Gryfina of Halych

Gryfina, or Agrippina ( 1248 – between 1305 and 1309) was a Princess of Kraków by her marriage to Leszek II the Black in 1265; she later became a nun and abbess.

Family Gryfina was the daughter of Rostislav Mikhailovich (1225–1262), Prince of Halych, and his wife Anna of Hungary (1226– 1270), daughter of Béla IV of Hungary.

Marriage In 1265, at the age of seventeen, Gryfina was married to Leszek, son of Casimir I of Kuyavia and Constance of Wrocław. The wedding was organized by Bolesław V the Chaste. Between 1271 and 1274 the spouses separated, Gryfina having publicly accused her husband of impotency, adding that for this reason their marriage had never been consummated. Leszek sought treatment from the physician Mikołaj of Kraków, but the marriage remained childless. After four years, Bolesław V forced a reconciliation between the spouses, as stated by the Rocznik Traski [ pl]: "the lack of offspring caused a great abomination in the nation".

During the revolt against her husband in 1285, Gryfina took refuge in Wawel under the care of the citizens. During the third Tatar raid of 1287 she escaped with her husband to Hungary, where many of her family members lived.

Widowhood After the death of her husband in 1288, Gryfina's nephew Wenceslaus II of Bohemia claimed Poland on the basis of his aunt's marriage. Gryfina retired to the monastery of the Poor Clares in Stary Sącz. The prioress there was her mother's sister, Kinga of Poland, the widow of Bolesław V the Chaste. After Kinga's death, Gryfina became abbess.

In 1300, Gryfina visited Bohemia and cared for Elisabeth Richeza of Poland, daughter of Przemysł II and fiancée of her nephew Wenceslaus since the death of his first wife Judith of Habsburg. She educated Elisabeth Richeza in court traditions.

Gryfina died between 1305 and 1309, most likely in 1309. She is buried in the Convent of St. Agnes in Prague.

Notes and references