This article covers the
history of Poland
in the
Middle Ages
. This time covers roughly a
millennium
, from the 5th century to the 16th century. It is commonly dated from the
Fall of the Western Roman Empire
, and contrasted with a later
Early Modern Period
. The time during which the rise of
humanism
in the
Italian Renaissance
and the
Reformation
unfolded is generally associated with the transition out of the Middle Ages, with European overseas expansion as a succeeding process, but such dates are approximate and based upon nuanced arguments.
Early Middle Ages
[
edit
]
The first waves of
Slavic
migration settled the area of the upper
Vistula River
and elsewhere in the lands of present-day southeastern
Poland
and southern
Masovia
, coming from the upper and middle regions of the
Dnieper River
. Results of a genetic study by researchers from
Gda?sk Medical University
"support hypothesis placing the earliest known homeland of Slavs in the middle
Dnieper basin
".
[1]
The
West Slavs
came primarily from the more western early Slavic branch called the
Sclaveni
by the
Byzantine
historian
Jordanes
in
Getica
, the eastern branch being the
Antes
.
[a]
The Slavs had first migrated into Poland in the second half of the 5th century, some half century after these territories had been vacated by
Germanic
tribes (after a period during which settlements were absent or rare).
[2]
[3]
According to the references given in this and
Poland in the Early Middle Ages
article, many scholars now believe that the Slavic tribes had not been present in Poland before the earliest medieval period,
[b]
though the opposite view, predominant in Polish
prehistory
and
protohistory
in the past, is still represented.
[4]
[5]
From there, over the 6th century, the new population dispersed north and west. The Slavs lived mostly by cultivating crops but also engaged in
hunting and gathering
. Their migrations took place while
Eastern
and
Central Europe
were being invaded from the east by waves of peoples and armies such as the
Huns
,
Avars
and
Magyars
.
[4]
[5]
A number of West Slavic
Polish tribes
formed small states, beginning in the 8th century, some of which later coalesced into larger states. Among these tribes were the
Vistulans
(
Wi?lanie
) in southern Poland, with
Krakow
and
Wi?lica
as their main centers (major fortified centers were built in their country in the 9th century), but later the tribe(s) referred to as the
Polans
(
Polanie
?literally, "people of the fields") would prove of decisive historic importance. At the end of the 9th century Vistulans were part of the
Great Moravia
, according to some theories.
The tribal states built many
gords
? fortified structures with earthen and wooden walls and embankments ? from the 7th century onward. Some of these were developed and inhabited; others featured a large empty space and may have served primarily as refuges in times of trouble. The Polans settled the plains around
Giecz
,
Pozna?
and
Gniezno
that would become the early center of Poland and lent their name to the country. They went through a period of accelerated building of gord-type fortified settlements and of territorial expansion, beginning in the first half of the 10th century, and the Polish state developed from their tribal polities in the second half of the 10th century.
[5]
[6]
High Middle Ages
[
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]
The Polish state begins with the rule of
Mieszko I
of the
Piast dynasty
in the second half of the 10th century. Mieszko chose to be
baptized
in the Western
Latin Church
in 966. Following its emergence, the
Polish nation
was led by
a series of rulers
who converted the population to
Christianity
, created
a strong kingdom
and integrated Poland into the
European culture
. Mieszko's son
Bolesław I Chrobry
established a
Polish Church province
, pursued territorial conquests and was officially crowned, becoming the first
King of Poland
. This was followed by a collapse of the monarchy and restoration under
Casimir I
. Casimir's son
Bolesław II the Bold
became fatally involved in a conflict with the
ecclesiastical authority
, and was expelled from the country. After
Bolesław III
divided the country among his sons
, internal fragmentation eroded the initial Piast monarchy structure in the 12th and 13th centuries.
