Treaty of Trentschin

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Treaty of Trentschin
Trenčínská smlouva (cs)
Układ w Trenczynie (pl)
Trencséni megegyezés (hu)
Trenčín Castle
Signed24 August 1335
LocationTrencsén Castle, Hungary
Effective9 February 1339
ConditionRatification by King Casimir III
Signatories

The Treaty of Trencin was concluded on 24 August 1335 between King

Polish province of Silesia to the Kingdom of Bohemia, whereafter the Duchies of Silesia were incorporated into the Bohemian Crown. Following the integration of this treaty, the three kingdoms of Bohemia, Hungary, and Poland met at the First Congress of Visegrad
later in 1335 to further discuss the division of land. This congress also made the treaty official.

Prelude

Bohemia and Silesia 1138—1254

Shortly before his death in 992,

Frederick Barbarossa in 1163. Bolesław's son Henry the Bearded became High Duke of Poland in 1232. The marriage of his successor Duke Henry II the Pious with Anne of Bohemia, daughter of King Ottokar I, strengthened the ties between the Silesian Piasts and the Bohemian Přemyslid dynasty. After Henry's death during the 1241 Battle of Legnica
, Silesia split up into numerous petty states under his descendants.

In 1280 Duke

Elisabeth Richeza
and was finally crowned Polish king by Archbishop Jakub Świnka in 1300.

In 1305 King Wenceslaus II died and his son

Rudolph of Austria also claimed the title of a Polish king but could not prevail. While Władysław was crowned king in 1320, the Bohemian aspirations to power rose again in 1310. Count John of Luxembourg, the eldest son of King Henry VII of Germany, married the Přemyslid princess Elizabeth, taking over the power in Prague and also the claims to the Polish throne. Though he failed to succeed his father as King of the Romans, he had more Silesian dukes swore an oath of allegiance to him against the resistance of King Władysław. In 1327 he vassalized the dukes of Wrocław and Opole, followed by the dukes of Legnica, Żagań, Oleśnica, Ścinawa and Brzeg in 1329. The tensions intensified when King John campaigned and annexed the Silesian Duchy of Głogów in 1331. He began to interfere in the Polish-Teutonic War that broke out in Kuyavia and Dobrzyń Land in the aftermath of the 1308 takeover of Gdańsk
.

The treaty

Poland under Casimir III (1333–1370), Silesian duchies shown in light yellow

In 1333 the Polish king Władysław was succeeded by his son Casimir III. He was prepared to compromise. Casimir III resorted to sue the Teutonic Order at the Roman Curia and settled the rising conflict with King John of Bohemia by the provisory Trentschin treaty on St Bartholomew's Day 1335. The representatives of the Polish king, in perpetuity, renounced all claims to Silesia in favour of Bohemia while King John and his son Charles in turn finally waived their claims to the Polish throne derived from the Přemyslids.[2] The agreement was to be confirmed, when the rulers met at the Congress of Visegrád later in November 1335.

King John now had a free hand to continue vassalizing the Silesian duchies of

Treaty of Namslau with King Casimir III and again in 1372 by Casimir's successor King Louis I
.

Bolko II the Small remained the only Silesian duke, who was not content to accept Bohemian overlordship. However, he had no male heirs and his niece Anna von Schweidnitz married Emperor Charles IV in 1353. He signed an inheritance treaty whereupon the death of his widow Agnes of Austria, 1392, the Duchy of Jawor would finally fall to Bohemia.

Aftermath

Silesian coat of arms at St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague

With the Treaty of Trentschin, the split of Silesia from the Polish Crown was made. In 1348 King Charles IV attached it to the Bohemian crown lands together with Moravia and the Lusatias. The Silesian dukes became indirect vassals of the Holy Roman Empire with no immediate status and no representation at the Imperial Diet. According to canon law, the Diocese of Wrocław remained a suffragan of the Polish Archdiocese of Gniezno. While the Silesian lands also comprised the former Moravian Duchy of Opava, the Upper Silesian duchies of Siewierz, Oświęcim and Zator were acquired by Poland in the 15th century. The Lower Silesian duchy of Krosno fell to Brandenburg in 1476.

Upon the death of the Bohemian king

Republic of Poland upon the implementation of the Oder–Neisse line according to the 1945 Potsdam Agreement
.

The surrender of Silesia by Casimir established a border that remained stable and in effect until after World War I.[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ Kaps, Johannes (1952). The tragedy of Silesia, 1945-1946: a documentary account with a special survey of the Archdiocese of Breslau. Christ Unterwegs. p. 23.
  2. ISBN 978-1-136-96016-1
    .
  3. ISBN 978-1-107-02073-3
    .
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