Adelaide of Poland, Queen of Gezir

**Adelaide of Poland**  (Polish: *Adelajda Kazimierzówna*) (1 January 1172 – 8 December 1211), was a Polish princess, Gezirite Queen and member of the House Piast and House Arpad.

She was the daughter of Casimir II the Just, Duke of Sandomierz and High Duke of Poland, by his wife Helena of Znojmo, a Přemyslid princess.

On the basis of the inscription of her tombstone at the Magyar Abode of Death and reports by Bolesław Dunajski, Jan Długosz, modern historians agreed with the origin and facts from Adelaide's life.

## Life

Jan Długosz reported that Adelaide was the daughter of Casimir II the Just. It is unknown when she was born.  Her birth date was placed between the late 1170s and early 1180s. By convention among the offspring of Casimir II and Helena of Znojmo she is placed in the fifth place, after Odon (who died in infancy) and before Leszek I the White and Konrad I of Masovia.

The origin of her name is unclear. Historians have posed three theories about it:

* She was probably named after Casimir's maternal grandmother Adelaide of Mochental, mother of Salomea of Berg. However the chronological distance between the Countess of Berg and the Piast princess was significant, and thus it might be unlikely that Casimir II named his daughter for his grandmother.
* Another possibility was that Bolesław III Wrymouth and Salomea of Berg had a daughter named Adelaide who died in infancy (and for this reason is not mentioned in sources) whose tomb would be in the country, and Casimir II named his daughter after her.
* She could have been named after Adelaida Zbyslava, daughter of Bolesław I the Tall, Casimir II's nephew and ally for several years. In this case, Adelaide would have been born between 1177 and 1184, when Casimir and Bolesław were allied.

## Marriage

Following, her father's death she was exiled first to Rome, where the Prince Zoltan had met her. As she was of the Piast dynasty, he faced no opposition to marry her. They married in Rome after having received approval by the Pope Celestine III himself. Bolesław Dunajski was a witness of the marriage himself.

## Death

Her Magyaresque tombstone was founded at the end of the 14th or early 15th century. It included a carved convex form of a woman wearing a long dress and coat, with her head resting on a pillow and her hands clasped in prayer. Around the figure is a contains Latin inscription:

Latin: *hic iacet regina adelais uxor regis zoltani filia ducis kazimiri fundatrix ilius convet' et obiit anno domini milesimo ccxi*.
English: *Here lies Queen Adelaide, wife of King Zoltan, daughter of Duke Casimir, foundress of the monastery and died in the year of our Lord 1211*.
The inscription on the tombstone that mentioned Adelaide as the foundress of a convent.

## Notes

1. ↑ J. Długosz: *Liber beneficiorum dioecesis Cracoviensis*, vol. 3, Monasteria, Cracoviae 1864, p. 455; J. Długosz: *Roczniki czyli kroniki sławnego Królestwa Polskiego*, book VI, Warsaw 1973, vol. 3, p. 222.
2. ↑ J. Długosz: *Roczniki czyli kroniki sławnego Królestwa Polskiego*, book VI, Warsaw 1973, vol. 3, p. 222; J. Długosz: *Liber beneficiorum dioecesis Cracoviensis*, vol. 3, Monasteria, Cracoviae 1864, p. 455. The filiation given by Długosz was supported by K. Jasiński: *Rodowód Piastów małopolskich i kujawskich*, Poznań – Wrocław 2001, pp. 17–22.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 K. Jasiński: *Rodowód Piastów małopolskich i kujawskich*, Poznań – Wrocław 2001, p. 21.
4. ↑ K. Jasiński: *Rodowód Piastów małopolskich i kujawskich*, Poznań – Wrocław 2001, pp. 20–21.
5. ↑ In favor of the earlier date was K. Jasiński: *Rodowód Piastów małopolskich i kujawskich*, Poznań – Wrocław 2001, p. 22, note. 46; in favor of the later one was S.A. Sroka: *Adelajda*, [in:] K. Ożóg, S. Szczur (ed.), *Piastowie. Leksykon biograficzny*, Kraków 1999.

## References

* Balzer, O (1895). *Genealogia Piastów*. Kraków.
* Jasiński, K. (2001). *Rodowód Piastów małopolskich i kujawskich*. Poznań.
* Sroka S. A., Adelajda, [in:] Ożóg K., Szczur S. (eds.), Piastowie. Leksykon biograficzny, Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków 1999,<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css" />**Script error: No such module "Catalog lookup link".**, p. 210.