One of the regional Piast dukes
invited the
Teutonic Knights
to help him fight the
Baltic
Prussian
pagans, which caused centuries of Poland's warfare with the Knights and then with the
German Prussian state
. The Kingdom was restored under
Władysław I the Elbow-high
, strengthened and expanded by his son
Casimir III the Great
. The western provinces of
Silesia
and
Pomerania
were lost after the fragmentation, and Poland began expanding to the east. The consolidation in the 14th century laid the base for, after the reigns of two
members
of the
Angevin dynasty
, the new powerful
Kingdom of Poland
that was to follow.
[7]
Late Middle Ages
[
edit
]
Beginning with the
Lithuanian Grand Duke
Jogaila
(Władysław II Jagiełło), the
Jagiellon dynasty
(1385?1569) formed the
Polish?Lithuanian union
. The partnership brought vast
Lithuania
-controlled
Rus' areas
into Poland's sphere of influence and proved beneficial for the Poles and
Lithuanians
, who coexisted and cooperated in one of the largest
political entities
in Europe for the next four centuries. In the
Baltic Sea
region Poland's struggle with the Teutonic Knights continued and included the milestone
Peace of Thorn
under King
Casimir IV Jagiellon
; the treaty created the future
Duchy of Prussia
. In the south Poland confronted the
Ottoman Empire
and the
Crimean Tatars
, and in the east helped Lithuania fight the
Grand Duchy of Moscow
. Poland was developing as a
feudal
state, with predominantly agricultural economy and an increasingly dominant
landed nobility
component. The
Nihil novi
act adopted by the Polish
Sejm
(
parliament
) in 1505, transferred most of the
legislative power
from the
monarch
to the Sejm. This event marked the beginning of the period known as "
Golden Liberty
", when the state was ruled by the "free and equal"
Polish nobility
.
Protestant Reformation
movements made deep inroads into the Polish Christianity, which resulted in unique at that time in Europe policies of
religious tolerance
. The European
Renaissance
currents evoked in late Jagiellon Poland (kings
Sigismund I the Old
and
Sigismund II Augustus
) an immense
cultural flowering
. Poland's and Lithuania's territorial expansion included the far north region of
Livonia
.
[7]
[8]
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Krzysztof R?bała
(
et al.
),
"Y-STR Variation among Slavs: Evidence for the Slavic Homeland in the Middle Dnieper Basin"
Archived
2012-04-25 at the
Wayback Machine
, in
Journal of Human Genetics
,
Springer
Japan, May 2007. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
- ^
Piotr Kaczanowski
,
Janusz Krzysztof Kozłowski
?
Najdawniejsze dzieje ziem polskich (do VII w.)
(Oldest history of Polish lands (till 7th century)),
Fogra
, Krakow 1998,
ISBN
83-85719-34-2
, p. 337
- ^
Piotr Kaczanowski, Janusz Krzysztof Kozłowski ?
Najdawniejsze dzieje ziem polskich (do VII w.)
, pp. 327-330 and 346
- ^
a
b
Piotr Kaczanowski, Janusz Krzysztof Kozłowski ?
Najdawniejsze dzieje ziem polskich (do VII w.)
, pp. 325-352
- ^
a
b
c
Various authors, ed.
Marek Derwich
and
Adam ?urek
,
U ?rodeł Polski (do roku 1038)
(Foundations of Poland (until year 1038)),
Wydawnictwo Dolno?l?skie
, Wrocław 2002,
ISBN
83-7023-954-4
, pp. 122-67
- ^
Jerzy Wyrozumski
?
Dzieje Polski piastowskiej
(VIII w. ? 1370) (History of Piast Poland (8th century ? 1370)),
Fogra
, Krakow 1999,
ISBN
83-85719-38-5
, pp. 47-86
- ^
a
b
Jerzy Wyrozumski ?
Historia Polski do roku 1505
(History of Poland until 1505), Pa?stwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe (
Polish Scientific Publishers PWN
), Warszawa 1986,
ISBN
83-01-03732-6
- ^
Jozef Andrzej Gierowski
?
Historia Polski 1505?1764
(History of Poland 1505?1764), Pa?stwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe (Polish Scientific Publishers PWN), Warszawa 1986,
ISBN
83-01-03732-6