The death of Otto of Brandenburg complicated again Ryksa's situation, because as the only child of the last male member of the Piast Greater Poland line and the first King in almost two centuries, she was the perfect match for every contender to the Polish crown. For this, when King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia (a widower since 1297) received from the lords of Greater Poland the offer of marriage with the princess, he didn't think too much, and even before his own coronation as King of Poland on 25 July 1300 in Gniezno, Ryksa was sent to Prague.
Because of her youth, Wenceslaus II decided to delay the wedding until Ryksa was fifteen years-old. During this time, she was placed under the care of Gryfina of Halych, widow of Leszek II the Black and aunt of the Bohemian King.
The marriage between Ryksa and Wenceslaus II took place on 26 May 1303 in Prague Cathedral. During the ceremony, Ryksa was crowned Queen consort of Bohemia and Poland, and at the request of her husband, she adopted the name Elisabeth, because her name was not used in Bohemia and seen as strange. The ceremony was performed with the consent of the Archbishops of Mainz and Gniezno and the Bishop of Wrocław, Henryk z Wierzbnej.
Two years later, on 15 June 1305, Queen Elizabeth gave birth to her only child, a daughter named Agnes. Only six days later, on 21 June, King Wenceslaus II died in Prague, probably of tuberculosis. The seventeen-year-old Elizabeth, now Queen Dowager, received several lands as her dowry and 20,000 pieces of fine silver.
Elizabeth's stepson Wenceslaus III (also a claimant to the throne of Hungary) succeeded to the thrones of both Bohemia and Poland but was murdered on 4 August 1306 in Olomouc and with him the Premyslid dynasty became extinct. The Kujavian branch of the Piast dynasty ascended to the Polish throne.
With the death of her stepson, the position of Elizabeth again changed considerably, because as Queen Dowager, she was involved in the fight for the vacant Bohemian throne. Duke Rudolph III of Austria and Styria, son of King Albert I of Germany, finally could take the crown thanks to his father's help. In order to strengthen his position, he asked the hand of Elizabeth, both widow and stepmother of the last two Premyslid Kings as his Queen but she declined.
Instead of accepting the marriage with Rudolf, she arranged her marriage with Stephen of Kuyavia as well as the marriage of her stepdaughter, Margaret of Bohemia to Wladyslaw of Kuyavia both sons of Wladyslaw the Elbowhigh, the defacto King of Poland, the marriage was opposed by the Habsburgs and Carinthians.
to be continued...