Casimir

(Kazimierz). In Poland:

Casimir I the Restorer. Born July 25, 1016; died Oct. 24 (or Nov. 28), 1058. Prince of the Piast dynasty; ruled from 1038 or 1039. Aided by the German emperor Henry III, Casimir I ascended the throne at a time of declining central authority and of a widespread antifeudal peasant movement (1037–38). He pursued a policy of unifying the Polish lands. With the support of Kievan Rus’, with which he concluded an alliance about 1039, he obtained the return of Mazovia in 1047; in 1054 he acquired Silesia. Casimir helped to consolidate in Poland a church hierarchy independent of the higher German clergy.

Casimir II the Just. Born 1138; died May 5, 1194. Prince from 1177.

Casimir HI the Great. Born Apr. 30, 1310, in the village Kowal, now in Bydgoszcz Wojewóztwo; died Nov. 5, 1370, in Kraków. King from 1333; last king of the Piast dynasty.

Casimir III promulgated the Wiślica and Piotrków Statutes in 1346–47, establishing in Poland a limited monarchy. He introduced independent higher courts of German law and forbade Polish cities to carry their judicial appeals to foreign countries. He carried out a monetary reform between 1337 and 1346 that brought about price stabilization and promoted the development of trade. Casimir III ended the struggle with the Teutonic Order by ceding Eastern Pomerania to it. He regained Kujawy for Poland in 1343. With the assistance of Hungary and Bohemia he seized Galician Rus’ between 1349 and 1352 and subsequently annexed part of Volynia. Under Casimir III, the University of Kraków was founded (1364).