Casimir the Great

King of Poland (r. 1333-1370)

• Born: April 30, 1310
• Birthplace: Kujavias, Poland
• Died: November 5, 1370
• Place of death: Kraków, Poland

Casimir inherited a reunited Poland and shaped it into a major Central European power that was subsequently nurtured through a brilliant golden age lasting three centuries.

Early Life

Casimir (KAHZ-ih-mihr) was born the third son, sixth and youngest child, of Queen Jadwiga and King Władysław I. Stephan, the oldest, had died in 1306, and Władysław, the second oldest, died in 1312, leaving Casimir heir to the throne almost from birth. He was destined to become the most notable, but unfortunately the last, monarch of the ancient Polish royal dynasty the Piasts.

As a prince, Casimir received a limited education. His tutors, Archdeacon Jarosław Bogoria (later archbishop of Kraków) and Spytko of Melsztyn, the castellan of Kraków, instilled in him an appreciation of diplomacy and of the written law. From his father he learned the military craft, sharing the responsibilities of leadership with the king on numerous campaigns.

The prince's experiential education was further deepened in 1329, when he was sent on a diplomatic mission to the Hungarian court in search of military aid for his father's future campaigns. Sometime later, Casimir was made administrator of Great Poland, plus the districts of Sieradz and Kujawia, ruling through his father's royal authority. The objective here was to strengthen the frontiers against German encroachment. It is clear that Władysław was grooming his only surviving son for the kingship.

This practical learning took deep root, and Casimir developed into a thoughtful long-range planner and very able ruler. Yet at the same time, the future king was a person who believed in enjoying life to the fullest. His personality is best described as jovial, energetic, and highly passionate. One might imagine that this latter characteristic greatly concerned his mother, a restrained, pious woman who once a year ate and slept in a nearby convent dedicated to Saint Clare.

Władysław, hoping to sober the prince's spirits by marriage, arranged his son's betrothal to Jutta, daughter of John of Luxembourg, king of Bohemia (r. 1310-1346), in 1322. Such a union might have reconciled the houses of Piast and Luxembourg as well as providing Poland with an ally against the Teutonic Order. Unfortunately for diplomacy, but happily for love, the negotiations collapsed.

Casimir's romantic interests were to be realized in Aldona, a daughter of Gediminas, grand duke of Lithuania. A Polish-Lithuanian alliance was signed in the fall of 1325 and was sealed with the engagement of Casimir to Aldona. She was to bring as her dowry not gold or silver but Polish prisoners held in Lithuanian captivity. The future bride was also required to be baptized. (She took the Christian name Anna.) The couple married on October 16 of that year.

Casimir's new wife loved games and dances and was accompanied by handmaidens, drummers, and flutists wherever she went. She enlivened a very restrained court but was not well liked by her contemporaries. In fact, the queen mother tried to prevent Aldona's being crowned alongside Casimir. Failing in the attempt, Jadwiga eventually entered her beloved convent of Saint Clare, where she spent the rest of her life. Yet clearly Aldona had pleased her husband very much, for at her death in 1339, he went into deep mourning and despair.

The coronation took place on the Feast of Saint Mark (April 23, 1333) and was a grand affair. Casimir was royally garbed by the nation's bishops in the palace on Wawel Hill. The nearby cathedral was the scene of his consecration and coronation, along with the installation of his wife as queen of Poland. Celebrations in the form of dances, tournaments, and general merriment continued unabated for days. At the same time, the young king was provided with an able adviser, his former tutor Spytko of Melsztyn, who served the last Piast well.

Life's Work

Casimir was a more versatile political talent than his father. The coronation set in motion a brilliant reign that prepared the way for the Jagiellons and initiated Poland's golden age. The twentieth century scholar Oskar Halecki suggests three major divisions of Casimir's reign. The first decade was devoted to resolving problems inherited from his father, which necessitated finding at least temporary solutions for the protection of Polish interests. Second, the significance of Casimir's eastward expansion, undertaken to compensate for territorial concessions in the West, was critical, for it set the state's direction for the next five centuries. The final phase of Casimir's reign dealt with economic, constitutional, social, and cultural considerations.

