Vratislaus, who had received the title of a Bohemian king by order of Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV in 1086, elevated Svatopluk's father Otto (the fourth son of Bretislaus I) to the rank of a prince at Olomouc in Moravia.

However, when his father died the next year, young Savatopluk had to yield the inheritance claims raised by Bretislaus's third son, his uncle Conrad I, who took over the rule in the Moravian lands.

Keeping his promise, Duke Svatopluk at first joined his expedition, but had to return to Bohemia, where Bořivoj had made an attack with the support of the Polish king Bolesław III Wrymouth, an ally of Coloman.

On behalf of Bolesław's expelled brother Zbigniew, he invaded Poland, again with the support of Svatopluk, who led a Bohemian army across the Sudetes into Silesia to join the German forces at the Battle of Głogów.

Here Svatopluk was killed on 21 September 1109 in Henry's tent by a member of the Bohemian Vršovice noble family named John, whose chief Mutina he had decapitated for the support he had given to Bořivoj.