This article refers to the 12th-century Polish monarch. For the 15th-century Jagiellon monarch, see Władysław III of Poland, and for other monarchs with similar names see Ladislaus III (disambiguation). Władysław III Spindleshanks (; b. 1161/67 – 3 November 1231), of the Piast dynasty, was Duke of Greater Poland (during 1194–1202 over all the land and during 1202–1229 only over the southern part), High Duke of Poland and Duke of Kraków during 1202–1206 and 1228–1231, Duke of Kalisz during 1202–1206, ruler of Lubusz during 1206–1210 and 1218–1225, and ruler over Gniezno during 1216–1217. He was the fifth son of Mieszko III the Old, Duke of Greater Poland and since 1173 High Duke of Poland, but the third-born from his second marriage with Eudoxia, daughter of Grand Prince Iziaslav II of Kiev. The nickname "Spindleshanks" (Laskonogi) was given to Władysław in the Chronicle of Greater Poland. Jan Długosz assumed that this was in reference to Władysław's unusually long and thin legs. Under the rule of Mieszko III the Old The first appearance of Władysław in contemporary sources was around 1168 in reference to the congress of Jędrzejów where, as a small child, he was a witness in a donation to the local Cistercian monastery. Between 1177 and 1179 Władysław, his parents and siblings were forced to leave Poland as a result of the rebellion of Casimir II the Just and Odon, Mieszko III's eldest son from his first marriage, who resented the clear favoritism showed by his father to the offspring of his second marriage. Władysław returned to his family only in 1181 and, despite being legally an adult, was not given his own district. Around 1186, Władysław married Lucia, daughter of Jaromar I, Prince of Rügen. The union, whose principal purpose was to increase the influence of Mieszko III in Western Pomerania, was childless. After the death of Władysław's half-brother Odon on 20 April 1194, Władysław assumed the control of the Duchy in Southern Greater Poland (the Obra River), as guardian of his minor nephew Władysław Odonic (son of Odon, born ca. 1190). On 13 September 1195, the death of his only surviving brother Bolesław in the bloody Battle of Mozgawą left Władysław as the sole heir of Mieszko III, and he began trying to restore the lands controlled by his father in the Duchy of Kraków and to assume the overlordship of Poland. Duke of Kraków and Greater Poland Mieszko