Wenceslaus I of Legnica

Wenceslaus I, Duke of Legnica (ca. 1318 – 2 June 1364) was a Duke of Namysłów from 1338 and of Legnica-Brieg from 1342 until his death, but with further divisions with his brother Louis I. He was the eldest son of Bolesław III the Generous, Duke of Legnica-Brieg by his first wife, Margaret of Bohemia. He was named after his maternal grandfather, King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia. Biography Early years The circumstances surrounding Wenceslaus's childhood and adolescence are unknown. The first attested presence of the young heir of Legnica-Brieg was in 1329, when he, alongside his father, paid homage to King John of Luxemburg, his uncle, husband of his maternal aunt Elisabeth. Co-ruler Bolesław III's free-spending ways infuriated Wenceslaus, who worried about the fate of the family's patrimony. This prompted Wenceslaus to rebel against his father. Bolesław III did not want to fight with his son, and so gave him the Duchy of Namysłów as an independent fief in 1338. Four years later (1342), Bolesław III decided to abdicate all his lands to his two surviving sons – Wenceslaus and his younger brother Louis I of Brzeg – in exchange for Namysłów, which was almost immediately sold by Bolesław III to King Casimir III the Great. Together with his second wife, Katharina Šubić, Bolesław III retired to the small towns of Brieg and Oława, where he retained residences.