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Actually! Sigismund I was called "the old" because his son ruled as a monarch alongside him for some time. Since both of them were named "Sigismund" everyone just stared to called one of them "the old" :) P.S. You did a great job on pronauncing our names!

Meanwhile in the alternative reality Polish-Swedish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was the most baddas thing ever. Such a shame it didn't happen.

I would like to highlight the fact that Sigismund the old's Queen and wife was Bona Sforza, daughter of the Duke of Milan, so there's a connection with Italy there!

Fun fact: Władysław, Vladislav, Ladislav, Ladislaus (also László in Hungarian), which we see commonly among the names of the Polish, Bohemian and Hungarian rulers, are all variations of the same name. Fun fact 2: Frederick Augustus I is a bit forgotten in the Polish collective historical memory as the sort of Polish monarch. I suspect that most people when asked "who was the ruler of the Duchy of Warsaw?" would probably answer "Prince Józef Poniatowski, right?". He was a nephew of the last Polish king, a member of the Government of the Duchy of Warsaw as the Minister of War and commander of its army. He was also the only commander among Napoleon's non-French allies and auxiliaries made a Marshal of the Empire, shortly before his death in battle of Leipzig. Also, "duke" and "prince" is one word in Polish.

As a native Pole I am deeply grateful for taking time to make this very informative video! It's always so nice and fun to see people talk about our history and culture, despite a few minor pronunciation errors ;) I think that if we were to restore the monarchy, there would be a strong push from the society for the monarch to be of polish noble roots, someone from the house of Czartoryski or house of Radziwiłł would be a suitable candidate.

I'm pretty sure that 'w's in Polish are pronounced like English 'v's...

Fun fact: the Polish monarchy became elective monarchy after the death of King Jadwiga, as her death marked the end of the original royal dynasty, that being the Piast dynasty. Władysław Jagiełło actually had to convince the nobility by giving them special privileges to let him stay on the throne. All the Jagiellonian kings afterwards were elected kings, it's just that the Jagellonian dynasty was so strong that the nobles never considered electing the king from any other dynasty, up to the point when Jagellonian dynasty also ended. The elective monarchy actually have ended with the Constitution of 3rd May, where it was stated that after death of king Stanisław Poniatowski, the monarchy would become inherited once again, with the title given to the House of Wettin. So, the crown would rightfully belong to the current head of House of Wettin, just as you said, but it would be actually inherited.

History of Piast dynasty is real Game of Thrones :)

Henry de Valois never abdicated, poland nobility dethrone him, but he was using title "King of Poland" as long as he lived.

Fun fact: there’s a Mexican writer named Elena Poniatowska, she is relative of king Stanislaw the second, that’s because she is a direct descendant of one of the king brother’s, so she probably would be queen of Poland. One ironic thing about her is that even though she has a royal background, part of her work is written about the communism.

If everything went good in history Poland, Lithuania, Russia and Sweden etc. could end up be ruled by one person.

Fun fact: During the first World War the Central Powers, in an attempt to gain polish support, declared they would create a "self-governing" Kingdom of Poland. A regency council and most institutions needed for a country were even established but as we know the war ended in a way that Poland declared full independence and itself a Republic. Germany and Austro-Hungary argued a lot about whom the king should be with the Habsburgs initially wanting it to become another addition to their monarchy (turning it into the Austro-Hungarian-Polish monarchy) before promoting the Prince of Zywiec, Karl Stephan Habsburg-Lorraine. However, as Karl and his children considered themselves to be Polish he was not popular with Germany who instead promoted Albrecht Wurttemberg. Karl was the prefered candidates of Polish monarchists.

18:25 I think that most of Polish monarchists would opt for "king from Piast family", so they would choose person from house Czartoryski, Wiśniowiecki or Sobieski instead of Wettin or other foreign dynasty

According to long lasted tradition the modern king of Poland would be a persone who would offer Poles the most of new privilages (and of course accepted the privilages that were given to them before)

Long live Poland! Greetings from Hungary brothers!

