Constance of Greater Poland

Constance of Greater Poland (also known as of Poznań) (1245/46 – 8 October 1281) was a princess of Greater Poland, a member of the House of Piast, and by marriage a Margravine of Brandenburg–Stendal. She was the eldest daughter of Przemysł I, Duke of Greater Poland and Poznań, by his wife Elisabeth, daughter of Henry II the Pious, Duke of Wrocław. She was probably named after her maternal aunt Constance, second wife of Casimir I, Duke of Kuyavia. Life In 1255 Constance was engaged to Conrad, son of John I, Margrave of Brandenburg. On 19 December of that year, Pope Alexander IV gave her a dispensation to celebrate the marriage, which was necessary because both Constance and Conrad were great-great-grandchildren of Mieszko III the Old (Constance through Mieszko III's son Odon and Conrad through Mieszko III's daughter Elisabeth). With this alliance, Duke Przemysł I and his brother Bolesław the Pious wanted to establish warmer relations with expanding Brandenburg, which became dangerous to the Greater Poland Dukes during the 1250s. The formal marriage between Constance and Conrad took place in the border town of Santok in 1260, after the death of Przemysł I. Constance's dowry was the castellany of Santok, though without the main city, which remained in Greater Poland, given to the Margraviate of Brandenburg with the consent of a wiec reunited in Greater Poland, which took place on 1 July of that year in Poznań. The castellany guaranteed the amount promised by Przemysł I as a dowry for his daughter in 1255.