Casimir III the Great

1. Casimir III the Great

2. Casimir III the Great Casimir III the Great was a Polishking, the last from the Piast dynasty. He was born on 30 April 1310 and he died on 5 November 1370. He was the youngest son of Władysław I the Elbow-high and Hedwig of Kalisz. He was the King of Poland in 1333-1370.

3. Casmir’sAchievements There is a proverb about Casimir III the Great: „When he ascended Poland was wooden, when he left us, it was from stone”. That’s because when he died, Poland was 2 times bigger than it was before his reign. He also raised many castles and strengthened the army.

4. Casimir’sChildhood He was raised in Cracow. When he was young, his brothers, Stefan and Wladysławdied. He was the successor of the throne, because he had only 3 sisters. When he was 5 he was engaged with Czech princess Jutta, but then the engagement was broken off. Eventually, when he was 17 he got married.

5. Hungary In his last years of life, Władysław the Elbow-high taught Casimir how to exercise authority. In 1329 he sent his son to Hungary, where he had to obtain the military support and he succeeded. Apparently, when he was in Hungary there was a scandal – Casimir fell in love with Klara Zach. Felician Zach wanted to avenge his daughter and he burst into theKing’s Chamber and attacked the Queen. He cut her 4 fingers and wounded the King on the shoulder. He got killed by Jan Cselenyi. The king commanded to quarter the corpse of Zach and show it to the people. The Zach family was banished and Klara Zach was disfigured.

6. The Coronation Casimir III was crowned in 1333 after the death of Władysław the Elbow-high. The situation in Poland was bad. It was divided on 2 provinces – Lesser and Greater Poland Provinces.