rania* to the kingdom of Poland, by getting himself declared heir to Mestuinus who possessed it, but who had no issue.

In a short time after his Coronation, Przemislaus was assassinated in his own Palace by some emissaries of the marquis of Brandenburgh, who could not bear the superiority he had acquired in getting himself crowned king of Poland, and who was likewise angry with him for having caused his wife Luccardis, who was his sister, to be strangled, upon suspecting her to have been unfaithful to his bed.

Przemislaus left one daughter behind him, who at his death was but eight years old, and whose name was Rischa.†

After his death, the Prelates and Barons met at Posnania, and though there was much opposition in favour of Rischa, yet at last they

* Whenever Pomerania is mentioned here you are to understand that, it is Pomerania Minor or Pomerellia, which is now a part of Royal Prussia belonging to Poland.

+. She is called sometimes Riska, sometimes Elizabeth in French historians.-Ed.

chose Uladislaus, Duke of Cujavia, who was the sixth in descent from Boleslaus the second, for their king; but he never took that title, but always styled himself Hæres Poloniæ.

This prince was deposed in the year 1300, and the Crown transferred to Wenceslaus king of Bohemia, who at the same time married Rischa, daughter of Przemislaus.

But Uladislaus, after having been stripped of his crown and his hereditary dominions, was driven out of the kingdom and fled into Hungary, and from thence to Rome. From whence (says my author) after having repented of his sins, and had pardon for them, he returned into Hungary, and soon after with a small force entered Poland in the year 1304, where, finding some few Poles come into his assistance, he seized upon some castles; and just at that time very luckily for him Wenceslaus died at Prague in the year 1305.

It is said of him that he governed Poland well, though he was generally absent, and he

was the first prince that, for the conveniency of traffic, introduced the German Gross (which is about seven farthings English) into Poland.

But, under his reign, that kingdom, without any war, suffered a more grievous blow than ever it had before felt. The prince being sovereign of Bohemia as well as Poland, the nobles of Silesia shook off the Polish government, and declared themselves vassals and subjects to the kings of Bohemia, and were incorporated into that kingdom, which, I suppose, was very agreeable to Wenceslaus; and from that time until very lately, Silesia has always belonged to Bohemia.

Uladislaus, after the death of Wenceslaus, got possession of Little Poland and part of Pomerania; and while the son of Wenceslaus was making preparations to march against him, he was stabbed at Olmutz in Moravia. After his death, Great Poland fell under the government of Henry, duke of Glogau in Silesia, and the whole kingdom of Poland being thus divided,

neither of the princes took the title of king upon them.

About this time, the marquis of Brandenburgh got possession of the town, and laid siege to the castle of Dantzic; but the knights of the Teutonic Order agreed with Uladislaus for a sum of money to raise the siege, which they did; but Uladislaus never paid them the sum agreed for, and for the payment of which that whole district, called Pomerellia, was put into their hands; and they afterwards possessed themselves entirely of that province, by paying the marquis of Brandenburgh ten thousand marks to compensate his claims upon that province. But if Uladislaus lost on one side, he greatly gained on the other; for, upon the death of Henry, duke of Glogau, and sovereign of Great Poland, which happened in the year 1309, Uladislaus possessed himself of Great Poland, since which time all Poland has continued under one prince; and, in the year 1320, Uladislaus was crowned king at Cracow, by the hands of the archbishop of Gnesna.

The Pope at this time sent to the knights of the Teutonic Order to yield up Pomerellia to Uladislaus, but they refused to obey; upon which the king of Poland made war upon them for two years, which ended in the year 1332, by a truce for one year.

After this, Uladislaus made an incursion and ravaged the march of Brandenburgh, and afterwards turned his arms towards Silesia, with a design to re-conquer that province, but in vain; for, returning from that unsuccessful expedition in the year 1333, he died in the castle of Cracow, leaving behind him one son, who was Casimir the Great.

The Poles, upon the death of Uladislaus, assembled at Cracow, where the prelates and barons (according to their historians) chose Casimir for their king. And to prove that he came to the crown by election, they make his brother-in-law, Charles, king of Hungary, interest himself very much in his election. Though they do not name, or pretend to say, there was any competitor, they go so far as to