History of Poland

Poland, as one of few European countries, has had so turbulent hstory. Its neighbours tried to wipe off Poland from the map, but a distinctive Polish culture has survived and developed without interruption for more than a millenium.

The beginning – Piast Poland

Poland began to form into a recognizable unitary and territorial entity around the middle of the 10th century under the Piast dynasty. Poland's first historically documented ruler, Mieszko I, was baptized in 966, adopting Catholic Christianity as the country's new official religion. Mieszko's motives to undergo public baptism were purely political. Thanks to the baptism, Poland gained protection of the papacy. Furthermore, Mieszko's son Boleslaw the Brave built on his father's achievements, for the first time uniting all the provinces that subsequently came to comprise the traditional territory of Poland. In 1000, the Emperor Otto III was dispatched by the pope to pay tribute to the relics of the Czech saint, Wojciech, which Boleslaw had acquired. During his stay, the emperor crowned Boleslaw with his own crown, which meant giving him supervision of the province Slavinia. In 1025 Boleslaw became the first king of Poland. After his death the country entered a period of instability, but was unified under the reign of Boleslaw the Wrymouth. After he died in 1138, however, the kingdom was divided among four of his sons, ushering in a period of fragmentation. For two centuries, the Piasts sparred with each other, the clergy, and the nobility for control over the divided kingdom. The civil strife and foreign invasions, such as that of the Mongols in 1241, weakened and depopulated the small Polish principalities. In 1226 Konrad of Masovia invited Knights of the Cross to help him fight the pagan Prussians. After exterminating them, the Knights turned their attention to Poland and Lithuania, waging war with them for most of the 14th and 15th centuries. Thanks to them Poland was cut off from the sea, with its trading routes severely weakened as a result. The man whose sensible policy re-established Polish political authority in Europe was called Kazimierz the Great (1310-1370), the last Piast king. During his reign (1333-1370) Krakow took some aspects of its present appearance. Mainly because of the first Polish university [1364], which was a long time one of the most prestigious on the continent. Kazimierz's achievements in domestic policy were absolutely wonderful, he codified Poland's laws, created a unified administrative structure, introduced a new silver currency and secured Polish borders with a line of stone castles.