Throughout all of these was the issue of the succession, the importance of which increased as the king entered his later years and the possibility of an heir decreased.

Pressure from the Germans of Bohemia and Brandenburg and the Teutonic Knights (or Teutonic Order) was Poland's major problem in the fourteenth century. The order, then at the height of its power, sought outright annexation of Polish territory. John of Luxembourg put forth a claim to the Polish throne and continually referred to Casimir as “king of Kraków.” The remaining states supported the Bohemians and the Teutonic Knights in promoting German interests to Poland's detriment.

War had been Władysław's answer to German pressure, especially that of the Teutonic Order, but this had proved costly and of limited effect. Casimir, recognizing this, sought to normalize relations with the order. Extensions of an earlier truce gave the Poles a respite in 1334 and again in 1335.

Also in 1335, John of Luxembourg was induced to renounce his claims to Poland in exchange for 400,000 silver groats and Casimir's recognition of John's suzerainty over most of Silesia. John also agreed to act as arbitrator along with the Hungarian king in territorial disputes between Poland and the Teutonic Knights. The price was high, but improved relations with Bohemia were worth the cost.

Meanwhile, Poland and the Teutonic Order were trying to reach some understanding concerning the disputed territories. In 1320, an ecclesiastical court convened to hear the claims of the parties, but the ruling, though in Poland's favor, was not enforced. In 1339, Pope Benedict XII (1334-1342) appointed two French clerics along with his nuncio to review the issues once again. The court heard testimony in Warsaw from February 4 to September 15. The Teutonic Knights chose not to defend themselves against the charges but to object to the legality of the proceedings, as they had some twenty years earlier. Most of the time the order kept no representation at the hearings, while Polish representatives flooded the transcript with testimony.

More than one hundred witnesses, representing a cross section of Polish society (clergy, nobles, knights, burghers, and commons), presented testimony in response to the judges’ questions. Views were expressed on Poland's right to the disputed areas, on the nature of the kingdom's frontiers, and on the destructiveness of the order's repeated invasions. The judges noted whether the witness was literate, his or her age, and other circumstances that might have influenced the person's statements. A remarkable picture of Polish national feeling emerges from these documents. The judges again found in favor of the Crown. All territory was to be returned to Poland, and the Teutonic Knights were ordered to pay a huge indemnity to compensate for their destruction of property. They were also to pay the costs incurred by the Church for the hearing.

Despite the fact that the pope himself believed that the indemnity was too harsh (about twice the annual income of the Polish state) and even though no international enforcement was available, the decision helped move the order to an agreement with Casimir. Public opinion as a result of the 1321 and 1339 decisions could have restricted the flow of western funds and manpower to the Teutonic Knights, while Poland's interests would be best served by relief from western pressure and the cost of war. The Treaty of Kalisz in 1343 was the result. The order kept Chełmno, Michalów, and Pomorze (the bulk of the disputed area), while Casimir received Kujawia and Dobrzyń and a payment of ten thousand florins as an indemnity. The needed peace was finally achieved.

These concessions to German expansion in the west, especially the loss of Pomorze and Silesia, were met with much national resistance. The king was accused by both clergy and nobles of having gone too far; the latter underscored their point with raids into the order's possessions. It was against this background that Casimir began Poland's eastward movement.

Various reasons for this initiative have been offered over the centuries. Jan Długosz, the fifteenth century historian, suggested that wars with the Lithuanians and Ruthenians convinced the king to secure his western frontiers and then to expand the state to the southeast as compensation. In other words, Ruthenia drew him away from Pomorze. Others have since argued that Casimir sought to acquire Ruthenia in order to strengthen his kingdom, planning with the added power to retake these western concessions later.

