Duchy of Silesia

Who rules

Name

Bolesław I the Tall (Bolesław Wysoki; 'Boleslaus Altus' in the Silesian epitaphs)

Title

Duke of Silesia (dux Zlesie), ruling from Wrocław

Since

1163, when Frederick Barbarossa forced his return from exile; sole master of the Wrocław share since the division of 1173

Born

1127; about 72 on 1 January 1200, an old man by the standards of his house

Family

Eldest son of Władysław II the Exile (died at Altenburg, 30 May 1159) and Agnes of Babenberg, half-sister of King Conrad III. First wife Zvenislava of Kiev (married 1142, died about 1155). Second wife Christina, a German (of the Everstein, Homburg or Pappenheim family: not settled), married by 1157 and alive on 1 January 1200 (she dies on 21 February in 1204 or 1208). Living children: by Zvenislava, Jarosław, bishop of Wrocław and duke of Opole (born after 1143; see Opole (Bishop-duke Jarosław)); by Christina, Henry, called later 'the Bearded' (born 1165/70, his heir), Adelaide also called Zbysława (born after 1165; widow of the Bohemian prince Děpolt II, who died in 1190, and mother of Děpolt III of the Děpoltici; she ends her days at Trebnitz after 1213) and perhaps Berta (died 7 May of a year not pinned: en.wikipedia 'after 1200', fmg.ac 'after 1162'). Dead: Olga (died 1175/80), Bolesław (1175/81), Konrad (1175/90), Jan (before 1174) and Władysław (before 1199). Henry's wife is Hedwig of Andechs (born 1174/80, married 1186/92), daughter of Berthold IV, duke of Merania, and sister of Agnes, the French queen whose marriage is bringing the interdict on France, and of Gertrude, later queen of Hungary. Henry and Hedwig's children born by 1 January 1200: Bolesław, the eldest son (born 1190/94), Agnes (about 1190), Henry (about 1196) and Konrad (1197/98); Sophia and Gertrude are dated 'about 1200' and may not yet be born. Kin outside the duchy: his brother Mieszko Tanglefoot of Racibórz (Racibórz (Mieszko Tanglefoot)), his uncle Mieszko III the Old of Greater Poland, his late uncle Casimir II's sons Leszek and Konrad, and his first cousin Margrave Otto II of Brandenburg (son of Judith, Bolesław III's daughter). Henry's wife's maternal uncle is Margrave Conrad II of Lusatia.

Confidence

high

en.wikipedia (Bolesław I the Tall; Henry the Bearded; Jarosław of Opole); fmg.ac SILESIA, citing the Epytaphia ducum Slezie, the Chronica principum Polonie and the Chronicon Polono-Silesiacum; de.wikipedia (Boleslaw I. (Schlesien)). pl.wikipedia would not load.

What the realm holds

• The castle district of Wrocław, with the ducal castle on Ostrów Tumski beside the cathedral, and the castle at Leśnica west of the city
• The castle districts of Legnica, Głogów, Bytom Odrzański and Krosno on the Oder and the Kaczawa
• The Lubusz land (castle of Lubusz on the west bank of the Oder, the bishop's see beside it), held by the Silesian dukes since 1138
• The castle districts of Ryczyn on the Oder above Oława, Niemcza, Barda on the Bohemian border, Milicz on the Barycz, and Bolesławiec on the Bóbr and Sądowel on the Greater Polish border (both attested as castellanies in 1202-03)
• Overlordship of the bishop's castellany of Otmuchów and of the Nysa land, which he gave his son Jarosław on his election as bishop in 1198 (Church map record)
• The border forest (przesieka) along the Sudetes, with its gates
• Overlordship of the church lands: Mount Ślęża with its villages and the Sobótka market belong to the Augustinian canons of St Mary on the Sand (confirmed by Celestine III, 9 April 1193); Lubiąż's estates to the Cistercians
• The gold-washings on the Kaczawa (Złotoryja) and the Bóbr (Lwówek)
• The right to recall the duchy of Opole when Jarosław dies

How it was acquired

Restored in 1163 under the Nuremberg settlement that Barbarossa imposed on Bolesław IV the Curly; the brothers took the main Silesian castles in 1165. Mieszko Tanglefoot and Jarosław drove Bolesław out in 1172; he fled to Erfurt, Barbarossa intervened, and on his return early in 1173 he had to carve out Racibórz for Mieszko and Opole for Jarosław (de.wikipedia dates the Opole grant to 1180). In 1177 he joined Casimir II against Mieszko III, was driven out again by Mieszko Tanglefoot and Jarosław, returned through Casimir's mediation and had to give Głogów to his youngest brother Konrad Spindleshanks, after whose death (1180 or 1190) it came back to him.

