Christina Rokiczana

Christina Rokiczanka (born before 1330 in Prague- after 1365) was the wife of Casimir III the Great, of Poland. She became the King's third wife and married into the House of Piast.

Life

Christina is mentioned in several historical sources, including in Spominkach of Ciołkach (from the beginning of the 15th century), she is also mentioned in documents regarding the annulment of Casimir's loveless marriage to Adelaide of Hesse. Christina was the widow of Mikuláš (Nicholas) Rokiczan, a merchant from Prague. When her husband died, Christina inherited a large fortune. Christina became a lady-in-waiting at the court of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor.^[1]

In May 1356 Casimir III came to Prague,^[2] where he met Christina and they possibly became engaged. The marriage was concluded shortly afterwards in Krakow. The marriage is believed not to have lasted long; Jan Dlugosz reported that Christina was dismissed from the king shortly after the marriage after the discovery of concealed defects, Christina was suffering from hair loss and scabies, it is possible, however, that the relationship lasted a bit longer, an investigation found that Christina was still alive in 1365 and was living in Poland. Casimir married for a fourth and final time to Hedwig of Sagan in 1365. This marriage was considered bigamous, with Adelaide still alive and Christina possibly still alive. Casimir and Hedwig had four daughters, they were all considered illegitimate until Casimir had them legitimised. Casimir and Christina had no children.

The marriage between Casimir and Christina was particularly beneficial for the House of Anjou; children that could have come from the marriage of Casimir and Christina would be considered illegitimate and even if they were legitimised, their legitimacy would still be in question due to Christina's low station. Without sons, Casimir had to give the throne to his sister, Elisabeth of Poland and her son, Louis I of Hungary.

It is unknown when Christina died.

Christina in literature

Christina plays a major role in the novel King of the peasants (1884), by Józef Ignacy Kraszewski. The book is about the history of marriage. Christina portrayed as wealthy due to her inheritance from her first husband, well educated, her first husband was a much older man, and her appearance was characterized as the following: snow white complexion, brown hair and eyes, facial features that are strangely beautiful and dignified, she rarely smiled, and when forced to speak through her coral lips, her eyes rarely said anything about her internal emotions.

Bibliography

• Jerzy Wyrozumski, Christine Rokiczana, In: Polish Biographical Dictionary, Volume XXXI, 1989
• Jerzy Wyrozumski, Casimir the Great, Ossolineum, Wroclaw 1982

References

This article incorporates information from the revision as of 28 October 2009 of the equivalent article on the Polish Wikipedia.