The eldest son of Bolesław I and Eufemia. For many years he was closely linked to the imperial court of Sigismund of Luxembourg, King of Bohemia. Before his father's death he was a courtier of Empress Barbara, Sigismund's wife. In 1438 he swore allegiance to Sigismund. From 1431, as one of the jointly ruling princes, he ruled the Duchy of Cieszyn with his mother. After the division of the Duchy of Cieszyn in 1442 Wacław received Bytom and Siewierz. He sold the Duchy of Siewierz in 1443, with the assent of his mother and brothers, to the Bishop of Cracow, Zbigniew Oleśnicki, and gave Bytom to his brother, Bolesław II on 6 February 1452 in exchange for Bielsko. After the death of Bolesław II on 4 October 1452 he became the guardian of his brother's children. Soon after, in 1459, he sold the part of the Duchy of Bytom belonging to the Cieszyn Princes to Konrad IX Czarny (the Black), the Prince of Oleśnica. On 9 December 1438 he betrothed Elizabeth Hohenzollern, the daughter of the Elector of Brandenburg, Frederick I, 16 years his senior and the mother of four children. She had been a widow for two years following the death of her husband, Ludwik II, Prince of Legnica. Their marriage was contracted on 17 February 1439, lasted only a few years and ended unhappily. The couple made the decision to separate sometime in 1445 or 1446 for unknown reasons. The prince died heirless (no doubt owing to the age of his former wife) in Bielsko in 1474. He was buried in the Dominican church in Cieszyn.

(Listinar, no 186, K. Jasiński, Rodowód, pp. 165-168, I. Panic, Księstwo, p. 57, H. Markgraf, Der liegnitzer Lehnstreit, p. 29)