Agrippina of Slavonia

Agrippina of Slavonia
High Duchess consort of Poland
Tenure 1279–30 September 1288
Spouse Leszek II the Black
House Rurikid Dynasty (by birth)
House of Piast (by marriage)
Father Rostislav Mikhailovich
Mother Anna of Hungary
Born ca. 1248
Died 1305–1309

Agrippina of Slavonia also known as Gryfina (ca. 1248 – between 1305 and 1309) was Princess Krakow by her marriage to Leszek the Black in 1265.

Biography

She was the daughter of Rostislav Mikhailovich (1225–1262) Prince of Halicz, and his wife Anna of Hungary (1226–ca. 1270), daughter of Béla IV of Hungary. Agrippina's sister was Kunigunda of Slavonia, who married Ottakar II of Bohemia and was mother of Wenceslaus II of Bohemia. His father Rostislav left the Russian lands after familiar confrontations and was received in the court of the Hungarian King Béla IV. Soon he received his daughter as wife and the Hungarian monarch granted the administration of the region of Slavonia, one of the most prominents parts of the Hungarian Medieval Kingdom.

Aggrippina was born in the Hungarian Kingdom, were she was raised with her sisters and later at the age of seventeen, her dynastic destiny was settled: The marriage of Agrippina and Leszek, son of Casimir I of Kuyavia [1] was in 1265.[2] The wedding was organized by Bolesław V the Chaste. During 1271 and 1274 there was a separation between the spouses, this was because Agrippina publicly announced that her husband was impotent. Leszek opted for treatment, but as a result the couple were not able to have children. After four years Bolesław V forced the couple to get back together.

During the revolt against her husband in 1285, Agrippina took refuge in Wawel under the care of citizens. During the third raid of Tatars in 1287 she escaped with her husband to Hungary, where many of her family members lived. After the death of her husband in 1288, her nephew, Wenceslaus II of Bohemia claimed Poland, because his aunt had been Queen consort of Poland.[3] After the death of her husband, Agrippina resided in a monastery of Poor Clares in Stary Sacz. Prioress there was her close relative, the widow of Boleslaw Chaste, her aunt Kinga of Poland (her mother's sister). After the death of Kinga, Agrippina took the title of Abbess.[4]

In 1300, she visited Bohemia and cared for Elisabeth Richeza of Poland, daughter of Przemysł II and fiancee of her nephew, Wenceslaus since the death of his first wife Judith of Habsburg. Agrippina died between 1305 and 1309, most likely in 1309. She is buried in the monastery of Poor Clares in Prague.

Ancestors

Notes and references

  1. ^ RUSSIAN RURIKID, Medieval Lands
  2. ^ Oswald Balzer, Genealogia Piast, Krakow 2005, p. 582
  3. ^ It is likely that Gryfino waived its rights to the throne to his nephew a special legate. To this day not found any document which bears witness to some agreement reached between Gryfino and Albert. However, even a contemporary grievances Wenceslas had no any foundation.
  4. ^ Some historians tend to place the thesis that Gryfino received the title in exchange for the surrender of rights to the throne of Cracow
Agrippina of Slavonia
Born: ca. 1248 Died: 1305–1309
Royal titles
Preceded by
Kinga of Poland		 High Duchess consort of Poland
1279?–30 September 1288		 Succeeded by
Matilda of Brandenburg