Background
Anna was born in Prague. She was the daughter of Ottokar I, King of Bohemia, and his second wife, Constance of Hungary.
Anna was born in Prague. She was the daughter of Ottokar I, King of Bohemia, and his second wife, Constance of Hungary.
Her paternal grandparents were Vladislaus II, Duke of Bohemia, and Judith of Thuringia. Around the age of twelve she was married (1216) to Henry II the Pious, Duke of Silesia. She was the sister of the Franciscan nun Agnes of Bohemia.
Anna was a generous benefactor of the Franciscan nuns in Wrocław.
In 1256, Pope Alexander IV wrote to the Bishops of Wrocław and Lubiąż, explaining that Anna had proposed the construction of a monastery that would house a community of Franciscan nuns, fulfilling her desire, and her dead husband’s desire, to build such an institution. In 1257, the construction of the monastery began.
Anna donated many goods to the monastery, but made sure that her donations did not violate the vow of voluntary poverty that the nuns had taken. In 1263, a papal bull issued by Pope Urban IV to the nuns at Wrocław states that Anna wanted the nuns to use the property that she had given them only in times of need.
Her vita, written in the first half of the fourteenth century, links her closely with her mother-in-law Hedwig of Silesia, who is portrayed as the main influence on Anna"s religious life.
According historian Gábor Klaniczay, she was venerated as a saint in Poland, but would never be canonised.