Elisabeth Richeza of Poland
Encyclopedia
Elisabeth Richenza of Poland (1 September 1286 – 18 October 1335) was a daughter and the only surviving child of Przemysl II of Poland (originally prince of Greater Poland and Poznan) and his second wife Richenza of Sweden
Rikissa Valdemarsdotter of Sweden
Richeza of Sweden , was a Polish Queen Consort, spouse of King Przemysł II of Poland. In Poland, she was called Ryksa Waldemarówna or Ryksa Szwedzka.- Biography :...

, herself a daughter of Valdemar I of Sweden
Valdemar I of Sweden
Valdemar, English also Waldemar; , was King of Sweden 1250–1275.-Biography:Valdemar was the son of princess Ingeborg Eriksdotter of Sweden and Birger jarl, from the House of Bjelbo. During the first sixteen years of his reign, it was Birger Jarl who was the real ruler...

 and Sofia of Denmark
Sofia of Denmark
Sophia of Denmark was Queen consort of Sweden as the spouse of King Valdemar of Sweden.-Life:Sophia was the eldest daughter of Eric IV of Denmark and Jutta of Saxony. Her father was murdered in 1250 when she and her younger sisters, Agnes and Jutta of Denmark were young...

.

Her name at birth was Richeza; she adopted the name Elisabeth after her first marriage. She became queen consort of Bohemia as the second wife of Wenceslaus II and remained such as wife of Rudolph of Habsburg
Rudolph I of Bohemia
Rudolf I of Habsburg was Duke of Austria and Styria from 1298 and King of Bohemia and titular King of Poland from 1306 until his death...

 who succeeded Wenceslaus as King of Bohemia.

Life

Her father, crowned as a King of Poland, was murdered on 10 February 1296 when she was a young child, and left no other heirs. Young Richeza, as the heiress / claimant of Poland, became an important participant in the dispute of Polish throne. As a child she was engaged to the young Otto, son of the Margrave of Brandenburg and relative of her stepmother Margaret of Brandenburg
Margaret of Brandenburg
Margaret of Brandenburg-Salzwedel was a Polish queen consort as the spouse of king Przemysł II of Poland and later a Saxon duchess consort as spouse of Albert III of Saxe-Ratzeburg...

. However, the boy died soon after. In her early years she was cared for by Agrippina of Slavonia
Agrippina of Slavonia
Agrippina of Slavonia also known as Gryfina was Princess Krakow by her marriage to Leszek the Black in 1265.-Biography:...

.

First marriage

In 1300 Elisabethb Richeza was married to a widower, King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia (1271–1305, reigned in Bohemia from 1278 and in parts of Poland from 1304), who wanted to use her succession rights in order to gain Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

. His first wife Judith of Habsburg
Judith of Habsburg
Judith of Habsburg was the youngest daughter of Rudolph I of Germany and his wife Gertrude of Hohenburg. Judith was a member of the Habsburg family.-Biography:When Judith was five, she became the object of her father's political plans...

, had already given him a son and three daughters. He had already subjugated Kraków in 1291, during the lifetime of Elisabeth's father. Because of her young age, the marriage was not celebrated until 26 May 1303, when she arrived in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

 and was crowned the Queen of Bohemia and Poland, adopting the name Elisabeth at the same time (as Richeza was unused and seen as strange in Bohemia). Her husband Wenceslaus II died in Prague 21 June 1305 of tuberculosis. She acted as regent from August until October. Her stepson Wenceslaus III
Wenceslaus III of Bohemia
Wenceslaus III Premyslid was the King of Hungary , King of Bohemia and the king of Poland ....

 (also a claimant to the throne of Hungary) succeeded the throne but was murdered in 1306 in Olomouc
Olomouc
Olomouc is a city in Moravia, in the east of the Czech Republic. The city is located on the Morava river and is the ecclesiastical metropolis and historical capital city of Moravia. Nowadays, it is an administrative centre of the Olomouc Region and sixth largest city in the Czech Republic...

. The Kujavian branch of the Piast dynasty
Piast dynasty
The Piast dynasty was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. It began with the semi-legendary Piast Kołodziej . The first historical ruler was Duke Mieszko I . The Piasts' royal rule in Poland ended in 1370 with the death of king Casimir the Great...

 acquired Polish throne.

Elisabeth Richeza had only one child, a daughter Agnes of Bohemia
Agnes of Bohemia (1305–1337)
Agnes of Bohemia was the only child of King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia by his second wife, Elisabeth Richeza of Poland. She was a member of the Přemyslid dynasty.- Family :...

 (15 June 1305 - c 1337), who was born just a few days before her husband's death. Agnes married a Silesian prince, Duke Henry I of Jawor
Henry I of Jawor
Henry I of Jawor , was a Duke of Jawor-Lwówek-Świdnica-Ziębice during 1301-1312 , sole Duke of Jawor-Lwówek since 1312 and Duke of Głogów since 1337 until his death....

, but remained childless. Agnes did have a pregnancy, but it was terminated in the first trimester, when she rode her horse over hill and dale causing the early termination, and kept her bed ridden for many months.

Second marriage

Elisabeth was subsequently married 16 October 1306 to Rudolf I of Habsburg
Rudolph I of Bohemia
Rudolf I of Habsburg was Duke of Austria and Styria from 1298 and King of Bohemia and titular King of Poland from 1306 until his death...

, son of Albert of Habsburg
Albert I of Germany
Albert I of Habsburg was King of the Romans and Duke of Austria, the eldest son of German King Rudolph I of Habsburg and his first wife Gertrude of Hohenburg.-Life:...

 (King of Germany and Rome
King of the Romans
King of the Romans was the title used by the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire following his election to the office by the princes of the Kingdom of Germany...

) who wanted to become king after her stepson. He was chosen Bohemia's king and Elisabeth remained queen. Yet only for a short time - Rudolph died 4 July 1307 of dysentery after becoming ill during the siege of the fortress of a nobleman in revolt. In his will Albert acknowledged Elisabeth dowry towns and entailed her a huge amount of money.

Widowhood

Queen Elisabeth's widowhood in Bohemia took place in quarreled times, as emperors attempted to gain Bohemia, and the husbands of Elisabeth's stepdaughters were elevated to kingship, but their tenure was uncertain until John of Luxemburg
John I of Bohemia
John the Blind was the Count of Luxembourg from 1309 and King of Bohemia from 1310 and titular King of Poland. He was the eldest son of the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII and his wife Margaret of Brabant...

, husband of Elisabeth's youngest stepdaughter (also named Elisabeth), succeeded in establishing his position.

After her second husband's death Elisabeth left Prague and settled in Hradec Králové
Hradec Králové
Hradec Králové is a city of the Czech Republic, in the Hradec Králové Region of Bohemia. The city's economy is based on food-processing technology, photochemical, and electronics manufacture. Traditional industries include musical instrument manufacturing – the best known being PETROF pianos...

, one of her dowry towns, which became the center of her domain. She remained unmarried but lived with her lover, the powerful nobleman Jindřich of Lipá (Henry of Lipá), who was the Moravian Hetman and Governor of Bohemian kingdom in the absence of king John of Luxemburg. They moved to Brno
Brno
Brno by population and area is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the administrative centre of the South Moravian Region where it forms a separate district Brno-City District...

 and spent there ten happy years (1318–1329) until his death. Some sources believe the couple may have married in 1319. After Henry's death, Elisabeth turned her attention to culture and religion, built churches and Cistercian convents (from 1323), and financed the making of illustrated hymn books. She died in Brno and was buried under the floor of her cloister church at the side of her beloved Henry.

Ancestors

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