Casimir+the+great

> Casimir the Great was born April 5 1310 in Poland, and he died November 5, 1370. He was the King of Poland from 1333 to 1370, and he was called “the Great” because he was deemed a peaceful ruler, a “peasant king,” and a diplomat. He was the last king in the Piast dynasty. Through absolute diplomacy, he annexed lands from western Russia and eastern Germany. Within his land, he unified the government and its unwritten law. He set up new towns with the self-government of the law and founded Poland’s first University at Krakow in 1364. > He was a peaceful ruler, and, by his beneficial reforms, strengthened his reign and developed trade and industry. On October 9, 1334, he confirmed the privileges granted to the Jews in 1264 by Boleslaw the Pious. He was favorably inclined toward the Jews, who during his reign made themselves attention-getting in commerce, handiwork, and agriculture. Under penalty of death, he prohibited the kidnapping of Jewish children for the purpose of baptizing them, and inflicted heavy punishment for the violation of Jewish cemeteries. > He ruled during the golden age. Casimir is the only Polish king who both received and kept the title of "Great" in Polish history. Boleslaw I Chrobry was also called the "Great", but his title, which changed to Valiant, is now more common. When Casimir received the crown, his hold of his title "the Great" was in danger, as even his neighbors did not recognize his title and instead called him "King of Kraków. When he died, he left a country doubled in size. Mostly through the addition of land in today's Ukraine. Although he is depicted as a peaceful king in children's books, he in fact engaged in many vicious wars and was getting ready for others just before he died. When Casimir died in 1370 from an injury received while hunting, his nephew King Louis I of Hungary succeeded him to become king of Poland in personal union with Hungary. >