84 PIAST
convents. At the end, King Louis walked between the Archbishop, Bishops, princes, and
dignitaries, amongst a great crowd of lords and ladies. More than four hundred courtiers
dressed in black mingled among them, groaning and weeping mightily ... In addition,
two trusted persons were ordered to carry silver bowls filled with groats, into which
some people added their offerings, whilst others were allowed to take as much as they
liked. As fast as the bowls were emptied, they were refilled from the money sacks of the
attendants... With such great ceremony, the procession reached the cathedral church,
where the Reverend Father, the Bishop, celebrated Holy Mass ... As in all the other
churches, the High Altar had been draped with rich purple cloth and with two great
streamers of brocade in various colours. One by one, the office-holders of the late king
brought the symbols of their respective offices, and laid them before the altar. Thus the
Chamberlain and the Treasurer offered up their silver trays, with cloths and towels. The
royal Stewards presented four great silver dishes; the Cupbearers presented silver jugs
and cups. Then the Marshal led forward the King's favourite steed, whilst his deputy
ushered in the knight in effigy, still mounted on his horse. .. After these presentations,
as is customary, the royal standard was broken in pieces. At this, there arose such a shriek
from the congregation in the cathedral, such an outburst of weeping from young and old,
from high and low alike, that they could hardly be calmed. And no wonder! The death
of the peace-loving king had caused them to fear that the peace to which they had all
grown accustomed during his lifetime would now end.^13
The greatest of the Piasts lay in his grave. But the Piasts were not yet extinct. It
was a nice question - by whom, and in what manner, they would be disinher-
ited. Casimir's Vice-Chancellor, Janko of Czarnkow, the author of the descrip-
tion of his funeral, was actively intriguing against the Angevin succession.
Having stolen the royal insignia from his late master's tomb for future use on
behalf of Wladystaw Bialy, his plot was unmasked, and he was banished from
the country. Later, having returned to the chapter of Gniezno, he wrote his
chronicle in defence of his own actions and of the dynasty which he served.
Having lost their royal dignity, the Piasts played only a fast-declining role in the
affairs of the Kingdom. Kazko of Slupsk died in 1377, in advance of Louis of
Anjou whom he was supposed to succeed. Wladyslaw Bialy died in 1388 in his
Burgundian retreat. Ziemowit III continued to hold Mazovia in fief. His descen-
dants ruled Belz to 1462; Plock to 1495, and until the death of the last of their
line, Prince Janusz III, in 1526, Warsaw. The germanized Piasts of Silesia grad-
ually abandoned their former Polish connections. As vassals of Bohemia, and
then of the Habsburgs, they were drawn into the politics of Prague and Vienna,
and presided over the division of their domain into ever smaller and more
insignificant fragments. They survived in Oels (Olesnica) to 1492; in Sagan
(Zagan) to 1504; in Oppeln (Opole) to 1532; and in Teschen (Cieszyn) to 1625.
The final extinction of the ruling Piasts came in 1675 with the death of Prince
Georg-Wilhelm von Liegnitz, Brieg, und Wohlau (Legnica, Brzeg, and Wolow).