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Birth:           967 
Death:          17 Jul 1025 

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boles%C5%82aw_I_the_Brave
Boleslaw I the Brave (Polish: Boleslaw I Chrobry About this sound Polish (help·info), 
Czech: Boleslav Chrabrý; 967 – 17 June 1025), less often known as Boleslaw I the 
Great (Polish: Boleslaw I Wielki), was Duke of Poland from 992 to 1025, and the first 
King of Poland in 1025. As Boleslav IV, he was also Duke of Bohemia between 1002 
and 1003. He was the son of Mieszko I of Poland by his wife, Dobrawa of Bohemia. 
According to a scholarly theory, Boleslaw ruled Lesser Poland already during the last 
years of his father's reign. Mieszko I, who died in 992, divided Poland among his sons, 
but Boleslaw expelled his father's last wife, Oda of Haldensleben, and his half-brothers 
and reunited Poland between 992 and 995.

He supported the missionary views of Adalbert, Bishop of Prague, and Bruno of 
Querfurt. The martyrdom of Adalbert in 997 and his imminent canonization were used 
to consolidate Poland's autonomy from the Holy Roman Empire. This perhaps 
happened most clearly during the Congress of Gniezno (11 March 1000), which 
resulted in the establishment of a Polish church structure with a Metropolitan See at 
Gniezno. This See was independent of the German Archbishopric of Magdeburg, 
which had tried to claim jurisdiction over the Polish church. Following the Congress of 
Gniezno, bishoprics were also established in Kraków, Wroclaw and Kolobrzeg, and 
Boleslaw formally repudiated paying tribute to the Holy Roman Empire. Following the 
death of Holy Roman Emperor Otto III in 1002, Boleslaw fought a series of wars 
against the Holy Roman Empire and Otto's cousin and heir, Henry II, ending in the 
Peace of Bautzen (1018).

In the summer of 1018, in one of his expeditions, Boleslaw I captured Kiev, where he 
installed his son-in-law Sviatopolk I as ruler. According to legend, Boleslaw chipped 
his sword when striking Kiev's Golden Gate. Later, in honor of this legend, a sword 
called Szczerbiec ("Chipped Sword") would become the coronation sword of Poland's 
kings.

Boleslaw I was a remarkable politician, strategist, and statesman. He not only turned 
Poland into a country comparable to older western monarchies, but he raised it to the 
front rank of European states. Boleslaw conducted successful military campaigns in 
the west, south and east. He consolidated Polish lands and conquered territories 
outside the borders of modern-day Poland, including Slovakia, Moravia, Red Ruthenia, 
Meissen, Lusatia, and Bohemia. He was a powerful mediator in Central European 
affairs.

Finally, as the culmination of his reign, in 1025 he had himself crowned King of 
Poland. He was the first Polish ruler to receive the title of rex (Latin: "king").

He was an able administrator who established the "Prince's Law" and built many forts, 
churches, monasteries and bridges. He introduced the first Polish monetary unit, the 
grzywna, divided into 240 denarii,[1] and minted his own coinage.

Boleslaw I is widely considered one of Poland's most capable and accomplished Piast 
rulers.
Youth
Boleslaw was born in 966 or 967,[2] the first child of Mieszko I of Poland and his wife, 
the Bohemian princess Dobrawa.[3][4] His Epitaph, which was written in the middle of 
the 11th century, emphasized that Boleslaw had been born to a "faithless" father and 
a "true-believing" mother, suggesting that he was born before his father's baptism.[4]
[5] Boleslaw was baptized shortly after his birth.[6] He was named after his maternal 
grandfather, Boleslaus I, Duke of Bohemia.[7] Not much is known about Boleslaw's 
childhood. His Epitaph recorded that he underwent the traditional hair-cutting 
ceremony at the age of seven and a lock of his hair was sent to Rome.[6] The latter 
act suggests that Mieszko wanted to place his son under the protection of the Holy 
See.[6][8] Historian Tadeusz Manteuffel says that Boleslaw needed that protection 
because his father had sent him to the court of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor in token 
of his allegiance to the emperor.[8] However historian Marek Kazimierz Baranski notes 
that the claim that Boleslaw was sent as a hostage to the imperial court is disputed.[9]

