Władysław I. A cubit long

Sarcophagus portrait of King Władysław I cubits in the Wawel Cathedral

Władysław I. Ellenlang ( Polish Władysław I Łokietek , Latin Ladislaus ; * 1260 ; † March 2, 1333 in Krakow , Poland ) was Princeps of Poland from 1306 as Władysław IV (dux Regni Poloniae), and from 1320, as Władysław I. , King of Poland (rex Poloniae); from the dynasty of the Kujavian Piasts .

Before his coronation as Polish king in 1320, Duke Władysław was in competition with other male representatives of the Piast line and the Bohemian royal house of the Přemyslids in the unification of the Kingdom of Poland. The nickname Ellenlang or the Ellenlange (Polish Łokietek , diminutive of łokieć , in German Elle or elbow ) he received due to his short stature.

biography

Wladyslaw was the son of Duke Casimir of Kuyavia . Since 1267, the minor Władysław was under the guardianship of his mother Euphrosyne, then the older brothers Leszek and Siemomysław. When he came of age, in 1275, Władysław received South Kujawia with Brześć Kujawski as a partial duchy. 1288 inherited Władysław after the death of half brother Leszek , who since 1279 Senior duke wore the land of Sieradz and participated in the war for Lesser Poland against Henry IV. , Duke of Silesia - Wroclaw , on the side of Bolesław, Duke of Mazovia - Plock part . In 1289 Władysław temporarily occupied Kraków, finally had to give way to Henry IV in Lesser Poland, but kept the land of Sandomir . After the death of Henry IV in 1290, the battle for Krakow began again. King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia occupied Lesser Poland in 1291, displaced Władysław from Sandomir in 1292 and forced him to pay homage. When Casimir II, Duke of Łęczyca , died in 1294 , Wladyslaw inherited his duchy.

The assassination of King Przemysław of Poland , lord of the duchies of Greater Poland and Pomerania , in early 1296, caused fights for succession in Poland. Władysław was elected duke and successor of these areas, but in the Krzywin Agreement of March 10, 1296, he lost part of Greater Poland on the network with the main castles of Santok , Drezdenko and Wałcz to the Mark Brandenburg , while the south-western areas of Greater Poland between Międzyrzecz and Gostyń fell to Duke Heinrich von Glogau . In 1297 Władysław renounced his claims to Cracow and in 1299 again paid homage to King Wenceslas II in Kłęka, who after his coronation as King of Poland in 1300 drove him entirely from Poland due to the constant breaches of contract.

Kingdom of Poland, under the sovereign Władysław I. Ellenlang (Territorial development of Poland in the years 1304-1333)

In 1304 Wladyslaw returned home with the help of the Hungarian magnate Aba. With the death of Wenceslas II in 1305 and the murder of his son Wenceslaus III. 1306, the Bohemian royal family of the Přemyslids in the male line with inheritance rights had died out. The death of both Bohemian rulers made it easier to enforce Władysław's rule in Lesser Poland, in the country of Sieradz and Łęczyca, as well as in Kujawia and Pomerania, while Heinrich von Glogau was summoned in Greater Poland. In 1308, Władysław could not protect Pomeranian from an attack by the Margraves of Brandenburg, who were anxious to enforce their disputed feudal rights to Pomeranian. He asked the Teutonic Order for help for a fee. The lack of the compensation agreed for the auxiliary service led to the takeover of Danzig by the Teutonic Order in 1308. In the Treaty of Soldin 1309, the Ascanians from the Mark Brandenburg with the Teutonic Order divided the Polish Duchy of Pomerania among themselves. The takeover of Pomerania, including Danzig, by the Teutonic Order caused protracted disputes with Poland, which strained German-Polish relations for several centuries. In the winter of 1311, differences in interests between Kraków, in alliance with some other Malopolska cities, and the nobility led to the so-called revolt of Bailiff Albert , which Władysław put down. His defeat prevented the realization of the political claims, especially of the German-speaking bourgeoisie in Poland. In 1314 the Wielkopolska nobility rebelled against the rule of the Dukes of Glogau and called on Władysław, who incorporated this province into his empire. In 1315, Poland concluded an alliance directed against the Margraviate of Brandenburg with the Slavic rulers of Mecklenburg and Pomerania , as well as the Scandinavian powers Denmark and Sweden . A war broke out, which ended without success for Władysław and left only a devastated area in Neumark, Brandenburg . In the now initiated reunification of Poland, the nobility gained a dominant position. Although John of Luxembourg , the new King of Bohemia, laid claims to the Polish throne, Władysław obtained the approval of Pope John XXII. in Avignon for his coronation on January 20, 1320 in Krakow. In 1321 a curial court in Inowrocław and Brześć Kujawski condemned the Teutonic Order to surrender Pommerellen and to pay compensation; the verdict, however, remained ineffective.