The opportunity for this eastward move came when the king's cousin, the childless Bolesław, was poisoned to death by his boyars. Bolesław was a Piast prince who through family ties inherited Ruthenia and, in turn, designated Casimir as his heir. Some of this area had been historically Polish but was now peopled by Ruthenians and contested by Lithuanians and Tatars. Casimir sought to gain popular support in this region by respecting local customs and guaranteeing the rights of the Orthodox Church. A number of boyars resisted his overtures even favoring the Tatars over the Poles while Lubart of Lithuania sought the area for himself and occupied Volhynia. The only Polish ally in these eastern campaigns was King Louis the Great of Hungary and Poland (r. 1342-1382 and 1370-1382), Casimir's nephew and the son of the deceased Hungarian king, Charles I (Charles Robert of Anjou; r. 1308-1342). After years of seesaw contests with various opponents in the region, Casimir succeeded in controlling twenty-six thousand square miles of Ruthenian territory, thus irrevocably setting Poland's pattern of expansion eastward.

Internal issues occupied the king throughout his reign. One of the most important of these was his intent to create a uniform legal code for the entire country; he managed, however, only to produce separate statutes for Little Poland and Great Poland. In 1347, diets were called to develop a code for each region.

Traditional customary law served as the basis for these efforts but was significantly augmented from Bohemian, Hungarian, and Italian sources. (Naturally, Italy was the home of Roman law and medieval legal studies.) The Church also contributed the influence of canon law. The codification was inspired by a desire to protect all levels of Polish society. This code provided the basis for the evolution of Polish law.

Along with the code, Casimir promoted the studies of young Poles abroad. Yet difficulties in traveling the great distances to Italian schools, plus a desire to establish higher education in his country, prompted the king to request a Polish university charter from Pope Urban V (1362-1370). Conditions conducive to establishing such a center in Poland were now present. Political stability and economic prosperity had been achieved, many contacts with the West had been established, and the country had built a number of lesser schools, which provided the necessary intellectual climate. The Papacy saw this foundation as a base from which Catholicism might spread eastward in the wake of Polish expansion.

May 12, 1364, is the traditional date associated with the University of Kraków's foundation. The charter provided for the establishment of one chair in liberal arts, two in medicine, three in canon law, and five in Roman law. Clearly, the king's intent was the development of legal studies as paramount, probably to train civil servants for his growing administrative needs. Funds for maintaining the institution came from the royal salt monopoly at nearby Wieliczka. Control of the school was given to the crown chancellor, rather than to the local bishop as was customary in many foundations. The city of Kraków granted privileges to the university's staff and their families on the same day. Unfortunately, many matters regarding the school's early years are not known. Scholars do not know its first location and know little about its faculty, its student body, and, most frustrating of all, why it apparently collapsed and had to be resurrected by the first Jagiellon ruler of Poland in 1400.

On September 9, 1370, during a hunt for stags, Casimir's horse fell, and the king suffered abrasions to his left shin. Soon he was beset with a fever, which appeared intermittently for varying periods of time. By October 30, the king appeared to be in the terminal phase of his illness. He died, probably of pneumonia, about sunrise on November 5, 1370. So ended Poland's medieval dynasty.

Significance

Poland in this period was embarking on a three-century-long odyssey, a golden age. Scholarship, art, culture, and military and economic power were all components of this creative explosion that began with the reign of Casimir the Great.

One has only to travel the modern highways and byways of Casimir's medieval kingdom to appreciate the grand scale of his construction efforts. Impregnable castles and fortified towns protected the kingdom from the Teutonic Knights in Pomorze. This line then continued along the Polish-Silesian frontier, providing the same strength to Kraków. To the southeast, three other defensive systems aimed at preventing incursions from Ruthenia and helped to anchor Polish power there. To this day, it would be unusual to pass through a community of any size in this area that does not boast a church, monastery, or municipal edifice funded by the king.

Along with encouraging the economic growth and physical expansion of the towns, Casimir involved burghers and the lower gentry in national life. His promotion of members of these social classes to important administrative posts won for him their devotion. In a successful effort to weaken regionalism, he sent gentry administrators from Great Poland to Little Poland and vice versa, thus creating new ties within various provinces.

