Boleslaw I of Poland

Bolesław I the Brave (Polish: Bolesław I Chrobry; 966/967-1025) of the Piast dynasty, son of Mieszko I and his first wife, the Czech princess Dobrava. He married Emnilda of Lusatia with whom he had a son, Mieszko II, who would succeed him on the throne. His second wife would be Princess Judith of Hungary, daughter of Prince Géza and sister of Saint Stephen I of Hungary. From his marriage to Judith, Boleslaus I would have a son, Bezprym, who would not become king. Bolesław I reigned as Duke of Poland from 992 to 1025 and as King of Poland in 1025.

Bolesłao I was a notable politician, strategist and statesman. He not only turned Poland into a country comparable to the ancient Western monarchies, but elevated it to the first rank of European states. Bolesłao carried out successful military campaigns in the west, south and east; He conquered Gdansk, Krakow and Silesia, and took Moravia from Bohemia. He consolidated the Polish lands and conquered territories outside the borders of modern Poland, such as Slovakia, Moravia, Red Ruthenia, Meissen, Lusatia and Bohemia, he extended his country to the Baltic Sea. He was a powerful mediator in Central European affairs. Finally, as the culmination of his reign, in 1025 he had himself crowned King of Poland taking advantage of the death of the Germanic emperor Henry II. He was the first Polish ruler to receive the title rex (Latin: & # 34; king & # 34;).

He was a skillful administrator who established the 'Prince's Law', systematized administration and taxes, and built many fortresses, churches, monasteries and bridges. He introduced the first monetary unit, the grzywna, divided into 240 denarii, and minted his own currency. Bolesłao I is considered one of the most capable and accomplished rulers of the Piast dynasty in Poland.

After his death, all Polish monarchs would hold the title of prince (duke) until in 1295 they would hereditarily use the title of "king" and Poland would be promoted to the rank of kingdom.

He had three children:

• Bezprym
• Miscellaneous II
• married to Sviatopolk I of Kiev

Early years

Bolesłao was born in 966 or 967, the first son of Mieszko I of Poland and his wife, the Princess of Bohemia. His Epitaph, which was written in the middle of the 11th century, highlighted that Bolesław had been born of a father "without faith" and a 'true believer' mother, suggesting that he was born before his father's baptism. Bolesław was baptized shortly after his birth. He was named after his maternal grandfather, Bolesław I, Duke of Bohemia. Not much is known about Bolesław's childhood. In his Epitaph it is recorded that at the age of seven he underwent the traditional hair-cutting ceremony and sent a lock of his hair to Rome. This last act suggests that Mieszko wanted to put his son under the protection of the Holy See. Historian Tadeusz Manteuffel says that Bolesław needed that protection because his father had sent him to the court of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, as a sign of his loyalty to the emperor. However, historian Marek Kazimierz Barański notes that the claim that Bolesław was sent as a hostage to the imperial court is disputed.

Bolesław's mother Dobrawa died in 977; His father, a widower, married Oda of Haldensleben, who had already been a nun. Around this time, Bolesław became the ruler of Lesser Poland, although it is not known exactly under what circumstances. Jerzy Strzelczyk says that Bolesław received Lesser Poland from his father; Tadeusz Manteuffel claims that he seized the province from his father with the support of local lords; and Henryk Łowmiański writes that his uncle, Bolesław II of Bohemia, granted him the region.

Rise to power and consolidation

Mieszko I died on May 25, 992. The contemporary Thietmar of Merseburg recorded that Mieszko left "his kingdom to be divided among many claimants", but Bolesłao unified the country "with fox's cunning" and expelled her stepmother and stepbrothers from Poland. Two Polish lords Odilien and Przibiwoj, who had supported her and her children, were blinded by order of Bolesłao. Historian Przemysław Wiszewski says that Bolesłao had already taken control of all of Poland in 992; Pleszczyński writes that this only occurred in the last months of 995.

Bolesłao's first coins were issued around the year 995. One of them bore the inscription Vencievlavus, showing that he considered his mother's uncle, Duke Wenceslas I of Bohemia, as the patron of Poland. Bolesłao sent reinforcements to the Holy Roman Empire to fight against the Polish Slavs in the summer of 992. Bolesłao personally led a Polish army to help imperial troops invade the land of the Abodrites or Veleti in the year 995. During the campaign, he met the young German monarch, Otto III.

Soběslav, head of the Bohemian Slavník dynasty, also participated in the campaign of 995. Taking advantage of Soběslav's absence, Boleslav II of Bohemia invaded the Slavník domains and had most of the family members murdered. After learning the fate of his relatives, Soběslav settled in Poland. Bolesław gave him shelter "for the sake of [Soběslav's] holy brother, Bishop Adalbert of Prague, according to hagiographies of the latter. Adalbert (known as Wojciech before his consecration) also arrived in Poland in 996, because Bolesław "was of a rather friendly disposition towards him. Adalbert's hagiographies suggest that The bishop and Bolesław cooperated closely. In early 997, Adalbert left Poland to proselytize among the Prussians, who had invaded the eastern borders of Bolesław's kingdom. However, the pagans murdered him on April 23, 997. Bolesław rescued Adalbert's remains, paying their weight in gold, and buried him in Gniezno. He sent parts of the martyred bishop's corpse to Emperor Otto III, who had been a friend of Adalbert.

