Sieradz land

Who he is

Name

Not named in any charter of 1199-1200 we could reach (not pinned)

Title

Castellan of Sieradz (kasztelan sieradzki) for the senior duke

Since

not pinned

Born

not known

Family

not known

Confidence

low

Seniorate membership from en.wikipedia (Sieradz); the overlord follows the Kraków question.

Overlord

The senior duke in Kraków: Mieszko III on the usual reckoning, Leszek's regents on the other (see the krakow record)

What it holds

• Sieradz castle and district on the Warta
• The roads from Kalisz to Łęczyca and Kraków across the Warta

How it was acquired

Part of the senior province (with Łęczyca it was the dower of Bolesław III's widow Salome until 1144); Casimir II took it with Kraków in 1177 and held it until 1194; since then it has followed whoever holds Kraków.

Allies and rivals

The senior duke; the neighbouring Łęczyca land (maz) and the Kalisz land (Greater Poland).

How things stand that morning

Senior-province ground: realm krakow. Its castellan is not named. Not Greater Poland's own land; the assignment's question whether it is Mieszko's that winter is answered: only as senior, if he holds Kraków.

Wealth

The ducal dues of the Warta valley villages; the Warta crossing.

Military

The castle garrison and the knights of the district.

Threats

• Changes of master with every turn in the struggle for Kraków

Where the sources disagree

• Coordinate with mlp (krakow) and maz (Łęczyca): neither assignment names the Sieradz land, so we draw it here under the realm krakow.

Evidence: Membership of the senior province is clear in outline; the holder in 1200 depends on the Kraków question and the castellan is not named.

On the map: Drawn round Sieradz from the Prosna side to the Łęczyca border; the Wieluń country is left out.

Primary sources for Kraków (Mieszko III)

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Chronicle of the Poles, by Master Vincent (Wincenty Kadłubek), Wincenty Kadłubek (about 1190 to 1208). Book 4 is a contemporary's account of the fight for the senior throne of Kraków. Read online
• The annals of the Kraków chapter and the other Polish annals (kept from the 11th century; the Kraków chapter annals continued to 1266). Short dated entries that fix the chronology Kadłubek blurs: the deaths of dukes and bishops, Mieszko the Old's captures of Kraków, Prussian raids on Masovia, church consecrations. Read online
• The Hypatian Chronicle (the Kievan Chronicle compiled about 1200 at the Vydubichi monastery; the Galician-Volhynian Chronicle in the 13th century). The southern record. Read online
• The Book of Census of the Roman Church, Cencius Camerarius (Cencio Savelli, later Pope Honorius III) (1192, with later additions). The papal rent roll: every church, monastery, town and kingdom that owed a census to Rome in 1192, diocese by diocese, with the sums, followed by lists of papal lands and castles, the ceremonial Ordo and copies of charters. Read online
• The Registers of Pope Innocent III for 1199 to 1201, Innocent III and the papal chancery (22 February 1199 to 21 February 1201). The pope's outgoing letters for the year, in his chancery's own copy, touching nearly every realm in the atlas. Read online