of Bohemia's most productive farming areas. Since he now held office mainly in Prague, Vienna and Pardubice, his family headquarters at Pernštejn Castle lost its importance. In 1491, he also acquired the Lordship of Bohdaneč and in 1495 Nové Město na Moravě. In 1496, he handed the Lípa family possessions to his ward Jindřich of Lipá, who had come of age. In the same year, his younger brother Vartislav died without heirs. Vilém inherited Vartislav's share of Pernštejn, but also Prostějov and castle and lordship of Plumlov, which Vartislav had received from his mother-in-law Johanna of Krawarn after his wife Ludmila of Kunštát had died in 1493. This again increased Vilém's East Bohemian possessions considerably. Around this time, he also acquired Rychnov nad Kněžnou and he purchased Častolovice and the lordship of Potštejn with Litice Castle and several villages from Duke Henry the Elder of Münsterberg. In Moravia, he acquired Hranice na Moravě in 1499, Tovačov and Kralice na Hané in 1503, Židlochovice in 1508 and