Congress of Gniezno and its consequences (999-1002)

Emperor Otto III held a synod in Rome where Adalbert was canonized at the emperor's request on June 29, 999. Before December 2, 999, Adalbert's brother, Radim Gaudentius, was consecrated"archbishop of St. Adalbert'. Otto III made a pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Adalbert in Gniezno, accompanied by Pope Sylvester II's legate, Robert, in the early year 1000. Thietmar of Merseburg mentioned that "it would be impossible to believe or describe" how Bolesław received the emperor and conducted him to Gniezno. A century later, Gallus Anonymus added that "[m]onderful and wonderful sights Bolesław placed before the emperor when he arrived: the ranks first of knights in all their variety, and then of princes, lined up on a spacious plain like choirs, each separate unit distinguished by the different and varied colors of their clothing, and there was no garment of inferior quality, but of the most precious material that could be found anywhere. "

Boleslaw took advantage of the emperor's pilgrimage. After the emperor's visit to Gniezno, Poland began to develop as a sovereign state, in contrast to Bohemia, which remained a vassal state, incorporated into the Kingdom of Germany. Thietmar of Merseburg condemned Otto III for "making a tributary into a lord" in reference to the relationship between the emperor and Boleslaw. Gallus Anonymus noted that Otto III declared Boleslaw "his brother and partner" in the Holy Roman Empire, also calling Bolesław 'friend and ally of the Roman people.' The same chronicler mentioned that Otto III 'took the imperial diadem from his own head and placed it on that of Bolesław as a token of friendship in Gniezno. Bolesław also received "one of the nails of the cross of our Lord with the spear of Saint Maurice" from the Emperor.

Gallus Anonymus claimed that Bolesław was 'gloriously elevated to kingship by the emperor' through these acts, but the emperor's acts at Gniezno only symbolized Bolesław receiving royal prerogatives, including control of the Church in his kingdom. Radim Gaudentius was installed as archbishop of the newly created Archdiocese of Gniezno. At the same time, three suffragan bishoprics were created, subordinate to the see of Gniezno: the dioceses of Kołobrzeg, Kraków and Wrocław. Bolesław had promised that Poland would pay the Peter Pence to the Holy See to obtain the pope's sanction for the establishment of the new archdiocese. Unger, who had been the only prelate of Poland and opposed the creation of the archdiocese of Gniezno, was appointed bishop of Poznań, subordinate directly to the Holy See. However, Polish commoners only slowly adopted Christianity: Thietmar of Merseburg recorded that Bolesław forced his subjects, with severe punishments, to observe pomp and to abstain from adultery:

If anyone on this earth dares to abuse a foreign midwife and, therefore, to commit fornication, the act is immediately avenged with the following punishment. The culprit is driven to the market bridge, and his scrotum is fixed on it with a nail. Then, after placing a sharp knife next to him, he is given to choose between death or castration. In addition, those who find themselves eating meat after the Septuagesima are severely punished, tearing their teeth. The law of God, newly introduced in these regions gains more strength for such acts of force than for any fast imposed by Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg: Chronicon

During the time the emperor spent in Poland, Bolesław also displayed his opulence. At the end of the banquets, he ordered the waiters and cupbearers to collect the gold and silver vessels... of the coursis of the three days, that is, the cups and the vessels, the bowls and the plates and the drinking horns, and presented them to the emperor as a touch of honor... [His servants were also told that they should gather up the tapestries and the blankets, the rugs and the tablecloths and the napkins and all that had been provided for their needs and take them to the emperor's chambers,' according to Gallus Anonymus. Thietmar of Merseburg recorded that Boleslaus He presented Otto III with a troop of "three hundred armored warriors." Boleslaus also gave the arm of Saint Adalbert to the emperor.

After the meeting, Boleslaus accompanied Otto III to Magdeburg in Germany, where they "celebrated Palm Sunday with great festivity" on March 25, 1000. A continuation of Adémar de's chronicle Chabannes recorded, decades after the events, that Boleslaus also accompanied Emperor Otto from Magdeburg to Aachen, where Otto III had Charlemagne's tomb reopened and handed Charlemagne's golden throne to Boleslaus.

An illustrated gospel, made for Otto III around the year 1000, depicted four women symbolizing Rome, Gallia, Germania and Sclavinia paying homage to the emperor who sat on his throne. Historian Alexis P. Vlasto writes that "Sclavinia" was referring to Poland, which shows that it was considered one of the Christian kingdoms subject to the Holy Roman Empire in accordance with Otto III's idea of Renovatio imperii, the renewal of the Roman Empire based on a federal concept. Within this framework, Poland, together with Hungary, was elevated to an eastern foederatus of the Holy Roman Empire, according to historian Jerzy Strzelczyk.

The coins minted for Bolesław shortly after his meeting with the emperor bore the inscription Gnezdun Civitas, showing that he considered Gniezno as his capital. The name Poland was also recorded on the same coins referring to the Polonie princes [ sic]. The title princeps was used almost exclusively in Italy at the time, suggesting that it also represented the emperor's idea of renewing the Roman Empire. However However, Otto's premature death on January 23, 1002 put an end to his ambitious plans. The contemporary Bruno of Querfurt stated that "no one regretted" the "death of the 22-year-old emperor with greater pain than Boleslaus".

In the year 1000 Bolesław promulgated a law prohibiting the hunting of beavers and created an office called 'Bobrowniczy' whose task was to enforce the prince's ordinances.