Allies and rivals

Rivals: his brother Mieszko Tanglefoot of Racibórz, his enemy since 1172, who sided with Mieszko III against the Kraków lords in 1195 and covets Opole and the Wrocław inheritance; Mieszko III the Old of Greater Poland, the uncle who backed the rebels of 1172 and 1177. Friends and kin: the Cistercians of Lubiąż and Pforta; the Andechs-Meranians through Hedwig; Margrave Conrad II of Lusatia, Hedwig's uncle; his daughter Adelaide's sons, the Děpoltici of eastern Bohemia (Děpolt III); the pope, who according to en.wikipedia took him under protection in 1198 (the bull is not among the Silesian regesta checked). His son Jarosław, long estranged, now appears reconciled (see Opole (Bishop-duke Jarosław)).

The realm that morning

On the morning of 1 January 1200 Bolesław rules the duchy in person from Wrocław and his castles at Leśnica and Legnica, with Henry at his side as heir but holding no attested share of his own. He holds the Lubusz land (medium-high confidence: Silesian since 1138; it passes to Greater Poland only in the exchange of 1206 and to the Wettins in 1209-1210). Opole is Jarosław's for life and comes back to Bolesław when Jarosław dies.

Across his borders: west of the Kwisa, Upper Lusatia (Görlitz, Lubań) belongs to the king of Bohemia; across the Neisse, Lower Lusatia to Margrave Conrad II of Wettin; beyond Lebus to the west, the Barnim and the Teltow lie between Brandenburg and the Pomeranians; north of the Warta and east of the Obra, Greater Poland under Mieszko III; across the Barycz, Greater Poland's Kalisz land; east of the Stobrawa, Jarosław's Opole; beyond Opole, Mieszko Tanglefoot's Racibórz and the Kraków lands; south of the Sudetes, Bohemia, which holds Kladsko on the Silesian side of the mountains, and the Moravian province of Opava. No war is open on any of these borders that winter.

Wealth

Grain, cattle and honey from the loess lands round Wrocław and under the Ślęża; the Oder trade from Racibórz down to Lubusz; the Via Regia, the great road from Leipzig and Görlitz through Legnica and Wrocław to Kraków and Rus, with its tolls at the castle crossings; gold washed on the Kaczawa and the Bóbr; salt brought in by road; Wrocław's market with Walloon ('Latin'), German and Jewish merchants (the oldest dated Jewish gravestone in Wrocław is of 1203). The duke strikes silver denarii and bracteates at Wrocław; coins naming both Bolesław and Jarosław are reported.

Military

The ducal castles (grody) of wood and earth on the river crossings, with the castle folk owing guard service; the knights (rycerze) of the castle districts serving under the castellans; Bolesław's own household knights, including Germans. Stone building is beginning (the ducal palace and chapel at Legnica). The border forest (przesieka) along the Sudetes closes the passes to Bohemia except at guarded gates such as Barda.

No numbers survive. Bolesław's own record: the Second Crusade (1148), Barbarossa's Italian campaigns (1158-62), and two defeats by his own kin (1172, 1177).

Threats

• His age: he is about 72 and dies on 7 or 8 December 1201
• Mieszko Tanglefoot, who will try for Opole and more as soon as the old duke and his son are gone
• A disputed succession if Henry were to die: his sons are small boys
• The Lubusz land, coveted by Magdeburg, the Wettins of Lusatia and the Ascanians of Brandenburg
• The Kraków war drawing in the Silesian kin

Consort

Christina (second wife), German born; Henry's wife Hedwig of Andechs is the young duchess-in-waiting at the court

Heirs

Henry, his only surviving son by Christina, sole heir since about 1190, about 30 to 35 years old; after him Henry's eldest son Bolesław (born 1190/94). Jarosław, the eldest son, is a bishop and cannot succeed.

