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Mieszko I of Poland
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Mieszko I (c. 935 – May 25, 992) was a duke of the Polans and the first historical ruler of Poland. Member of the Piast dynasty, he was son of the legendary Siemomysl, grandchild of Lestek and father to Boleslaw Chrobry, the first crowned prince of Poland, and Swietoslawa-Sygryda, a Nordic queen.
Mieszko also appeared as Dagome Iudex or Dagone in a papal document from about 1085 AD called Dagome iudex, which mentions a gift of land to the Pope almost a hundred years earlier.
Life
In 965 Mieszko married Dobrawa (Dobrava, Dubrawka), daughter of Boleslav I, Duke of Bohemia.
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Encyclopedia
Mieszko I (c. 935 – May 25, 992) was a duke of the Polans and the first historical ruler of Poland. Member of the Piast dynasty, he was son of the legendary Siemomysl, grandchild of Lestek and father to Boleslaw Chrobry, the first crowned prince of Poland, and Swietoslawa-Sygryda, a Nordic queen.
Mieszko also appeared as Dagome Iudex or Dagone in a papal document from about 1085 AD called Dagome iudex, which mentions a gift of land to the Pope almost a hundred years earlier.
Life
In 965 Mieszko married Dobrawa (Dobrava, Dubrawka), daughter of Boleslav I, Duke of Bohemia. In 977 Dobrawa died, and in 980 Mieszko married Oda von Haldensleben, daughter of Dietrich of Haldensleben, Count of the North March (965-985), after abducting her from the monastery of Kalbe.
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 or perhaps in order to avoid confrontation with the Holy Roman Empire to the west. He built a church dedicated to Saint George at Gniezno and in 968 he founded the first cathedral in Poznan, placed under the archdiocese of Magdeburg and dedicated to Saint Peter. Those events are also known as the baptism of Poland.
At the time of the reign of Mieszko there was no single place serving as the capital, instead he built several castles around his country. Of the most important were: Poznan, Gniezno and Ostrów Lednicki. The latter was a ring-fort some 460 feet in diameter, containing his residence, a fine stone palace, the country's first monumental architecture.
He had probably one sister of unknown name, and two brothers: one of them, name unknown, was killed in battle around 964; the second, chronicled as Cidebur (Polish: Czcibor), helped Mieszko to defeat margrave Hodo, successor of Dietrich von Haldensleben in the Battle of Cedynia in 972.
Some historians suggest that Mieszko I had pledged allegiance to emperor Otto I the Great, to emperor Otto II and again to emperor Otto III. However, there is much dispute over this point from the Polish side - mainly whether his allegiance represented the whole of Poland, or only part (the disputed fragment is "usque in Vurta fluvium" from Thietmari chronicon).
Reign
His reign began around 962 in territory later called Greater Poland, Kuyavia and possibly in eastern Pomerania. In the 960s he probably at least partially conquered western Pomerania, and in the 990s he conquered Silesia and Lesser Poland.
Much of his military activity was along the Baltic coast, in territory later called Pomerania. He defeated Odo I, Margrave of the Saxon Ostmark, at Cedynia in 972, and reached the mouth of the Oder in 976. The decisive battle, fought in 979, ensured Mieszko's position as ruler of the area (or forced him to make an allegiance with Emperor Otto II). The following year he celebrated his temporary conquest by dedicating a fortress at Gdansk in 999.
In 981 Mieszko I lost the land known only as Grody Czerwienskie to Vladimir I, prince of Kiev (but this territory could belong to another Polish tribe: Ledzianie, which wasn't under Mieszko's control before 987/988). In 986, upon the death of Emperor Otto II (d. 983), after a short time of being opposed to the idea, he pledged allegiance to the Emperor Otto III, and helped Otto with wars against the Polabian Slavs. According to the 1085 papal note, he and his wife Ote, shortly before his death, gifted the state to the Pope and in turn received it as a fief of the Pope in a document usually called the Dagome Iudex (this is one of many theories, which try to explain motives of making this document). This document indexes the lands of (Mieszko), referred to as "Dagome" in the document, and his wife "Ote" (former nun Oda von Haldensleben) and her sons by him. The other son Boleslaw I is not mentioned, perhaps as assurance that Oda and her sons retain the territory (by papal protection). As it turned out, upon his father's death Boleslaw did expel Oda and her sons in order to claim all territory for himself.
