Agnes OF BABENBERG (aft1108-bef1163)

	Agnes of Babenberg		Agnes of Babenberg

Individual Events and Attributes

Marriage

	Wladyslaw Wygnaniec, Chronica Polonorum by Maciej Miechowita, 1519

Individual Note

Agnes of Babenberg (German: Agnes von Babenberg, Polish: Agnieszka Babenberg; b. ca. 1108/13 – d. 24/25 January ca. 1160/63), was a German noblewoman, a scion of the Franconian House of Babenberg and by marriage High Duchess of Poland and Duchess of Silesia.

She was a daughter of Margrave Leopold III of Austria, by his second wife Agnes, eldest daughter of Emperor Henry IV.[1][2]

Family and personalityThrough her mother, Agnes was a descendant of the Salian Dynasty, who ruled the Holy Roman Empire since 1024 until her maternal uncle Emperor Henry V died without issue in 1125. She was the half-sister of Duke Frederick II of Swabia and Conrad, since 1138 King of Germany (both born from her mother's first marriage with Duke Frederick I of Swabia). From her full-siblings, one sister Judith married Marquess William V of Montferrat and one brother was Bishop Otto of Freising, a renown medieval chronicler.

According to Wincenty Kadlubek, Polish chronicler and Bishop of Kraków (and this opinion is shared by other sources), Agnes was a very ambitious, energetic woman, and proud of her origins. No wonder the Bishop called her in the pages of his Polish Chronicle, "Tigress" (Polish: tygrysica).

Marriage

The ruler of Poland, Duke Boleslaw III Wrymouth, in order to hold his ground against the Empire wanted to obtain a powerful ally against Lothair III of Supplinburg, who in 1125 had been elected King of the Romans against Duke Frederick II of Swabia. He therefore forged an alliance with the Babenbergs and the Hohenstaufen families, who, as relatives of the extinct Salian dynasty, were the natural rivals of Lothair. In order to seal this alliance, was decided the marriage between Boleslaw III's eldest son Wladyslaw with Agnes. The wedding took place around 1125; according to some historians, the couple already received the Duchy of Silesia from Boleslaw III as a gift.

High Duchess of Poland

Boleslaw III died on 28 October 1138. In his will, he divided Poland between his sons. As the oldest son, the supreme authority in the country was assigned to Wladyslaw II with the title of High Duke (Princeps). In addition to Silesia, he received the Seniorate Province (which included Lesser Poland, eastern Greater Poland and western Kuyavia) and the authority over Pomerania. His half-brothers Boleslaw IV, Mieszko III and Henry received hereditary fiefs as Junior Dukes. In addition, Wladyslaw II would also receive the lands of Leczyca, then granted by Boleslaw III to his widow Salomea of Berg for life as her Oprawa wdowia and to revert to the Seniorate Province upon her death.

Almost immediately, the High Duke began his efforts to unify the country under his rule. Wincenty Kadlubek stated that the confrontation between Wladyslaw II and his half-brothers was mainly instigated by Agnes, who believed that her husband, as the eldest son, had the right to be the sole ruler of the whole country.

In order to strengthen the authority of the High Duke, it is believed that Agnes took part in the downfall of one of the most powerful nobles in the country, the voivode Piotr Wlostowic, who supported the Junior Dukes. According to a legend, the capture of Wlostowic was thanks to Agnes, because she sent her personal slanders to his castle and took him during the night. This event is recorded in German contemporary historiography; however, since this story is not confirmed, remained discarted by modern historians. Agnes demanded Wlostowic's death, but her husband decided instead to make an example of him: Wlostowic was blinded, muted and sentenced to exile.

Deposition and exile

The tyrannical rule of Wladyslaw II and Agnes caused many of their subjects to switch their allegiance to the Junior Dukes. In early 1146 the High Duke's forces were finally defeated near Poznan. Wladyslaw II escaped to Bohemia, while Agnes and her children remained in Kraków, where for some time they could maintain the resistance against the Junior Dukes from the Wawel castle. However, the attempts to defend the city were unsuccessful, and at the end the whole family was reunited in exile.

After a short time at the Bohemian court of Duke Vladislaus II, Agnes' half-brother King Conrad III of Germany offered his hospitality to the Polish royal family, who settled at the Kaiserpfalz of Altenburg. At first, it seemed that Wladyslaw II would soon regain power over Poland. A German expedition against the Junior Dukes was launched in 1146, but due to flooding of the Oder River and the pressures on the German king by the margraves Albert the Bear and Conrad of Meissen, the campaign failed.

The failure of the expedition didn't discourage Agnes, who continued with her attempts to restore her husband. She asked the intervention of Pope Eugenius III, who decided to raise the question in the 1148 Council of Reims, and sent his legate Guy to Poland to obtain the submission of the Junior Dukes. However, they refused to accept the return of Wladyslaw II, and the Pope declared a ban over Poland. The penalty, thanks for the cohesive support of the Polish church hierarchy by the Junior Dukes, was virtually without repercussions.

In 1152 King Conrad III died and was succeeded by his nephew Frederick Barbarossa. With the accession of the energetic ruler, the hopes of Agnes and Wladyslaw II of returning to Poland were reborn. Following the inducements of his aunt, the new German King launched an expedition against Poland in 1157. The campaign was a success but unexpectedly Barbarossa did not restore Wladyslaw II to the Polish throne. Instead High Duke Boleslaw IV was declared a vassal of Emperor Frederick and was compelled to pay tribute to him. In compensation, he forced Boleslaw to promise the restitution of the Silesian duchy to Wladyslaw's sons.

Death and aftermaths

Both Agnes and Wladyslaw II knew that their battle was finally lost. They remained in Altenburg, where Wladyslaw II died on 30 May 1159. Agnes' day of death is generally placed by sources between 24 and 25 January, but the year remained disputed among historians and sources. Certainly she survived her husband,[3] and it is known that she did not return to Silesia with her sons when they were finally restored in their heritage in 1163. Thus, it is believed that Agnes died between 1160 and 1163. She was buried in the Cistercian abbey of Pforta near Naumburg on the Saale river.

Children

Agnes and Wladyslaw had the following children:

Boleslaw I the Tall (b. 1127 - d. 8 December 1201).

Mieszko I Tanglefoot (b. ca. 1130 - 16 May 1211).

Richeza (b. 1140 - d. 16 June 1185), married firstly in 1152 to Alfonso VII, King of Galicia, Castile and León, secondly in 1162 to Ramon Berenguer II, Count of Provence and thirdly by 1167 to Count Albert III of Everstein.

Konrad Spindleshanks (b. 1146/57 - d. 17 January 1190).

Albert (d. young, ca. 1168).

NOTES:

1 Complete Genealogy of the House of Babenberg

2 AUSTRIA

3 Some sources placed her death around 1157; thePeerage.com: Agnes Babenberg.

SOURCES:

Allstrom, Carl Magnus. Dictionary of Royal Lineage (Poland), 1902

Louda, Jirí and Michael MacLagan. Lines of Succession: Heraldry of the Royal Families of Europe, 2nd edition. London, UK: Little, Brown and Company, 1999.²

Sources