Dąbrowska, Małgorzata

Propylaeum-DOK

Byzantina el Slavica Cracoviensia, III 
Byzantium and East Central Europe 
Cracow 2001 
Malgorzata Dqbrowska 
(Lodz) 
A BYZANTINE L A D Y ' S DAUGHTERS IN POLAND 
A Byzantine lady, the wife of the Hungarian King, did not want her daughter to marry 
a Polish prince1. Did she know anything about Poland? Did she have other plans for her 
children? We do not know. However, because of this piece of information, she entered 
Polish history. From the perspective of Polish genealogy, this seems to be an accidental 
connection between Poland and Byzantium. But the presence of the Byzantine lady at 
the Hungarian court was natural enough in those times. The presence of Maria Lascaris 
was the result of the following circumstances. 
The throne of the Latin Empire in Constantinople, which had existed since the Fourth 
Crusade, became vacant in 12172. The King of Hungary, Andrew II, hoped to gain it. It 
was only the choice of Peter de Courtenay that frustrated his plans3. At that time the 
King was involved in the crusade not due to his affection for the Holy Land, but rather 
from the fact that he wanted the crown of Constantinople. His hopes were boosted by 
past events in Hungary. His father, Bela III had been engaged to the daughter of Manuel 
Komnenos and was supposed to become Byzantine Emperor. However, after some time 
a son was born to Manuel and Bela was excluded from succession4. Nevertheless, the 
situation boosted Hungarian aspirations. Even though Andrew II did not manage to gain 
the throne of Constantinople, he connected his family with the Byzantine dynasty. On his 
way back from the Holy Land he visited the Nicean Empire and took home a bride for his 
p 685W'A " mraCUl" Sanaae fyngae ducissae Cracoviensis, ed. W. K^ TRZYNSKI, MPH, vol. IV, Lwdw 1884, 
• i. LONCNON, LEmpire Latin de Constantinople et la principaule de Moree, Paris 1949, pp. 157-160. 
Z. J. KOSZTOLNYIK, Hungary in the Thirteenth Century, New York 1996, p. 60. 
Cf. G. MORAVCSIK, Pour une alliance byzantino-hongroise. Seconde moitie du Xlf siecle, (in:) Sludia 
Byzantina, Budapest 1967, pp. 305-313; F. MAKK, US relations hungaro-byztmtines auxX-XW slides, (in:) 
European Intellectual Trends and Hungary, ed. F. Gum, Etudes Historiques Hongroises 4 (1990), pp. 20-21. 
Originalveröffentlichung in: Prinzing, Günter; Salamon, Maciej (Hg.): Byzantium and East Central Europe, 
Cracow 2001, S. 197-202
Malgorzata Dqbrowska 
son5. In this way, Maria, daughter of Theodore Lascaris, came to Buda in 12186. From 
then on the Hungarian court was in charge of her upbringing. She was to marry Bela IV, 
the heir to the throne. The moment she left the Byzantine world, the door was closed and 
the connection with her motherland was severed. It is as difficult to define the attitude of 
Theodore Lascaris to this match, as it is to fathom what Andrew expected. The only thing 
Acropolites says is that Theodore Lascaris did not have a son but had married off three 
daughters successfully7. The eldest daughter 's husband, John Vatatzes, was supposed to 
come to the Nicean throne8. We can only speculate that Andrew might have hoped for 
that throne, if Vatatzes' successors had not lived long enough. Could Bela IV have been 
interested in such an outcome? His own politics do not show that, even though he saw 
the object of his father's aspirations. In 1220 Robert de Courtenay, the future Latin Em­
peror of Constantinople, was staying in Buda; his aunt Yolanda de Courtenay was the 
Queen of Hungary at that time. Bela joined Robert in his trip to Constantinople and was 
present during the crowning ceremony in 1221. His presence seems to prove that he had 
no designs on the Constantinopolitan throne. He came along as a cousin. 
It is noteworty that the connection between Hungary and the Byzantine Emperor in 
exile displeased Andrew, so he tried to break the engagement9 . On the other hand there is 
a note in the sources stating that after two years of marriage, Bela was separated from his 
Byzantine wife because of his "bad counsellors"10. The Pope requested that Bela should 
accept his wife again, which happened after some t ime". The marital consent provoked 
Andrew's anger which made the couple escape to Austria. Many barons took Bela's side 
and Andrew might have feared rebellion. 
