Regents of Silesia

In 1138 when Poland was partitioned into different principalities, which were granted to Boleslaw III's sons, Silesia fell to the oldest son Wladyslaw. As such he was also senior of Poland with control over the capitol Krakow and the region of Little Poland, but already in 1146 was he exiled from all his lands by his brother Boleslaw. Poland was however at that time a vassal state to Germany so the Holy Roman Emperor intervened in 1163 and placed Wladyslaw's three sons as dukes/princes of Silesia. The two oldest sons had many descendants who partitioned Silesia into numerous duchies. Because of space considerations are the dukes from the Upper Silesian branch of the dynasty listed on a separate page.

Most dukes in Lower Silesia severed their ties with Poland 1329 and instead recognised Bohemia's supremacy, something the Upper Silesian dukes had done two years earlier. From 1335 was all of Silesia a part of the Bohemian crown but the Silesian dukes had considerable autonomy. Because the dukes encouraged German immigration became the Polish population to a large extent assimilated with the Germans and during the 14th century was Silesia practically a German speaking country. The last branch of the ruling house of Piast became extinct 1675 and thereafter was Silesia placed under direct rule by the Bohemian-Austrian regents. Most of Silesia was conquered by Prussia 1742, which then lost it to Poland after the World Wars.

Note that only the duchies originated from the partitioning of Poland 1138 and ruled by members of the house of Piast are listed on these pages. The other Silesian duchies that existed were fiefs granted by the Bohemian kings (Troppau, Münsterberg-Öls and Jägerndorf for example) and these did not have the same degree of autonomy as the Piast duchies.

Duchy of Silesia
(the dukes of upper Silesia after 1211 are listed on a separate page)

