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This medal has been issued to commemorate the Polish king Casimir III the Great and the CONGRESS of Cracow in 1364.
This medal has been designed by the outstanding medalist, Profs Czeslaw Dzwigaj.
Casimir III, called the Great (Polish: Kazimierz Wielki; 1310 – 1370), King of Poland (1333-70), was the son of King
Władysław I the Elbow-high and Jadwiga
of Gniezno and
Greater
Poland.
The Congress
of Kraków (Polish: Zjazd krakowski) was a meeting of monarchs
initiated by King Casimir III the Great of Poland and held in Kraków
(Cracow) around September 22-27, 1364. The pretext for calling the meeting was
very likely a proposed anti-Turkish
crusade, but
the Congress was actually concerned mostly with European diplomacy issues, of
which preeminent were peaceful relations and the balance of power in central
Europe and negotiating a common response to the Turkish threat through the
project of a central European league of states.
The participants - guests of the Polish king were Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, King Louis I of Hungary, King Valdemar IV of Denmark, King Peter I of Cyprus, Siemowit III of Masovia, Bolko II of Świdnica, Władysław Opolczyk, Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Bogislaw V, Duke of Pomerania, Casimir IV, Duke of Pomerania, Otto V, Duke of Bavaria and Louis VI the Roman.
av. The portrait of Kazimierz III Wielki
rv.
The famous Congress at
diameter - 80 mm (2¼ “)
metal
– bronze, beautiful deep patina
Casimir III, called the Great
Casimir III, called the Great (Polish: Kazimierz Wielki; 1310 – 1370), King of Poland (1333-70), was the son of King
Władysław I the Elbow-high and Jadwiga
of Gniezno and
Greater
Poland.
Kazimierz is the only Polish king who
both received and has kept the title of the Great in Polish history (Boleslaw I Chrobry was once also called the
Great, but not today), and the title is well deserved. When he received the
crown, his hold on it was in danger, as even his neighbours did not recognise
his title and instead called him "king of Kraków".
The economy was ruined, and the country was depopulated
and exhausted by war. Upon his death, he left a country doubled in size (mostly
through the addition of land in today's Ukraine, then the
Duchy of Halicz),
grew prosperous, wealthy and had great prospects for the future. Although he is
depicted as a peaceful king in children's books, he in fact waged many
victorious wars and was readying for others just before he died.
Kazimierz the
Great built
many new castles,
reformed the Polish army
and Polish civil and criminal
law. At the Sejm
in Wislica,
March 11, 1347, he
introduced salutary legal reforms in the jurisprudence of his country. He
sanctioned a code of laws for Great and Little Poland, which gained for him the
title of "the Polish Justinian"; and he also limited the interest
rate charged by Jewish money-lenders to Christians to 8 % per annum, a rate
of 108-180% being previously common. (Owing to extremely high and unstable
inflation rates, significantly lower interest rates would result in net losses
for the lender. For example, in 1264 the King of Austria had capped Jewish
money-lenders' interest rates at 8 dinars on the talent, approximately 170% at
the time). This measure was passed after consistent pressure by the szlachta of the
Sejm (who were
primary clients of Jewish money-lenders). This measure was to the detriment of
the King, who later affirmed that Jews be allowed to loan on interest as
"property" of the King, in order to supplement the King's income when
needed. He founded the University of Kraków, although his death
stalled the university's development (which is why it is today called the
"Jagiellonian" rather than "Casimirian" University).
He
organized a meeting of kings at Kraków
(1364) in which he exhibited the wealth of the Polish kingdom.
In
order to enlist the support of noblemen (szlachta),
especially the military help of pospolite ruszenie, Kazimierz was forced to give
up important privileges to their caste, which made them finally clearly
dominant over townsfolk (burghers or mieszczanstwo).
Kazimierz
had no sons. Apparently he deemed his own descendants either unsuitable or too
young to inherit. Thus, and in order to provide a clear line of succession and
avoid dynastic uncertainty, he arranged for his sister Elisabeth, Dowager Queen
of Hungary, and her son Louis king of Hungary to be his successors in Poland.
Louis was proclaimed king on Kazimierz's death in 1370, and Elisabeth
held much of the real power until her death in 1380.
Many of the influential lords of Poland were unsatisfied with the idea of any personal union with Hungary, and 12 years after Kazimierz's death, (and only a couple of years after Elisabeth's), they refused in 1382 to accept the succession of Louis's eldest surviving daughter Mary (Queen of Hungary) in Poland too. They therefore chose Mary's younger sister, Hedvig, as their new monarch, and she became "King" (=Queen Regnant) Jadwiga of Poland, thus restoring the independence enjoyed until the death of Kazimierz, twelve years earlier.
King Kazimierz was favorably disposed
toward Jews. On October 9, 1334, he confirmed the
privileges granted to Jewish Poles in 1264 by Boleslaus V.
Under penalty of death, he prohibited the kidnapping of
Jewish children for the purpose of enforced Christian
baptism. He
inflicted heavy punishment for the desecration of Jewish cemeteries.
Although
Jews had lived in
Congress of Kraków
The Congress, which took place in lavish
surroundings, intended as a manifestation of the Polish king's power and
wealth, echoed throughout
The several
medieval sources available do not always agree on the timing and other issues.
Possibly there were two separate congresses, one in 1363 that had to do with
the marriage, and another in 1364, the more political congregation of the
monarchs. In 1364 among the issues discussed were the Angevin succession to the Polish throne,
and the ratification of the peace treaty involving Louis I and Charles IV among
others, arbitrated by Casimir III and Bolko II. An important source is a poem
of Guillaume de Machaut who described the banquet
in Wierzynek's house.