Leszek, Duke of Masovia

Who was Leszek, Duke of Masovia?

Leszek of Masovia was the second Duke of Masovia and Kuyavia from 1173 until his death.

He was the second but only surviving son of Bolesław IV the Curly, High Duke of Poland by his first wife Viacheslava, daughter of St. Vsevolod, Prince of Novgorod and Pskov. Once it was thought that his mother was Maria, Bolesław IV's second wife, a fact which was shown in several web sources; however, after the discovery of coins where Leszek called himself son of Bolesław and Anastasia, this theory proved to be inaccurate. He was named either thanks to the courtly tradition preserved by Gallus Anonymus in his Cronicae Polonorum or after the eldest full-brother of his father, Leszek, who died young around 1131.