Casimir II (Opole-Bytom)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

. Casimir II of Bytom (also . Kasimir II von Cosel and Bytom , Polish Bytomski Kazimierz ; Czech Kazimír II Bytomský. * 1256 or 1257 ; † 10. March 1312 ) was from 1281 to 1312 Duke of Upper Silesian Duchy of Bytom and since 1286 also Duke from Cosel . He was the first Silesian duke to hand over his territory as a fief to the Bohemian King Wenceslaus II in 1289 .

Origin and family

Casimir came from the Upper Silesian branch of the Silesian Piast family . His parents were Wladislaus I and Euphemia († after 1281), daughter of the Greater Poland Duke Władysław Odon . Around 1275 Casimir married Helena, whose origin is unknown. Children came from marriage

Life

After the death of Kasimir's father Wladislaus I von Opole in 1281, his duchy was divided into four partial duchies for his sons. Casimir, who was the second-born in the order of the brothers, received the Duchy of Bytom , to which besides Bytom also Cosel , Gleiwitz , Tost and Sewerien belonged. From 1286 he also called himself Duke von Cosel . His older brother Mieszko I initially received the Duchy of Ratibor with the areas of Teschen and Auschwitz together with the youngest brother Primislaus , who was under Mieszko's tutelage . The Duchy of Teschen was founded for Primislaus in 1290 from the areas of Teschen and Auschwitz . The third-born brother Bolko received the Duchy of Opole, which had been reduced by the above areas.

At the beginning of his reign, Casimir turned politically to Bohemia . As early as January 10, 1289, in Prague, in the presence of the Schweidnitzer Duke Bolko I and the Opava Duke Nicholas I, he voluntarily paid homage to the Bohemian King Wenceslaus II. At the same time, with the consent of his sons, he took over his land as a fiefdom of the Crown of Bohemia . Since the Duchy of Bytom bordered directly on Lesser Poland , the alliance with Casimir was of particular importance for King Wenceslaus in his efforts for the Polish throne. Casimir, for his part, presumably intended to limit the power of the Breslau Duke Henry IV , who had been Duke of Cracow since 1288 and thus Senior Duke of Poland, by referring to Bohemia .

In 1292 Casimir and his brother Bolko, who had previously been appointed captain of Kraków by King Wenceslaus , as well as the Lower Silesian dukes Heinrich V of Breslau and Bolko I of Schweidnitz, participated in the ceremonial entry of King Wenceslas into Krakow. On October 12th of that year Kasimir was present with his brother Bolko as well as the dukes of Opava and Mazovia and the bishops of Gniezno , Prague and Olomouc in Sieradz , where they all documented that Duke Władysław I. Ellenlang was the Bohemian King Wenceslas subject to his true liege lord.

Around 1306 Casimir married his daughter Maria to the Hungarian King Karl Robert von Anjou , who managed to find a supporter of his politics in Casimir. Casimir already divided his duchy into three small parts during his lifetime. The eldest son Boleslaus was recorded as Herr von Tost since 1304, Wladislaus recorded as Herr von Cosel and Ziemowit referred to himself as Herr von Beuthen in 1311. Casimir died a year later.

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Casimir II
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Casimir of Cosel and Bytom; Kazimierz bytomski (Polish); Kazimír II. Bytomský (Czech)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Duke of Cosel and Beuthen
DATE OF BIRTH 1256 or 1257
DATE OF DEATH March 10, 1312