ABSTRACT
It was customary for medieval rulers to intend one of their sons for the priesthood, a practice that was embraced by the Piast dynasty in medieval Silesia (see Fig. 26.1). 1 This area, which had been ruled by a separate line of the Piasts since Poland split into five major duchies in 1138, had, in the thirteenth century, been divided further into even more duchies as the dynasty expanded. In the fourteenth century Silesia was not incorporated into the reunified Polish kingdom, but instead it broke up into several duchies, some of which included only a few towns. In the first half of the fourteenth century most of the Silesian dukes became vassals of the Bohemian rulers of the Luxemburg dynasty. Many of them served the Bohemian kings and participated in Bohemia’s political life. After Charles IV became emperor, they also became involved in the politics of the Empire. Some of the Silesian dukes constituted a separate élite, superior in prestige to the Bohemian magnates, as was evidenced by the marriages of Silesian Piast duchesses to Emperor Charles IV as well as to Polish and Hungarian kings. 2
