Bezprym in Kamil Jadczak's drawing.
Bezprym (986-1032) - the prince of Poland from the Piast dynasty. Firstborn son of Bolesław the Brave from his second marriage to an unknown Hungarian aristocrat. In his youth, he was removed from inheriting the throne. His fate is a subject of numerous speculations. There are theories according to which in 1000 the teenage Bezprym, together with his father and the German emperor Otto III, set off on a journey to Aachen and became the fiancée of the imperial niece of Riches. Then he was to stay in Italy, where, against his paternal orders, he joined the hermitage. Perhaps it was this act of disobedience - as well as the persuasion of Bolesław's next wife, Emnilda - that led to the handing over of power not to Bezprym, but to his younger half-brother, Mieszko II Lambert. He, too, was married to the aforementioned Riches in 1013.
After his father's death, Bezprym stayed in the country for a short time, perhaps managing his own, modest district. Then he was driven away by Mieszko II Lambert. Using the help of his younger brother, also expelled from Poland, Otto, he entered into ties with the rulers of Germany and Kievan Rus.
He took power in 1031 as a result of an armed invasion, which can be considered the first partition in the history of Poland. There are premises according to which Bezprym physically exterminated a significant part of the Polish elite and transferred the estates of former nobles to the Viking warriors who supported him. He died at the beginning of the next year, murdered by one of his courtiers. His short reign finally ended the history of the Polish power, built by Bolesław the Brave. After Bezprym, the country did not recover from its decline, and only a few years later the new prince Kazimierz was expelled and the supreme power was completely dissolved.