Richeza of Poland, Queen of Sweden

Richeza of Poland (Polish: Ryksa Bolesławówna, Swedish: Rikissa; c. 1116 – after 25 December 1156), a member of the House of Piast, was twice Queen of Sweden and once Princess of Minsk through her three marriages.

[1] Bolesław III entered in an alliance with King Niels of Denmark against Wartislaw I, Duke of Pomerania (now in northwestern Poland and northeastern Germany).

In order to seal this alliance, a marriage was arranged between Bolesław III's daughter Richeza with Niels' eldest son Magnus the Strong.

Meanwhile, Sverker I finally made the Swedes abandon Magnus in c. 1132, when he was busy with the civil war in Denmark; he then unified the country under his rule.

[1] Alternatively, he is identified as Volodar Glebovich,[1] a member of the Rurikid dynasty, and a Prince of Minsk and Grodno, who at that time was in exile in the Polish court.

The union would have been made in order to seal the alliance of Minsk and Poland against Denmark and the powerful Monomakh Kievan dynasty.

Around 1145, the political advantages of the Polish-Minsk union began to disappear after the Monomach dynasty lost its hegemony among the Rurikid ruling branches.

In this way, the marriage with Sverker I give Richeza the opportunity to help her son, and some historians assume that she partially married the Swedish King for this reason.

[6] One year later (1151), Knud asked for the help of Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Hartwig I, Archbishop of Bremen, but was defeated by Sweyn III's forces.

In 1156 Knud V married Helena, daughter of King Sverker I and his first wife Ulvhild; in consequence, Richeza became the step-mother-in-law of her own son.

[8] When Knud V heard about the deed, he went to Sweden in order to console Richeza, but also to bring his half-sister Sophia of Minsk to Denmark to be married to Valdemar, to whom she had been betrothed since 1154.