Agnes von Babenberg

Agnes of Babenberg ( Polish : Agnieszka Babenberg; * about 1108 / 1113 ; † 24 ./ 25. January 1163 in Altenburg ) was a German nobles from the Frankish House of Babenberg and by marriage senior Duchess of Poland and Duchess of Silesia .

She was the daughter of Leopold III, Margrave of Austria , and his second wife Agnes von Waiblingen , second daughter of Emperor Heinrich IV.

Life

family

Through her mother Agnes she descends from the Salians , who ruled the Holy Roman Empire from 1024 until the death of their childless uncle Heinrich V in 1125. She was half sister of Friedrich II. Of Swabia and the German King Konrad III. , both of which came from her mother's first marriage to Friedrich I, Duke of Swabia . Of her full siblings, Judith married Margrave Wilhelm V von Montferrat , and her brother, Bishop Otto von Freising , was a medieval chronicler .

According to the Polish chronicler and Bishop of Kraków , Wincenty Kadłubek , Agnes was a very ambitious and energetic woman who was proud of her origins. In his chronicle he calls it tygrysica , which means tiger in Polish .

marriage

The Polish Duke Bolesław III. Wrymouth was looking for an ally against Lothar III. who had been elected Roman-German king in 1125 . He found this in the Babenbergs and the Hohenstaufen , who were relatives of the extinct Salians and rivals of Lothar. To seal the alliance, the marriage between Bolesławs III. eldest son, Władysław II , and Agnes von Babenberg agreed. The wedding took place around 1125. According to some historians, the couple received the Duchy of Silesia from Bolesław III. as a dowry.

Senior Duchess of Poland

Bolesław III. died on October 28, 1138. In his will he divided Poland among his sons. As the eldest son, Władysław II was given the title of Senior Duke ( Princeps ) to rule over Poland. In addition to Silesia, he also received the Seniorate Province , which includes Lesser Poland , eastern Greater Poland and western Kujawia , and Pomerania . His half-brothers Bolesław IV. , Mieszko III. and Heinrich each received their own duchy as a fief. In addition, Łęczyca , which Bolesław III. had given to his widow Salome von Berg for life, after whose death it was incorporated back into the Seniorate Province.

Immediately after taking power, Władysław II began efforts to reunite the country under his rule. Wincenty Kadłubek reports that the conflicts between Władysław II and his half-brothers were mainly triggered by Agnes, as she was of the opinion that her husband as the eldest brother was entitled to sole rule. In order to strengthen her husband's authority, Agnes is said to have contributed to the overthrow of the powerful voivod Piotr Włostowic , who supported the other brothers. Agnes demanded the death of Włostowic, but her husband set an example by blinding him, taking his voice away and exile.

Deposition and exile

The tyrannical rule of Władysław II and Agnes led the subjects to turn to the other dukes. In early 1146, the senior duke's troops were defeated near Posen . Władysław II fled to Bohemia , while Agnes and the children stayed in Cracow , where they resisted the other dukes in the Wawel for some time . In the end they were unsuccessful and the rest of the family also had to go into exile.

After a short time at the Bohemian court at Vladislav II , Agnes' half-brother, the Roman-German King Konrad III. , the Polish ruling family his hospitality and the imperial palace from Altenburg . At first it seemed that Wladyslaw II would soon return to Poland. A German expedition against the other dukes was dispatched, but because of the flooding of the Oder and pressure from the Margraves Albrecht I of Brandenburg and Conrad I of Meissen on the German king, the operation failed.

This failure did not discourage Agnes and she continued her attempts to restore rule to her husband. She asked for Pope Eugene III to intervene . He sent his legate Guy to Poland in order to get the dukes to give in. These refused and the Pope pronounced a ban on Poland. But this was without consequences, since the bishops supported the dukes.

In 1152 Konrad III died, and his nephew Friedrich Barbarossa followed him. Agnes and Władysław II had hopes of returning to Poland because of the energetic ruler. In 1157 he started an expedition against Poland. The campaign was successful, but Barbarossa did not return the Polish throne to Agnes and Władysław II. Instead, he set Bolesław IV as a senior duke and made this tribute. For Władysław II he obtained the return of the Duchy of Silesia to his sons.

Death and afterlife

Agnes and Władysław II knew that they had lost the Polish throne for good. They stayed in Altenburg , where Władysław II died on May 30, 1159. The sources give January 24th or 25th as the date of death. The year is controversial among historians. What is certain is that Agnes survived her husband and did not return there with her sons after they were reinstated as heirs of Silesia. It is believed that she died between 1160 and 1163 and was buried in the Cistercian Pforta abbey near Naumburg an der Saale .

children

Agnes and Wladyslaw had the following children:

1. Boleslaw I of Silesia (1127 - December 18, 1201) "the Tall One", from 1163 Duke of Silesia
2. Mieszko I of Opole (1131 - May 6, 1211) "sacrum", from 1163 Duke of Silesia, from 1173 Duke of Ratibor - Teschen , from 1202 Duke of Opole , 1210–1211 Senior Duke of Poland
3. Richeza von Everstein (1140 - June 16, 1185), first married in 1152 to Alfonso VII of León , King of Galicia , Castile and León , second marriage in 1162 Raimund Berengar III. , Count of Provence , and in third marriage in 1167 with Count Albert III. from Everstein
4. Conrad I (1146/57 - January 17, 1180/90), from 1178 Duke of Silesia in Glogau
5. Albert (around 1156 - around 1168/78)

literature

• Carl Magnus Allström: Dictionary of Royal Lineage , 1902
• Jirí Louda and Michael MacLagan: Lines of Succession: Heraldry of the Royal Families of Europe , 2nd edition. London, UK: Little, Brown and Company, 1999.

Web links

Commons : Agnes of Babenberg, High Duchess of Poland  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Miroslav MAREK: Babenberg. Retrieved May 10, 2018 . 
2. ↑ AUSTRIA. Retrieved May 10, 2018 . 
3. ↑ Person Page. Retrieved May 10, 2018 .