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Maria of Masovia

politician

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 9, 2025
Entity authorityQ3847623 ↗
Source-derived summary

Maria of Masovia (pl: Maria mazowiecka; 1408/15–14 February 1454) was a Duchess of Pomerania by marriage to Bogislaw IX, Duke of Pomerania, and regent of Pomerania from 1446 to 1449.

Life

She was the sixth daughter of Siemowit IV, Duke of Masovia and Alexandra, a daughter of Algirdas, Grand Duke of Lithuania and sister of King Władysław II Jagiełło of Poland.

In Poznań on 24 June 1432, Maria married Bogislaw IX, Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast-Słupsk in Stargard, the first cousin and designated heir of Eric of Pomerania, King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The marriage strengthened the alliance between Bogislaw IX and King Władysław II Jagiełło against the State of the Teutonic Order, who feared losing the coastal land connecting them with the Holy Roman Empire. For this, the Order tried to prevent the wedding, and Bogislaw IX had to arrive in Poznań dressed like a pilgrim.

After her husband's death on 7 December 1446, Maria became the regent of his domains until 1449, when the male heir, ex-King Eric, returned from Gotland to rule after being deposed from his three Kingdoms 10 years earlier.

Maria died on 14 February 1454. She was buried in the Chapel of Słupsk Castle. During renovations in 1788 her sarcophagus was found and burned.

Issue

Sophie of Pomerania (1435 – 24 August 1497), married Eric II, Duke of Pomerania.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Maria of Masovia” as politician. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1408, 1454, 1446, 1449—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Maria, Masovia and politician can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as politician. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 9, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q3847623. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1408, 1454, 1446 and 1449.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Maria of Masovia”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Maria of Masovia primary sources, Maria of Masovia archive and Maria research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Maria of Masovia”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Maria of Masovia” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.