Judith of Poland (, ; b. 1130/35 – died 8 July 1171/75) was a member of the

House of Piast The House of Piast was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. The first documented List of Polish monarchs, Polish monarch was Duke Mieszko I of Poland, Mieszko I (–992). The Poland during the Piast dynasty, Piasts' royal rule in Pol ...

and by marriage margravine of Brandenburg.

Early years

Judith was the daughter of Duke

Bolesław III Wrymouth Bolesław III Wrymouth (; 20 August 1086 – 28 October 1138), also known as Boleslaus the Wry-mouthed, was the duke of Lesser Poland, Silesia and Sandomierz between 1102 and 1107 and over the whole of Poland between 1107 and 1138. He was the onl ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

by his second wife, Salomea of Berg. She was probably named after either her paternal grandmother, Judith of Bohemia, or her older half-sister, the princess of Murom. Judith was one of the youngest children of her parents; her date of birth remains unknown. According to Polish medieval chronicles, she was sent to

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

as a bride of the son of King Béla II. According to the ''Annales Cracovienses Compilati'', this event took place in 1136; since it can be assumed that the Polish princess was younger than her betrothed, and also are known the birth dates of the youngest children of Bolesław III ( Agnes in 1137 and

Casimir Casimir is a Latin version of the Polish male name Kazimierz (). The original Polish feminine form is Kazimiera, in Latin and other languages rendered as Casimira. It has two possible meanings: "preacher of peace" or alternatively "destroyer of p ...

in 1138), Judith in consequence could have been born between 1130 and 1135. The marriage never took place: by 1146, the engagement was broken with the consent of both parties and Judith returned to Poland. The reason for this may have been the wedding of

Mieszko Mieszko is a Slavic given name of uncertain origin. Onomastics There are three major theories concerning the origin and meaning of the name of Duke Mieszko I of Poland. The most popular theory, proposed by Jan Długosz, explains that Mieszko is a ...

(Judith's brother) with the Hungarian princess Elisabeth (daughter of King Béla II), which sufficiently secured the Polish-Hungarian alliance.

Margravine of Brandenburg

Kruszwica Kruszwica () is a town in central Poland, in the Inowrocław County in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. It has a population of 9,161 (2010). Initially founded in the 6th century, Kruszwica is the oldest town in the region and features a medieva ...

on 6 January 1148 Judith married

Otto Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants '' Audo'', '' Odo'', '' Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded fr ...

, eldest son of

Albert the Bear Albert the Bear (; 1100 – 18 November 1170) was the first margrave of Brandenburg from 1157 to his death and was briefly duke of Saxony between 1138 and 1142. Life Albert was the only son of Otto, Count of Ballenstedt, and Eilika of Sa ...

, the first

Margrave of Brandenburg This article lists the Margraves and Electors of Brandenburg during the time when Brandenburg was a constituent state of the Holy Roman Empire. The Mark, or ''March'', of Brandenburg was one of the primary constituent states of the Holy Roman Emp ...

. This union was contracted in connection with the Ascanian efforts to support the Junior Dukes in opposition to King

Conrad III of Germany Conrad III (; ; 1093 or 1094 – 15 February 1152) of the Hohenstaufen dynasty was from 1116 to 1120 Duke of Franconia, from 1127 to 1135 anti-king of his predecessor Lothair III, and from 1138 until his death in 1152 King of the Romans in t ...

, who supported the deposed High Duke Władysław II as legal ruler of

. During her marriage, she bore her husband two sons,

(who later succeeded his father as Margrave of Brandenburg) in 1149, and Henry (who inherited the Counties of

Tangermünde Tangermünde (; ) is a historic town on the Elbe River in the district of Stendal (district), Stendal, in the northeastern part of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The town has land area of around 89.87 sq.km (34.70 sq.mi) and a population of 10,283 people ...

and

Gardelegen Gardelegen (; ) is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Milde (river), Milde, 20 m. W. from Stendal, on the main line of railway Berlin-Hanover. History Gardelegen has a Roman Catholic and three Evangelical c ...

) in 1150. Nothing is known about the political role that Judith had to play in Germany. After his father's death in 1170, Otto became the second Margrave of Brandenburg and Judith the Margravine consort.

Death and aftermath

Like her birth date, Judith's date of death remains unknown. Only the day, 8 July, is known thanks to the ''Regesta Historia Brandenburgensis'', which records the death in "''VIII Id Jul''" of "''Juditha marchionissa gemma Polonorum''". By contrast, the year of death can be determined only through indirect sources. In documents from 1170 Judith is named as a living person. It is assumed that Judith died between 1171 and 1175. She was buried in the Brandenburg Cathedral. Judith's oldest son, Otto II, inherited the Margraviate of Brandenburg after the death of his father in 1184. He never married or had children; because his brother Henry died before him (in 1192) also without issue, after Otto II's death in 1205 Brandenburg was inherited by his younger half-brother Albert II, son of Otto I and Ada.K. Jasiński, ''Rodowód pierwszych Piastów'', Poznań 2004, p. 258 and O. Balzer, ''Genealogia Piastów'', Kraków 2005, p. 958, considered Albert II as the third son of Judith and Otto I; however, this is contradicted by the majority of German historiography.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Judith of Poland Piast dynasty 1130s births 1170s deaths Year of birth uncertain Year of death uncertain Polish Roman Catholics Mothers of German monarchs Princesses of Poland Margravines of Brandenburg 12th-century Polish women 12th-century Polish people House of Ascania