Family of Wladislaw I + HERMAN and Judita I +

Husband:	Wladislaw I + HERMAN (1043-1102)
Wife:	Judita I + (1056-1085)
Children:	Boleslaw III + (1085-1138)
Marriage	1080

Husband: Wladislaw I + HERMAN

Wife: Judita I +

Name:	Judita I +
Sex:	Female
Father:	Vratislav II + (1035-1092)
Mother:	Adelaida + (1038-1062)
Birth	1056	Praha, Czechoslovakia
Occupation		Princess of Bohemia
Title		Princess of Bohemia
Death	25 Dec 1085 (age 28-29)

Child 1: Boleslaw III +

Note on Husband: Wladislaw I + HERMAN

Wladyslaw I Herman (ca. 1044[1] – 4 June 1102) was a Duke of Poland from 1079 until his death.

 

He was the second son of Casimir I the Restorer by his wife Maria Dobroniega, daughter of Vladimir the Great, Grand Duke of Kiev.

 

As the second son, Wladyslaw was not destined for the throne. However, due to the flight from Poland of his older brother Boleslaw II the Bold in 1079, he was elevated to the rank of Duke of Poland. Opinions vary on whether Wladyslaw played an active role in the plot to depose his brother or whether he was handed the authority simply because he was the most proper person, being the next in line in the absence of the king and his son Mieszko Boleslawowic.

 

In 1080, in order to improve the relations between Poland and Bohemia, Wladyslaw married Judith, the daughter of the Duke (and first King from 1085) Vratislaus II. After this, the foreign policy of the Duke levitated strongly towards appeasement of the Holy Roman Empire.

 

He accepted overlordship of the Empire, and when in 1085 while in Mainz the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV announced that his father-in-law Vratislaus II to be King of Bohemia and Poland, Wladyslaw did not object. He also never pursued the Royal crown due to his subservient status. Soon after, he was forced by the barons of Poland to recall from exile in Hungary his nephew and rightful heir to the Polish throne, Mieszko Boleslawowic. The young prince accepted the overlordship of his uncle and gave up his hereditary claims in exchange for becoming first in line of succession. Wladyslaw was forced to accept the terms of his nephew, because his eldest and only son at that time, Zbigniew, was illegitimate because he had been born from a union not recognized by the church. Wladyslaw's relations with the Emperor were considerably improved after his second marriage with his sister Judith (also Dowager Queen of Hungary) in 1089, who took the name Judith of Swabia after her wedding in order to distinguish herself from the late first wife of Wladyslaw (Judith of Bohemia).

 

Wladyslaw abandoned the alliance with Hungary favored by his deposed brother, and joined the anti-Papal camp. Also, he resumed paying tribute for Silesia to Bohemia. In addition Kraków and Cieszyn were ceded to Bohemia, Lubusz Land was lost to Germany while Przemysl Land in the east was lost to Halych-Ruthenia. Wladyslaw did make attempts to regain the control of Pomerania, and through numerous expeditions was temporarily (1090–1091) able to do so.

 

Although Wladyslaw was formally Dux and an Overlord of Poland, in reality the barons who banished his brother used this victory to strengthen their position. It's not surprising therefore, that within a short time the Duke was forced to give up the government to his Count Palatine, (Polish: wojewoda) a high born noble named Sieciech. Sieciech's administration of the realm was negatively perceived by those of the barons who were not the beneficiaries of the power shift.

 

The birth of the future Boleslaw III completely changed the political situation in Poland. Mieszko Boleslawowic was already seventeen at that time and was, by the previous agreement made after his return, the first in line to succeed. In 1089 Mieszko died under mysterious circumstances, probably poisoned on the orders of Sieciech and Duchess Judith-Sophia. Almost immediately, Zbigniew was sent to Germany and placed in the Quedlinburg Abbey. With the idea of forcing his first-born son to take the holy vows, Wladyslaw intended to deprive him of any chance of succession.

 

In 1090 Sieciech, with help of Polish forces under his command, managed to gain control of Gdansk Pomerania, albeit for a short time. Major towns were garrisoned by Polish troops, the rest were burned, in order to thwart any future resistance. Several months later, however, a rebellion of native elites led to the restoration of the region’s independence from Poland.

