since the age of his grandfather
Boleslaus I., and it was the aim of Boleslaus II. to restore her dignity
and importance. The nearest enemy was Bohemia, to whom Poland had lately
been compelled to pay tribute for her oldest possession, Silesia. But
Boleslaus's first Bohemian war proved unsuccessful, and was terminated
by the marriage of his sister Swatawa with the Czech king Wratyslaus II.
On the other hand Boleslaus's ally, the fugitive Magyar prince Bela,
succeeded with Polish assistance in winning the crown of Hungary. In the
East Boleslaus was more successful. In 1069 he succeeded in placing
Izaslaus on the throne of Kiev, thereby confirming Poland's overlordship
over Russia and enabling Boleslaus to chastise his other enemies,
Bohemia among them, with the co-operation of his Russian auxiliaries.
But Wratyslaus of Bohemia speedily appealed to the emperor for help, and
a war between Poland and the Empire was only prevented by the sudden
rupture of Henry IV. with the Holy See and the momentous events which
led to the humiliating surrender of the emperor at Canossa. There is
nothing to show that Boleslaus took any part in this struggle, though at
this time he was on the best of terms with Gregory VII. and there was
some talk of sending papal legates to restore order in the Polish
Church. On the 26th of December 1076 Boleslaus encircled his own brows
with the royal diadem, a striking proof that the Polish kings did not
even yet consider their title quite secure. A second successful
expedition to Kiev to reinstate his _protege_ Izaslaus, is Boleslaus's
last recorded exploit. Almost immediately afterwards (1079) we find him
an exile in Hungary, where he died about 1081. The cause of this sudden
eclipse was the cruel vengeance he took on the _milites_, or noble
order, who, emulating the example of their brethren in Bohemia, were
already attempting to curb the royal power. The churchmen headed by
Stanislaus Szczepanowski, bishop of Cracow, took the side of the nobles,
whose grievances seem to have been real. Boleslaus in his fury slew the
saintly bishop, but so general was the popular indignation that he had
to fly his kingdom.

See M. Maksymilian Gumplowicz, _Zur Geschichte Polens im Mittelalter_
(Innsbruck, 1898); W.P. Augerstein, _Der Konflikt des polnischen
Konigs Boleslaw II. mit dem Bischof Stanislaus_ (Thorn, 1895).

BOLESLAUS III., king of Poland (1086-1139), the son of Wladislaus I. and
Judith of Bohem