Salomea of Poland

Who was Salomea of Poland?

Salomea of Poland, also known as Salomea of Cracow or Blessed Salomea, was a Polish princess and from 1215 to 1219 the Queen of Halych by virtue of being the wife of Kálmán or Coloman of Lodomeria.

Salomea was the daughter of Leszek I the White who was Duke of Cracow and thus the head ruler of Poland and his wife Grzymislawa of Luck. Her marriage to Kálmán, who was the son of King András or Andrew II of Hungary, was negotiated when she was about three.

Since her mother had ancestral connections to the lands of Galicia and both her father and King Andrew wanted to dominate that area, this plan seemed to meet the needs of both parties. The marriage of Salomea and Kálmán, who was seven at the time, occurred in 1215. In 1219 their control in Galicia was ended and for a time they were taken as prisoners.

In 1245 she joined the Order of Poor Ladies and founded a monastery in Zawichost. Because of the danger of Mongol inavasion to Poland, Salomea and other clarisses had to move from Zawichost and choose a new place to live according to Saint Clare's Rule. This decision was made in march 1257 and at that time Poor Ladies found themselves in Skała, near Kraków.