His parents were John II "the Iron" and his wife Helen of Lithuania, a niece of King Jogaila of Poland.

Wenceslaus fought together with his father and other Silesian princes on the Polish side against the Teutonic Knights in the Hunger War in 1414.

Although Wenceslaus and his older brother Nicholas V were probably already adults when their father died in 1424, their mother, Helen of Lithuania, acted as regent until 1428.

In late 1437, a majority of the Bohemian Estates elected Albert II from the House of Habsburg as the new King of Bohemia.

In 1437, Wencelsaus married Margaret (d. 1464), a daughter of Vincent of Szamotuły, Castellan of Międzyrzecz and widow of Casimir II of Belz.