Thus Maria Lascaris lived in a situation that was far from a kindergarten idyll. Stay­
ing in Buda, she was involved in a purely Hungarian policy and we do not know whether 
she had any direct contact with Nicea and Constantinople then. (There may be Hungar­
ian materials on the subject but I do not have access to them.) Maria's first child was born 
before Bela became independent sovereign in 1235. The Hungarian court was a mixture 
of bon­vivant style, typical for Andrew, and ascetic morality propagated by the Franciscan 
friars. Paradoxically, it was Andrew's daughter, Elisabeth of Thuringia who was canonised 
5 On the Nicean Empire see: A. GARDNER, The Lascarids of Nicaea. The Story of an Empire in Exile, 
London 1912; M. ANGOLD, A Byzantine Government in Exile. Government and Society under the Laskarids 
of Nicaea (1204-1261), Oxford 1975. 
6 Z. J. KOSZTOLNYIK, Hungary, p. 68. 
7 GEORGIOS ACROPOLITES, Annates, e d . L BEKKER, B o n n 1 8 3 7 , p . 12 = GEORGII ACROPOLITAE Opera, v o l . I, 
ed. A. Heisenberg, Lipsiae 1903, p. 10. 
* They married in 1212. Cf. D . I. POLEMIS, The Doukai. A Contribution to Byzantine Prosopography, 
London 1968, p. 108. 
* Z. J. KOSZTOLNYIK, Hungary, p. 69. 
10 Z. J. KOSZTOLNYIK, Hungary, p. 86. 
" Z. J. KOSZTOLNYIK, Hungary, p. 87. On the previous intervention into Hungarian family affairs see: C. 
M. ROUSSEAU, Kinship Ties, Behavioral Norms, and Family Counselling in the Pontificate of Innocent 111, 
(in:) Women, Marriage and Family in Medieval Christendon. Essays in Memory of Michael M. Shenan CSB, 
ed. C. ROUSSEAU and J. ROSENTHAL, Kalamazoo Michigan 1998, pp. 332-337. 
198 
A Byzantine lady's daughters in Poland 
in 1235 because of her ascetic merits12. Thus, she became famous and her lifestyle af­
fected the Hungarian court. It is clear that Maria Lascaris was also influenced by this 
atmosphere. If it is true that one of Bela's sisters­in­law asked Maria to discipline her, 
then the Hungarian court was completely different f rom Byzantine gaiety. We can only 
guess that this was a chasm for Maria if she remembered Nicea at all. In Hungary she 
became a strict and demanding queen. 
Her strong will manifested itself in her objection to the marriage between Kynga and 
a Polish prince. Her consent was only given on the request of Salome, the prince's sister 
and Bela's sister­in­law13. Whom she saw in the role of Kynga's husband, we do not 
know. Whatever her plans may have been, Kynga left Buda at the age of 5 and was 
brought to Cracow in 1239. In order to complete the image of Maria, we should stress 
that in 1241, during the Tartar invasion, Bela entrusted Maria with the custody of crown 
jewels and saints' relics, and provided her with the safe refuge14. We also know that in 
1259 her husband gave her the fortress of Vysegrad, which she restored at her own ex­
pense. She may have been the reason why Hungarian troops supported Michael Palaiologos 
in the battle of Pelagonia in 125915. Bela IV died in 1270 and Maria followed him soon. 
She was buried in a Franciscan monastery in Esztergom, beside her husband. All this 
means that in her lifetime she identified herself with the Hungarian raison d'etat and she 
was a Latin. I would like to stress this point, because despite the fact that Kynga and her 
sister were born to a Byzantine mother, they came to Poland as Latin ladies, probably 
oblivious of their Byzantine heritage. Their mother may have been right in thinking that 
Poland was not a place to go to. The country had been divided into principalities for 
about one hundred years. Kynga was to marry the prince of Cracow, who was in charge 
of Little Poland, and Yolanda, her sister, was to marry the prince of Gniezno, who was in 
charge of Great Poland. (I realise that the description is rather sketchy but I do not want 
to go into details.) 
Let us take a closer look at Kynga. Her husband, Boleslas hoped that the marriage 
would strengthen his position in the contacts with his opponent Conrad of Mazovia16. In 
this he shared his sister Salome's hope. In 1239 he was 13 and Kynga was 5. We do not 
know when they got married. If they waited until she reached maturity, the match took 
place in 1246". Salome, who returned to Poland after her husband's death in 1241, 
certainly influenced Kynga in her upbringing. The girl was well educated, being able to 
12 Z. J. KOSZTOLNYIK, Hungary, p. 87. 
13 Salome was the wife of Koloman, Bela's younger brother. On Salome's influence see: Vita et miracula 
Sanctae Kyngae, p. 685. 
