Editing Henry Probus (section)

==Death==
Henry IV died suddenly in 1290, aged no more than thirty-two years. The details of his death, given by the chronicler Ottokar of Styria, are seen by some historians as very reliable and by others as doubtful.

The year of his death is widely accepted, and confirmation for this can be found in numerous sources. However, the exact day was variously given by the sources.

One, the most supported by far of the largest number of sources, and given by the Church of St. John the Baptist, was 23 June. There are, however, other proposals: 24 June, 22 July, and even in April.

===Poisoning===
About the real cause of Henry IV's death, there are several independent sources: these are the tombs of the Silesian Dukes, the Chronicle of [[Jan Długosz]], and later chroniclers, like the Bohemian Chronicle of Pulkawy and the Chronicle of Ottokar of Styria.

According to Ottokar of Styria, who seems to be the most accurate in details, Henry IV aspired to the title of the King of Poland, asking the Pope for permission for a coronation. The negotiations were successful, and he sent to Rome 12,000 ''[[grzywna (unit)|grzywnas]]'' as a present to the Pope. But when the envoy reached Italy it was noted that 400 ''grzywnas'' were stolen during the trip, and the Pope, infuriated, cancelled all negotiations with Henry IV. Although the embezzler was able to escape from the papal fury and the justice of the [[Doge (title)|Doge]] of [[Venice]], it is known that Henry IV wanted to punish him. In order to prevent the imminent revenge of the Duke it was decided to get rid of him: a false lawyer (brother of one of the Duke's doctors) was employed at the court of Wrocław, and slowly poisoned Henry IV. While another doctor, called Guncelin, recognizing the symptoms of poisoning, was able to rescue the Duke from an imminent death, causing severe vomiting and cleansing the body; but the assassin was not discovered, and this time put the poison in the knife used by Henry IV to cut his bread. The poison was finally detected, but it was too late to save the Duke. Henry IV died in the Catholic faith, deciding not to prosecute or punish his killers.

This is a very long story of the Duke's death and only some elements are confirmed by other sources. Ottokar of Styria told the story in many details in agreement with that provided by the ''Kronika Zbrasławska''. Other sources related that a chaplain named Aleksy, as a deputy of King [[Wenceslaus II of Bohemia]] had betrayed Henry IV's interests and tried to give the crown to the "King of Kalisz" Przemysł II. In this story the theft of the envoy to Rome was also mentioned, only the epilogue was a little different: here, the thief was killed by his own servants in the streets of Rome.

[[File:Henryk IV Probus tomb effigy.PNG|thumb|upright|Henry IV's tomb effigy in Wrocław. The picture was an attempt to reconstruct the medieval polychrome.]]

===Killers===
Following the version of Ottokar of Styria, should be sought among the Wrocław townspeople (just like Henry IV's father) two brothers, one of them was lawyer and the other doctor. The only two persons who could be identified as the brothers were John (who was an adviser of the Duchy and a lawyer) and Jakob (known as ''Magister'', so probably a doctor), sons of one Goćwina, who was a doctor in the court of Henry III the White. They still in their posts at the time of Henry IV's death. It's assumed that they acted on behalf of [[Henry V the Fat]], who wanted to obtain Kraków and with this the title of High Duke, but was not any evidence to support this. There is no other person who will take advantage of the Duke's death, and could be linked to the circumstances of the death of Henry IV.

===Henry IV's testament===
According to the chroniclers, the dying Henry IV made two documents. One to the Wrocław church (which give the desired permissions to the Bishop to obtain the full sovereignty over the Duchy of [[Nysa, Poland|Nysa]]&ndash;[[Otmuchów]]) and other politic (who regulated the issue of his inheritance). Under this will, he bequeathed the Duchy of Wrocław to Duke [[Henry III, Duke of Silesia-Glogau|Henry III]] of [[Duchy of Głogów|Głogów]], and [[Kraków]] -with the title of High Duke- to [[Przemysł II]]. In case of the death of one of the princes, the other could take possession over his districts, which further arrangements according to custom. Many historians, however, believed the existence of a third document. If it was true, this would be a step towards the reunification of Poland, and Henry IV, who was denigrated particularly in the earlier literature, was really a conscious promoter of Poland interests and a true patriot (apart from the merits of raising the awareness of the problems of ethnic and linguistic diversity in the [[Middle Ages]]). Only the testament to the Church (who was not count with the return of [[Kłodzko]] to King [[Wenceslaus II of Bohemia]] as an excuse for mixing in the Silesian affairs) was fully implemented. Henry IV was buried in the Kolegiata of the Holy Cross and St. Bartholomeus in [[Wrocław]], which he founded.

[[Henry V the Fat]] could take Wrocław with support of King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia, after the local nobility refused to accept the rule of Henry III of Głogów. Wenceslaus II himself gained the [[Seniorate Province]], but Duke Przemysł II could retain the title of High Duke.

During World War II German anthropologists wanted to prove the "''Germanic look''" of Henry IV. To this end, his remains were removed and were to be tested. Unfortunately, they were lost during the war. The sarcophagus is now in the National Museum in Wrocław.