Adelaide of Poland

Adelaide of Poland
Fragment of an image of Adelaide in the Dominican Church of Sandomierz.
Born	ca. late 1170s / early 1180s
Died	8 December 1211
House	House of Piast (by birth)
Father	Casimir II the Just
Mother	Helen of Znojmo

Adelaide of Poland (Polish: Adelajda Kazimierzówna) (c. late 1170s / early 1180s – 8 December 1211), was a Polish princess and member of the Piast dynasty.

She was the daughter of Casimir II the Just, Duke of Sandomierz and High Duke of Poland, by his wife Helena of Znojmo , a Přemyslid princess.

On basis of the inscription of her tombstone at the Dominican Church and Convent of St. James in Sandomierz and two different reports of Jan Długosz, modern historians agreed with the origin and facts from Adelaide's life. Today existed a dominant view in historiography consistent with her filiation and death date. According to them, Adelaide was indeed the daughter of Casimir II the Just and died in 1211, but wasn't the foundress of the Convent of St. James and only another nun there. In the 19th century, appeared a theory which states that Adelaide was the daughter of Casimir I of Kuyavia, who entered in the Convent of St. James as a nun and died there in 1291. This view, accepted by several scholars, has been disputed. More recent historiography recognized her as the daughter of Casimir II the Just, founder of the Convent, in which was she buried after her death in 1211.

Jan Długosz reported that Adelaide was the daughter of Casimir II the Just. It's unknown when she was born. The fact that she never married and became a nun, supports the presumption that at the time of her father's death in 1194 her future wasn't decide. Her birth date was placed between the late 1170s and early 1180s. By convention among the offspring of Casimir II and Helena of Znojmo she is placed in the fifth place, after Odon (who died in infancy) and before Leszek I the White and Konrad I of Masovia.

The origin of her name is unclear. Historians placed three theories about it:

Adelaide was the foundress of the Convent of St. James in Sandomierz, where in 1226 thanks to Iwo Odrowąż, Bishop of Kraków, the Dominicans settled. She probably was also a nun in the Sanctuary of St. Jadwiga in Trzebnica during the rule of the first Abbess Petrissa.