View source for Place:Kingdom of Poland (1300–1320)

{{Short description|1300–1320 confederal kingdom in Central Europe}}
{{Infobox former country
|conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Poland
|native_name            = ''Królestwo Polskie'' <small>([[Social:Polish language|Polish]])</small><br>''Regnum Poloniae'' <small>([[Social:Latin|Latin]])</small>
|common_name            = Poland
|era                    = High Middle Ages
|life_span              = 1300–1320
|demonym                = Polish
|today                  =
|p1                     = Duchy of Kraków
|flag_p1                = Alex K Kingdom of Poland3.svg
|border_p1              = no
|p2                     = Duchy of Masovia
|flag_p2                = Chorągiew księcia mazowieckiego Siemowita.svg
|border_p2              = no

|p3                     = Duchy of Inowrocław
|flag_p3                = POL województwo brzeskokujawskie IRP COA.svg
|border_p3              = no

|p4                     = Duchy of Brześć Kujawski
|flag_p4                = POL województwo brzeskokujawskie IRP COA.svg
|border_p4              = no

|p5                     = Duchy of Łęczyca
|flag_p5                = POL województwo łęczyckie IRP COA.svg
|border_p5       = no

|p6                     = Duchy of Sieradz
|flag_p6               = POL województwo sieradzkie IRP COA.svg
|border_p6              = no

|p7                     = Duchy of Dobrzyń
|flag_p7               = POL powiat lipnowski COA.svg
|border_p7              = no

|p8                     = Duchy of Sandomierz
|flag_p8                = Herbarz Kaspra Niesieckiego Сандомирское.svg
|border_p8              = no

|p9                     = Duchy of Pomerelia
|flag_p9                = POL województwo pomorskie COA.svg
|border_p9              = no

|p10                     = Duchy of Greater Poland

|s1                     = United Kingdom of Poland
|flag_s1                = Kingdom of Poland-flag.svg
|border_s1              = no
|year_start             = 1300
|date_start             = 25 July
|event_start            = Coronation of Wenceslaus II of Bohemia
|event1                 = Beginning of the [[Philosophy:Interregnum|interregnum]] period
|date_event1            = 4 August 1306
|event2                 = 
|date_event2            = 
|date_event3            = 
|event3                 = 
|year_end               = 1320
|date_end               = 20 January
|event_end              = Unification of Polish duchies
|image_map              = 
|image_map_caption      = 
|government_type        = Hereditary monarchy
|status                 = 
|official_languages     = [[Social:Polish language|Polish]]<br>[[Social:Latin|Latin]]
|religion               = Roman Catholicism (institutional)<br>[[Religion:Judaism|Judaism]]<br>Slavic paganism
|capital                = Kraków
|leader1                = Wenceslaus II of Bohemia
|year_leader1           = 1300–1305 (first)
|leader2                = Wenceslaus III of Bohemia
|year_leader2           = 1305–1306 (last)
|title_leader           = King
|currency               = Denar
|image_flag             = 
|flag_border            = 
|flag_type              = 
|image_coat             = Alex K Kingdom of Poland3.svg
|symbol                 = Coat of arms of Poland
|stat_year1             = 
|stat_area1             = 
|stat_pop1              = }}
The '''Kingdom of Poland'''{{efn|[[Social:Polish language|Polish]]: ''Królestwo Polskie''; [[Social:Latin|Latin]]: ''Regnum Poloniae''}} was a [[Social:Confederation|confederal]] [[Social:Monarchy|kingdom]] in [[Place:Central Europe|Central Europe]], that consisted of various states under the rule of the king. Its capital was Kraków. It was formed on 25 July 1300, following the coronation of king Wenceslaus II of Bohemia. After the death of king Wenceslaus III in 1306, the state remained in the period of [[Philosophy:Interregnum|interregnum]], until 20 January 1320, when Władysław I Łokietek was crowned, uniting the confederated duchies into the [[Place:United Kingdom of Poland|United Kingdom of Poland]].

Upon its formation in 1300, it consisted of the following district principalities: [[Place:Duchy of Kraków|Kraków]], [[Place:Duchy of Greater Poland|Greater Poland]], [[Place:Duchy of Sandomierz|Sandomierz]], Masovia, Pomerelia, [[Place:Duchy of Łęczyca|Łęczyca]], Sieradz, [[Place:Duchy of Brześć Kujawski|Brześć Kujawski]], Inowrocław and Dobrzyń. Additionally, during its existence, following duchies were formed under its rule: [[Place:Duchy of Bydgoszcz and Wyszogród|Bydgoszcz and Wyszogród]], [[Place:Duchy of Gniewkowo|Gniewkowo]], Warsaw, [[Place:Duchy of Rawa|Rawa]], [[Place:Duchy of Czersk|Czersk]] and [[Place:Duchy of Płock|Płock]].

