Bolesław I. (Poland)

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Bolesław depicted on the bronze door of Gniezno with a royal crown, 12th century

Boleslaw I. (called "the Brave" , Polish Bolesław I Chrobry in German mostly, Boleslaw called Latin Boleslaw * 965 / 967 ; † 17th June 1025 ) from the royal family of Piast was from 992 Duke of Poland , and from 1000 or 1025 first king of Poland. From 1003 to 1004, as Boleslav IV, he was also Duke of Bohemia .

Life

The prince's son

Bolesław was the son of the Polish Duke Mieszko I from his marriage to Dubrawka , the daughter of the Bohemian Duke Boleslav I of Bohemia and the Bigota.

In the middle of the 10th century, Bolesław's father had united the various West Slavic tribes between the Oder and the Bug under his rule. After his father's death in 992, Bolesław initially succeeded him as Duke of Poland.

Bolesław had already played an important role in his father's marriage policy: around 984 Mieszko had managed to marry Bolesław to a daughter of Margrave Rikdag von Meissen . Boleslav II of Bohemia , however, regarded Meissen as his area of ​​influence and occupied Meissen Castle in 984 with the permission of Henry the Quarrel . Thus the plans of the Piasts to exert influence in the region had failed for the time being. Bolesław dissolved the marriage with the Meißnerin.

Around 985/86 he married a princess from the Hungarian ruling family of the Árpáden in order to encircle Bohemia through this alliance. However, the Hungarians were hardly active militarily against Bohemia, so that Bolesław also dissolved this marriage in 987.

He married Emnilda , the daughter of the influential Sorbian nobleman Dobromir . This moved the Elbe Slavic border marks of the Holy Roman Empire , the Mark Meissen , the Mark Lausitz and the Nordmark , into the center of Polish expansion interest.

Shortly before his death, Mieszko I seems to have tried to exclude Bolesław from the Polish line of succession in favor of his sons from his second marriage. This emerges from the Dagome Iudex , in which Mieszko also transferred his kingdom to the Pope. The reasons for the attempted exclusion of Bolesław are unclear. It is disputed whether Dagome was actually Mieszko I and whether it is the territory of the Duke of the Polans , later Poland , although this name is not mentioned.

Emperor Otto III. and the act of Gniezno

Dominion of Bolesław I from 992 to 1025 (map excerpt from Putzger's Historical School Atlas , 1905)

Immediately after the death of his father, Bolesław drove his stepmother Oda von Haldensleben and her children, who were still underage, to their Saxon homeland , thus enforcing their own succession. The exact circumstances are not known; but since the immediate royal allegiance at Slavic royal courts played a decisive role at that time, it can be assumed that Bolesław was able to win more followers in this group than Oda.

Shortly after he came to power, Bolesław began to expand his territory by, like his father, with the imperial regents and the Roman-German Emperor Otto III. fought against the pagan Lutizen . In addition, his influence among the Elbe Slavs grew . This waned the influence of Bohemia , which also claimed these areas. The most important ally of Bolesław was his half-brother, the Meissen Margrave Ekkehard I.

At the same time, the young ruler was also active in the church sector: he had the bones of the missionary Adalbert, who was murdered in 997, transported from Prague to Gniezno ; the now beginning pilgrimages encouraged Bolesław to elevate the city to the archbishopric , which should take the place of the old missionary diocese of Poznan . From the year 999 a document has been handed down that designates Adalbert's brother Gaudentius as archbishop , but without specifying a permanent bishopric.

In the year 1000 Emperor Otto III appeared. as a pilgrim in Gniezno. There it came to the " Gnesen Act ". The exact meaning of this process is controversial. In Polish historiography it was traditionally assumed that Otto raised Bolesław to king. However, this cannot be proven beyond doubt, as there are no explicit reports about it and Bolesław had the coronation carried out in 1025 (again?). The visit of Otto undoubtedly meant a significant upgrade of the Polish prince: Bolesław was given royal rights, such as the right to independently appoint bishops . According to an early papal decree, this was reserved exclusively for kings and emperors. The final establishment of the Archdiocese during the “Gnesen Act” is also undisputed. Gaudentius were assigned the bishops of Kolberg , Krakow and Breslau as suffragans . The old Missionary Diocese of Posen either remained independent, i.e. it was under the direct control of the Holy See , or it was placed under the Archdiocese of Magdeburg . In addition, Otto III. an arm of Adalbert as a relic and the marriage between Bolesław's son Mieszko II and Richeza , a niece of the emperor, was agreed.

Conflicts with Heinrich II.

