Bolko I the Strict

Bolko I the Strict
Bolko I's seal, dated to 1298
Spouse(s)	Beatrice of Brandenburg
Noble family	House of Piast
Father	Bolesław II the Bald
Mother	Hedwig of Anhalt
Born	between 1252 and 1256
Died	9 November 1301(1301-11-09)
Buried	Krzeszów Abbey

Bolko I the Strict also known as the Raw or of Jawor (Polish: Bolko I Surowy or Srogi or Jaworski; 1252/56 – 9 November 1301), was a Duke of Lwówek (Löwenberg) during 1278–81 (with his brother as co-ruler) and Jawor (Jauer) since 1278 (with his brother as co-ruler until 1281), sole Duke of Lwówek since 1286, Duke of Świdnica-Ziębice since 1291.

He was the second son of Bolesław II the Bald, Duke of Legnica by his first wife Hedwig, daughter of Henry I, Count of Anhalt.

Most likely because he was still too young to actively participate in politics, Bolko appears rarely in the chronicles before his father's death. It is possible that he took part in the victorious Battle of Stolec in 1277.

Bolesław II died on 26 December 1278. Bolko I and his younger brother Bernard the Lightsome inherited Jawor (Jauer) and Lwówek (Löwenberg) as co-rulers, and their older brother Henry V the Fat retained Legnica. In 1281 Bolko I and Bernard divided their domains: Bernard kept Lwówek, and Bolko I became in sole ruler of Jawor.

One of the first tasks of Bolko I as sole ruler was to protect his modest inheritance from the growing power of Henry IV Probus, Duke of Wroclaw. To that end, he decided to enter into an alliance with the Margraves of Brandenburg. In order to cement this alliance, a marriage was arranged between Bolko I and Beatrice, the daughter of Margrave Otto V the Tall of Brandenburg. The betrothal was performed in the city of Spandau on 19 April 1279; however, because of the close relationship between groom and bride, the formal wedding was performed more than five years later, in 1284 (although the Papal dispensation to allow the wedding was announced only one year later, in 1285). Bolko I's relation to the House of Ascania engaged him in an armed conflict with the German King Rudolf I of Habsburg and Henry IV Probus. An expedition made on Wroclaw in 1280 and on Prague in the following year, instead of expected successes, brought him a retaliatory action from the Duke of Wroclaw.