Przemysł II's line was not the "main" line of the Piasts. The most senior branches ruled in Silesia. Per Bolesław III's will, the senior duke of Poland was supposed to be his eldest male-line descendant, regardless of the seniority of the line, but that system collapsed over time, so in the end the claim to the Polish throne was based more on the territories held. By the way, Alexander, like his father, was also grand duke of Lithuania before becoming king of Poland. Also, I find it weird that Michael I's father, Jarema Wiśniowiecki is missing from the chart, while some other fathers of the elective kings are present. He was quite a prominent historical figure.

The king Michael I from house of Wiśniowiecki was actually a descended from Piast dynasty through his mother. He was a great-great-great-grandson of Anna of Masovia. She was the sister of the last Masovia dukes.

Finally Poland's rich history... I knew about them but to see them in your chart, the connections and context it all puts it in really helps having a better understanding of history Can't wait for the genealogy colab thing! I'm in! Great stuff Matt.

It is worth noting that the Polish Constitution of the Third May (1791), the first European constitution and the greatest political success of Stanisław II Poniatowski (in spite of it being revoked by Russians and their supporters only two years later following a war) has turned the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth into a hereditary kingdom of Poland with the Wettins becoming the official ruling dynasty following Poniatowski's death, so that's another thing worth remembering when discussing the strength of the Saxon claim.

As Pole who is interested in history, I can write this video is well made with no major mistakes. But I want to explain something about Polish monarchism. Our elected monarchy is exceptional and unique, but it also means we do not have any legitimate heir. Some argue for Wettins but Constitution of 3rd May after 3rd partition was neglected ( Poland ceased to exist). There is also idea that Romanovs are legitimate heirs after Congress of Vienna but it is rather impossible ( due to our relations with Russia). Polish monarchists have a really big problem with presenting the candidate but there are some propositions ( even the idea to choose a new king who will create new dynasty).

There is a legend that Bolesław Chrobry could become a king after the Holy Roman Emperor, Otto III visited Poland and famously put his crown on Bolesław's head as a symbol of recognizing him as a true ruler and blessing him to become the king of Poland.

Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, was a descendant of Maurice and Zofia Hauke. Maurycy was a general of the Polish Army, Zofia came from the Lafontaine family. They had eleven children, eight of whom survived. This group included Julia Hauke, whose son - Ludwik Aleksander - married the granddaughter of Queen Victoria (Victoria Heska). And here Polish and British families meet. Prince Philip is the grandson of Ludwik and Victoria of Hesse. Hence also Prince Charles and his sons and grandchildren.

Strictly speaking, Polish throne was elective since the introduction of Jagiellons on the throne. That the next elected king always happened to be the new Grand Duke of Lithuania (dynastic heir of the late monarch) was more of an unspoken rule to prolong the union, which could theoretically change at electors' whim. Sigismund I the Old got his nickname because his manipulative Italian wife Bona Sforza managed to push for "vivente rege" election and had their son elected while Sigismund was still alive, just to make sure he gets elected at all.

To be fair, I don't think Poland would ever choose any king that would be considered more German than Polish. They would probably look into the noble families of Poland such as Poniatowski or Leszczynski rather than those from the house of Wettin.

The Polish-lithuanian commonwealth was one of the most interesting states to exist with one of the most interesting badass unit - the winged hussars. Elected monarchys are very interesting, pretty rare in Europe. Quite common in the gaelic realms. Scotland was originally a semi-elected monarchy. Ireland also had a high King

As a Pole, I enjoyed this video a lot! Although the names are sometimes in Polish, and sometimes in English versions - maybe it would be a good idea to choose only one for consistency? If we were to restore the monarchy, I'm pretty sure we'd choose someone from the houses Czartoryski, Radziwiłł, Zamoyski, Lubomirski or other noble families. I'd love to see a video tracking down a theoretical heir from the Jagiellonian dynasty, though! Their reign is seen as the golden age in Poland.

I would like to suggest that the father of King Michał Wiśniowiecki deserves to be shown in the chart at least as much as the one of Jan Sobieski, as he is much more recognisable due to his role in major historic events and presence in national culture. It's not a criticism, just an idea.