Boleslaw's mother, Dobrawa died in 977; his widowed father married Oda of 
Haldensleben who had already been a nun.[10][11] Around that time, Boleslaw 
became the ruler of Lesser Poland, through it is not exactly clear in what 
circumstances. Jerzy Strzelczyk says that Boleslaw received Lesser Poland from his 
father; Tadeusz Manteuffel states that he seized the province from his father with the 
local lords' support; and Henryk Lowmianski writes that his uncle, Boleslav II of 
Bohemia, granted the region to him.[12]
***
Marriages and issue[edit]

The contemporaneous Thietmar of Merseburg recorded Boleslaw's marriages, also 
mentioning his children.[95] Boleslaw's first wife was an unnamed daughter of Rikdag, 
Margrave of Meissen.[95][9] Historian Manteuffel says that the marriage was arranged 
in the early 980s by Mieszko I who wanted to strengthen his links with the Saxon lords 
and to enable his son to succeed Rikdag in Meissen.[96] Boleslaw "later sent her 
away",[18] according to Thietmar's Chronicon.[95] Historian Marek Kazimierz Baranski 
writes that Boleslaw repudiated his first wife after her father's death in 985 which left 
the marriage without any political value.[9]

Boleslaw "took a Hungarian woman"[18] as his second wife.[95] Most historians 
identify her as a daughter of Géza, Grand Prince of the Hungarians, but this view has 
not been universally accepted.[97] She gave birth to a son, Bezprym, but Boleslaw 
repudiated her.[95]

Boleslaw's third wife, Emnilda, was "a daughter of the venerable lord, Dobromir".[18]
[95] Her father was a Slavic prince, either a local ruler from present-day Brandenburg 
who was closely related to the imperial Liudolfing dynasty,[22] or the last independent 
prince of the Vistulans, before their incorporation into Poland.[9] Wiszewski dates the 
marriage of Boleslaw and Emnilda to 988.[3] Emnilda exerted a beneficial influence on 
Boleslaw, forming "her husband's unstable character",[18] according to Thietmar of 
Merseburg's report.[95] Boleslaw's and Emnilda's oldest (unnamed) daughter "was an 
abbess"[18] of an unidentified abbey.[3] Their second daughter Regelinda, who was 
born in 989, was given in marriage to Herman I, Margrave of Meissen in 1002 or 
1003.[3] Mieszko II Lambert who was born in 990[3] was Boleslaw's favorite son and 
successor.[98] The name of Boleslaw's and Emnilda's third daughter, who was born in 
995, is unknown; she married Sviatopolk I of Kiev between 1005 and 1012.[3] 
Boleslaw's youngest son, Otto, was born in 1000.[3]

Fourth marriage: 1018–1025 Oda (b. c. 995 – d. aft. 1025), daughter of Eckard I, 
Margrave of Meissen. She was nicknamed the Younger (Polish: Mlodsza) probably in 
reference to either Boleslaw's step-mother or first wife.

Issue:
1.Matilda (b. aft. 1018 – d. aft. 1036), betrothed (or married) on 18 May 1035 to Otto of 
Schweinfurt, since 1048 Duke Otto III of Swabia.


Parents
____ Mieszsko I (ABT  922 - 25 May  992)
____ Daubravka (ABT  931 -  977)

Siblings
____ Boleslaw I "Chrobry" "the Brave" ( 967 - 17 Jul 1025)
OF POLAND Gunnhild (ABT  968 - 1014)

Marriage To OF SILICIA Emnilde (ABT  970 - 1017)
    m. ABT  987 

Notes
his third

Parents
____ Dobromir (ABT  940 - )
----- ----- ()

Children by OF SILICIA Emnilde ABT  970 - 1017
____ Mieszko (Mieszylaw) II (ABT  990 - 10 May 1034)

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