Henry II the Pious
Władysław was the fifth and youngest son of the Silesian duke Henry II the Pious, by his wife Anna, daughter of the Přemyslid king Ottokar I of Bohemia. The Silesian Piasts, elder line of the Polish ruling Piast dynasty, had been restored into their Silesian heritage by the aid of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in 1163. Władysław's grandfather, Duke Henry the Bearded, also regained the Seniorate Province and the Polish Crown as High Duke in 1232.