Officers and household

• The palatine (comes palatinus, wojewoda) of Silesia: the name for 1199-1200 is not pinned in the sources consulted
• Nearest dated list (Henry's Trzebnica charter, act of 28 June 1202, written 1203): castellans Zicezlaus of Bytom (on the Oder), Andrey of Głogów, Zobezlaus of Barda, Nanker of Bolesławiec, Stephan of Legnica, Chastobor of Sądowel and Viszlaus of Krosno; sub-chamberlain Potr, steward Iarozlaus, cupbearer Predzlaus, master of the stable Pribizlaus, lictor Indrich, Voyteh tribune of Niemcza, and a narocznik (collector of dues) of Lubusz. No palatine is named. Whether they served Bolesław in the same posts on 1 January 1200 is not pinned.
• The castellans (kasztelanowie) of the castle districts: none is pinned by a charter of 1199 or 1200 in the sources consulted (see the castellany records)
• The bishop's household (Church map): on 6 April 1200 Bishop Jarosław acts at Lubiąż with his dean Benico, archdeacon Stephen and chancellor Martin; Abbot Conrad rules Lubiąż
• The chaplains and notaries of the ducal chapel; a chancellor is not pinned
• Hedwig's household of German knights and clergy from Andechs and Bavaria: names not pinned

Great families

The court rests on Polish families rooted in the castle districts. The Łabędzie (Swan) kin of Piotr Włostowic, the founder of St Vincent at Ołbin and of the canons of Mount Ślęża (the mountain itself now belongs to the canons), is still counted among the great families, though its members and estates in 1200 are not pinned; other families later prominent at the Silesian court (the Pogorzela, the Wierzbna) are attested securely only after 1200. The Awdańcy are a Greater Polish and Lesser Polish kindred: their Silesian holdings in 1200 are not pinned.

See Silesian court families.

Krakow question

Bolesław, as head of the eldest Piast line, has a claim to the senior throne under Bolesław III's rule of seniority, and in 1177 he hoped for Kraków. In the fight since 1194 he has kept out: at Mozgawa (13 September 1195) the Silesian troops on Mieszko III's side were his brother's and his son Jarosław's, not his. In 1199 the Kraków palatine Mikołaj Gryfita and Bishop Pełka (Fulko) put Mieszko III out of Kraków again in favour of the boy Leszek the White; the standard lists have Mieszko back before the end of 1199, while en.wikipedia's article on Mieszko III has him return only about 1202.

Who holds Kraków that morning is for the krakow record (the Greater Poland research follows the first reckoning). Długosz adds, under 1201, that Bytom alone held for Mieszko and raided the Kraków land (see Castellany of Bytom). No Silesian claim of Bolesław's is pressed that winter.

Relations

Rome

en.wikipedia reports a protective bull of Innocent III for him in 1198 (not found among the Silesian regesta checked: Innocent's letters of May and July 1198 in them concern the bishop's questions and the Premonstratensians); his son is bishop; Archbishop Henryk Kietlicz of Gniezno (since 1199) will press church immunities on all the dukes.

Empire

Bolesław owes his return to Barbarossa and spent his youth in Germany, but the Silesian duke is not a prince of the Empire; no part in the German throne war is attested for him.

Bohemia

Ottokar I holds Kladsko on the Silesian side of the mountains; Bolesław's daughter Adelaide is the widow of the Přemyslid Děpolt II and mother of Děpolt III, who holds an appanage in eastern Bohemia and clashes with Ottokar; no war that winter.

Greater Poland

Mieszko III the Old, Bolesław's uncle, holds Poznań, Gniezno and Kalisz; old enemies, no war that winter.

Kraków

Leszek the White's regents (Helen of Znojmo, Bishop Pełka, the palatine) or Mieszko III: Bolesław keeps out.

Lusatia and Brandenburg

Conrad II of Lusatia is Hedwig's uncle; Otto II of Brandenburg is Bolesław's cousin. Both will covet the Lubusz land in the next decade.

