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- BIOGRAPHY
Boleslaw I, Herzog von Schlesien, was born after 1129, the son of Duke Wladislaw II of Poland and Silesia and Agnes of Austria. In 1146 Boleslaw was forced to flee from Poland with his father and brothers, as a result of the succession conflict following the death of Boleslaw III 'the Bold', king of Poland. They found asylum with the Hohenstaufen. He accompanied Konrad III, duke of Franken on crusade in 1147 and Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa on his Italian campaigns between 1158 and 1163. Under pressure from the emperor, in 1163 Boleslaw and his brother Mieszko were given back the dukedom of Silesia; Boleslaw kept Lower Silesia together with the city of Oppeln (Oppole), which triggered years of warfare between him and his brother Mieszko.
Boleslaw was again driven out of Silesia in 1172, but returned in 1173 with the help of the emperor. From 1194 he supported his brother Mieszko as head of the older line of the family, the position that he had unsuccessfully sought for himself, and he had to give up Oppeln to his elder son Jaroslaw and Ratibor to Mieszko. Boleslaw created his own currency in Silesia, he founded the Cistercian monastery Leubus (the first of this order in Silesia), and from 1195 to 1197 he campaigned with Emperor Heinrich VI in Italy. He was much in conflict with his sons, strongly promoted the settlement of Germans in Silesia, protected the rule of his family and gave it a dominating role in Upper Silesia.
Boleslaw married twice. His first wife was Swinislawa of Kiev, who gave birth to Jaroslaw. All that is known about his second wife was that she was called Christine; she was the mother of Henryk I 'the Bearded', who continued the line. Boleslaw died on 7 December 1201.
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