Blessed be the Virtuous – A Polish TL

Blessed be the Virtuous – A Polish TL

Note: The version in the CF.net is more of a Polish wank but in this version Henry IV takes the OTL path of Wladyslaw the Elbowhigh.

Prologue
In late 1287, Henry the Virtuous, the the Duke of Silesia – in Wroclaw decided to strengthen his rule in Lower Silesia, making Wladyslaw the Elbowhigh the High duke of Poland after the death of Leszek the Black on 1288.
In 1288 He decided to get repudiate his wife, Constance of Opole by sending her to a nunnery and married Hedwig of Kalisz in 1289, Constance of Opole would die in a nunnery due to grief later on.
Hedwig of Kalisz gives birth to a daughter named Elisabeth in 1290.
Vladislav the Elbowhigh is attacked and killed by Wenceslaus II of Bohemia who takes the Duchy of Krakow due to him claiming the throne of Poland due to him being the nephew of Leszek the Black, in the same time Przemysl II was able to gain Gdansk Pomerania – both Henry the Virtuous, Premislaus II and their allies refused to submit to Wenceslaus II – only the the Dukes of Upper Silesia(with the exception of the Duke of Opole) and Mazovia supported Wenceslaus II, Premislaus II is crowned as the King of Poland.
On 1295, Premislaus II dies in battle with Wenceslaus II due to him contesting the throne of Poland to Wenceslaus II, now the only man that can save Poland is Henry IV of Wroclaw, Greater Poland and Pomerellia is now under the nobles which hold the regency for Richeza of Greater Poland who is currently engaged to the son of Wenceslaus II, it is revealed that Premislaus II made an inheritance pact with Henry the Virtuous of Wroclaw.
Henry the Virtuous proclaimed himself as the rightful successor of Premislaus II in 1296.
In this time, Wenceslaus II has an ally with Boleslaw of Mazovia the husband of his sister, Kunigunde, the Dukes of Legnica, Swidnica-Jawor, Dukes of Bytom, Raciborz and Cieszyn while the vassals of Henry the Virtuous are the Dukes of Kuyavia, Opole, Scinawa and Glogow.
This is a difficult time ahead for Henry IV due to Wenceslaus II having most of Poland but the history will be more kind to Henry the Virtuous.
On 1298, Hedwig of Kalisz finally gave birth to the most awaited heir, a son named Henry, who will be a well-known monarch in Europe, she dies a few months after the birth of the son – Henry the virtuous said that “She died in Greatness” and held her in his arms and cried for her death.
He remarries to a Lithuanian princess baptized as Maria.
In 1304 Henry IV, taking advantage of the lack of support to Wenceslaus II and with the support of the Duke of Opole, Henry IV entered and occupied Lesser Poland with an army of his supporters. He also conquered Pomerania around Danzig, but since he did not win the favor of the local lords and settlers from Brandenburg who had migrated to that area, he was forced to give up the idea of complete control of the Baltic coast.
Wenceslaus II dies due to tuberculosis in 1305 and his son, Wenceslaus III dies due to being assassinated on 1306 which plunges the Kingdom of Bohemia into anarchy for a decade until Elisabeth of Bohemia marries John of Luxembourg.
Henry, by the grace of God Duke of the Kingdom of Poland, lord and heir of the land of Wroclaw, Wielun, Krakow, Sandomierz, Sieradz, Leczyca, Pomerania (Pomerelia).

Galicia-Volhynia
In 1292, Lev I of Galicia defeated Poland and added Lublin with surrounding areas to the territory of Galicia-Volhynia. At the time of Lev's death in 1301, the state of Galicia-Volhynia was at the height of its power.
This was not easy due to Wenceslaus II also claiming the Lublin area, but after his death there is no threat to Galicia-Volhynia owning Lublin and both Henry of Carinthia who rules Bohemia and Henry the Virtuous who holds most of Poland are both weak to re-annex Lublin back to the Polish throne, the Poles living in Lublin are living a kind of Limbo and under foreign occupation.
Yuri I of Galicia reconquered Black Ruthenia from Lithuania causing the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to lose Navahrudak and its crippling and destruction in the hands of the Teutonic Order, in this time the Principality of Polotsk is under the control of the Sword Brothers and the Archbishop of Riga.
Lithuania is just reduced to its ethnic lands and is very weak and impossible to lead a reunification of the Rus lands and supposedly it was said that it would be a great power in Eastern Europe if Galicia-Volhynia is weakened.

Anarchy in Bohemia and the coronation of Henry IV as King of Poland
On 1305, months after the death of Wenceslaus II, Elisabeth Richeza gives birth to a son, named Przemyslaw the Posthumous, her step children knew nothing about the birth of the child since Elisabeth Richeza resided in a convent at that time so the child’s birth was concealed.


On 1310, the two sisters, Anna and Elizabeth fight for the throne of Bohemia with their husbands Henry of Carinthia and Henry of , while Elisabeth Richeza flees to the court of Henry IV the Virtuous, the former enemy of her husband, while the eldest daughter of Henry IV the Virtuous married the Rudolf of Austria to strengthen the Polish-Austrian alliance.



This would start the civil war in Bohemia in 1312, due to Henry IV the Virtuous having the custody of the only surviving male Premyslid named Przemyslaw.



The expansion of the Galicia-Volhynia meant that the Polish monarch could only focus west and the first thing that Henry IV did as the Duke of Krakow was to war with the Upper Silesian Dukes who are allied with Bohemia.
In this case, a civil war is about to happen or soon to happen in Bohemia and one of the people claiming the Bohemian throne is under the thumb of Henry the Virtuous and the Habsburgs.


Elisabeth of Bohemia and John of Luxembourg defeats their enemy, Anna of Bohemia and Henry of Carinthia and became the rulers of Bohemia.


The children of Wenceslaus II have interesting marriages
Anne – Henry of Carinthia


Elisabeth – John of Luxembourg


Margaret – Andrew of Galicia


Elisabeth of Bohemia thought they could rule Bohemia securely that is what they thought…


In 1315, with the support of Pope Boniface IX, Henry IV the Virtuous is finally crowned as the King of Poland, however, he does not have Upper Silesia except for Opole but he has the Dukes of Opole and Kuyavia as vassals as the King of Poland, this ended the fragmentation of Poland, he is recognized as Henry the Restorer or Henry I of Poland.