Nobody would give him a crown for free. And the Pope with whom Władysław Łokietkowi had to negotiate turned out to be particularly demanding. Not to be straightforward:extremely greedy.
From 1316, John XXII sat on the throne of Peter. His pontificate was not without controversy. Some historians accuse Jan that it was he who initiated the witch hunt, as a result of which tens of thousands of innocent women will be killed in the following centuries. During his lifetime, however, this holy father was regarded primarily as a great financier.
While his predecessor had ruined the papal treasury, he was looking for newer and newer ways of filling the curial purse. "When you enter the Pope, follow this certainty:this is not the place of the poor brothers, dear him, who pays well" - was a rhyme arranged not elsewhere, but at the papal court itself. The song was harsh but painfully honest.
John XXII was able to get the most out of those who came with caskets full of money. Undoubtedly, the bishop of Kujawy, Gerward, was provided with the appropriate funds, who went to the palace of the governor of Saint Peter to win for Władysław Łokietek and his wife Jadwiga the most coveted trophy.
John XXII on the papal throne. Miniature from the 15th century.
Big ambitions
In 1304 - after returning from exile forced by the Czechs - Łokietek ruled only a scrap of Lesser Poland. As a result of many years of wars and difficult negotiations, however, he recaptured Wielkopolska and established his power in the central and southern part of the country. He grew in strength and already enjoyed the position of the undisputed leader among the Piast princes. However, it was still a long way from the real unification of the state under his leadership.
Mazovia had separate princes, and the Piasts ruling Silesia had been in the orbit of Bohemia for a long time. In turn, the Teutonic Knights spread out in Pomerania. Łokietek was not so naive as to believe that he would have enough life to glue together all the scraps of the broken kingdom. As a realist, he probably did not even think that this task was even within the limits of any human being. Even so, he wasn't going to die as an ordinary prince.
Ignoring the protests of the Czech ruler, John of Luxemburg, and the hostile hoots of the knights of the Order, he asked the Pope for consent to the royal coronation. For myself and for Princess Jadwiga.
Dearest Pope
The year was 1319. The negotiations lasted for several months and were fraught with difficulties. Gerward did everything to win the pope over to the side of the Piast couple. He was seduced by the vision of the fight that Łokietek would undertake with the pagan peoples living in the east of Poland. He assured him of the loyalty of the Piasts, who were always closer to the Pope than to competing emperors. Above all, he made new and newer bribery attempts.
In the preserved German chronicle it was noted that "the prince of Krakow with the surname Łokienie", in order to obtain "a dignified title" gave the pope "a plentiful amount of money and made all the people of his kingdom forever into tenants" .
King Łokietek according to Walery Radzikowski.
Historians confirm that a one-off tax did not satisfy the Pope's greed. In return for his favor, John XXII demanded a radical increase in taxes paid from all subjects of the Polish ruler.
Traditionally, three denarii were collected from each family (excluding, of course, clergy and nobility) as part of the so-called Holy Passage. From now on, however, the tax was no longer to be calculated on farms, but on the head, amounting to one denarius per person. In today's Poland, it would not make much difference. But in times of large families and multi-generational families, the raise was truly draconian.
The judgment of Solomon
Even this was not enough to allay all the fears of the Holy Father. The Czech ruler kept repeating that he deserved the title of Polish king - even if he did not temporarily control Kraków or Gniezno. The claims were not unfounded.
The extraordinary story of women who changed the history of Poland. Jadwiga Andegaweńska and her predecessors in a new book by Kamil Janicki:"Ladies of the Polish Empire".
The last Polish coronation took place in Gniezno in 1300. The king was then the great antagonist of Łokietek and the ruler of Bohemia - Wenceslaus II of the Przemyślid family. It was he who chased Piast competing with him, but he did not stay on the throne for long. He died in 1305, and his teenage son, Wenceslaus III, was murdered before he even had time to come to Poland.
The power in Bohemia was taken over by the Luxembourg dynasty. And its representatives - headed by King John of Luxembourg - claimed the rights to all the titles held by the Wenceslas family before them. Also the right to the Polish crown.
The case dragged on. Finally, John XXII gave a verdict of Solomon. In an official bull he recommended Łokietkowi that he should respect the grievances of his neighbors. But in his secret correspondence sent at the same time, he explicitly consented to the coronation.
Jan XXII on miniature from the 15th century.
There were three documents in total. Gerward had to pay separately for each edition, go to several different offices, pay a tax for bringing the papers into the archives ... and so on and so on. He returned home seriously impoverished, but with good news.
Prince Elbow was soon to become His Majesty Elbow-high.
***
This is just the very beginning of the fascinating story of an indomitable ruler who reached for the crown, although only a scrap of Kujawy was predicted for him. Find out about the fate of Władysław Łokietek and his extraordinary wife Jadwiga in the book "Ladies of the Polish Empire. The Women Who Built a Power " . You can buy it today at empik.com
Selected bibliography:
The article was based on materials collected by the author during the work on the book "Ladies of the Polish Empire. The Women Who Built a Power " . Some of these items are shown below. Full bibliography in the book.
- Abraham W., The position of the papal curia on the coronation of Łokietek [in:] Memorial book of the University of Lviv to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Jagiellonian foundation of the University of Krakow , Senate of the University of Lviv, Lviv 1900.
- Collins R., Keepers of the Keys of Heaven. A History of the Papacy Basic Books, New York 2009.
- Długopolski E., Władysław Łokietek against the background of his times , Universitas, Krakow 2009.
- Jasiński K., On the issues of the unification of the Polish state at the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries , "Zapiski Historyczne", vol. 21, issue 1–2 (1995).
- O'Malley J.W., A History of the Popes. From Peter to the Present , Sheed &Ward, Plymouth 2010.
- Samsonowicz H., Elbow-high times , National Publishing Agency, Krakow 1989.
- Samsonowicz H., Poland's place in Europe at the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries , "Kwartalnik Historyczny", vol. 4 (1993).
- Sroka S.A., Władysław I Łokietek [in:] The Piasts. Biographical Lexicon , edited by K. Ożóg, S. Szczur, Wydawnictwo Literackie, Krakow 1999.