Bolesław the Pious in the context of Ląd, Greater Poland Voivodeship

Przemysł II (Polish: [ˈpʂɛmɨsw] also given in English and Latin as Premyslas or Premislaus or in Polish as Przemysław; 14 October 1257 – 8 February 1296) was the Duke of Poznań from 1257–1279, of Greater Poland from 1279 to 1296, of Kraków from 1290 to 1291, and Gdańsk Pomerania (Pomerelia) from 1294 to 1296, and then King of Poland from 1295 until his death. After a long period of Polish high dukes and two nominal kings, he was the first to obtain the hereditary title of king, and thus to return Poland to the rank of kingdom. A member of the Greater Poland branch of the House of Piast as the only son of Duke Przemysł I and the Silesian Princess Elisabeth, he was born posthumously; for this reason he was brought up at the court of his uncle Bolesław the Pious and received his own district to rule, the Duchy of Poznań in 1273. Six years later, after the death of his uncle, he also obtained the Duchy of Kalisz.

In the first period of his government, Przemysł II was involved only in regional affairs, first in close collaboration and then competing with the Duke of Wrocław, Henryk IV Probus. This policy caused the rebellion of the prominent Zaremba family and the temporary loss of Wieluń. Working with the Archbishop of Gniezno, Jakub Świnka, he sought the unification of the principalities of the Piast dynasty. Unexpectedly, in 1290, under the will of Henryk IV Probus, he managed to obtain the Duchy of Kraków and with this the title of High Duke of Poland; however, not having sufficient support from the local nobility (who supported another member of the Piast dynasty, Władysław I the Elbow-high) and faced with the increasing threats of King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia, Przemysł II finally decided to retreat from Lesser Poland, which was then under the rule of Přemyslid dynasty.

Przemysł I (4 June 1221 – 4 June 1257), a member of the Piast dynasty, was Duke of Greater Poland from 1239 until his death, from 1241 with his brother Bolesław the Pious as co-ruler. He was able to re-acquire large parts of Greater Poland, ruling as Duke of Poznań and Gniezno from 1247 and, upon several inheritance conflicts with his brother, as Duke of Poznań and Kalisz from 1249, sole Duke of Greater Poland from 1250, and Duke of Poznań from 1253 until his death.

The numeral primus ("The First") was given to him in the almost contemporary Wielkopolska Chronicle.

The General Charter of Jewish rights known as the Statute of Kalisz, and the Kalisz Privilege, granted Jews in the Middle Ages some protection against discrimination in Poland compared to other places in Europe. These rights included exclusive jurisdiction over Jewish matters to Jewish courts, and established rules of evidence for criminal matters involving Christians and Jews.

The statute was issued by the Duke of Greater Poland Bolesław the Pious on September 8, 1264 in Kalisz. After the unification of Poland, the statute was then ratified by some subsequent Polish Kings: Casimir the Great in 1334, Casimir IV in 1453, and Sigismund I in 1539. This was in contrast to other rulers in Western and Southern Europe at the time who forced Jews to emigrate: England in 1290, France in 1306, Spain in 1492.