Richeza of Poland, Queen of Sweden

Richeza of Poland (, ; – after 25 December 1156), a member of the House of Piast, was twice Queen of Sweden and once Princess of Minsk through her three marriages. Tradition describes her as unusually beautiful.

Early life Richeza was the daughter of Bolesław III Wrymouth, Duke of Poland, by his second wife, Salomea of Berg. The year of her birth is unknown, but is often assumed to be 1116.

First marriage Bolesław III entered in an alliance with King Niels of Denmark against Wartislaw I, Duke of Pomerania (now in northwestern Poland and northeastern Germany). In order to seal this alliance, a marriage was arranged between Bolesław III's daughter Richeza with Niels' eldest son Magnus the Strong. The wedding took place in Ribe around 1127. Richeza bore her husband two sons: Knud in 1129 and Niels in 1130.

As one of the heirs of his maternal grandfather King Inge I, Magnus claimed Sweden. He was recognized King of Götaland or parts thereof by the Geats (Götar) in c. 1129 after the death of his mother's cousin King Inge II. Then Richeza became Queen consort of Sweden. However, Magnus' rule was not accepted by the Svear, another tribe to the north of the Geats, who vetoed him and elected Ragnvald Knaphövde as the new King. According to the chronicler Saxo Grammaticus, Ragnvald was murdered by supporters of Magnus, who then won the realm ("imperium") as King of Sweden. However, there soon appeared another contender for the throne, Sverker I, who had his power base in Östergötland.

Richeza and her husband had their base in Denmark rather than Sweden. Alarmed by the popularity and Imperial support of his cousin Knud Lavard, Duke of Schleswig, both Magnus and his father King Niels acted against Knud, who was murdered by Magnus on 7 January 1131. Knud's half-brother Erik rebelled against Niels and Magnus, but was defeated and took refuge in Norway, where he convinced the local nobility and the Holy Roman Emperor Lothair III to launch a retaliatory expedition against Niels. Meanwhile, Sverker I finally made the Swedes abandon Magnus in c. 1132, when he was busy with the civil war in Denmark; he then unified the country under his rule. Niels was defeated in the Battle of Fotevik (4 June 1134), and also lost his son Magnus who was slain during the battle. Niels escaped to Schleswig, where he was killed by the citizens (25 June 1134). Now a widow, Richeza returned to Poland, apparently leaving her two sons behind in Denmark.

Second marriage Once in Poland, Duke Bolesław III arranged a new marriage for his daughter. Richeza remarried in 1134 or 1135, but the identity of her second husband is debated. Most commonly, he is assumed to be Prince Vsevolod Mstislavich of Novgorod. The union produced one son, Bulizlaus or Burislev, who was named after his Polish maternal grandfather. The chronicles assign Sune Sik as the youngest son of Sverker I, possibly born by Richeza.

In 1150, Richeza's oldest son Knud V, King of Jutland, took refuge in Sweden after he was expelled from Denmark by Sweyn III Grathe, King of Zealand. In this way, the marriage with Sverker I give Richeza the opportunity to help her son, and some historians assume that she partially married the Swedish King for this reason. When Knud V heard about the deed, he went to Sweden in order to console Richeza, but also to bring his half-sister Sophia of Minsk to Denmark to be married to Valdemar, to whom she had been betrothed since 1154. The marriage took place in 1157. On 9 August of that year, King Knud V was killed during a meeting with Valdemar I and Sweyn III. In 1158 Richeza's second son Niels, probably a monk in Esrom Abbey, also died.

Death and aftermath

Richeza is known to have survived Sverker I's death, although the facts of her later life and her date of death are unknown: a legend says that she remarried the stable master who took part in the assassination of Sverker I.

Burislev, Richeza's son by Sverker I, is sometimes identified with Burislev, a rival claimant to the Swedish throne against Knut Eriksson after 1167. He acted in concert with another pretender Kol, but was defeated and eliminated, according to a much later source in 1169. He is believed either to have been slain by Knut's men or to have fled to Denmark or Poland some time before 1173. If so, the younger Burislev was given the prestigious name after his grandfather's second marriage without actually being related to Bolesław III. The only thing we know about Richeza's son Burislev is that his goods were inherited by his uterine sister Sophia of Minsk.

Richeza's daughter Sophia of Minsk, Queen of Denmark by her first marriage to Valdemar I, give Richeza her only known legitimate grandchildren: the later kings Knud VI and Valdemar II of Denmark; Sophie (Countess of Orlamünde); Margareta and Maria, nuns at Roskilde; Ingeborg (the later repudiated Queen of France); Helena (Duchess of Brunswick-Luneburg) and Rikissa, named after her grandmother and who, like her, became Queen of Sweden.