Przemysł I of Greater Poland

Przemysł I (5 June 1220/4 June 1221 – 4 June 1257) was a Duke of Greater Poland (during 1241–1247 with his brother as co-ruler; according to some historians during 1239–1241 sole Duke of Ujście), Duke of Poznań and Gniezno during 1247–1249, Duke of Poznań and Kalisz during 1249–1250, sole Duke of Greater Poland during 1250–1253 and Duke of Poznań from 1253 until his death.

He was the eldest son of Władysław Odonic, Duke of Greater Poland by his wife Hedwig, who was likely the daughter of Duke Mestwin I of Pomerania, or a member of the Premyslid dynasty (a supposition supported by the name given to her son, the first in the Piast dynasty who bears it). The numeral primus (The First) was given to him in the almost contemporary Chronicle of Greater Poland. Duke Władysław Odonic ordered that his son be given a comprehensive education; as attested in the Chronicle, young Przemysł was able to read Latin psalms with ease.

Przemysł first appears in official documents signed by his father from 1232 onward, and after Władysław Odonic's death on 5 June 1239 he began his own rule, during the time of Fragmentation of Poland (1138-ca. 1314). Two years later (in 1241), Przemysł approved his younger brother Bolesław the Pious as an official co-ruler, but this was a formality. In reality Przemysł reigned alone.

The principality inherited from his father was composed of northern Greater Poland, which included Ujście and Nakło (although some historians believe that Władysław Odonic lost Ujście and Nakło before his death). Subsequently he strove to recover the remaining part of Greater Poland. In 1241, after the death of Silesian Duke Henry II the Pious at the battle of Legnica, Przemysł recovered Poznań and Gniezno, and subsequently managed to conquer also the parts of Greater Poland previously controlled by Dukes of Silesia.

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