You forgot a very very important marriage. Mieszko I's daughter Świętosława was the wife of Eric the Victorious (Erik Segersall), the king of Sweden and after his death, still being the queen widow of Sweden she married Swyen Forkbeard, king of Denmark. She was the mother of Olof Skotkonung and Cnut the Great, thus she was at the same time queen of Denmark and queen mother of Sweden and England :)

fun fact about henry de valois. He saw toilet for the first time when he arrived in poland and when he run away he stole forks to make his life easier back in france I suppose

11:09 Sigismund I was actually called ‘the Old’ to distinguish him from his son Sigismund II, as in Sigismund the elder and Sigismund the younger

Love these videos sitting in my hotel in Thailand relaxing and not having any TV channels worth watching...thanks for yet another cool video

King Boleslav II (called 'Courageous' or 'Generous') had a rightful, juvenile son - Mieszko. He was probably poisoned by his uncle - Vladislav Herman. Funny fact - there was mentioned in chronicles that there was a battalion of Polish spearmen that probably took a part in the Battle of Hastings.

I've been waiting so long for this video, u do not dissapoint ;) thanks

Your videos truly is my high point of the week. Thx Matt😊

We could also choose one of the polish dynasites which were important noble families, or house of Habsburg. After WW I There was a line of Habsburgs which controlled Żywiec (now city in Poland) and knew Polish language, also some of them were fighting for polish army as volunteers in WW2

Yeah, there's a better candidate for the polish throne. His name is Janusz Korwin-Mikke.

Splendid! I enjoyed it very much. Great job💎👏🏻💕🙋🏼‍♀️

boleslao :D sounds like a brazilian football star

Who would have thought (maybe just me)? So many intricate connections from all over the place (Europe). That’s why I love history. Thank you for the great content!

Finally I've been waiting for this since I found this channel

Good job! And I'm particularly glad you did the research how to ponounce things.

I recently was informed that my grandmother on my fathers side was the princess of Poland. Sadly, I know very little more then that besides my father was born in the US but was given diplomatic immunity by the military once he joined. Thank you for this video, I enjoyed it!!

As a polish man who did not sleep on history, i can confirm

I wish it was possible to show the changes of boundaries along with the changes of rulers and royal family trees.

Hyped for your own family vid!

I don't think that, anyone in Poland would accept German king.

I came here to hear him saying old polish names.... It was worth it😂😂😂

Thank you for sharing a history about my country. Polish history is very rich.

Greeting from Poland. Thank You for this video and your work

looking forward to seeing your family tree.

15:10 THEN THE WINGED HUSSARS ARRIVED!

Good to see some of my mother's historical family names mentioned in this video... Kazimer (Casimir), Stanislawski (Stanislaw), and Sobieski. My mom always said she had Polish ancestry but also Lithuanian and Latvian.

It may be little weird, but Bolesław may be represented in English sounds as Boleswav with "w" like in walkie talkie an "v" as in "Victory".