== History ==
A unification of Polish lands was accomplished by a foreign ruler, Václav II of Bohemia of the Přemyslid dynasty, who married Przemysł's daughter Richeza and became King of Poland in 1300. Václav's heavy-handed policies soon caused him to lose whatever support he had earlier in his reign; he died in 1305.<ref name="Wyrozumski 129–141, 154–155">Jerzy Wyrozumski, ''Historia Polski do roku 1505'', pp. 129–141, 154–155</ref>

An important factor in the unification process was the Polish Church, which remained a single ecclesiastical province throughout the fragmentation period. Archbishop Jakub Świnka of Gniezno was an ardent proponent of Poland's reunification; he performed the crowning ceremonies for both Przemysł II and Wenceslaus II. Świnka supported Władysław I Łokietek at various stages of the duke's career.<ref name="Wyrozumski 129–141, 154–155"/>

Władysław I the Elbow-high and his son Casimir III, "the Great", were the last two rulers of the Piast dynasty of the unified kingdom of Poland of the 14th century. Their rule was not a return to the Polish state as it existed before the period of fragmentation, because of the loss of internal cohesion and territorial integrity. The regional Piast princes remained strong, and for economic and cultural reasons, some of them gravitated toward Poland's neighbors. The kingdom lost Pomerania and Silesia, the most highly developed and economically important regions of the original ethnically Polish lands, which left half of the Polish population outside the kingdom's borders. The western losses had to do with the failure of the unification efforts undertaken by the Silesian Piast dukes and the German expansion processes. These included the Piast principalities developing (or falling into) dependencies in respect to the German political structures, settler colonization and gradual [[Social:Germanisation|Germanization]] of the Polish ruling circles. The lower Vistula was controlled by the Teutonic Order. Masovia was not to be fully incorporated into the Polish state in the near future. Casimir stabilized the western and northern borders, tried to regain some of the lost territories, and partially compensated the losses by new eastern expansion that placed within his kingdom regions that were East Slavic, thus ethnically non-Polish.<ref name="Wyrozumski 155–160">Jerzy Lukowski and Hubert Zawadzki, ''A Concise History of Poland'', pp. 15–34</ref><ref name="Wyrozumski 145–154">Jerzy Wyrozumski, ''Historia Polski do roku 1505'', pp. 145–154</ref>

Despite the territorial truncation, 14th-century Poland experienced a period of accelerated economic development and increasing prosperity. This included further expansion and modernization of agricultural settlements, the development of towns and their greater role in briskly growing trade, mining and metallurgy. A great monetary reform was implemented during the reign of Casimir III.<ref name="Wyrozumski 155–160"/><ref name="Wyrozumski 145–154"/>

Jewish settlement was taking place in Poland since very early times. In 1264, Duke Bolesław the Pious of Greater Poland granted the privileges of the Statute of Kalisz, which specified a broad range of freedoms of religious practices, movement, and trading for the Jews. It also created a legal precedent for the official protection of Jews from local harassment and exclusion. The act exempted the Jews from enslavement or serfdom and was the foundation of future Jewish prosperity in the Polish kingdom; it was later followed by many other comparable legal pronouncements.<ref>Davies, Norman (2005). ''God's Playground: A History of Poland'', Volume I. New York: Columbia University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-231-12817-9}}, p. 66</ref> Following a series of expulsions of Jews from Western Europe, Jewish communities were established in Kraków, Kalisz and elsewhere in western and southern Poland in the 13th century. Another series of communities were established at Lviv, Brest-Litovsk and Grodno further east in the 14th century.<ref name="Overy 116–117">Richard Overy (2010), ''The Times Complete History of the World'', Eights Edition, pp. 116–117. London: Times Books. {{ISBN|978-0-00-788089-8}}.</ref> King Casimir received Jewish refugees from Germany in 1349,<ref>Norman Davies, ''Europe: A History'', p. 429</ref> which assisted the acceleration of a Jewish expansion in Poland that was to continue until [[Social:World War II|World War II]]. German urban and rural settlements were another long-lasting ethnic feature.

Władysław I the Elbow-high, who began as an obscure Piast duke from Kuyavia, fought a lengthy and difficult struggle with powerful adversaries with persistence and determination. When he died as the king of a partially reunited Poland, he left the kingdom in a precarious situation. Although the area under King Władysław's control was limited and many unresolved issues remained, he may have saved Poland's existence as a state.<ref name="Wyrozumski 155–160"/>

Supported by his ally Charles I of Hungary, Władysław returned from exile and challenged Václav II and his successor Václav III in the period 1304–1306. Václav III's murder in 1306 terminated the Bohemian Přemyslid dynasty and its involvement in Poland. Afterwards, Władysław completed the takeover of [[Place:Lesser Poland|Lesser Poland]], entering Kraków, and took the lands north of there, through Kuyavia all the way to Gdańsk Pomerania. In 1308, Pomerania was conquered by the Brandenburg state. In a recovery effort, Władysław agreed to ask for help from the Teutonic Knights; the Knights brutally took over Gdańsk Pomerania and kept it for themselves.<ref name="Wyrozumski 155–160"/>

In 1311–1312, a rebellion in Kraków instigated by the city's patrician leadership seeking rule by the House of Luxembourg was put down. This event may have had a limiting impact on the emerging political power of towns.<ref>Jerzy Lukowski and Hubert Zawadzki, ''A Concise History of Poland'', pp. 23–24</ref>

In 1313–1314, Władysław conquered Greater Poland. In 1320, he became the first king of Poland crowned in Kraków's Wawel Cathedral instead of Gniezno. The coronation was hesitantly agreed to by Pope John XXII in spite of the opposition of King John of Bohemia, who had also claimed the Polish crown.<ref name="Wyrozumski 155–160"/><ref>Jerzy Wyrozumski, Historia Polski do roku 1505 (History of Poland until 1505), pp. 155–160</ref>

== Notes ==
{{notes}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poland, Kingdom of, 1300-1320}}
[[Category:Former countries in Europe]]
[[Category:Former kingdoms]]
[[Category:Former confederations]]

{{Sourceattribution|Kingdom of Poland (1300–1320)|1}}