2021-08-20 Fri

Boleslaw III Wrymouth was the duke of Lesser Poland, Silesia and Sandomierz between 1102 and 1107 and over the whole of Poland between 1107 and 1138. He was the only child of Duke Wladys?aw I Herman and his first wife, Judith of Bohemia.

Boles?aw began to rule in the last decade of the 11th century when the central government in Poland was significantly weakened. Wladyslaw I Herman fell under the political dependence of Count palatine Sieciech, who became the real ruler of the country. Backed by their father, Boleslaw and his half-brother Zbigniew finally expelled Sieciech from the country in 1101, after several years of fighting. After the death of W?adyslaw I Herman in 1102, two independent states were created ruled by Boleslaw and Zbigniew.

During Boleslaw's reign appeared a two-sided denarius, which was denominated the foreign coin. The first known denarius from this time bears the Latin legend Bolezlav. For the others most commonly used coins bears the Latin inscription Bolezlavs, denarivus, dicis Bolezlai with St. Adalbert in the reverse. Another type of coins didn't have legends. They differ mostly came from the weight: they were much lighter, punched for purely economic purposes.

The coin shows the figure of the ruler with crown, sword in hand and an outstretched hand.

Image Source: Wikipedia.org