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

In 1200

1. January 1200The legate's interdict falls on France over King Philip's marriage to Agnes of Merania, Hedwig's sister; the news reaches Wrocław through the Andechs kin and the clergy in the weeks after.Depends on: The interdict proceeding as in the campaign notes. Stopped by: Philip giving way before it is published.
2. 8 May 1200 (doubtful)A great fire at Wrocław is reported by later Silesian writers (Henel, Klose); Grünhagen's Regesten suspect a confusion with the fire of 8 May 1342. Use it or not as the campaign likes.
3. 6 April 1200Bishop Jarosław, at Lubiąż, confirms a deacon's gift of all his goods to Bolesław's abbey (witnesses: his dean Benico, archdeacon Stephen, chancellor Martin, Abbot Conrad and the monks). The only dated Silesian act of 1200 found; it shows father and son at peace.Depends on: Jarosław in good health and on good terms with the abbey. Stopped by: A quarrel between the bishop and his father.
4. During 1200No Silesian war or treaty of 1200 is pinned in the sources consulted. Bolesław rules quietly; the Kraków quarrel between Mieszko III and Leszek's regents continues next door.Stopped by: A player or NPC pulling Silesia into the Kraków war.

Later, on the likely course

1. 22 March 1201Jarosław dies; Opole goes back to Bolesław, as agreed.Depends on: Jarosław's natural death and his bequest to his father. Stopped by: Jarosław leaving Opole to Mieszko Tanglefoot, or Mieszko seizing it first.
2. 7 or 8 December 1201Bolesław dies at his castle of Leśnica and is buried at Lubiąż; Henry succeeds to the whole duchy.Depends on: His natural death. Stopped by: Nothing likely: he is old.
3. Early 1202 to 1202Mieszko Tanglefoot seizes Opole by surprise; Archbishop Henryk Kietlicz and Bishop Cyprian of Wrocław back Henry, who keeps the rest of his inheritance; a payment of 1,000 marks of silver is part of the settlement (en.wikipedia has Henry paying his church backers, de.wikipedia has Henry renouncing Opole for the sum on 25 November 1202). Henry and Hedwig found the Cistercian nuns at Trzebnica (1202).Depends on: Both old dukes dying as dated; Mieszko still able to ride. Stopped by: Henry garrisoning Opole in time, or the Church refusing to mediate.

Places of note

• Wrocław: ducal castle on Ostrów Tumski: The duke's chief seat, beside the cathedral of the bishop (his son)
• Leśnica castle: Ducal castle west of Wrocław where Bolesław dies in 1201
• Lubiąż abbey: Cistercian abbey founded by Bolesław (monks from Pforta, 1163; charter 1175); his burial place
• Legnica castle: Ducal castle and palace
• Lubusz castle: Castle and bishop's see of the Lubusz land

Where the sources disagree

• campaign notes (Part 6 I) call Jarosław Bolesław's 'estranged' eldest son. en.wikipedia (Jarosław of Opole; Bolesław I the Tall) says father and son were reconciled after Jarosław became bishop in 1198, and coins with both names are cited as evidence; the Nysa gift of 1198 and Jarosław's bequest of Opole to his father point the same way. On 1 January 1200 they look reconciled, though the long estrangement (1172 to the 1190s) is real. The Church map record Wrocław (Otmuchów) makes the same note.
• Opole's creation: en.wikipedia dates it to 1173 (after the revolt of 1172); de.wikipedia dates the life grant to Jarosław to 1180. Either way he holds it on 1 January 1200.
• de.wikipedia (Boleslaw I. (Schlesien)) gives Bolesław's death as 18 December 1201, 'days after' Jarosław; this is wrong on both counts: the Silesian epitaph gives 'VII Id Dec' (7 December) 1201, en.wikipedia gives 7 or 8 December 1201, and Jarosław died on 22 March 1201.

Evidence: The duke's life, marriages, children and the divisions of 1173 and 1177 are well documented (chronicles, Silesian epitaphs, fmg.ac). The officials, the castellans and the extent of each castle district in 1200 rest on later charters and the 1155 papal bull, which the sources consulted do not quote: thin. Polish Wikipedia and the Polish biographical dictionary would not load.

On the map: The outline follows later medieval borders of Lower Silesia where 1200 evidence is missing: the edges at Żary, at Świebodzin and Sulechów, at Byczyna and Kluczbork, and on the Lubusz land's eastern side are approximate.

Primary sources for this realm

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