Przemysł II

Infobox Polish monarch
name=Przemysł II


image_caption="S'Premisl II Dei Gracia Regis Poloniae Domini Pomeraniae [http://www.poczet.com/przemyslii.htm poczet.com] , Przemysł II (Pogrobowiec)] "
birthdate=birth date|1257|10|14|mf=y
birthplace=Poznań, Poland
deathdate=death date and age|1296|2|8|1257|10|14
deathplace=Rogoźno, Poland
burial_place=at Archcathedral Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul, Poznań
reign_start=1295
reign_end=1296
election_date=
election_place=
coronation_date=June 26, 1295
coronation_place=Gniezno Cathedral
family=Piast dynasty
CoA_name=Piast Eagle
father=Przemysł I
mother=Elisabeth of Wrocław
consort_1=Ludgarda of Mecklenburg
children_1=none
consort_2=Ryksa of Sweden
children_2=Ryksa Elisabeth
consort_3=Margaret of Brandenburg
children_3=none

Premislas II (also given in English and Latin as "Premyslas" or "Premislaus", _pl. Przemysł or less properly " _pl. Przemysław") (14 October 1257 – 8 February 1296) was the Duke of Poznań, Greater Poland, Kraków and Pomerelia, and then King of Poland from 1295 until his death.

Biography

Premislas was born to Premislas I, Duke of Greater Poland, and Elisabeth, daughter of Henry II of Silesia.

Before 1277, he became a duke of Poznań, and after the death of his uncle Boleslaw the Pious in 1279, he became the duke of whole of Greater Poland. Przemyśl held a secret meeting and according to the Treaty of Kępno (1282), he was co-ruler with Mestwin II, duke of Pomerelia or Eastern Pomerania. In 1283 that meeting place, the later "Kempen" Kępno received from Przemyśl city rights under the name of "Langenfort/vort". In 1294 Przemyśl became the successor at Gdańsk. In 1287 this alliance had been extended to duke Boguslaw IV of Western Pomerania.

According to the last will of Henry IV Probus, duke of Silesia and high-duke of Poland, he inherited in 1290 the provinces of Kraków and Sandomierz (both were called Lesser Poland), but soon ceded them to Wenceslaus II, King of Bohemia. As he was the strongest Polish duke of the time, possessed the royal insignia from Kraków, and had support of the clergy for the unification of Poland, he was crowned king of Poland in 1295 by the archbishop of Gniezno, Jakub Świnka, and five other bishops.

In 1296, he was kidnapped by men of the electors of Brandenburg, with some help from the Polish noble families of Nałęcz and Zaremba, and murdered on February 8 in Rogoźno by Jakub Kaszuba. His kingship was short but the revived kingdom survived for the next 500 years.

According to medieval chronicles, he murdered his first wife Ludgarda because she could not bear him children. Ludgarda foresaw his intentions, and beseeched him to spare her life and send her away. He declined and is said to have had her strangled.

Marriages

# 1273 Ludgarda, daughter of Henry I the Pilgrim, Duke of Mecklenburg; no children
# 1285 Ryksa, daughter of Valdemar I of Sweden; one daughter: Ryksa Elizabeth
# 1293 Margaret of Brandenburg, daughter of Albert III, Margrave of Brandenburg; no children

Realm of power

* 1277–1296 Duke of Poznań
* 1279–1296 Duke of Greater Poland
* 1290–1291 Duke of Kraków (Little Poland)
* 1294–1296 Duke of Eastern Pomerania
* 1295–1296 King of Poland

Ancestors

ahnentafel-compact4
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border=1
boxstyle=padding-top: 0; padding-bottom: 0;
boxstyle_1=background-color: #999;
boxstyle_2=background-color: #bbb;
boxstyle_3=background-color: #ddd;
boxstyle_4=background-color: #eee;
1= Przemysł II
2= Przemysł I
3= Elisabeth of Wrocław
4= Władysław Odonic
5= Jadwiga of Gdańsk
6= Henry II the Pious
7= Anna of Bohemia
8= Odon of Poznań
9= Viacheslavna Yaroslavna of Halych
10=Mściwój I of Gdańsk
11=Zwinisława
12=Henry I the Bearded
13=Hedwig of Andechs
14=Ottokar I of Bohemia
15=Constance of Hungary

Gallery

References

Further reading

* Nowacki, B. "Przemysł II".
* Boras, Z. "Poczet piastów wielkopolskich".

ee also

*History of Poland (966–1385)
*Dukes of Greater Poland
*Jakub Świnka
*Royal coronations in Poland