After the death of Otto III. in 1002 Ekkehard von Meißen applied for the royal crown, but was murdered by an opposing party. In agreement with the Ekkehardins , Bolesław then tried to expand his territory in the border area to include the Lausitz and Meißen brands. The Meißen hoped to keep the pagan tribes of the Lusitzi and Milzener living there under their control.

Bolesław secured large parts of the so-called Saxon Ostmark north of the Elbe up to the Elster as well as the castles of Bautzen , Strehla and Meißen through his own crews. He declares that he is acting in agreement with Duke Heinrich IV of Bavaria and that he will submit to him as soon as he is reigning king.

In July 1002, Bolesław met the newly elected King Henry II in Merseburg to discuss the future of Meissen. The Polish prince, who was under the protection of the host as a guest, was attacked by armed men at the place of the negotiation and was only barely able to escape. The background to this attack is not clear. The relationship between Heinrich and Bolesław was permanently disrupted.

A few weeks later Ekkehard's son, Count Hermann , married Bolesław's daughter Reglindis . Shortly afterwards, Bolesław tried to include Bohemia in an anti-imperial alliance with the support of the pretender to the throne, Vladivoj , but this failed. In March 1003 Bolesław then took over the rule of Bohemia himself. This created an alliance that reached from Bohemia through the territories of the Ekkehardines, the Counts of Schweinfurt and possibly the Billungers to Poland. In the north Denmark joined under Bolesław's brother-in-law Sven Gabelbart , who also appeared as an opponent of Heinrich.

Heinrich II first tried to get Bolesław to accept Bohemia as a fief from his hand, which the latter refused. As a result, he made an alliance with the pagan Lutizen at Easter 1003. Shortly afterwards the first fighting began in the southern Elbmark region, around Meissen and in the adjacent pagan territories. Initially, Bolesław Meißen was able to hold. But Bohemia, especially the region around Prague , became the most important combat area . There Bolesław had little support from the aristocracy and townspeople, so that both groups actively intervened in the fighting in favor of the German king. Heinrich also had the legitimate heir to the throne Jaromir at his side. In 1005 Heinrich set out on a campaign of war on Polish territory with Bohemian and Lutician support. Militarily, both sides were equally strong, so that the peace of Poznan was concluded. When Bolesław made new moves against the Lutizi, they led Heinrich to renounce the peace in 1007. Bolesław responded with a campaign that brought him to Magdeburg . Shortly afterwards he recaptured Lausitz with Bautzen . It was not until 1010 that Heinrich undertook his own campaign to the east, but it was unsuccessful. In 1013 the peace of Merseburg was signed: Bolesław received the Lausitz and Milzenerland as imperial fiefs, the marriage between his son Mieszko II., The later successor and king and Richeza of Lorraine, the niece of Emperor Otto III., Was concluded, as well as mutual military aid agreed.

In the same year Heinrich Bolesław gave an aid contingent on a - failed - campaign against Kiev . Also because of this defeat, Bolesław could not and did not want to provide troops for Heinrich's move to Italy . This led to new tensions, in the course of which the Polish heir to the throne Mieszko was first captured, but then acted as a mediator. In 1015 there were still fights that, despite high losses, brought no decision. The conflict then shifted to Kiev, where Bolesław supported his son-in-law Svyatopolk I , while Heinrich supported Yaroslav the Wise . In the summer of 1017 Heinrich's troops set out on a new campaign against Poland, during which little more happened than the siege of Nimptsch Castle in Silesia . At the same time Jaroslaw attacked Poland from the east, in accordance with an agreement with the emperor, while Bolesław invaded the area between the Elbe and Mulde and made numerous prisoners. Mieszko was plundering in Bohemia at the same time. A new dynamic came into the peace negotiations, so that in 1018 the Peace of Bautzen was concluded. The content of the peace is largely unknown, but Heinrich provided troops for Bolesław's successful campaign against Kiev. Bolesław broke his word to bring Svyatopolk to the throne and decided to rule Kiev himself. However, after a few months, the unrestrained looting of his troops triggered an uprising in the city, so that Bolesław had to flee hastily. However, he was able to secure control of the areas in Rotburgenland for a few years .

Marriages and offspring

Bolesławs was married four times. The marriages with the following women resulted in at least the following children:

  • Daughter NN (* before 985; †?) Of Margrave Rikdag von Meißen
    marriage was dissolved
  • Oda , married on February 3, 1018, daughter of Margrave Ekkehard I.
    • Mathilde

Last years

After the Peace of Bautzen and his move to Kiev, Bolesław was at the height of his power and was the most powerful ruler of Central and Eastern Europe until Yaroslav the Wise of the Kievan Rus and the empire under Emperor Conrad II . After the death of Henry II in 1024 he was crowned King of Poland by a papal envoy (again) in 1025, shortly before his death. Bolesław had already strived for elevation to the rank of king. But it was only possible at this point in time, as Henry II had opposed Bolesław to the Pope until his death.