14 Z. J. KOSZTOLNYIK, Hungary, p. 168. 
" E. DARKO, Byzantinisch-ungarische Beziehungen in derzweiten Hdlfte des XIII. Jahrhunderts, Weimar 
1933, pp. 8-19 (Kap.l: Ungarische Hilfefurdie Byzantiner in der Schlacht von Pelagonia). 
16 JOANNES DLUGOSSIUS, Annates seu Cronicae Incliti Regni Poloniae, liber VI, Varsoviae 1973, pp. 284-
2 8 5 . 
" A. WITKOWSKA, "Vita Sanctae Kyngae ducissae Cracoviensis" jako zrodlo hagiograftczne, Roczniki 
Humanistyczne 1 0 ( 1 9 6 1 ) 12, p. 111. 
199 
Malgorzata Dqbrowska 
read and speak Polish, Hungarian and Latin18. She was brought up in the Franciscan 
spirit, which has a lasting influence on her personality. Even as a child she was regarded 
as a saint and as a future wife she vowed chastity. She brought in a large dowry, from 
which Boleslas profited while reconstructing his country after the Tartar invasion. Kynga 
had quite a status at the Polish court. She was offered a territory at Sa_cz, on the border 
with Hungary, which gave her an independent position19. As a result of his connection 
with Hungary, Boleslas took part in many military operations, initiated by Bela20. This is 
how he was involved in the war of the Babenberg succession in Austria, which is beyond the 
scope of this paper. The fight started in the year of his wedding, which took place in 1246. 
Kynga tried to strengthen Cracow's authority by promoting the canonisation of Bishop 
Stanislas of Szczepanow, which took place in 125721. Polish Franciscan custody devel­
oped within the Hungarian Franciscan province as a result of Kynga's influence22. She 
had her own chancellery and issued her own documents23. As a result of her matchmaking, 
her sister Yolanda came to Poland in order to marry another Polish prince24. Yolanda was 
8 years her junior. An explanation that is sometimes provided, that she was a surrogate of 
Kynga's daughter, may be true. Yolanda was brought up in Cracow. However, after some 
time the sisters separated and Yolanda went her own way. She married Boleslas in 1256. 
Unlike Kynga's marriage, Yolanda's match did not give any spectacular profit to Hun­
gary. Her husband was a strong personality, a mature man of 25, and he did not allow 
himself to be swayed. His country had different enemies and different raisons d'etat. 
Kynga was a role­model for Yolanda just as Salome had been for Kynga. Cut off from 
politics, Yolanda followed the Franciscan ethos. She promoted the Franciscan monaster­
ies and nunneries in her principality25. She gave birth to three daughters, which probably 
did not satisfy her husband: he wanted an heir. It is striking, however, that when her 
husband died, Yolanda went to the nunnery, leaving her children behind. The eldest was 
already married, the second was 13 and the youngest was 3 years old26. Her husband's 
nephew became their custodian. What is most interesting here is that the second daughter 
was later married to Ladislas the Short, the future King of Poland. 
During their life, Kynga and Yolanda visited Hungary at least once, in 1266 for a 
family reunion in Buda27. We do not know whether they ever had any closer contact with 
18 Vila Sanctae Kyngae, p. 687. 
" Cf. A. RUTKOWSKA-PLACHCINSKA, Sqdecczyzna w XIII i XlVwieku. Przemiany gospodarcze i spoleczne, 
Wroctaw-Warszawa-Krakow 1961, p.l 43. 
10 JOANNES DLUGOSSIUS, Annates, liber VII, Varsoviae 1975, p. 94. 
: l Ibidem, pp. 95-96. 
a Cf. K. KANTAK, Franciszkanie polscy, vol. I (1237-1517) , Krakdw 1937. 
" Kodeks Dyplomatyczny Malopolski, vol. II, ed. F. PIEKOSINSKI, Krakow 1886, pp. 127, 128, 132, 138, etc. 
24 JOANNES DLUGOSSIUS, Annates, liber VII, p. 108. 
25 K. KANTAK, Franciszkanie, p. 32. 
2 6 JOANNES DLUGOSSIUS, Annates, liber VII, p p . 2 0 5 - 2 0 6 . 
27 Kodeks Dyplomatyczny Malopolski, vol. II, ed. F. PIEKOSINSKI, Krakow 1886, p. 127. The later docu­
ments prove Kynga's travels to Hungary. 