1138-1146	Wladyslaw Wygnaniec (the Exiled)
1146-1163	Boleslaw Kedzierzawy (the Curly)
1163-1203	Konrad (Middle Silesia)
1163-1211	Mieszko I (Upper Silesia)
Lower Silesia (Breslau)
1163-1201 1195-1201	Boleslawl Jaroslaw (Neisse-Oppeln)
1201-1238	Henryk I Brodaty (the Bearded)
1238-1241	Henryk II Pobozny (the Pious)
1241 1241-1247 1241-1266	Parted in Liegnitz, Lebus, Breslau, Glogau Mieszko (Schlesien-Lebus) * Henryk III
1266-1290	Henryk IV
1290	United with Schlesien-Liegnitz
Schlesien-Liegnitz (and Brieg)
1241-1278 1278 1278-1286 1278-1296 1296-1335 1296-1338 1296-1348 1348-1364 1348-1398 1364-1394 1364-1398 1364-1409 1398-1399 1399-1420 1399-1436 1409-1419 1420-1441 1436-1446 1441-1452 1441-1453 1453-1455 1453-1488 1488-1495 1495-1521 1495-1547 1521-1550 1547-1570 1547-1586 1570-1579 1570-1596 1586-1592 1586-1602 1602-1639 1602-1653 1639-1664 1639-1672 1653-1663 1672-1675 1675-1742 1742-1945 1945-	Boleslaw II
	Partitioned in Liegnitz, Schweidnitz, Hirschberg Bernhard I (Schlesien-Hirschberg) Heinrich V Heinrich VI (Schlesien-Breslau 1311-1335) ** Wladyslaw Boleslaw III (Schlesien-Brieg 1311-1338) Wenzel I Ludwig I (Schlesien-Brieg) Boleslaw IV Heinrich VII Ruprecht Heinrich VIII Heinrich IX (S-Lüben-Hainau-Ohlau) Ludwig II (Schlesien-Brieg 1399-1416) Wenzel II (also bishop of Breslau) Ludwig III (S-Lüben-Hainau-Ohlau) Elisabeth von Brandenburg Heinrich X (Schlesien-Goldberg) Johann I (Schlesien-Brieg 1441-1446) Liegnitz under direct rule by Bohemia Friedrich I (Schlesien-Brieg 1453-1455) Johann II Georg (Schlesien-Brieg-Lüben) Friedrich II Anna von Pommern (Schlesien-Brieg-Lüben) Friedrich III Georg II (Schlesien-Brieg) Heinrich XI Friedrich IV Johann Georg (Schlesien-Brieg) Joachim Friedrich (S-Brieg 1586-1596) Johann Christian (Schlesien-Brieg) Georg Rudolf (Schlesien-Liegnitz-Goldberg) Georg III (Schlesien-Brieg) Christian (Schlesien-Wohlau 1639-1663) Ludwig IV Georg Wilhelm Direct rule by Bohemia (Austria) Part of Prussia Part of Poland
Schlesien-Schweidnitz (and Jauer)
1278-1301 1301 1301-1326 1301-1346 1326-1343 1326-1368 1368	Boleslaw III Parted in Schweidnitz, Jauer and Münsterberg Bernhard II Heinrich I (Schlesien-Jauer) Heinrich II Boleslaw V (in Fürstenberg to 1346, then Jauer) United with Bohemia through marriage
Schlesien-Münsterberg
1301-1341 1341-1351 1351-1410 1410-1420 1410-1428 1410-1442 1442-1456 1456-1791 1791-	Boleslaw IV Nicholas Boleslaw VI Heinrich II Johann Eufemia Direct rule by Bohemia Duchy of Münsterberg (house of Podiebrad) Purchased by Prussia
Schlesien-Glogau
1241-1274 1274-1289 1274-1304	Konrad II Premysl I (Schlesien-Steinau) Konrad III (Schlesien-Sagan)
1274-1309	Heinrich III
1309	Parted in Sagan, Namslau, Öls, Steinau and Glogau
1309-1322	Boleslaw (Schlesien-Öls)
1309-1331	Przemysl II
1309-1361/5	Jan (Schlesien-Steinau)
1338 1322, 1331, 1365	A half of Glogau is sold to Bohemia Divided between the other Piast branches
Schlesien-Sagan (and half of Glogau)
1309-1342 1342-1369 1369-1393 1369-1394 1369-1397 1397-1423 1397-1439 1397-1467 1439-1440 1439-1459 1459-1467 1467-1472 1467-1476 1467-1504 1476-1510 1476-1526 1504-1549 1510 1526 1549	Henryk IV
	Henryk V Henryk VI (Schlesien-Crossen) Henryk VII (S-Glogau-Steinau) Henryk VIII (S-Grünberg-Sprottgau) Henryk X (Schlesien-Glogau) Jan I Henryk IX (Schlesien-Freistadt-Crossen) Waclaw Baltazar Jan II Baltazar (restored) Henryk XI (Schlesien-Freistadt-Crossen) Jan II (restored, S-Freistadt 1476-1504) Barbara von Brandenburg (S-Crossen) Glogau part of Poland Schlesien-Freistadt part of Saxony Crossen is united with Brandenburg Glogau is united with Bohemia Freistadt is united with Bohemia
Schlesien-Öls (S-Namslau to 1322)
1309-1366 1366-1403 1403-1413 1413-1447 1413-1429 1413-1427 1413-1452 1413-1444/7 1429-1471 1439-1492 1492-1495 1495-1569 1569- ca 1580 ca 1580	Konrad I
	Konrad II Konrad III Konrad IV (S-Bernstadt,) *** Konrad V Konrad VI (Schlesien-Steinau) Konrad VII (S-Kosel-Wartenberg) Konrad VIII (Schlesien-Wohlau) Konrad IX (Schlesien-Öls-Kosel) Konrad X (Schlesien-Wohlau) Direct rule by Bohemia Part of the duchy of Münsterberg Direct rule by Bohemia (Austria) United with Schlesien-Brieg

* = Schlesien-Lebus was sold to Brandenburg 1258.
** = Schlesien-Breslau recognised the supremacy of the Bohemia 1327 and was sold to it 1335.
*** = Konrad IV was bishop of Breslau 1417.

= Krakow   = Great Poland   = Mazovia