Casimir III the Great

Casimir III the Great (1310 to 1370) reigned as King of Poland from 1333 to 1370 and was the last Polish king of the Piast dynasty. Alongside a pragmatic foreign policy that preferred treaties and legal arbitration to war, his reign was marked by extensive legal and administrative reform. He codified Polish law in the Statutes of Wislica and Piotrkow, which reduced legal division and reinforced royal authority, and his reform of the judiciary earned him the unofficial title the Polish Justinian. Towns grew under Magdeburg rights, taxation and administration improved, and he confirmed and extended protections for Jewish communities. He also founded the University of Krakow in 1364.