1508) Stanisław of Masovia

Stanisław of Masovia (1501 – 1524). Polish prince member of the House of Piast in the Masovian branch. He was a Duke of Czersk, Warsaw, Liw, Zakroczym and Nur during 1503-1524 (under regency until 1518) jointly with his brother.

He was the eldest son of Konrad III the Red and his third wife Anna, a daughter of Mikolaj Radziwiłł the Old, Voivod of Vilnius and the first Grand Chancellor of Lithuania.

In their private lives, both Stanisław and his younger brother Janusz III were heavily inclined to drink and women; however, in order to continue his bloodline, in 1523 Stanisław started negotiations for marriage with Princess Hedwig of Poland, only surviving daughter of King Sigismund I and his first wife, Barbara Zápolya. The wedding never took place; one year later, and likely as a result of his dissolute lifestyle, Stanisław died in 1524.

The sudden death of Stanisław, and that two years later of his younger brother Janusz III, were considered suspicious at the time. According to cronichler Jan Długosz, the real cause of the death of both princes could be an inherited disease of the Masovian princes: tuberculosis.

Anna of Masovia, sister of Janusz and Stanisław, was the last representative of the line of Masovian-Piast.

 

by Hans Krell