The royal seal of King Władysław I. Ellenlang

The Polish-Hungarian alliance was reinforced in 1320 by the marriage of Elisabeth, a daughter of Władysławs, to Karl Robert von Anjou . In 1323 Polish-Hungarian auxiliary troops put the son of the Piast Trojden, Duke of Mazovia- Czersk , Bolesław-Trojdenowicz (named as prince of western Russia , George or Jurij II), on the throne of Halych-Volhynia , who ruled over his mother Maria , Princess and heiress of Halych-Volhynia , descended from the house of Roman , a male sideline of the Rurikids . In 1325 the alliance with Gedimin , Grand Duke of Lithuania , led to the marriage of his daughter Aldona-Anna to the Polish heir to the throne Casimir . In 1326 Władysław devastated the Neumark with Lithuanian support. In the winter of 1327 King John of Bohemia moved against Kraków. Although he returned under Hungarian pressure, many Piast dukes of Silesia paid homage to him, and by 1329 almost all of the dukes recognized the Bohemian sovereignty over Silesia. In the summer of 1327, open fighting broke out Władysławs with the Teutonic Order, which was allied with King John. The opposing troops occupied the land of Dobrin , while Duke Wenceslaus von Mazowieckie-Płock was forced to pay homage to the Bohemian ruler for his part-duchy in 1329 (Bohemian feudal dependence until 1351). In new battles in 1330 and 1331 troops of the Teutonic Order devastated Wielkopolska and occupied all of Kujawy on September 27, 1331 the following year, despite a tie battle near Plowce. King Władysław died during the armistice, which came about for one year in the summer of 1332 through the mediation of the papal legate Peter von Alvernia. The king's remains were buried in the Wawel Cathedral in Krakow . He left his son and successor Casimir only two old ruling regions of the Piasts, Greater Poland with the main castle Posen and Lesser Poland with the capital Cracow, as well as some central Polish countries around Sieradz and Łęczyca.

Władysław Ellenlang's sphere of influence in the years 1267–1333

Władysław's sphere of influence was subject to constant change in his struggle for political self-assertion against competing branches of the Piast dynasty, the Bohemian royal house and the Teutonic Order. It was a time when the new borders of the renewed Polish kingdom were emerging.

• 1267–1300 Duke of Kujawien in Brześć Kujawski and Dobrin, until 1275 under the tutelage of his mother, 1275–1288 together with his brothers, from 1288 alone in Brześć Kujawski;
• 1288–1300 duke in Sieradz;
• 1289–1292 Duke of Malopolska in Sandomir;
• 1294–1300 duke in Łęczyca;
• 1296–1300 Duke of Greater Poland and Pomerania;
• 1300–1304 disempowered by King Wenceslaus of Bohemia, whom he paid homage to in 1292 and 1299, in exile until 1304;
• 1304–1333 Duke of Lesser Poland in Wiślica;
• 1305–1333 Duke of Lesser Poland in Sandomir, Duke in Sieradz and Łęczyca;
• 1305–1332 Duke of Kujawia in Brześć Kujawski, 1332 annexation by the Teutonic Knight Order;
• 1306–1333 Duke of Lesser Poland in Cracow;
• 1306–1309 Duke of Pomerania, 1309 annexation by the Teutonic Knight Order;
• 1306–1329 Duke of Dobrin, annexed by the Teutonic Knight Order in 1329;
• 1306–1332 Duke of Kujawien in Inowrocław, 1332 annexation by the Teutonic Order;
• 1314–1333 Duke of Greater Poland;

Piastic areas outside the borders of the Kingdom of Poland under King Władysław I. Ellenlang

• Silesian duchies , loss until 1945;
• Duchy of Mazovia-Płock until 1351, then direct connection to the kingdom;
• Duchy of Mazovia-Warsaw until 1351, then fiefdom of the Polish crown, direct connection to the kingdom in 1526;

progeny

King Władysław was married to Princess Hedwig von Kalisch from 1293 . The couple had a total of five children:

• Kunigunde (approx. 1295–1331 / 33), Princess of Poland, married approx. 1310 to the Silesian Duke Bernard von Schweidnitz , from 1328 to Duke Rudolf von Sachsen-Wittenberg
• Stefan (1296 / 1300–1306), Prince of Poland
• Władysław (1297–1311 / 1312), Prince of Poland
• Elisabeth (1305–1380), Princess of Poland, as the wife of King Charles I , Queen of Hungary
• Hedwig (1306 / 1309-1320 / 1325), princess of Poland
• Casimir (1310–1370), Prince of Poland, from 1333 King of Poland

Web links

• genealogie-mittelalter.de

predecessor	Office	successor
Wenceslaus I.	Senior Duke of Poland 1306–1320	-
Wenceslas II	King of Poland 1320–1333	Casimir I the Great