Bolesław V. (Poland)

Duke Bolesław, called "the shameful" in the imagination of the history painter Jan Matejko

Bolesław the Shameful (also Bolesław the Chaste , Polish Bolesław V Wstydliwy , Latin Boleslaus ; born June 21, 1226 in Stary Korczyn ; † December 7, 1279 in Cracow ) was Duke of Lesser Poland in Sandomierz from 1232 and as Bolesław V. , Duke of Lesser Poland in Cracow and nominally Senior Duke of Poland . With him the Lesser Poland Piast line , which was founded by Casimir II , died out in the male line .

politics

He was born the only son of Duke Leszek and the Ruthenian princess Grymisława . His father died in 1227, and bitter battles for the Krakow throne between Henry I , Władysław III. and Konrad I broke out, from which Heinrich I won the day.

Bolesław ruled in the Duchy of Lesser Poland-Sandomierz from 1232 under the tutelage of Henry I (until 1239), who received from him western parts of Lesser Poland with Cracow as his own duchy. However Krakow fell after the death of Henry II. , Who in the struggle against the Mongol invasion in Silesia was killed in 1241, Konrad I. back, the, 1243, the Senior dignity two years later in the fight against Boleslaw and the small Polish Noble Levy finally lost. Bolesław V was driven out of the country several times by incursions by Tatars of the Golden Horde , and although he kept returning, the authority of the princeps sank considerably under him, especially since the nobility were often stubborn. At the age of 13 he was married to the fifteen-year-old Hungarian Princess Kinga , who was promised to him when he was five. The couple lived their entire life in complete chastity , which Bolesław earned his nickname. In 1273 the nobility rebelled against him and appointed the Silesian Piast Wladislaw I of Opole to the throne of Cracow; Bolesław managed to keep his rule, but for this he had to cede large parts of Lesser Poland to the Duchy of Opole . During his reign, large salt deposits were discovered in Bochnia not far from Krakow in 1251 ; Income from salt mining became a significant source of income for the treasury. During his reign, the capital Krakow received Magdeburg city rights in 1257 .

family

Bolesław V died on December 7, 1279 without male heirs and appointed Duke Leszek II from the Mazovian-Kujavian (youngest) line of the Piasts as his successor.

Bolesław's wife, St. Kinga , became a nun in the Clarissa convent of Stary Sącz after his death , where she died on July 24, 1292. Pope Alexander VII beatified them in 1690 . In 1695 she was named the patroness of Poland and Lithuania and on June 16, 1999, during a solemn ceremony in Nowy Sącz, she was canonized by Pope John Paul II .

literature

• Stary Matus (pseud.), Dzieje Narodu Polskiego , Warszawa 1905;
• New Catholic Encyclopedia , Detroit / New York 2000;

predecessor	Office	successor
Konrad I.	Senior Duke of Poland 1243–1279	Leszek II.