Bolesław III Wrymouth

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Bolesław III Wrymouth.  Drawing by Jan Matejko.
Bolesław III Wrymouth. Drawing by Jan Matejko.

Bolesław III Wrymouth (Bolesław III Krzywousty); 10851138) was Duke of Poland from 1102. He was the son of Duke Władysław I Herman and Judith of Bohemia, daughter of Vratislaus II of Bohemia.

Bolesław Wrymouth defeated the Pomeranians at the Battle of Nakło (1109) and took control of Pomerania (1119-1123), thus regaining Polish access to the Baltic Sea. The local government of the Pomeranians was left in place.

Bolesław also defeated Emperor Henry V (1109) in the Battles of Głogów and Psie Pole (the latter also known, in German translation, as the Battle of Hundsfeld). In the years 1113-1119 he had taken control over Pomerania.[1] In 1135, Bolesław gave a tribute to Emperor Lothair II (Lothar von Supplinburg) and the emperor received from Boleslaw parts of Western Pomerania and Rügen as fiefs.

Bolesław also campaigned in Hungary 11321135, but to little effect.

Before his death in 1138, Bolesław Wrymouth published his testament (Bolesław Wrymouth's testament) dividing his lands among four of his sons. The "senioral principle" established in the testament stated that at all times the eldest member of the dynasty was to have supreme power over the rest and was also to control an indivisible "senioral part": a vast strip of land running north-south down the middle of Poland, with Kraków its chief city. The Senior's prerogatives also included control over Pomerania, a fief of the Holy Roman Empire. The "senioral principle" was soon broken, leading to a period of nearly 200 years of Poland's feudal fragmentation.

[edit] Family and issue

With his first wife, Zbyslava, daughter of Grand Duke Sviatopolk II of Kiev, Bolesław had one son:

  • Vladislav II Wygnaniec, born 1105, Prince of Poland.
Piast Eagle Coat of Arms.
Piast Eagle Coat of Arms.

Bolesław subsequently married Salome von Berg-Schelklingen, by whom he had 14 children (six sons and eight daughters), of whom six sons and five daughters are known:

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