Władysław I Łokietek, in English known as the "Elbow-high" or Ladislaus the Short (c. 1260/1261 – 2 March 1333), was King of Poland from 1320 to 1333, and duke of several of the provinces and principalities in the preceding years. He was a member of the royal Piast dynasty, the son of Duke Casimir I of Kuyavia, and great-grandson of High-Duke Casimir II the Just.
Władysław I inherited a small portion of his father's domain, but his dominion grew as some of his brothers died young. He unsuccessfully tried to incorporate the Duchy of Kraków (the Seniorate Province) in 1289, following the death of his half-brother Leszek II the Black and the withdrawal from contention of his ally Bolesław II of Masovia. After a period in exile during the rule of Wenceslaus II, Władysław regained several duchies and then Kraków in 1306 when Wenceslaus III of Bohemia was murdered. He temporarily took control of part of Greater Poland after the death of his ally Przemysł II, lost it, and then regained it.
Władysław was a skilled military leader, but also an administrator; he conquered Gdańsk Pomerania, and left it to familial governors. For the defense of this territory, he turned to the Teutonic Knights, who then demanded an exorbitant sum, or the land itself as an alternative. This led to an extended conflict with the Knights.
Perhaps his greatest achievement was gaining papal permission to be crowned king of Poland in 1320, which occurred for the first time at Wawel Cathedral in Kraków. Władysław died in 1333 and was succeeded by his son, Casimir III the Great.
In 1138, the Kingdom of Poland, which had been growing in strength under the rule of the Piast dynasty, encountered an obstacle that impeded its development for nearly two hundred years. In the will of Prince Bolesław III Wrymouth (Bolesław III Krzywousty), Poland was divided into five provinces: Silesia, Mazovia with eastern Kuyavia, Greater Poland, the Sandomierz Region, and the Seniorate Province. The Seniorate Province initially comprised Kraków and western Lesser Poland, eastern Greater Poland including Gniezno and Kalisz, western Kuyavia, Łęczyca and Sieradz (maintained by the Dowager Duchess Salomea of Berg for her lifetime), and with Pomerelia as a fiefdom. To prevent his four sons from quarreling, Bolesław granted one province to each of them, while the Seniorate Province was to be given to the eldest brother on the grounds of primogeniture. This decision was meant to forestall dynastic feuds and prevent the disintegration of the kingdom. However, it proved inadequate, and began nearly two centuries of what it had sought to counteract: constant fighting and disorder. Władysław I succeeded in re-uniting most of these lands back into the kingdom of Poland.
Władysław I Łokietek was the oldest son of Casimir I of Kuyavia (Kazimierz I Kujawski) and his third wife Euphrosyne of Opole. He was only third in seniority to be Duke of Kuyavia, however, as he had two older half-brothers from Casimir's second marriage to Constance of Wrocław: Leszek II the Black (Leszek Czarny) and Ziemomysł of Kuyavia. He was named after his uncle, his mother's brother Vladislaus I of Opole.
In contemporary historical sources he was nicknamed Łokietek, a diminutive of the word łokieć which means "elbow" or "ell" (a medieval unit of measure similar to a cubit, as in "elbow-high"). However, the origin and the intended meaning of the nickname are not certain. The earliest explanation appeared in a 15th-century chronicle by Jan Długosz, who speculated that the nickname referred to the short stature of the king. In 2019, a team of archeologists endoscopically reached the interior of the king's tomb and found that the body was laid at the bottom of the burial chamber without a coffin. Subsequently, they were able to determine that Władysław I was 152-155 cm (5'0″-5'1″) tall, which meant that the king's height was just below that of an average person living in Europe during the Middle Ages. In the past, some historians hypothesised that the nickname Łokietek had nothing to do with the physical appearance of prince Władysław, but contemptuously described the actual size and political importance of his hereditary domain among the other principalities ruled by the members of the House of Piast, at least as compared to Łokietek's exaggerated ambitions. If this hypothesis is correct, Władysław Łokietek should be rather translated into English as Władysław the Petty. Historian Andrzej Nowak has speculated that Jan Długosz, who was born almost a century after Łokietek's death, may have misunderstood the political context and consequently misinterpreted the nickname
In 1267, when Władysław I Łokietek was seven years old, his father Casimir died. At this time, Leszek II the Black inherited Łęczyca (he had already been given Sieradz six years earlier), Ziemomysł gained Inowrocław, and Brześć Kujawski and Dobrzyń were held in regency by Euphrosyne on behalf of Władysław and his younger brothers Casimir II and Siemowit. After the death of his father, Władysław was sent to Kraków to the court of his relative, Bolesław V the Chaste (1st cousin once removed). In 1273, Władysław participated in the arbitration by Bolesław the Pious, duke of Greater Poland, to reconcile him and his mother Euphrosyne with the Teutonic Knights. Władysław took responsibility for governing these territories in 1275, but they were actually held in a "niedzial" (collective property of the family community) with his two younger brothers.