 

Sieciech's tyrannical rule reflected negatively on Wladyslaw, causing a massive political migration out of Poland. In 1093 Silesia rebelled, and the comes Magnus with the assistance of the Bohemian and Polish knights welcomed Zbigniew after he escaped from Germany; however, soon Sieciech captured the prince and imprisoned him. The increasing dissatisfaction in the country forced the release of Zbigniew in 1097. Immediately after this Wladyslaw (after an unsuccessfully retaliatory expedition against Silesia and forced to recognized Zbigniew as the legitimate heir) appointed his sons as commanders of the army which was formed in order to recapture Gdansk Pomerania.

 

Simultaneously a great migration of Jews from Western Europe to Poland began circa 1096, around the time of the First Crusade. Wladyslaw, a tolerant ruler, attracted the Jews into his domains, and permitted to settle throughout the entire country without restriction.

 

Soon Zbigniew and Boleslaw decided to join forces and demanded that the reigns of the government should be handed over to them. Wladyslaw agreed to divide the realm between the brothers, each to be granted his own province while he himself kept control of Mazovia and its capital at Plock. Wladyslaw also retained control of the most important cities i.e. Wroclaw, Krakow and Sandomierz. Zbigniew’s province encompassed Greater Poland including Gniezno, Kuyavia, Leczyca and Sieradz. Boleslaw’s territory included Lesser Poland, Silesia and Lubusz Land.

 

However, Sieciech, alarmed by the evident diminution of his power, began to intrigue against the brothers. Wladyslaw decided to support him against his own sons. Defeated, in 1101 and after the mediation of the Archbishop of Gniezno Martin, the Duke was forced to confiscate Sieciech's properties and exiled him.

 

Wladyslaw died on 4 June 1102, without resolving the issue of succession, leaving his sons to struggle for supremacy. His body was interned in the Plock Cathedral

Note on Wife: Judita I +

Judith of Bohemia (ca. 1056/58 – 25 December 1086), also known as Judith Premyslid, was a Bohemian princess of the Premyslid dynasty, and by marriage Duchess of Poland.

 

She was a daughter of Duke Vratislaus II of Bohemia by his second wife Adelaide, daughter of King Andrew I of Hungary.[1][2] She was named after her paternal grandmother Judith of Schweinfurt, who died shortly after her birth.

 

Judith was the second of four children born from Vratislaus II's marriage with the Hungarian princess Adelaide. The others were Bretislaus II, Ludmilla (later a nun) and Vratislaus, who died young killed in battle. Judith's uncle Duke Spytihnev II died in 1061 and was succeeded by his brother Vratislaus II. One year later, in 1062, Duchess Adelaide died.

 

Duke Vratislaus II was remarried in 1063 to Swietoslawa, daughter of Duke Casimir I of Poland. From this marriage, Judith gained five half-siblings: Boleslav (Duke of Olomouc; he died shortly before his father), Borivoj II, Vladislav I, Sobeslav I Oldrich and Judith, later wife of Wiprecht II of Groitzsch, Burgrave of Magdeburg.

 

[edit] MarriageAround 1080, Judith married Wladyslaw I Herman, Duke of Poland (nephew of her stepmother), to solidify the recently established Bohemian-Polish alliance.

 

According to contemporary chroniclers, Duchess Judith performed remarkable charity work, helping the needy and ensuring the comfort of subjects and prisoners. After almost five years of childless marriage, the necessity of an heir had increased:

 

Because she was barren pray to God every day with tears and orations, made sacrifices and paying debts, helping widows and orphans, and given very generous amounts of gold and silver for the monasteries, commanded the priests to pray to the saints and the grace of God for a child.

On 10 June 1085, Judith and her husband were present at the coronation of her father Duke Vratislaus II as the first King of Bohemia. One year later, in 1086, Judith's prayers were finally answered, and on 20 August of that year she gave birth the long-awaited son and heir, the future Boleslaw III Wrymouth; sadly, the Duchess never recovered from the effects of childbirth and died four months later, on 25 December.

 

Three years later, in 1089, her husband remarried to the widow of Judith's uncle King Solomon of Hungary, Judith of Swabia, who was renamed Sophia in Poland in order to distinguish herself from Wladyslaw I's first wife.