Bolesław is buried in Poznan Cathedral .

rating

Grave monument of Christian Daniel Rauch for Duke I. Mieszko and King Boleslaw I. Golden Chapel of Poznan Cathedral

Bolesław was an avid propagator of Christianity in Poland. The successful establishment of an independent Polish church province with the Archdiocese of Gniezno, which was only subordinate to the Pope in Rome , made it possible to dissolve the dependency on the German Archdiocese of Magdeburg. However, around 1130, the Archbishop of Magdeburg, Norbert von Xanten , tried to subordinate the Polish Church to its primacy. The decision of Emperor Otto III to recognize Poland's equality, but above all to support the establishment of the archbishopric in Gniezno, was for a long time rejected by the high German clergy. With the establishment of an independent archbishopric and his coronation as king, Bolesław established the permanent Polish emancipation from the Holy Roman Empire. He was also the initiator of the later important castellan constitution . However, under his son and successor Mieszko II, the Polish great power position quickly declined, as the means and resources of the still young state were exhausted due to the massive and sudden expansion in all directions. Social-religiously motivated unrest also spread within the population, which ten years after the death of the king favored the pagan reaction in Poland and a turning away from Christianity. The development to a great power also led to permanent military conflicts with neighboring states, in the east with the Kievan Rus Empire and in the west with the Holy Roman Empire, which were not prepared to tolerate a too strong Poland. This mistrust was also justified by Bolesław's attacks.

It can be countered by the fact that neither the Kievan Rus nor the Holy Roman Empire were a unified state, but consisted of a large number of autonomous principalities - a fact that made Bolesław's policy of expansion possible. The eastern neighbor in particular was unable to oppose the West Slav state and found itself in a state of increasing feudal fragmentation from the middle of the 11th century, which led to the final dissolution of the Kievan Rus by the Mongols in 1240 ( destruction of Kiev ).

The "Boleslav expansion" was connected with the goal of uniting all West Slavic tribes under a single ruler in a Christian West Slavic empire, a goal that was partially in conflict with the Ottonian - Salian east policy of the empire. The main points of contention were the Elbe Slavs under German rule between the Elbe and Oder, the so-called Germania Slavica and, south of Poland, the Bohemians , Moravians and Slovaks . In order to secure the border in the east against the Rurikids of the Kievan Rus, the Chervenian castles in Red Russia , which Poland had lost to them in 981 , were occupied in 1018 . Since the first signs of decay in the last years of Bolesław's rule - through the probable defection of Slavic Pomerania or part of it - it was only a matter of time after his death until the rest of the empire under the fiscal burden, the military and geographical overstretch on the one hand and the simultaneous union of its enemies on the other, had to collapse.

Of course, it should be noted that the kingdom he created survived these phenomena of disintegration, even if not all conquests were permanent.

swell

  • Thietmar von Merseburg : Chronik (= selected sources on German history of the Middle Ages. Freiherr-vom-Stein-Gedächtnisausgabe. Volume 9). Retransmitted and explained by Werner Trillmich . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1957, (several new editions).

literature

  • Johannes Fried : Otto III. and Boleslaw Chrobry. The dedication image of the Aachen Gospel, the "Act of Gniezno" and the early Polish and Hungarian royalty. An image analysis and its historical consequences (= Frankfurt historical treatises. Volume 30). Steiner, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-515-05381-6 .
  • Jerzy Strzelczyk: Bolesław Chrobry. Wydanie 2, zmienione i rozszerzone. WBP, Poznań 2003, ISBN 83-85811-88-5 .

Web links

Commons : Boleslaus I of Poland  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Footnotes

  1. ↑ cf. History of the Polish Nation by Adam Naruszewicz ; From the 19th century onwards, however, it was also controversial among Polish historians: cf. Bolesław Chrobry Wielki by Stanisław Zakrzewski, as well as Henryk Łowiański and Gerard Labuda .
  2. ↑ RI II, 4 n.1483ww, in: Regesta Imperii, Online (accessed November 17, 2019).
predecessor Office successor
- King of Poland
1000-1025 		Mieszko II. Lambert
Boleslav III. Duke of Bohemia
1003-1004 		Jaromír
Mieszko I. Duke of Poland
992–1000 / 1025 		Mieszko II. Lambert
personal data
SURNAME Boleslaw I.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Boleslaw I. Chrobry; Bolesław the Brave
BRIEF DESCRIPTION first king of Poland
DATE OF BIRTH 966 or 967
PLACE OF BIRTH Poland
DATE OF DEATH June 17, 1025
Place of death Poland