This is a forum for those who think monarchy is a noble and viable alternative to the crude and materialistic mob mentality of republicanism.
What happened to Henryk III of Poland?
So I noticed that the regnal numbering for the Polish monarchs seem to jump from Henryk II to Henryk IV at least according to the English language list on Wikipedia. Is there any reason why Henryk III is completely skipped over?
To explain it as simply as possible: Henri III was king of Poland for about a year, until his brother died. Then he simply escaped from Poland and became King of France which was better for him as he could have more power as a monarch there. He was first electioned King of Poland, but was controversial due to his "western" appearance (he was also kinda dissapointed). Maybe that's why some people don't consider him as a true king of Poland, just like russian tzars who were only titular "Kings of Poland" and are often skipped.
I think there’s some confusion:
Henryk I of Poland (1232-1238)
Henryk II of Poland (1238-1241)
Henryk IV of Poland (1288-1290)
Henryk V of Poland/Henri III of France (1573-1575)
Henri III of France ruled in Poland as Henryk V or Henryk Walezy, there seems to be no Henryk III of Poland.
he was a duke, not a king, a duke of silesia
henryk the IV respected the III in when taking the name Henryk IV.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_III,_Duke_of_G%C5%82og%C3%B3w
This gap you noticed occured, as you may seen, in the times of fragmentation of Poland. Generally, after Bolesław the III died he divided his kingdom among his sons. He left an additional part of Poland, so called seniorate province (containing the capital, Kraków), to his oldest son Władysław. In his testament Bolesław ordered that seniorate province should go under the rule of the second oldest son of Bolesław, and that the one descendant of Bolesław controlling the seniorate province shall be given the title of the high duke, who should lead the country and rule over the other brothers. Of course the whole thing soon became a mess, Władysław was exiled and his brothers and their sons began to compete for the seniorate province and the title of high duke. Now, Henry the II and Henry the IV were dukes of the Silesian branch of the Piast dynasty, who happened to gain control over Kraków, thus gaining the title of monarch of Poland. Henry the III of the Silesian Piasts never achieved this goal, so he never became a monarch.
Basically, because of the mess around the title of the monarch of Poland.