He was raised heir to the throne and his right to rule was officially confirmed. While his father was still alive, he was given his own district. After the death of his predecessor, he officially took his place. Why then is he not on the list of Polish kings and princes?
The victors write history - and they decide who will be remembered and who will be lost in the darkness of history. Prince Zbigniew, the elder son of Władysław Herman, could find out for himself. Although it was he who was entitled to the Polish crown, he had to hand over the throne to his younger half-brother - Bolesław the Wrymouth. And when he claimed his rights, he was simply eliminated in the world. Probably a little consolation for him would be the fact that his brother probably did not intend to kill him, but "only" to permanently mutilate him.
The conflict between Krzywousty and Zbigniew is one of the most vivid examples of the brutal dynastic policy of the Piasts. Nevertheless, this fratricidal rivalry for the throne is rarely mentioned, although, apart from the main stakeholders, all the cream of society of that time was involved in it.
Unwanted heir to the throne
"In the post office of Polish kings and princes, Zbigniew remains in the shadow of his younger brother, Bolesław Krzywousty, and is a tragic figure from the very beginning" - underlines in the book "Words that changed Poland" Katarzyna Bock-Matuszyk. Actually. Most of the information we have about Władysław Herman's firstborn son comes from the Chronicle of Gallus Anonymus. And with this history, as Norbert Delestowicz points out in his first comprehensive biography of a forgotten ruler, Zbigniew. The Prince of Poland ", there is one problem:" he wrote his work at the behest of Bolesław the Wrymouth, [therefore] it should be treated very critically.
Zbigniew was the firstborn son of Władysław Herman.
So what do we actually know about the "uncomfortable" big brother? He was probably born around 1070. No chronicler has seen fit to record his mother's name. We can only guess that had a higher position than the concubine, but at the same time could not become the lawful wife of Prince Władysław - most likely due to being born too short.
Gall Anonymus happily reported that the firstborn son of a Polish prince was born out of wedlock. Nevertheless, he was raised to be heir to the throne - he was even knighted. All the time he enjoyed the unflagging grace of his father. Or at least it was so until 1086, when Bolesław was born, son of Herman and his "legal" wife, Judyta of Bohemia. Zbigniew's life changed dramatically overnight.
In a nest of vipers
After welcoming his rightful heir to the world (and burying his mother, who died shortly after giving birth), Herman decided to get rid of his "uncomfortable" older son in the simplest possible way:he sent him to Krakow. There, Zbigniew studied theology, grammar and dialectics at the cathedral school - probably in order to pursue a spiritual career.
Even the capital of Lesser Poland seemed too close, so soon the would-be heir to the throne was delegated to Saxony. In the local monastery, Benedictine nuns were even ordained a priest. If he really entered an order, he would have "fallen" from the line to the throne - and perhaps lived to a very old age in peace. Zbigniew, who felt betrayed by his father, decided, however, to stand up for his own. Probably in his wildest dreams he did not know what the consequences would be.
After returning to Poland, he went straight to the vipers' nest. Not only was his younger brother looking at him with an unfavorable eye, from whom the vision of ruling over the entire Piast lands had suddenly moved away. Zbigniew was also plotted against by his father, his second wife, Judyta Maria Salicka, and Herman's palatine, Sieciech.
Even the people who supported him, such as the Comes of Wrocław, Magnus, and the Czech prince Brzetysław, in fact only wanted to use him. “Everything seems to indicate that Zbigniew was a puppet in the hands of the opposition who used it brazenly to increase its chances of winning in a conflict with Władysław Herman and Sieciech "- notes Norbert Delestowicz.
War worse than home
The prince, who was fighting for his position, was probably aware of the false intentions of the "allies", but on the other hand, he knew that this was the only chance for him to regain the right to inherit the Piast throne. That is why he allowed himself to be drawn into the middle of an intricate plot in which - as it soon turned out - he was assigned the role of the main culprit.
When Bolesław, later known as Krzywousty, appeared in the world, Zbigniew was pushed to the background.
Zbigniew's return to Poland was the beginning of many years of struggle for power. Władysław Herman considered the arrival of his older son to Wrocław to be an open rebellion. For a moment it seemed as if the matter would spread to the bones as the ruler was forced to recognize the firstborn as his heir, but it didn't take long for the conflict to flare up again. The voivode of Sieciech, who rebelled against the elder son of Herman, had his share in this. He took refuge in Kruszwica, where he resisted the armed men sent by his father.
