Mon arbre généalogique

BOLES?AW of Poland, son of MIESZKO I Prince of Poland & his [second] wife Dobrava [Dobroslawa] of Bohemia ([967]-17 Jun 1025). The Chronicæ Polanorum names "Boleslavum" as son of "Meschonem [et] Dubrovcam"[75]. The Annales Polanorum date the birth of "Boleslaus Chabri" in 967[76]. His father left him as a hostage at the German court after the Quedlinburg mediation of 973 following Prince Mieszko's defeat of Hodo Markgraf der Ostmark[77]. He succeeded his father in 992 as BOLES?AW I "Chrobry/the Brave" Prince of Poland. On his accession, he expelled his stepmother and half-brothers from Poland[78]. He offered safe passage through Poland for St Adalbert, expelled as Bishop of Prague, who entered Prussia to convert the pagans. After Adalbert's martyrdom in Apr 997, Boles?aw ransomed his body for its weight in gold and buried it in Gniezno cathedral[79]. In 1000, Emperor Otto III visited Gniezno, recognised Polish independence, and established the archbishopric of Gniezno as an independent church metropolis covering the whole of Poland, on the authority of a special bull issued by Pope Sylvester II[80]. After the election in 1002 of Heinrich II as King of Germany, a group of German nobles tried to assassinate Prince Boles?aw[81], triggering the Polish-German war which lasted until 1016. During the course of this, Boles?aw occupied Meissen, was invited into Prague by the population, deposed Boleslav III Duke of Bohemia, and installed his brother as duke in his place. After his brother died, Boles?aw assumed the position of duke of Bohemia himself until 1004 when he was driven out of Bohemia by Heinrich II King of Germany[82]. He captured Lausitz in 1007, confirmed in peace meetings at Merseburg in 1013 and Bautzen in 1018[83]. After the Polish-Russian war of 1013, peace was confirmed by the marriage of Duke Boles?aw's daughter to the Grand Prince of Kiev, and in [1017] Prince Boles?aw asked for the hand in marriage of the daughter of Grand Prince Vladimir, wishing to strengthen the bond between Poland and Russia, but this was refused[84]. He helped restore his son-in-law in Kiev in Jul/Aug 1018, forcing the temporary retreat of Iaroslav Vladimirovich to Novgorod[85]. After the death in 1024 of Emperor Heinrich II, with whom Prince Boles?aw had always had poor relations, Pope John XIX agreed to grant Boles?aw a royal crown and he was crowned King of Poland in 1024. The necrology of Lüneburg records the death "17 Jun" of "Bolizlauus dux"[86]. The Breve chronicon Silesiæ records the death in 1025 of "Bolezlaus magnus"[87].

m firstly (divorced [985/86]) --- [von Meissen], daughter of RICDAG Markgraf [von Meissen] & his wife ---. Thietmar records that Boleslaw married "the daughter of Markgraf Rikdag but later sent her away"[88].

m secondly (end 985, divorced [986/87]) [--- of Hungary, daughter of GÉZA Prince of Hungary & his first wife Sarolt of Transylvania]. Thietmar records that Boleslaw married "a Hungarian woman" after repudiating his first wife but "also sent her away"[89]. The primary source which confirms her parentage has not so far been identified, but it is chronologically plausible for her to have been the daughter of Prince Géza. This marriage probably ended because of the deterioration in political relations between Poland and Hungary[90].

[m thirdly ([987/92]) HODICA, daughter of BILLUG Prince of the Obotrites & his wife ---. Helmold names "Hodicam" as the daughter of "regulus Obotritorum…Billug" and his wife, recording that her maternal uncle installed her as abbess of Mecklenburg[91]. Helmold records in a later passage that "Missizlaus, Obotritorum princeps…sororem suam…Hodicam" was removed from her monastery to marry Boles?aw of Poland, while many other nuns were sent "in terram Wilzorum sive Ranorum" and the monastery dissolved[92]. This is the only source so far identified which refers to this marriage of Prince Boles?aw.]

m [thirdly/fourthly] (987) EMNILDA, daughter of DOBROMIR [ruler of Lausitz and the lands of the Milseni][93] (-1017). Thietmar names "Emnilde a daughter of the venerable lord Dobromir" as third wife of Boleslaw[94]. The Chronica principum Polonie records that "Boleslaus" married "felix mulier et prudens" (unnamed), by whom he fathered "filium Meziconem secundum" in 990, in 984[95].

m [fourthly/fifthly] (Burg Cziczani 3 Feb 1018) ODA von Meissen, daughter of EKKEHARD I Markgraf von Meissen & his wife Schwanehild [Billung] (-1025). Thietmar records the marriage of "Oda, Markgraf Ekkehard's daughter" and Boleslav in Zützen in 1018 "after septuagesima" (2 Feb)[96]. The chronicler adds the comment "until now she has lived outside the law of matrimony and thus in a manner worthy only of a marriage such as this one", which suggests a reputation for moral dissolution.