Casimir III the Great
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The only Polish king called "the Great," he closed out the Piast dynasty by choosing treaties over conquest and building a state that outlasted his bloodline. He codified law, founded Poland's first university, and left the crown to Hungary - having spent three decades making sure there was something worth inheriting.
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About this person
Casimir III took the throne in 1333 and immediately bent toward the pragmatic: he signed away Silesia to Bohemia, made peace with the Teutonic Order, and turned his attention east, annexing Red Ruthenia in 1340 and holding it through years of war. At home he codified Polish law in the Statutes of Wiślica and Piotrków, earning the nickname "the Polish Justinian" for reforms that centralized royal authority and standardized the judiciary. He expanded protections for Jewish communities, encouraged migration and trade, built stone castles across the kingdom, and in 1364 founded the University of Kraków - one of Europe's oldest universities, still standing. When he died in 1370 with no legitimate male heir, the crown passed to his nephew Louis I of Hungary, ending the Piast dynasty after centuries. What remained was a larger, richer, better-organized Poland - proof that state-building can outlive any family line.
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