Katarzyna Czylok as Oda in the photo of Sylwester Zalewski.

Oda Dytrykówna

Polish duchess, second wife of Mieszko I of the Piast dynasty. She was the daughter of an influential German magnate, margrave of the northern march, Theodoric. She spent her youth in a monastery. She was married off as part of a peace treaty, most likely concluded as a result of an unsuccessful imperial expedition to Greater Poland. Her wedding was outraged by the German church elite. Despite the basis of the relationship, in which the Duchess was even less of a ruler than a captive, Oda quickly gained a prominent position.

It was during her time that there was a radical rapprochement between the Reich and the Piast state, and German historians even claim that after the death of Theodoric, Mieszko inherited his margrave title and thus joined the ranks of the high aristocracy of the empire. Oda gave birth to three sons, after which she secured their rights to the throne, persuading her husband to divide the country in a favorable way for them (and for her). The trace of her actions is a copy of the royal document known as the "Dagome Iudex".

After Mieszko's death in 992, she remained in Poland for three years, most likely exercising regency on behalf of her underage sons. In 995 she was chased away by her stepson Bolesław and returned to Germany. In her old age she settled in a monastery in Quedlinburg; she also died there in 1023.