Fun facts. Where to start... - according to various sources, Mieszko was preceded by three dukes from Piast dynasty: Siemowit, Lestek and Siemomysł, the last one being Mieszko's father. Siemowit was elected Duke of Goplans after its previous ruler, Popiel (who depending on the version of the legend could have been either duke or king, as well as had Germanic or Viking roots) was eaten by mice (or struck by lightning, legends vary again) for his tyrannic rule (backed once again by contradictory examples in different versions of the legend). Piasts eventually changed the name of the tribe from Goplans to Polans, after which Poland was named. - Mieszko married again with Holy Roman Emperor's daughter Oda and had two sons from this marriage. All three of them were exiled by Bolesław by first occasion. - it is said that HRE Otto III crowned Bolesław with his own diadem during his visit in Gniezno, therefore showing his approval for Bolesław becoming a king. According to one legend, he even ordered the crown for him, but it was stolen by Hungarians, who crowned their duke Stephen a king instead. - Mieszko II was Bolesław's second oldest living son. The first, Bezprim, was sent to monastery by his father, but eventually escaped and rebelled, starting the Polish civil war. With the help of HRE Conrad II and Duke of Kiev Yaroslav the Wise (concretely their forces) he deposed Mieszko and as a sign of gratitude forced Mieszko's wife Richeza to bring the Emperor Polish royal insignia, this way abandoning the right to be king for Polish monarchs. Bezprim quickly ended up murdered and his allies decided to split Poland between Mieszko, his younger brother Otto and nephew Dietrich. Mieszko eventually deposed the rivals, but then died. His son Casimir was almost immediately deposed by nobles rebellion, followed by peasants rebellion against nobles and clergy, followed by a noble named Maslav declaring himself ruler of Mazovia, followed by Czech prince Bretislav plundering Gniezno and occupying Silesia, TL;DR chaos. Casimir, with the help of HRE and Duke of Kiev, eventually restored order and moved capital to Cracow. - Bolesław II was crowned in 1076. Pope Gregory VII gave his permission for this after Bolesław widely declared his support for Dictatus Papae. - Władysław I is a serious contender for a title of worst Polish ruler. He started to pay tribute to Czechs (recompensation for reclaiming Silesia agreed between Casimir and the emperor; Bolesław II stopped paying it, but nobody seemed to have issue with it), built residence in Płock and was spending far more time there than in capital and basically willingly became a figurehead while his palatin Zetech ruled the kingdom however he liked. He also imprisoned his sons on Zetech's wish. - Bolesław III split the country on purpose. He spent half of reign on civil war with his brother Zbigniew and wanted to avoid similar conflict between his sons. He did want Poland to remain a single state though, so he developed a system that was giving the eldest member of the house of Piast (senior) supreme power over other dukes and sole power over Cracow and Polish vassal states. System collapsed in less than ten years though, when the first senior, Władysław the Exile, tried to seize all the power for himself, causing a civil war that lead to his banishment and his younger brother taking over senior's seat. When in 1208 coalition of dukes against revolting Pomerania was successfully ambushed and disrupted by Pomeranian duke Świętopełk and the senior Leszek the White was killed in the process, dukes of Cracow lost any control over the rest of rulers, which didn't discourage literally every duke who ever took control over Cracow from proclaiming himself senior. - Casimir the Great's daughter Elizabeth had a son, also Casimir, duke of Słupsk. He tried to claim Polish crown after his grandfather, but didn't find enough support among the nobles. - Louis's claim to the Polish throne was so weak that he had to bribe the nobility with privileges to assure both his coronation and succession for one of his daughters. From this point onward monarchy in Poland was in fact elective, nobility just liked to keep the same house in charge. - Originally it was Louis's elder daughter, Mary, that was meant to inherit Poland and Jadwiga to inherit Hungary. However, Louis's wife forced Hungarian nobility to crown Mary as queen in a plot to keep personal union. To which Polish nobles said "screw you" and declared Jadwiga an heir. - Vitautas basically did a coup in Lithuania. He couldn't cut ties with his brother and Poland completely though, because then he would have been left on Teutonic Order's grace. So Jagiełło made a truce with Vitautas recognizing him as a grand duke as long as he followed Jagiełło's policies for foreign affairs. - correction here; Sigismund the Old was called this way for disambiguation, because his son was elected vivente rege and technically there were two kings Sigismunds in Poland simultaneously. - so-called free election was horrendous system. There was no voting; the king was chosen by the ensemble of nobility raising a cry in his honour three times in a row. One drunk noble trying to overscream the other was considered a feature, not a bug... - it's no surprise that the first king chosen this way was so miserable. When the nobility realized what they've done, they panicked and forced Henry to sign a list of privileges previously achieved by nobility, to make sure he won't reorganize the state in a French way. Then they gave him a second list, composed of various election promises of his supporters, to sign and he did it. This became a common practice on free elections onward. Henry obliged himself to, among others, hiring Gascon infantry for Polish wars from his own pocket and marrying Anna of Jagiellon. - Funnily enough, there was twice a double election. Group of Habsburg supporters couldn't convince the rest of nobility to their cause, so they just left the assembly and declared emperor Maximilian a king in his own circle. The rest of nobility elected Anna of Jagiellon and Stefan Bathory as co-reigning kings. Because of massive holes in free election law, both elections were equally legal. In this case the contender that first comes to Cracow was meant to be crowned. Chancellor Zamoyski stopped Maximilian and his army for long enough to let Bathory win the race. After his death, we got a repeat ofcthe scenario with some of the nobility electing Habsburg candidate. This time however Sigismund Vasa on a race by mile, and when Habsburg army came to verify the verdict, it was crushed. - Stanislaw Leszczynski was elected king by the group of nobility who saw Augustus II involvement in great Northern War as a treason. Sweds later took advantage of this and installed Leszczynski as his puppet, but it weren't them who came up with his candidacy. BTW, he kept the title of King of Poland for the rest of his life.

