Ancestral Trails 2016 » Casimir II of POLAND (1138-1194)

Personal data Casimir II of POLAND 

• He was born in the year 1138 in Kraków, Lodzkie, Poland.
• Title: High Duke of Poland
• (Nickname) : Casimir the Just.
• (Ancestry) : House of Piast.
• He died on May 5, 1194 in Kraków, Lodzkie, Poland, he was 56 years old.
• A child of BOLESLAV III OF POLAND and Salome von BERG-SCHELKLINGEN

Household of Casimir II of POLAND

He is married to Helen of ZNOJMO.

They got married between 1160 and 1165, he was 22 years old.

Child(ren):

1. Leszek Bialy of POLAND  ± 1185-1227
2. Adelajda of POLAND  1180-1211
3. Konrad von MASOVIA  ± 1188-1247 
4. Maria Anastasia of POLAND  < 1167-???? 

Notes about Casimir II of POLAND

Casimir II the Just (1138 - 5 May 1194) was a Lesser Polish Duke at Wiślica during 1166-1173, and at Sandomierz after 1173. He became ruler over the Polish Seniorate Province at Kraków and thereby High Duke of Poland (see Seniorate Province) in 1177; a position he held until his death, interrupted once by his elder brother and predecessor Mieszko III the Old. In 1186 Casimir also inherited the Duchy of Masovia from his nephew Leszek, becoming the progenitor of the Masovian branch of the royal Piast dynasty, great-grandfather of the later Polish king Władysław I the Elbow-high. The honorific title "the Just" was not contemporary and only appeared in the 16th century.

Casimir, the sixth but fourth surviving son of Bolesław III Wrymouth, Duke of Poland, by his second wife Salomea, daughter of Count Henry of Berg, was born in 1138, probably on the brink of his father's death. It's however also possible that he was born shortly after, and in consequence was posthumous. Maybe this was the reason that in the Bolesław III's Testament, he was omitted and left without any land.

During his first years, Casimir and his sister Agnes (born in 1137) lived with their mother Salome in her widow land of Łęczyca. There, the young prince remained far away from the struggles of his brothers Bolesław IV the Curly and Mieszko III the Old with their older half-brother High Duke Władysław II, who tried to reunite all Poland under his rule and in 1146 was finally expelled.

Salomea of Berg had died in 1144. Casimir and Agnes were cared by their elder brother Bolesław IV, who had assumed the high ducal title. Although under his tutelage the young prince could feel safe, he had no guarantee to receive part of the paternal inheritance in the future. When in 1154 he reached the proper age (according to the standards of that time) to take control over the lands of the family, he remained with nothing. Even worse, three years later (1157) his fate was decided in the successfully Polish campaign of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, who came to the aid of Władysław II and his sons. As a part of the treaty Bolesław had to conclude with Barbarossa, Casimir was sent to Germany as a hostage in order to secure the loyalty of his brother to the Emperor.

The fate of Casimir at the Imperial court is unknown. He returned to Poland certainly before 21 May 1161, because that day he is mentioned in a document with two of his brothers, Bolesław IV and Henry of Sandomierz. So far, Casimir had not received any lands from his elder brothers.

Duke at Wiślica
The situation changed in 1166, when his brother Henry was killed in battle during a Prussian Crusade; without issue, in his will he named Casimir the only heir of his Lesser Polish Duchy of Sandomierz. However, High Duke Bolesław IV decided to divide the duchy into three parts: the largest (who included the capital, Sandomierz) to him; the second (without any name) to Mieszko III and only the third part, the small district of Wiślica, was given to Casimir.

Angry and disappointed with the decision of the High Duke, Casimir rebelled against him, with the support of by his brother Duke Mieszko III the Old, the magnate Jaksa of Miechów and Sviatoslav, son of Piotr Włostowic, as well as Archbishop Jan of Gniezno and Bishop Gedko of Kraków; also, almost all Lesser Poland was on his side. The quick actions of Bolesław finally stopped the rebellion. At the end, Casimir was only able to retain Wiślica. In 1172, Mieszko III the Old rebelled against the High Duke, and tried to persuade his younger brother to join him. For unknown reasons, Casimir refused to participate.

Bolesław IV died in 1173 and according to the principle of agnatic seniority he was succeeded by his brother Mieszko III the Old as High Duke. He decided to give the rest of the Sandomierz duchy to Casimir, then his only surviving brother, who finally could assume the ducal title, which the late High Duke had illegally usurped.

Revolt against Mieszko the Old
The strong and dictatorial rule of the new High Duke caused a deep disaffection among the Lesser Polish nobility. This time the new revolt prepared in 1177 had a real chance of victory. The rebellion, apart of the magnates, counted with the support of Gedko, Bishop of Kraków, Mieszko's eldest son Odon, the son of former High Duke Władysław II, Duke Bolesław I the Tall of Silesia and Casimir. The reasons about his inclusion in the revolt, after being reconciled with Mieszko, are unknown.

