page_title: Bolesław III Wrymouth
section_title: Struggle for the supremacy (1102–06)
hierarchical_section_title: Bolesław III Wrymouth / First years of government / Struggle for the supremacy (1102–06)
caption_attribution_description: English: The map of division of Polish Duchy in 1102, after death of Władysław I Herman. Polski: Mapa podziału Księstwa Polskiego w 1102, po śmierci Władysława I Hermana
context_page_description: Bolesław III Wrymouth, was the duke of Lesser Poland, Silesia and Sandomierz between 1102 and 1107 and over the whole Poland between 1107 and 1138. He was the only child of Duke Władysław I Herman and his first wife, Judith of Bohemia.
  Bolesław began to rule in the last decade of the 11th century, when the central government in Poland was significantly weakened. Władysław I Herman fell under the political dependence of the Count palatine Sieciech, who became the real ruler of the country. Backed by their father, Boleslaw and his half-brother Zbigniew finally expelled Sieciech from the country in 1101, after several years of fighting. After the death of Władysław I Herman in 1102, two independent states were created ruled by Bolesław and Zbigniew.
  Bolesław sought to gain Pomerania which caused an armed conflict between the brothers, and forced Zbigniew to flee the country and seek military help from King Henry V of Germany. Bolesław punished Zbigniew by blinding him. This action caused outrage among supporters of Zbigniew, resulting in a political crisis in Poland.
context_section_description: Władysław I Herman died on 4 June 1102. The country was divided into two provinces, each administered by one of the late prince's sons. The extent of each province closely resembled the provinces that the princes were granted by their father three years earlier, the only difference being that Zbigniew also controlled Mazovia with its capital at Płock, effectively ruling the northern part of the kingdom, while his younger half-brother Bolesław ruled its southern portion. In this way two virtually separate states were created. According to some historians, Zbigniew tried to play the role of princeps or overlord, because at that time Bolesław was only 16 years old. Because he was still too inexperienced to independently direct his domains, the local nobility gathered around him took great influence in the political affairs, included his teacher, Skarbimir from the Awdaniec family.
  They conducted separate policies internally as well as externally. They each sought alliances, and sometimes they were enemies of one another. Such was the case with Pomerania, towards which Bolesław aimed his ambitions. Zbigniew, whose country bordered Pomerania, wished to maintain good relations with his northern neighbor. Bolesław, eager to expand his dominion, organized several raids into Pomerania and Prussia. In Autumn of 1102 Bolesław organized a war party into Pomerania during which his forces sacked Białogard.
  As reprisal the Pomeranians sent retaliatory war parties into Polish territory, but as Pomerania bordered Zbigniew's territory these raids ravaged the lands of the prince who was not at fault. Therefore, in order to put pressure on Bolesław, Zbigniew allied himself with Bořivoj II of Bohemia, to whom he promised to pay tribute in return for his help. By aligning himself with Bolesław's southern neighbor Zbigniew wished to compel Bolesław to cease his raids into Pomerania. Bolesław, on the other hand, allied himself with Kievan Rus and Hungary. His marriage to Zbyslava, the daughter of Sviatopolk II Iziaslavich in 1103, was to seal the alliance between himself and the prince of Kiev. However, Bolesław's first diplomatic move was to recognize Pope Paschal II, which put him in strong opposition to the Holy Roman Empire. A later visit of papal legate Gwalo, Bishop of Beauvais brought the church matters into order, it also increased Bolesław's influence.
  Zbigniew declined to attend the marriage of Bolesław and Zbyslava. He saw this union and the alliance with Kiev as a serious threat. Thanks to bribery, he therefore prevailed upon his ally, Bořivoj II of Bohemia to invade Bolesław's province, ostensibly to claim the Polish crown. Bolesław retaliated with expeditions into Moravia in 1104–05, which brought the young prince not only loot, but also effectively disintegrated the alliance of Pomeranians and Zbigniew. During the return of the army, one part commanded by Żelisław were defeated by the Bohemians. Bolesław, who commanded the other part of the army, couldn't defeated them. Skarbimir, thanks to bribery, could stopped Bořivoj II. With a vast amount of money, the Bohemian ruler returned to his homeland and was concluded a short-lived peace with Bohemia. Then Bořivoj II ended his alliance with Zbigniew. In order to paralyze the alliance of Pomerania and his older brother, Bolesław carried out multiple attacks on northern land in 1103 (the battle of Kołobrzeg, where was defeated), and in 1104–05, ended with success.
  The intervention of Bolesław in the dynastic dispute in Hungary led him in a difficult political situation. At first, he supported the pretender Álmos, and marched to Hungary to help him. However, during the siege of Abaújvár in 1104, Álmos changed his mind and made peace conversations with his brother and rival King Coloman, at that point Zbigniew's ally. Bolesław then retired his troops from Hungary and in 1105 made a treaty with Coloman. It was decided then that Bolesław didn't support Álmos against the alliance Coloman-Zbigniew. In addition, the Hungarian King broke his agreements with the Bohemian Kingdom. The dynastic d
caption: Division of Poland between Bolesław (red) and Zbigniew (green)
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