Anna of Bohemia

Anna of Bohemia (czech: "Anna Lehnická", polish: "Anna Przemyślidka" (1204 – 26 June 1265)) was the Duchess consort of Silesia (1238-1241), she was the daughter of Ottokar I, King of Bohemia and his second wife Constance of Hungary. Her maternal grandparents were Béla III of Hungary and his first wife Agnes of Antioch

Anna was born in Prague. Around the age of twelve she was married (1216) to Henry II the Pious, Duke of Silesia, to whom she bore eleven children before he succeeded to the dukedom in 1238. During the Tatar invasions, the duchess was sent with the other female members of the royal family to the safety of the fortress of Krossen. Duke Henry was killed at Wahlstatt near Liegnitz during the Battle of Legnica (9 April 1241), his body being so diminished that the duchess had to tell those searching for his body to recognize him by the peculiarity of a sixth toe on his left foot.

Anna buried her husband in the Franciscan convent at Breslau, which Henry had begun to build, and which, in 1242 the duchess completed. During her lengthy widowhood Anna suffered greatly from the violent temper of her son Boleslav II (1241-1278).

Anna's younger sons included Henry III, duke of Silesia-Breslau, Conrad I, duke of Glogau, and Vladislav (1237-1270), who became Bishop of Bamberg (1257) and elector of Passau and Salzburg. Of her daughters, Gertrude (1219-1246) became the first wife of Boleslav I, duke of Masovia, whilst Agnes (c. 1233-1278) and Hedwig (c. 1240-1318) both served as abbess of Santa Clara at Treibnitz, the convent founded by their paternal grandmother, St Hedwig (1174-1243).

Anne died on 26 June 1265 aged sixty-one.

References

*A.P.C. Dunbar, (1904) "A Dictionary of Saintly Women, Vol I, (Anna 19)", London
*Detlev Schwennicke, (1980) "Europaische Stammtafeln, Vol VIII - Part I", Table 9, Marburg