Casimir I the Restorer of Poland 1 2
- Born: 25 Jul 1016, Poland
- Marriage: Dobroniega-Maria of Kiev in 1043
- Died: 28 Nov 1058, Poland aged 42
Other names for Casimir were Casimir the Monk, Casimir the Restorer, KAZIMIERZ MNICH and KAZIMIERZ ODNOWICIEL.
General Notes:
Duke of Poland who reannexed the formerly Polish provinces of Silesia, Mazovia, and Pomerania (all now in Poland), which had been lost during his father's reign, and restored the Polish central government.
Only surviving son of Duke Mieszko II and Richeza (Ryksa) of Palatine Lorraine, Casimir I, who had taken monastic orders, received papal dispensation and ascended the throne after his father's death (1034). In 1037 he was deposed; maneuvers of the magnates against his supremacy coincided with a popular revolt against the landowners and with an anti-Christian uprising by pagan tribes. Exiled to Germany, he won military aid from the German kings Conrad II and Henry III and by 1040 had regained his throne. He married the Russian princess Dobronega and, supported by her brother (father according to B.Tompsett), the grand prince Yaroslav the Great of Kiev, regained the provinces of Mazovia and Pomerania in 1047. He took Silesia (1050) from the Bohemians, though he had to pay annual tribute to the Bohemian princes as compensation.
Casimir reestablished the Polish central government, revived the Roman Catholic church, and suppressed the pagan tribes that had helped to depose him. As ruler of Poland, however, he was never crowned king, and German suzerainty over Poland was, in fact, reestablished during his reign.
Noted events in his life were:
• Acceded: Duke of Poland, 1034.
Casimir married Dobroniega-Maria of Kiev, daughter of Vladimir I Svyatoslavich the Holy of Kiev and Anna Porphyrogenita, in 1043. (Dobroniega-Maria of Kiev was born between 1011 and 1015 and died in 1087.)
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