Piast Dynasty (continued)

However, Casimir II (who, probably a posthumous child, was left out of Boleslaus’s will) united Mazovia and Sandomierz under his power, was made duke at Kraków in 1177, and secured (1180) for his descendants the hereditary right to the kingship. Nevertheless, dynastic struggles resumed after Casimir’s death (1194) and continued until Ladislaus I restored the royal authority in 1320. With the death (1370) of his son, Casimir III, the Piast dynasty ended in Poland; it was finally succeeded by the Jagiello dynasty. Another branch of the Piasts ruled as dukes of Mazovia until 1526. In 1339, Casimir III had officially recognized John of Luxemburg, king of Bohemia, as suzerain over the Piast domains in Silesia, which in the meantime had broken up into many principalities. The Silesian Piasts, as vassals of Bohemia and mediate princes of the Holy Roman Empire, retained the ducal title and continued to hold the duchy of Oppeln until 1532 and the principalities of Brieg, Liegnitz, and Wohlau until their extinction in 1675.

Mieszko I

Mieszko I, son of the semi-legendary Siemomysl, was the first (historically known) Piast duke of Poland. He married Dubrawka (or Dobrava), a daughter of Boleslaus I, duke of Bohemia.

The early career of Mieszko was dominated by fighting with the tribes of Wieletes and Volinians south of the Baltic Sea, and their ally, the Saxon count Wichman. Mieszko was baptised in 966, probably under the influence of his Christian first wife and in order to avoid confrontation with the Holy Roman Empire to the west; he built a church dedicated to Saint George at Gniezno.

At the time of the reign of Mieszko there was no single place serving as the capital instead he built serveral castles around his country. One the most important was Ostrow Lednicki. It was a ring-fort some 460 feet in diameter. Inside his residence, a fine stone palace, the country's first monumental architecture.

Mieszko I had pledged allegiance to emperor Otto I the Great. His reign began around 962 in Greater Poland, Cujavia, Masovia and possibly in eastern Pomerania. In the 960s he probably at least partially conquered western Pomerania, and in the 990's he conquered Silesia and Little Poland.

Much of his military activity was along the Baltic coast, in Pomerania. He defeated Count Dietrich of the Northern March at Cedynia in 972, and reached the mouth of the Odra river in 976. The decisive battle, fought in 979, ensured Mieszko's position as count of the march. The following year he celebrated his victory by dedicating the city of Gdansk at the mouth of the Vistula River.

In 981 Mieszko I lost the land known only as Grody Czerwienskie to Vladimir I, prince of Kiev. In 986 he pledged allegiance to the Emperor Otto III, and helped him with wars with the Polabians. Shortly before his death he placed his state under the suzerainty of the Pope in a document usually called the Dagome Iudex. This Dagome Index indexes the lands of the former nun Oda, lists her husband as Dagome and her sons by him. In the seventeenth century a list of rulers over the Polish territories for the first time called them Piasts.

From his first marriage he had a son, his successor Boleslaus, and a daughter, Swiatoslawa, later the wife (as queen Sigrid the Proud) of Eric the Victorious, king of Sweden and then (as queen Gunhild) of king Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark, and mother of king Canute of Denmark and England.

Boleslaw I Chrobry ('Boleslaus the Brave')

In 984 Boleslaus married Rikdaga, the daughter of Riddag (Rikdag, Ricdag), the margrave of Meissen. Subsequently he married Judith, the daughter of Geza the Great Prince of Hungary; then Enmilda, the daughter of one Dobromir, a Lusatian prince; and Oda, daughter of the margrave of Meissen. His wives bore him sons including Bezprym, Mieszko II and Otton; and a daughter, Mathilde.

In 997 Boleslaus sent St. Adalbert of Prague to Prussia on the Baltic Sea to attempt to convert the Prussians to Christianity. In 990 he incorporated Silesia. By this time he already possessed Pomerania (with its main city of Gdansk) and Little Poland (with its main city of Cracow). In 999 he annexed present-day Moravia and in 1000 or 1001 Slovakia. He appeared well in track to unite all West Slavic lands in one strong, country as a member of Christian Europe.

In A.D. 1000, while on a pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Adalbert at Gniezno, the emperor Otto III invested Boleslaus with the title Frater et Cooperator Imperii ("Brother and Partner of the Empire"). Some historians say that the emperor also pledged the king's crown to Boleslaus. On the same visit Otto III accepted Gniezno's status as an archbishopric.

After the untimely death of Otto III in 1002 at the age of 22, Boleslaus conquered Meissen and Lusatia, in an attempt to wrest imperial territory for himself during the disputes over the throne; he and his father had both backed Henry the Quarrelsome against Otto earlier, and he accepted the accession of Henry II of Germany, the earlier Henry's son.

