Duchy of Głogów

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (January 2008)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

The Duchy of Głogów or Duchy of Glogau (German: Herzogtum Glogau, Polish: Księstwo Głogowskie) was one of the Piast duchies of Silesia.

1177 - 1180-90: Creation of the Duchy of Głogów (dark green) for Konrad Laskonogi

In 1177, under the rule of Konrad Laskonogi (Spindleshanks), the youngest son of High Duke Wladislaus II the Exile of Poland, the town of Głogów became a capital of a duchy, that when he died between 1180 and 1190 again was inherited by his older brother Bolesław I the Tall, Duke of Wrocław. After the death of Bolesław's grandson Duke Henry II the Pious at the Battle of Legnica in 1241 his sons divided the Duchy of Wrocław among themselves. Konrad I, a child when his father died, claimed his rights too and in 1251 received Głogów from his brother Bolesław II the Bald, Duke of Legnica.

Under the rule of Konrad's son Henry III the principality became smaller, as fragmentation and division continued, and other, smaller duchies were split from it like Ścinawa and Żagań in 1273 as well as the duchies of Oleśnica and Wołów in 1312. After the death of Przemko II in 1331 the duchy became a fiefdom of King John of Bohemia and the Holy Roman Empire. In 1368 the Bohemian King and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV incorporated one half of Głogów, granting the other half to Duke Henry V Iron (Żelazny) of Żagań.

In 1476, the Głogów line of the Piast dynasty became extinct with the death of Henry XI and fights over his succession broke out between Jan II of Żagań, Elector Albert Achilles of Brandenburg and King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary. In consequence the duchy's northern part of Krosno Odrzańskie was incorporated by the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1482, while in 1488 Matthias conquered Głogów and made his son János Corvinus the Duke.

King Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary granted the fief of Głogów to his brothers John Albert in 1491 and Sigmund the Old in 1499, both future kings of Poland. After Vladislaus' son Louis II Jagiellon died in 1526, the Lands of the Bohemian Crown with Głogów were inherited by Emperor Ferdinand I of Habsburg.

Głogów remained part of the Crown of Bohemia as province in Silesia until the end of the First Silesian War in 1742 when it, like the majority of Silesia became part of Frederick the Great's Kingdom of Prussia. The territories of the duchy became part of Poland after World War II.

[edit] Dukes of Głogów

1177 - 1180-90: Konrad Spindleshanks
- Part of the Duchy of Wrocław until 1241
1251 (1241?)-1274: Konrad I
1274-1309: Henry III
1309-1331: Przemko II
- Duchy was under the Crown of Bohemia
1342-1369: Henry V Iron of Głogów and Żagań
- 1368: Divided to Duchy of Żagań and Bohemia
1369-1393: Henry VI the Older
1369-1395: Henry VII Rumpold
1369-1378, 1395-1397: Henry VIII Sparrow
1397-1401: Ruprecht I of Legnica
1401-1412/13: Jan I of Żagań
1401-1467: Henry IX the Older
1412/13-1417/18: Wacław of Krosno Odrzańskie
1412/13-1423: Henry X Rumpold
1467-1476: Henry XI of Głogów
- Line extinct, whole duchy directly under the Crown of Bohemia
1476-1488 Jan II of Żagań
- 1482: Northern part sold to Brandenburg
1488-1504: János Corvinus as Jan II, Duke of Głogów
- 1491-1496: hold in pledge John Albert
- 1499-1506: hold in pledge Sigmund the Old