In October 1277, lands destined for his younger brother Casimir II were invaded by Lithuanians, who, after the abduction of prisoners and seizure of loot, freely returned home. This was a result of being the proteges of Bolesław V the Chaste, who at this time was in the opposite political camp (proczeskim) from Konrad II, Duke of Masovia, through whose land the Lithuanian invasion passed. Two years later, in 1279, Władysław I Łokietek was considered to be one of the contenders to succeed in Lesser Poland after the death of Bolesław V the Chaste, according to the Hypatian Codex. However, the nobility abided by Boleslaw's will, which had designated Władysław's elder half-brother Leszek II the Black as his heir.
After Leszek II the Black's acquisition of power in Kraków and Sandomierz in 1279, Władysław, along with his younger brothers, recognized Leszek's sovereignty. This resulted in, among other things, the adoption of a coat of arms by all of the sons of Casimir I Kujawski: half-lion, half-eagle, and afterwards Władysław always served as an ally to his older half-brother. In 1280, Władysław militarily helped Leszek's ally, the Masovian Prince Bolesław II, in a battle with Bolesław's brother, Konrad II, and during the expedition won the castle of Jazdów. It is also possible that at a meeting between Leszek II the Black and Przemysł II, Duke of Greater Poland, in Sieradz in February 1284, the marriage of Władysław to Jadwiga, a cousin of Przemysł, was discussed. The following year, in August, Władysław was present, along with Przemysl II and Ziemomysł of Kuyavia, when finalising the reform of the Sulejów monastery, i.e., taking in the monks from the Wąchock monastic buildings. After this event, Władysław again appeared in Masovia, where he supported Bolesław II in combat with Konrad II, probably on behalf of Leszek II the Black. In retaliation for this action, Konrad II once again let the Lithuanian army pass through his land, which in 1287 besieged Dobrzyń.
Death of Leszek II the Black and the struggle for control of Kraków (1288–1289)
On 30 September 1288, Leszek II the Black, Duke of Kraków and Sieradz, died without issue, thus transferring power in the principality of Sieradz to his eldest half-brother, Władysław I Łokietek (his full brother Ziemomysł had already died in 1287). While Władysław now ruled over Brześć Kujawski and Sieradz, Casimir II inherited the duchy of Łęczyca, and Siemowit assumed control of the land of Dobrzyń.
The death of Leszek initiated a struggle for supremacy in the duchies of Kraków and Sandomierz; the main candidates were Bolesław II of Masovia, and Henry Probus, Duke of Wrocław. In this contest, Władysław decided to support the former. Henry Probus, using the support of the powerful German patricians, mastered the capital city at the end of 1288. Bolesław II did not give up, however, and aided by support from Władysław, Władysław's brother Casimir II of Łęczyca, and perhaps troops from Przemysł II, he attacked branches of the Probus coalition — Henry III of Głogów, Bolko I of Opole, and Przemko of Ścinawa — who were returning to Silesia. On 26 February 1289, a bloody battle occurred on the fields near Siewierz (Przemko of Ścinawa died there), resulting in a great victory for the branches of Mazovia-Kuyavia.