Casimir has often been referred to as “king of the peasants.” He defended them from abuses and famine, establishing state granaries for the latter purpose. He was rewarded with their devotion. Often, country folk and the poor would clog the roadway to Wawel Hill before dawn to bring the king simple gifts, tokens of their affection. He was also viewed as a protector of the Jews who fled to Poland, especially from Germany, in large numbers during his reign. Casimir twice reconfirmed the Charter of Privileges granted Jews by Bolesław the Chaste in 1264. The Eastern Orthodox in Ruthenia were also protected, and the king sought the establishment of the first metropolitan in their major city of Halicz.

Casimir's greatest failure lay in not providing for an heir to continue the Piast Dynasty. He had several daughters and three sons from various unions, but none of the latter had legal claim to paternity. As a result, the succession to the Polish throne passed to Louis of Hungary. The choice reflected the close relationship that existed between Poles and Hungarians in this period as well as the friendship and affection of Casimir for Charles I, Louis's father. Formal agreements between the two states assured the outcome. (The last agreement was signed at Buda in 1355.) On this basis, the crown of the Piasts passed to the Hungarian royal house when Casimir died.

Casimir is the only Polish monarch to have been granted the title “the Great” by his country folk. His calls for peace over war, diplomacy over confrontation, and stability over uncertainty justify the appellation. He was a soother of the national spirit and a builder of the national wealth. He husbanded the country's resources and nurtured the Polish intellect. Most important, he protected his people.

Poland’s Piast Dynasty, 962-1370

Reign

• Ruler

962-992

• Mieszko I

992-1025

• Bolesław I the Brave

1025-1034

• Mieszko II

1034-1037

• Instability

1037-1058

• Casimir I the Restorer

1037-1058

• Instability

1058-1079

• Bolesław II

1079-1102

• Wuadysław (Vladislav or Ladislas) I

1102-1106

• Zbigniev (rival to brother Bolesław III)

1102-1138

• Bolesław III

1138-1146

• Instability following Bolesław III’s division of Poland into five principalities

1146-1173

• Bolesław IV

1173-1177

• Mieszko III

1177-1194

• Casimir II

1194-1227

• Leszek I

1227-1279

• Bolesław V

1228-1288

• Instability: arrival of Teutonic Knights followed by Mongol incursions

1288-1290

• Henry Probus

1290-1296

• Przemyslav II (crowned 1295)

1297-1300

• Instability

1300-1305

• Wenceslaus (Vacław) I

1306-1333

• Władysław I (Vladislav IV, Lokietek)

1333-1370

• Casimir III the Great

1370

• End of the Piast Dynasty

Bibliography

Davies, Norman. The Origins to 1795. Vol. 1 in God’s Playground: A History of Poland. New York: Columbia University Press, 1982. Contains an excellent chapter dealing with the significance of Władysław I and Casimir in the context of Polish history through the eighteenth century.

Halecki, Oskar. A History of Poland. New York: Roy, 1943. This historical survey of Poland includes a comprehensive chapter on Casimir’s statecraft.

Jasienica, Pawel. Piast Poland. Translated by Alexander Jordan. New York: Hippocrene Books, 1985. A history of Poland under the Piasts, covering the dynasty from its beginnings through Casimir’s reign.

Knoll, Paul W. “Casimir the Great and the University of Cracow.” Jahr-bücher für Geschichte Osteuropas, n.s. 16 (June, 1968): 232-249. Discusses the foundation of the University of Kraków and Casimir’s involvement.

Knoll, Paul W. The Rise of the Polish Monarchy: Piast Poland in East Central Europe, 1320-1370. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972. A detailed study of the development of Poland from reunification to major power under the last Piasts.

Lukowski, Jerzy, and Hubert Zawadski. A Concise History of Poland. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001. A general introduction to Polish history. The chapter on the Piast Dynasty places Casimir in the context of his forebears and followers.

Reddaway, W. F., et al., eds. The Cambridge History of Poland. Vol. 1, From the Origins to Sobieski (to 1696). New York: Octagon Books, 1971. Contains a chapter which deals with Casimir’s wide-ranging achievements.

Vetulani, Adam. “The Jews in Medieval Poland.” Jewish Journal of Sociology 4 (1962): 274-294. A discussion of the Jewish medieval experience in Poland, including the period of Casimir’s reign. Written by one of Poland’s premier legal historians.