What about the descendants of the House of Poniatowski ? Isn’t it more likely that they would become kings since their dynasty was native Polish rather than German ?

I've seen all of these, and this one has to be the most complicated and convoluted

Canute the Great (a grandson of Mieszko) came from the Piast family.

*Imagine dividing your empire among your daughters and there husbands children from other marriages inherit your kingdoms*

In 1916-1918 Germans tried to reinstate Polish Kingdom, fully dependent on Germany. They considered candidates from houses of Saxony, but also Habsburg, Wurttemberg and Bavaria. You can find that for example in Wikipedia Kingdom of Poland 1917-1918. Going back a thousand years, king Bolesław the Ist had a sister - daughter of Mieszko and Doubravka which you have on your chart - she became queen of Sweden, Denmark and Norway - Sigrid the Hauthy.

King Casimir IV had a daughter, called Jadwiga. She married a Bavarian duke and this marriage is impressively reenacted every 4 years in the „Landshuter Hochzeit“. Look it up, it‘s a great event!

Nice cliffhanger!

5:49 between: king Mieszko III "the Old" - Odon of Poznań - Władysław "the Spitter" - Przemysł I of Greater Poland - Przemysł II of Poland

These days monarchists reject an option to choose foreign monarch. Polish monarchists mostly support an idea to create a new dynasty as because of communism a lot of nobles were robbed and there is almost no noble families here. During world war one in 1917 the German Empire created Kingdom of Poland as a free state, but not independent one. There was a regency council that took power, but wasn't really popular within Polish society. On 7 Oct (today) 1918 regency council declared its independence from the German Empire. Unfortunately socialists took power on Nov (as in Warsaw could start communist revolution like in Bavaria) and Piłsudski took control of the state. So technically Poland could restore monarchy, but it didn't because of strong socialist movement.

The main line of the house of Piast were rather descendants of Władysław II the Exile, the eldest son of Bolesław III. They ruled in Silesia until the end of XVII century. Therefore, king Przemysł II also came from the cadet branch of the Piast dynasty.

Proud to be Polish!

I am impressed. Well done

so for those curious: 5:49 the guy mentioned Przemysł II is roughly translated to English as “Industry II” 6:20 Father of Casimir III The great was Władysław I called "Łokietek" which was like calling someone “feet” (height) in old Poland the measurement was conducted in "Łokcie" and Władysław I was rumored to be a small guy 6:40 Casimir The Great "zastał drewnianą zostawił murowaną." it means "he found a wooden one and left the brick one." guy just loved to build castles

The fragmentation period was all between Piast dynasty members: brothers, cousins, uncles and nephews.

Fun fact: through junior Masovian line Mieszko I is a direct ancestor of HR Emperor Frideric III, and by thus ancestor of such famous people like Charles V, Maria Teresa or Franz Joseph.

the “ł” is pronounced like a “w” and “jagiełło” is pronounced like “Ya-gae-uwo” not however you said it. polish is a tough language, so flubs are more common than naught. good attempt though!

The pole would select a blue blood guy with native Polish accent.

I'm from Poland and support elective monarchy. I actually think that someone from here would be the best choice, and I'd love to be a candidate in such election.

As someone who is Polish we would never place a German on the throne. We would probably crown a Radziwiłł.