200 
A Byzantine lady's daughters in Poland 
their mother. It would be interesting to know how she felt about Kynga's unconsum-
mated marriage, which was completely against the Byzantine mentality. Byzantine women 
had two options: one was marriage and childbirth, the other was to enter a nunnery28. 
There was no third way. She could not be a nun at the court while being married. Even 
more striking is that, in her devotion for God, she resisted the temptation even though she 
shared a bedroom with her husband. Boleslas did not object, earning himself the nick­
name Boleslas the Bashful, and they adopted a son as a solution. His brother­in­law, 
Boleslas of Gniezno, waited for his first child for 8 years. He accepted his wife's saintly 
attitude and got the nickname: Boleslas the Pious. Just like her sister, Yolanda went to 
the nunnery and they both lived there till their deaths: Kynga's in 1292 and Yolanda's in 
1298. Each of them stayed in their principalities29. During their long life they could see 
the decadency of the Hungarian dynasty, which died out in 1301. At that time, Polish 
principalities were progressing towards reunion and were on the way to forming a king­
dom. Far away from this area, in their motherland, Constantinople regained its Byzantine 
identity. Whether it bothered them at all is a great question. They lived their lives outside 
this world. This testifies the power of Franciscan ideology, which spread to the secular 
domain. Such an intrusion of the Sacred into the Profane would have been rather incom­
prehensible to the Byzantine court. 
Dtugosz praises Kynga for her lifestyle and very rarely mentions the name of her 
mother, who appears in the source as the Greek Emperor 's daughter. The author of Vitae 
stresses that Kynga's mother was descended from emperors whose origin went back to 
Nero. He does it in order to provide Kynga with an ancient and honourable pedigree. It is 
also important in light of the fact that Kynga's role­model was Saint Catherine of Alex­
andria, a paragon of the virgin saint30. 
Feminists may say that Kynga was cut off from her own body and its needs. Having 
been denied genuine contact with her mother, she never developed the maternal instinct. 
Kynga and Yolanda tried to assert themselves as independent women, who chose God in 
order to evade the patriarchal male influence31. Women scholars who deal with similar 
cases in other countries but who do not define themselves as strong feminists would 
probably say that Kynga represented the ideal of maidenhood, which is described by 
chastity, being desired and intact32. Thus Kynga might be a model­girl for them. But the 
features of maidenhood in early years, generally youth, seem out of place in a mature 
woman of Kynga's political position. We do not know whether Kynga could have had 
children, as she denied her husband that possibility. And it was not merely a question of 
her private life, but also a public matter and Polish raison d'etat. Alienated from her 
38 Cf. A. M. TALBOT, Women (in:) The Byzantines, ed. G. CAVALLO, Chicago 1992, pp. 117-143. 
39 More about their activity: Z. BUDKOWA, Kunegunda, (in:) Polski Stownik Biograficzny, vol. XVI, Wroclaw 
1971, pp. 186-189; O. LASZCZYNSKA, Mania (in:) Ibidem, vol. XI, Wroclaw 1964-1965, pp. 264-265. 
M Vita Sanctae Kyngae, p. 684. 
31 Perhaps N. PARTNER would say it. Cf. N. PARTNER, NO Sex, No Gender, Speculum 68 (1993), pp. 389-443. 
13 K. M. PHILLIPS, Maidenhood as the Perfect Age of Woman's Life, (in:) Young Medieval Women, 
e d . K . J. LEWIS, N . J. MENUGE, K . M . PHILLIPS, N e w Y o r k 1 9 9 9 . 
201 
Malgorzata Dqbrowska 
Byzantine background, Kynga never brought Byzantine heritage into Poland. This was 
not new, because her mother also broke her connections with Byzantium. Due to their 
merits in the Latin world, Kynga was canonised some years ago and Yolanda is a blessed 
lady of the Church. 
When faced with Prof. Salamon's question as to whether Byzantine and Latin influ­
ences met in Poland, I can say "yes" from the genealogical point of view. But I would say 
"no", if I consider the biographies of the two ladies. The only Byzantine trace may be 
seen in the icon of Our Lady preserved in the Franciscan nunnery in Cracow. This icon 
was once shown to us by Prof. Rozycka­Bryzek. It seems to be an object, which was 
brought to Poland from Byzantium via Hungary through the aforementioned connec­
tions. This is certainly something of note for a Byzantine scholar. 
J 
202 


A Byzantine lady’s daughters in Poland

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A Byzantine lady’s daughters in Poland

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