Anne of Bohemia (1204–1265)

Anna of Bohemia (Czech: Anna Lehnická, Polish: Anna Przemyślidka) (1204 – 26 June 1265) was the Duchess consort of Silesia (1238–1241); she was the daughter of Ottokar I, King of Bohemia and his second wife Constance of Hungary. Her maternal grandparents were Béla III of Hungary and his first wife Agnes of Antioch

Life

Anna was born in Prague. Around the age of twelve she was married (1216) to Henry II the Pious, Duke of Silesia, to whom she bore ten children before he succeeded to the dukedom in 1238. During the Tatar invasions, the duchess was sent with the other female members of the royal family to the safety of the fortress of Krossen. Duke Henry was killed at Wahlstatt near Liegnitz during the Battle of Legnica (9 April 1241), his body being so diminished that the duchess had to tell those searching for his body to recognize him by the peculiarity of a sixth toe on his left foot.

Anna buried her husband in the Franciscan convent at Breslau, which Henry had begun to build, and which, in 1242, the duchess completed. During her lengthy widowhood, Anna suffered greatly from the violent temper of her son Bolesław II the Bald (1241–1278).

Children

Anna and Henry had ten children:

1. Gertrude (ca. 1218/20 – 23/30 April 1247), married by 1232 to Bolesław I of Masovia.
2. Constance (ca. 1221 – ca. 21 February 1257), married by 1239 to Casimir I of Kuyavia.
3. Bolesław II the Bald (ca. 1220/25 – 25/31 December 1278).
4. Mieszko (ca. 1223/27 – 1242).
5. Henry III the White (1227/30 – 3 December 1266).
6. Konrad (1228/31 – 6 August ca. 1274).
7. Elizabeth (ca. 1232 – 16 January 1265), married in 1244 to Przemysł I of Greater Poland.
8. Agnes (ca. 1236 – 14 May aft. 1278), Abbess of St.Clara in Trebnitz (aft. 1277).
9. Władysław (1237 – 27 April 1270), Chancellor of Bohemia (1256), Bishop of Passau (1265) and Archbishop of Salzburg (1265–70).
10. Hedwig (ca. 1238/41 – 3 April 1318), Abbess of St.Clara in Trebnitz.

Anna's younger sons included Henry III, duke of Silesia-Breslau, Conrad I, duke of Glogau, and Vladislav (1237–1270), who became Bishop of Bamberg (1257) and elector of Passau and Salzburg. Of her daughters, Gertrude (1219–1246) became the first wife of Boleslav I, duke of Masovia, whilst Agnes (c. 1233-1278) and Hedwig (c. 1240-1318) both served as abbess of Santa Clara at Treibnitz, the convent founded by their paternal grandmother, St Hedwig (1174–1243).

Anne died on 26 June 1265, aged sixty-one.

Ancestry

References

• A.P.C. Dunbar, (1904) A Dictionary of Saintly Women, Vol I, (Anna 19), London
• Detlev Schwennicke, (1980) Europaische Stammtafeln, Vol VIII - Part I, Table 9, Marburg