Background
He was the third son of Henry I the Bearded, Duke of Wroclaw, by his wife (and later Saint) Hedwig, daughter of Berthold IV, Duke of Merania.
He was the third son of Henry I the Bearded, Duke of Wroclaw, by his wife (and later Saint) Hedwig, daughter of Berthold IV, Duke of Merania.
Little is known about his early years. Prince Konrad was the hero of the first alleged ethnic conflict between the Polish and Germans in Silesia. According to an anonymous Silesian monk, the author of the "Polish-Silesian Chronicle" from the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries, Henry I the Bearded tried to leave all his inheritance to Henry II the Pious.
In this dispute, the young Konrad had the support of the Polish, and Henry II gained the favour of the Germans.
As a result, both forces clashed in the Battle of Studnica near Opole in 1213, the Germans under the leadership of Henry II defeated the Polish troops of Konrad. The chronicles suggests that Konrad"s fatal accident shortly after wasn"t coincidence.
Thanks to this information, by the 19th and early 20th century, Prince Konrad became in a Polish national hero. Historiography recognized the Battle of Studnica as a breakthrough event for Polish Silesia.
The Silesian writer January Mikołaj Jaroń created a 1920 drama with the title Konrad the Curly.
In 1928, Leon Schiller developed the Silesian Drama at the beginning of the 13th century in five acts. As a defender of the Prince, Zofia Kossak-Szczucka wrote Legnickie Pole in 1931. Konrad"s brother and antagonist, Henry II the Pious, was recognized as pro-German.