Boleslaus conquered and made himself duke of Bohemia and Moravia in 1003 - 1004; he defeated the Ruthenians and stormed Kiev in 1018, annexing the Red Strongholds (Grody Czerwienskie) later called Red Ruthenia and making prince Sviatopolk his vassal there. The intermittent wars with Germany ended with the Peace of Bautzen, Budziszyn in 1018, which left Sorbian Meissen and Lusatia in Polish hands.

The emperor Henry II obliged Boleslaus to give a pledge of allegiance again for the lands he held in fief. After the death of Henry in 1024, Boleslaus crowned himself king, rising Poland to the rank of kingdom (1025).

Mieszko II Lambert

Mieszko II was a very educated man for his time. He was able to read and write, and knew both Greek and Latin. Before he became king in 1025, he probably ruled as his father's governor in Krakow, most likely since 1013, when he supposedly built many churches.

He waged war against Germany, quite successfully: he was able to repel the German army, and later he even invaded Saxony. He allied with Hungary, resulting for a while in the Hungarian occupation of Vienna. This war probably was because of family connections of Mieszko in opposition against emperor Conrad II in Germany.

He had an older brother, Bezprym (son of an unknown Hungarian wife of Boleslaw, who was expelled by him later), and a younger one, Otton. According to old Slavic custom a father should divide his heritage between sons; however kingdoms should not be divided. So Mieszko's brothers received nothing from their father's legacy. In addition, Bezprym was the oldest son, so many probably felt that he should succeed his father as king. However Bezprym from the beginning was disliked by his father, as denoted by his name (Piasts usually used names like Boleslaw, Mieszko, later also Kazimierz, Wladyslaw, or Emperor's names: Otton, Conrad, Heinrich: but Bezprym was a commoner's name, which implies that Boleslaw did not desire Bezprym to follow him in succession). He was send to a monastery.

Both Mieszko's brothers escaped abroad: Otton to Germany, Bezprym to Kiev Rus. Soon after both the German emperor and the great duke of Kiev, Yaroslaw the Wise, allied and made simultaneous invasions. Facing two enemies, Germany from the west and Russia from the east, Mieszko escaped to Czech where he was probably castrated.

Bezprym started his rule by sending his crown and other king's insignia to Germany. Mieszko returned soon, but this time he was forced to pledge allegiance to the German Emperor, and Poland was divided between him, his brothers Otton and Bezprym, and some mysterious Thiedric (probably nephew or cousin). Otton was killed by one of his own men, and Mieszko was able to reunite Poland.

Wladyslaw Wygnaniec (Ladislaus the Exile)

After his father's death, Ladislaus, as his oldest son, became the High-Duke of Poland. He controlled the high-duke province of Cracow and Gniezno and also his hereditary province of Silesia.

In 1146 he was driven into exile by his younger brothers and died in Germany. In 1163 the province of Silesia was granted to his sons by the Polish duke Boleslaus Kedzierzawy. Subsequenly Silesia was divided among his descendants and successors (going up to 17 duchies), until they died out in 1675.

The Polish White Eagle

The Crowned White Eagle has been the Coat of Arms of the Polish State for seven centuries now. It is one of the oldest State Coats of Arms in the world. There are very few other countries who have managed to maintain their coats of arms for such a long period of time.

Several historic traditions and legends have referred to the origin of the White Eagle, moving it back to the times when the Polish State was being established, and even earlier. The Eagle was connected with Poland's first capital, Gniezno, where Lech, the legendary ancestor of the Piast dynasty was to find an eagle's nest (in Polish: "gniazdo"), and thus took the eagle as his coat of arms. On the other hand, Jan Dlugosz, Poland’s most distinguished chronicler living in the 15th century, wrote that Duke Boleslaw Chrobry was granted the Eagle as his coat of arms by the Emperor Otto III during the meeting of both Monarchs in Gniezno in the year 1000. The origin of the White Eagle is neither as fine nor as distant in time however. Generally, coats of arms did not exist before 12th century.

In Poland, the eagle appeared as a coat of arms for the first time on seals of several Dukes of the Piast dynasty (they were portrayed both standing and on horseback) in the years 1222-1236. It was their personal and family coat of arms and at the same time the emblem of their dukedoms. The eagle was selected as their coat of arms for its symbolic values. As the king of all birds it was a primeval symbol of power, victory, force and kingship. For the same reason, many monarchs in other countries, used the eagle in their coats of arms. The eagle of the Piast princes had different colors than the others. From the very beginning it was the White Eagle in the red shield (on "gules", according to heraldic terminology).