Polish Monarchs

A history of Polish dukes and monarchs.

Duchy of Poland

The duchy was intermittently a kingdom. Bolesław I was raised to a king in 1025; Mieszko II inherited the title but was deposed in 1031, and Bezprym did not claim the title. Bolesław II was raised to a king in 1076.

Bolesław III divided his kingdom between his sons.

Duchy of Krakow

The Seniorate Province, also known as the high duchy of Krakow, went to Władysław II.

Leszek I was the last high duke, after which Krakow became a simple duchy.

The duchy was incorporated into the kingdom of Poland by Władysław I as the Krakow voivodeship.

Duchy of Silesia

The duchy of Silesia also went to Władysław II. When Bolesław IV deposed Władysław, he claimed this duchy for himself.

Frederick Barbarossa conquered the duchy for the sons of Bolesław IV, and they fragmented it further.

The Silesian branch of the Piast dynasty played a minor role in Polish succession until Henry I became high duke in 1232.

Duchies of Silesia

The fragmented duchy of Silesia created dozens of smaller duchies.

• Bernstadt
• Bielsko
• Buchwald
• Brzeg
• Bytom
• Coschok
• Cosel
• Crossen
• Falkenberg
• Freudenthal
• Freystadt
• Gleiwitz
• Glogow
• Glubczyce
• Goldberg
• Grottkau
• Grunberg
• Haynau
• Hirschberg
• Jawor
• Krnov
• Legnica
• Lowenberg
• Loslau
• Luben
• Munsterberg
• Namslau
• Nysa
• Oels
• Ohlau
• Opole
• Oswiecim
• Parchwiz
• Prudnik
• Pless
• Raciborz
• Rybnik
• Siewierz
• Sprottau
• Steinau
• Strehlitz
• Swidnica
• Teschen
• Tost
• Troppau
• Wohlau
• Wroclaw
• Zator
• Zagan

The duchy of Troppau, also known as the principality of Opava, would be effectively added to this list when it was merged with Raciborz from 1337 until 1464. A short lived (1420 - 1460) duchy of Glogowek and Prudnik was the result of a personal union.

The duchies of Silesia were vassalized to John of Bohemia in 1335.

Duchy of Mazovia

The duchy of Mazovia went to Bolesław IV. Casimir II inherits the duchy after his nephew dies without an heir of his own, starting the Masovian branch of the Piast dynasty.

Over generations the duchy was further fragmented.

• Belz
• Czersk
• Dobrzyn
• Kuyavia
• Plock
• Rawa
• Warsaw

Only in the 16th century did Mazovia fully return to the kingdom of Poland, under the Rawa, Plock, and Masovian voivodeships.

Duchy of Greater Poland

The duchy of Greater Poland went to Mieszko III.

Through land wars the duchy fragmented into the duchies of Poznan, Kalisz, and Gniezno.

The duchy were reunited by Przemysl II in 1279. Although the kingdom of Przemysl II would not survive him, Greater Poland was re-incorporated into the kingdom of Poland by Władysław I as the Poznan and Kalisz voivodeships.

Duchy of Sandomierz

The duchy of Sandomierz went to Henry.

In 1166, Henry died without an heir. The duchy was temporarily partitioned (until 1173), with the short lived duchy of Wislica being gifted to the youngest brother Casimir II.

The duchy was incorporated into the kingdom of Poland by Władysław I as the Sandomierz voivodeship.

Duchy of Pomerania

Kingdom of Poland

Przemysl II recreated the kingdom of Poland in 1295, although he was assassinated just a year later and the kingdom was conquered by Wenceslaus II of Bohemia.

Władysław I was crowned king of Poland in 1320, although Pope John XXII justified this coronation as being the creation of a new kingdom, separate from that of Przemysl II.

Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania

The Union of Krewo was a marriage negotiated between Jadwiga and Władysław II, establishing a personal union between the kingdom of Poland the the grand duchy of Lithuania. This is sometimes referred to as the Commonwealth.

Dynasties

Piast

Amidst this first part of the Piast dynasty, Poland alternated between a kingdom and a high duchy.

Bolesław I made Mieszko II alone his heir. Bezprym, another son of Bolesław, usuroped him and briefly ruled a united Poland. Conrad II intervened and partitioned the kingdom between Mieszko II, Otto (another son of Bolesław I) and Dytryk (a grandson of Mieszko I). Mieszko would eventually reunite the duchy of Poland.

What follows is a period of succession chaos. The Mazovian and Silesian branches of the dynasty take turns with power (through Casimir II and his heirs, and through Henry I and his heirs, respectively).

The dynasty has a brief restoration interrupted by a Bohemian conquest.

Premyslid

Wenceslaus (known as Vaclav in Bohemia) conquered Poland in 1296 and proclaimed himself king of Poland in the process.

Angevin

Jagiellon

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