Gall Anonymous did not mince words, describing this "rebellion" by Zbigniew: "It was a war worse than a civil war, where son against father and brother against brother raised a criminal weapon" . He further details the events that took place during the clashes:"For so much human blood was spilled there and such a mass of corpses fell into the lake adjacent to the castle that no good Christian since then has wanted to eat fish from that water."
It was too much. It became clear to everyone that the family conflict could not be resolved by "normal" methods. Zbigniew, defeated at Kruszwica, was imprisoned. It was decided that his fate would be decided by the court.
Zbigniew took refuge from the warriors sent by his father in Kruszwica.
"Gadzinowa is a thing, a mother's womb"
Accused of causing a shameful, fratricidal war, Zbigniew had to prove his innocence. His flowery speech, embellished with quotes from Virgil and Ovid, in which he argues that he not only did not commit the crime he was accused of, and even acted for the good of the state and family, opens the collection "Words that changed Poland".
It is worth noting that it is ... completely fictional. Its content was "recreated" nearly one hundred years after the fact by Wincenty Kadłubek. According to the chronicler's fantasies, Zbigniew defended himself against the charges against him, referring to the natural law:
(...) I will of course prove that what the other side builds and bases its allegations on has no power. For there is no reason that could push us against ourselves and to the ruin of our Republic; reptilian is a thing, not human, to tear the womb of the mother.
As further events showed, the prince persuaded his father, who restored him to favors and included him in his will. However, he failed to communicate with the jealous younger brother. Neither can he convince his posterity, because Kadłubek's attempt to rehabilitate him has apparently failed.
Eye for the crown, life for the throne
Bolesław and Zbigniew started fighting for Polish lands even before Władysław Herman died in 1102. The latter, at the end of the 11th century, agreed to give part of his domain to his sons. The fights and invasions that took place in the Piast state at that time were only rarely interrupted by periods of relative peace, for example when the brothers agreed to face some common enemy. At one point, they even rebelled against the parent together . However, this did not affect their overall relationship.
Boleslaw was determined to get rid of a competitor for power and to erase him from the pages of history. And the zealous assurances, which we know only from Kadłubek's version, quoted for example in "Words that Changed Poland" - Zbigniew was certainly present during the court hearing:
(...) there was no reason to plott the doom of the republic, and if I explained that neither the pursuit of power which they ascribe to us as a special reason for [action], neither the very essence of things nor human feelings could allow for wrongdoing - nor would they doubt that they would admit that there was no room for crime here.
Zbigniew and Bolesław Krzywousty at one point fought against their parent together.
His basic "guilt" - the fact that he was born before Bolesław and had priority in the queue to the throne - could not be erased. And in the end he paid the highest price for it. Almost immediately after the death of his father, the younger brother began to do everything to get rid of the uncomfortable rival from the country. And this even despite the fact that it was Zbigniew who became the supreme prince and, according to many historians, for a time he did indeed exercise power from the same position as all his Piast predecessors. The weirder that even scientists do not include it in the lists of monarchs and post offices.
Boleslaw managed to win over to his side most of the powerful in the country. Soon he induced his brother to recognize his domination, and shortly thereafter - around 1108 - forced him to flee the country. He did not summon him until 1112, only to deceive him to blind him. Zbigniew no longer rose from this humiliation. He died in the summer of 1113. The Laurka, which was issued by Gall Anonym, faithful to Bolesław, has survived for centuries. In the minds of subsequent generations, he became perpetuated as the rebel brother of the rightful ruler - if he was remembered at all.
Bibliography:
1. Gall Anonymous, Polish Chronicle , Ossolineum 2003.
2. Jacek Banaszkiewicz, Marek Kazimierz Barański, Polish kings and princes by Jan Matejko , Świat Książki 1997.
3. Norbert Delestowicz, Zbigniew. Prince of Poland , Poznań Publishing House 2017.
4. The Piast Monarchy. 1038-1399 , ed. Marek Derwich, Wydawnictwo Dolnośląskie 2003.
5. Words that changed Poland , ed. Joanna Wojdon, Dolnośląskie Publishing House 2018.