Poland

Abstract

Poland takes its name from the Polanie (‘plain dwellers’), whose ruler Mieszko I had achieved a federation by 966, a date taken as that of the foundation of the Polish state. He placed Poland under the Roman Holy See around 990. His son Bolesław I (992–1025) continued his father’s territorial expansionism until by the time of his coronation in 1024 Poland’s boundaries were much as they are today. The tendency of this state to fragment under German pressure was formalized by Bolesław III (1102–38), whose sons divided the kingdom into three duchies. In the 13th century Poland was laid waste by pagan proto-Russians and Mongols. In 1320 Władysław of Kraków was crowned king of Poland. The work of unification was consolidated by his son, Kazimierz III (1333–70). A descendant of his married the pagan duke of Lithuania, Jagiełło, who was converted to Catholicism and became king of Poland in 1386, uniting Poland and Lithuania in a vast multi-ethnic empire. The Jagiełłonian period to 1572 is regarded as an economic and cultural ‘golden age’.