Well, in fact there is a clear cut answer for the question who would be the rightful heir for the throne of Poland and that's an heir of Wettin's. Mainly due to 1791 May 3rd constitution and terms that stated that with the abolition of elective monarchy as decided in 1791 and the move to hereditary monarchy the line of Wettins would be the rightful rulers of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Fun Fact: The Wettins (In the Albertine Branch) are descended from the Polish Noble Houses of Leszczyński (Via Stanisław I) and Sobieski (Via John III) which are 2 royal houses that ruled Poland before so maybe a Future heir from that house could Marry a Czartoryski (since they are a very popular Noble House in Poland as well as being Related to Stanisław August Poniatowski the Last king of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth) plus since they are descended from Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski who ruled General Confederation of the Kingdom of Poland and Adam Jerzy Czartoryski 1st ruler of the Polish National Government it practically makes sense! Thus Forming the House of Saxe-Czartoryski

6:70 he had sons. Actually - 3 sons. Not that they were legal lol

Amazing video 👏

A Polish nobleman called John Zilinski ran for London Mayor in 2016 and challenged Nigel Farage to a duel

Good job. Greetings from Poland

love it!

Sometimes I think it was a mistake to save the Austrians in the Battle of Vienna, see what they did 150 years later

Ever thought of combining the two Europe charts to form a mega one

Henry Valois didn't abdicate the Polish throne. He simply left Poland to claim the French crown, intending to reign in both realms. Poland would then have an absentee king, which wouldn't have been that unusual in and of itself. However, the manner in which he left Poland - riding off suddenly under cover of the night - was insulting to his Polish subjects and so the senate of Poland gave him an ultimatum: he would either come back to Poland within a year or lose the throne. A year passed, the king failed to return, so the senate declared the throne vacant and announced a new election. Despite that, Henry continued to claim the Polish throne for himself until his death and the French diplomacy never recognised his successor, Stephen Bathory, as a legitimate king of Poland.

Excellent summary

3:07 - 18.04.1025, right before his death. edit: ok' it's just a rumor, but it's very probable that is was shorty before his death.

+UsefulCharts by Constitution of 3rd May right to throne is with House of Wettin. Also after Bolesław III Wrymouth Poland was divided between his sons with eldest one being in charge and holding Senioral Duchy of Lesser Poland. At start succession was be seniority rule, but it was dissolved with the time and replaced with gavelkind. Before Władysław II the Elbow-high was crowned Dukes of Masovia went nearly independent and Silesia was piece of mess with most of dukes being vassals of Bohemia.

hey, love your videos and charts.. are you planning on launching a Kings of Bohemia anytime soon? Thank you and keep it up!!

i wish you did the leaders of courland but it's just a wish

I know I’m a bit late but still wonderful video keep up the good work👍👌🇵🇱

Yes John Sobieski hero of Vienna

very cool

Would you mind doing a Kings of Ireland Family Tree and a Japanese Mythology Family Tree?

As a Pole I think that we can take into account an option in which Polish people might choose as a monarch a descendant of Napoleon as he helped Poland a lot during the time when we were torn apart between other countries. PS Poles would never in a million years choose a German as a ruler ;)

If it were to restore monarchies in Poland, then no one would be elected from outside the border, or less likely someone from the remaining Polish nobility. The election monarchy was an expression of the greatest manifestation of freedom that we could have at that time, bringing together rich, influential, and more importantly those responsible for defending the country. Given the values that guided it, the restored monarchy would not be very different from current democracy. In this country, many things are slow and seemingly very handicapped compered to the West, but one thing that motivates all citizens is this "freedom" from the old days and the opportunity to self-determination. So a probable electoral ruler could improve much in Poland due to a much longer period of reign than the President / Prime Minister, bc everything would not change every next 8 years, and if he did wrong, like many others, it would be dethroned by other citizens / nobilites. With my most accurate shot, I assume that the succession of the elective monarchy would translate into someone we don't know, just as an electrician could become the first President in the III RP. Which best illustrates the freedom we want

4:33 you have Vladimir the Wise as the son of Vladimir the Great but it's actually Yaroslav the Wise.

Can you do a Bohemian Dukes and Kings video?

I find it interesting to think about how history might have gone differently at any of these points. If the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had been able to maintain power over Russia, the world wars would have been very different

19:42 I would love to hear your own family tree. When I see this image, it makes me wonder where your Great Grandmother, Emma Cross came from seen as I have a major Cross line as well. Except, my Great Grandmother Cross was Scottish.

6:04 is there a spelling error in "Only king of Lithuania. Afterwards Lithuania reverts to *Grandy* Duchy."? This is at the top of the screen just right of the middle.