The battle for the supreme power had a quite strange course: Mieszko, completely surprised by the rebels in his Duchy of Greater Poland, withdrew to Poznań, where he stayed for almost two years going heavy fighting with his son Odon. Finally, he was defeated and was forced to escape. Duke Bolesław the Tall failed to conquer Kraków and the Seniorate Province, as he himself was stuck in an inner-Silesian conflict with his brother Mieszko I Tanglefoot and his own son Jarosław; soon defeated, he asked Casimir for help. After a successfully action in Silesia, he marched to Kraków, who was quickly conquered. Casimir, now Duke of Kraków, decided to conclude a treaty under which Bolesław the Tall obtain the full authority over Lower Silesia at Wrocław, in return Casimir granted to the then deposed Mieszko Tanglefoot the Lesser Polish districts of Bytom, Oświęcim and Pszczyna as a gift for Casimir's godson and namesake: Casimir I of Opole, the only son of Mieszko Tanglefoot.

High Duke of Poland
The 1177 rebellion against High Duke Mieszko the Old ended in a full success to Casimir, who not only had conquered Kraków (including the districts of Sieradz and Łęczyca) obtaining the high ducal title, but also managed to extend his sovereignty as Polish monarch over Silesia (then divided between the three sons of Władysław II, Bolesław the Tall, Mieszko Tanglefoot and Konrad Spindleshanks as well as Bolesław's son Jarosław of Opole), Greater Poland (ruled by Odon), Masovia and Kuyavia (ruled by Duke Leszek, then a minor and under the tutelage of his mother and the voivode Żyrona, one of Casimir's followers). On the Baltic coast, Pomerelia (Gdańsk Pomerania) was ruled by Duke Sambor I as a Polish vassal.

However, Mieszko the Old worked intensively for his return, at first in Bohemia, later in Germany and in the Duchy of Pomerania. To achieve his ambitions to give the hereditary right to the throne at Kraków (and with this the Seniorate) to his descendants, Casimir called an assembly of Polish nobles at Łęczyca in 1180. He granted privileges to both the nobility and the Church, lifting a tax on the profits of the clergy and relinquishing his rights over the lands of deceased bishops. By these acts, he won the acceptance of the principle of hereditary succession to Kraków, though it still would take more than a century to restore the Polish kingship.

In less than a year after the Łęczyca assembly however, in the first half of 1181, Mieszko the Old with the assistance of Duke Sambor's brother Mestwin I of Pomerelia conquered the eastern Greater Polish lands of Gniezno and Kalisz and managed to persuade his son Odon to submit (according to some historians, Odon then received from his father the Greater Polish lands south of the Obra River). At the same time, Duke Leszek of Masovia decided to escape from the influence of Casimir. He named Mieszko the Old's son Mieszko the Younger governor of Masovia and Kuyavia, and with this, made a tacit promise of succession over these lands.

Relations with the Church
During his reign, Casimir was very generous to the Church, especially with the Cistercians monasteries of Wąchock, Jędrzejów, Koprzywnica and Sulejów; with the Canons of the Holy Sepulchre of Miechów and Regular Canonry of Czerwińsk nad Wisłą and Trzemeszno and the Order of the Knights Hospitaller in Zagość. He also tried to expand the cult of Saint Florian, whose remains were brought to Kraków by Bishop Gedko.

Marriage and Issue
Between 1160-1165 (but no later than 1166), Casimir married with Helena (ca. 1140/42 - ca. 1202/06), daughter of Duke Conrad II of Znojmo, scion of a Moravian cadet branch of the Přemyslid dynasty. They had seven children:

A daughter (name unknown) (b. before 1167), married between 11 October and 24 December 1178 to Prince Vsevolod IV of Kiev
Casimir (ca. 1162 - 2 February[11] or 1 March 1167), named after his father.
Bolesław (ca. 1168/71 - 16 April 1182/83), probably named after his paternal grandfather Bolesław III Wrymouth, although is possible that in fact was named in honour to his uncle Bolesław IV the Curly. He died accidentally, after falling from a tree. He was probably buried at Wawel Cathedral.
Odon (1169/84 - died in infancy). He was probably named after either Odon of Poznań or Saint Odo of Cluny.
Adelaide (ca. 1177/84 - 8 December 1211), foundress of the convent of St. Jakob in Sandomierz.
Leszek I the White (ca. 1184/85 - 24 November 1227).
Konrad (ca. 1187/88 - 31 August 1247).
SOURCE: Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casimir_II_the_Just

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Timeline Casimir II of POLAND

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