Janisław (archbishop of Gniezno)

Janisław, Archbishop of Gniezno, in a book illumination from before 1535. At his feet: Korab coat-of-arms.

Korab coat-of-arms.

Janisław, of the Korab coat of arms (? - December 4, 1341, Łęczyca), was Archbishop of Gniezno 1317-41, having in 1317 succeeded Borzysław I. Janisław unconditionally supported the policy of reunification of the Polish lands carried out by Władysław I the Elbow-high, whom he crowned King of Poland on January 20, 1320.

In 1320-21 Janisław was one of the judges named by the Pope in the lawsuit of Inowrocław opposing the Teutonic Knights on the question of Gdańsk. On April 25, 1333, Janisław crowned Casimir III of Poland, son and successor of Władysław I. In Warsaw (1339), the new lawsuit granted Poland Gdańsk against the Teutonic Knights, stating the principle that the King of Poland must rule Gdańsk on the grounds it had previously been Polish.

Poland's clerical magnates — an archbishop and some 10 bishops — owned over a hundred villages and several towns which had been growing in prosperity since the foundation of the Polish church in 1000 AD.