Publication details
Książęta piastowscy Śląska wobec rywalizacji Władysława Łokietka z Janem Lucemburskim
| Title in English | The Silesian Piast Dukes towards the Rivalry between Władysław I the Short and John of Luxembourg |
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| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2022 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
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| Description | The author looks at the rivalry between John of Luxembourg and Władysław the Short and the role the Silesian dukes played in that rivalry from several perspectives. The first of the research perspectives concerns the relationship between this rivalry, caused by Luxembourg’s claims to the Polish crown, and the situation in Silesia, which was an expansion target of the Bohemian king. The thesis that, in return for John of Luxembourg’s resignation from the Polish crown, Casimir the Great withdrew his claims to the Silesian duchies, does not fully correspond to the sources and the international circumstances of that time. Wishing to break his political isolation, John of Luxembourg resigned his title to the Polish crown for 20,000 groschens. On the other hand, the Polish king had no instruments to prevent the fief homages paid by some Silesian dukes to the Bohemian king and had no choice but to accept the status quo. The second aspect of the problem is the political instruments that John of Luxemburg and Władysław the Short used against the Silesian dukes. From the perspective of Bohemia, the mentioned feudal homages proved to be reliable. It turns out that the King of Poland, who was from the same Piast dynasty as the Silesian dukes, probably could not make use of such a formal and legal solution. Marital ties or alliances concluded proved too weak to build a strong Władysław’s position against the Silesian dukes, especially that he was conflicted with some of them (the Glogau dukes) because of clashing interests in Greater Poland. To show the attitude of the Silesian dukes towards the discussed rivalry, it must be assumed that for each duke, the most crucial role was played by his own dynastic policy (i.e. to take over the inheritance, extend it and pass it on to his heirs), extremely difficult in the conditions limited by the great territorial fragmentation of Silesia. The constantly provoked conflicts between the Silesian dukes were partly solved thanks to the conditions included in fief contracts with the Bohemian king. As a result, the Polish-Bohemian rivalry itself did not play a prominent role in the politics of the Silesian dukes. |
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