From his first marriage he had a son, his successor Boleslaus, and two daughters, Sygryda (Swietoslawa) and one whose name is unknown. Sygryda was the wife (as queen Sigrid the Haughty) of Eric the Victorious, king of Sweden and then (as queen Gunhilda) of king Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark, and mother of king Canute of Denmark and England. "Swietoslawa" is generally accepted by historians as the best approximation of this first daughter's Slavic name. The second daughter was most likely married to a Pomeranian Slavic Prince.
From his second marriage he had three sons; Mieszko, Lambert, and Swietopelk.
In 1999 the archeologist Hanna Kócka-Krenz found Mieszko's palace in Poznan.
Origin and meaning of the name
There are three major theories concerning the origin and meaning of Mieszko's name. The most popular theory, proposed by Jan Dlugosz, explains that Mieszko is a diminutive of Mieczyslaw, a combination of two elements or lexemes: Miecz meaning sword and Slaw meaning famous. Today, this theory is rejected by the majority of Polish historians, who consider the name Mieczyslaw to have been invented by Jan Dlugosz to explain the origin of the name Mieszko. Today, we know that ancient Slavs never formed their names using either animal names or weapon names. Ancient Slavic names were abstract in nature. The same explanation rules out another theory about the origin of name Mieszko, which links the name with the Polish word mis/misko meaning bear, as no animal names were used to form honorable Polish names among Polish nobility.
The second most popular theory about the origin and sense of Mieszko name can be traced to the very old legend, according to which Mieszko was blind for the first seven years after he was born. This legend was first described by Gallus Anonymus. Slavian word “mzec” can be interpreted as “having his eyes closed” or “be blind”. Yet again, today it is almost certain that a legend used a metaphor. It refers to the old pagan ceremony known as an ancient Slavs rite “postrzyzyny”. During that ceremony hair cutting was performed to every boy at the age of seven. In that symbolic rite a child become a man. That explains that Mieszko was not blind in fact. He was blind only metaphorically. Besides his son’s name was also Mieszko and it is hard to believe that he was also blind. In addition as we know today ancient Slavs used only abstract names among nobilities.
The third theory links name Mieszko with his other name Dagome as it appeared in a document called Dagome iudex. We know this document only from a copy prepared by anonymous monk who was not familiar with Polish language or Polish names. It is possible that while coping the document he made a mistake and wrote down Dagome instead of Dagomer or even Dagomir. The name Dagomir is used to this day and its construction is similar to other Polish names like for example: Wladimir/Wlodzimierz or Casimir/Kazimierz. The evolution of the “-mir” element to “-mierz” is due to two separate developments: first, the regular change of the vowel "i" to "(i)e" before "r", and second, the modification of the nominative case by the vocative for certain names (hence, Kazimierz replaced Kazimier based on the vocative Kazimierze). It is debatable whether the name Mieszko is a nickname formed from the second part of name *Dago-mierz, since the merger in pronunciation of "sz" with the devoiced "rz" which would appear in this position is quite recent. The word mir can be translated as peace.
Bibliography
- Jasinski K., Rodowód pierwszych Piastów, Warszawa-Wroclaw (1992), s. 54-70.
- Labuda G., Mieszko I, (w:) Polski Slownik Biograficzny, t. 21, 1976.
- Labuda G., Mieszko I, Wyd. Ossolineum, Wroclaw 2002, ISBN 83-04-04619-9
- Labuda G., Pierwsze panstwo polskie, Krajowa Agencja Wydawnicza, Kraków 1989, ISBN 83-03-02969-X
- Szczur S., Historia Polski sredniowiecze", rozdz. 2.2.1 Panstwo gnieznienskie Mieszka I (s. 47-57) i 2.4.1 Druzyna ksiazeca (s. 83-84), Wydawnictwo Literackie 2002, ISBN 83-08-03272-9
See also
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