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{{Infobox noble
| name         = Nicholas the Small
| title        = Duke of Ziębice
| image        = POL księstwo ziębickie COA.svg
| image_size   = 150px
| caption      = Coat-of-arms of Ziębice
| noble family = [[Silesian Piasts]]
| father       = [[Bolko II of Ziębice]]
| mother       = Bonne or Guta/Judith of Savoy
| spouse       = Agnes Krušina of Lichtenberg
| issue        = Ludmila [Anna?, Elisabeth?]<br>[[Bolko III of Ziębice]]<br>[[Henry I of Ziębice]]<br>Agnes<br>Guta<br>Katharina
| birth_date   = 1322/1327
| birth_place  = 
| death_date   = 23 April 1358
| death_place  = 
}}

'''Nicholas the Small''' (Mikołaj Mały) (1322/1327 – 23 April 1358) was a Duke of [[Ziębice]] from 1341 until his death.

He was the only son of Duke [[Bolko II of Ziębice]] and his wife Guta. He was born between 1322 and 1327. He had a sister, Małgorzata, but he did not know whether she was older or younger.

==Life==
Nicholas received a good education in the {{Interlanguage link multi|Cistercian Abbey of Henryków|pl|3=Opactwo Cystersów w Henrykowie|lt=Cistercian monastery of Heinrichau}} ([[Henryków, Lower Silesian Voivodeship|Henryków]]). After his father's death on 11 June 1341, he took control of the government of his domains. He almost immediately went to [[Prague]], where on 24 August he paid [[homage (medieval)|homage]] to King [[John of Bohemia]]. The huge debts left by his father forced Nicholas on 14 October 1343 to promise not to sell any of his lands without John's consent. In addition, if he did sell, the King had the first option to buy. He also agreed that, if the male line of the Dukes of Ziębice became extinct, the duchy would be annexed to the Bohemian Kingdom on condition that appropriate dowries be provided to the late Duke's daughters.

Financial problems as early as 1343 forced Nicholas to sell the district of Zobten ([[Sobótka]]) to his cousin [[Bolko II the Small]] for 1,000 [[grzywna (unit)|grzywna]]s of silver. Three years later, and for the same amount, he sold Frankenstein ([[Ząbkowice Śląskie|Ząbkowice]]) and the monastery of Kamenz ([[Kamieniec Ząbkowicki]]) to the Bohemian magnate Heinrich von Haugwitz. A combination of favorable circumstances enabled him to sell the same land in 1348, this time definitively, to [[Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Charles IV]] for 6,000 grzywnas. Finally, in 1350 Nicholas sold the town of [[Wąsów]] to the [[Bishop of Breslau]], [[Przecław of Pogorzela]]. As a result, of the vast domains he inherited from his father, Nicholas retained only Münsterberg, Strehlen ([[Strzelin]]), Kanth ([[Kąty Wrocławskie]]) and Patschkau ([[Paczków]]).

In 1355, Nicholas took part in the coronation of Charles IV as [[Holy Roman Emperor]] in [[Rome]]. After a long stay in [[Prague]], he returned to his duchy a year later. The Duke then went on a pilgrimage to [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]] between 1357 and 1358.

Nicholas died in [[Hungary]] on 23 April 1358 during his return trip. His body was brought to the duchy and buried in the monastery in Heinrichau.{{citation needed|date=September 2013}}

==Marriage and issue==
By 23 October 1343, Nicholas married Agnes (d. 16 July 1370), daughter of  Hynek (also named ''Hermann'' or ''Hajman'') Krušina z Lichtemburka, a Bohemian magnate.<ref>{{cite web |last=Marek |first=Miroslav |url=http://genealogy.euweb.cz/bohemia/lichtbg1.html |title= Genealogy of the House of Krušina z Lichtemburka |publisher=Genealogy.EU}}{{Self-published source|date=August 2012}}.{{Better source needed|date=August 2012}} In some sources, Agnes is erroneously named the daughter of "Herman, Landgrave of Leuchtenberg", who historically never existed. Elisabeth Krušina z Lichtemburk, Agnes' older sister, married [[Boček I of Poděbrady|Boček z Kunštátu]], another Bohemian magnate, and they were the paternal great-grandparents of [[George of Poděbrady]], later King of Bohemia.</ref> They had six children:
#Ludmila [Anna?, Elisabeth?] (b. ca. 1344 – d. ca. 1372), married by 1360 to Duke [[Siemowit III of Masovia]]
#[[Bolko III of Ziębice|Bolko III]] (b. ca. 1348 – d. 13 June 1410)
#[[Henry I of Ziębice|Henry I]] (b. ca. 1350 – d. aft. 8 August 1366)
#Agnes (b. ca. 1351/53? – d. October 1434), Abbess of St. Klara, Strehlen
#Guta (b. ca. 1354? – d. 2 September 1413), Abbess of St. Klara, Breslau (bef. 1380)
#Katharina (b. ca. 1355/58? – d. ca. 1396), a nun in St. Klara, Strehlen.

In his will, Nicholas left to his wife the regency of his lands on behalf of their infant sons and effective rule over Strehlen.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{cite web |last=Marek |first=Miroslav |url=http://genealogy.euweb.cz/piast/piast4.html#EBe |title= Complete Genealogy of the House of Piast |publisher=Genealogy.EU}}
* [http://wwperson.informatik.uni-erlangen.de/cgi-bin/l3/LANG=engl/F=Nikolaus@I./N=v.Schlesien-M%C3%BCnsterberg Genealogical database by Herbert Stoyan]
* [http://www.poczet.com/swidniccy.htm Genealogy of the Dukes of Ziębice]

{{s-start}}
{{S-hou|[[House of Piast]]||{{circa|1327}}|23 April|1358}}
{{s-bef | before=[[Bolko II of Ziębice|Bolko II]]}}
{{s-ttl | title=[[Duchy of Silesia|Duke of Ziębice]]| years=1341–1358}}
{{s-aft | after=[[Bolko III of Ziębice|Bolko III]]<br/> and [[Henry I of Ziębice|Henry I]]}}
{{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1320s births]]
[[Category:1358 deaths]]
[[Category:Piast dynasty]]