Mieszko was the second son of the
Silesian duke
Henry II the Pious (1196–1241), by his consort
Anne (d. 1265), a daughter of the
Přemyslid king
Ottokar I of Bohemia. His father succeeded as
Polish high duke in 1238, ruling over Silesia and the
Seniorate Province, as well as over large parts of
Greater Poland. He had to ward off several attacks by the
Ascanian margraves of
Brandenburg and the
Magdeburg archbishops on the westernmost Greater Polish lands, stretching around the former
Veleti castle of
Lubusz on the banks of the
Oder river. When on 9 April 1241 High Duke Henry II was defeated and killed in the
Mongol invasion of Poland at the
Battle of Legnica, Mieszko and his older brother
Bolesław II the Bald were old enough to be considered adults according to the Piast family customs. As contemporary chroniclers called Mieszko with the surname "of Lubusz" (
lubuski), it seems possible that his older brother Bolesław, while assuming the rule over Silesia, had to cede him the Greater Polish territories of Lubusz as a separate district, probably by the will of their late father. This agreement was only effected on a preliminary basis until the younger brothers
Henry III the White and
Konrad I attained the age of majority. Mieszko, however, was already dead by the beginning of 1242 and was buried in St. Peter's Church below Lubusz Castle. He never married or had children. Shortly afterwards, in 1248/49, Lubusz Land was pledged to the Archbishops of Magdeburg and the Brandenburg margraves by his brother Bolesław II. ==References==