Germans and Russians tearing Poland apart to take the best bits for themselves and setting a passive puppet on the throne? This is not a new story at all. The first partition of Poland took place in 1031. Its driving force was ordinary human hatred.
Bolesław Chrobry was able to take away people's self-esteem like no one else. Even his favorite son, Mieszko, over the years he went to great lengths to prove that he deserved the recognition of his father. And that she is able to proudly represent him. Death missions, the most dangerous campaigns ... He looked into death's eyes just to hear a good word from Bolesław. Even after Chrobry died, he was still unable to get out of his shadow.
And because he decided to settle for his father's fame, which no one could match, let alone surpass it, he did not seem so famous to the citizens, nor to his enemies so formidable - almost two centuries later, the chronicler Wincenty Kadłubek told Mieszko. And it hit right at the young king's sweetest point.
Cursed son
If Mieszko lacked acceptance, let alone Bezprym:the firstborn son of the ruler, who was removed from inheritance and deprived of any prospects. The dynasty, born of Hungary, made one puppy mistake in his youth. Fascinated by the religiosity of the German emperor Otto III, he decided to enter the hermitage and reject earthly temptations. He quickly shook himself off, but the angry Brave had already made sure that this mistake could affect his whole life.
One mistake from his youth meant that the firstborn son of Bolesław the Brave lost all chances of taking over from his father. The illustration shows a 17th-century image of Bezprym (source:public domain).
I don't hear anything about Bezprym's career. Mieszko appears in German texts every now and then. He argues with the emperor, represents his father, expresses his good manners, and even shows off his high education. Commentators often call him the eldest son of Brave. Meanwhile, there is a conspiracy of silence around Bezprym.
Apparently, his father had cut him off completely from the affairs of the state. He did not entrust him with armed troops, did not send him to neighboring lands. He probably didn't even let him in front of him. What Bezprym did as a 14-year-old still weighs heavily on him two decades later.
Even before World War II, the historian Anna Pospieszyńska stated that Bezprym's psyche was distorted by incessant harm. They obliterated all ambition in him, leaving room only for revenge. If that was the case - if Bezprym had become merely an empty, hateful shell of man - then he had become the perfect candidate for a rebel. Meanwhile, Mieszko quickly gave him an excuse to act.
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Praise the father
Bolesław the Brave died in 1025, and already in 1028 the new Polish king ordered an armed expedition to Germany. The Hildesheim yearbook wrote:
Mieszko and his mighty army attacked a rogue in the eastern part of Saxony. After committing arson and looting, he murdered many husbands, captured a great number of women and killed countless children with incredible murders. He and his people, indeed, partners of the devil, scoffed at the extreme severity of cruelty in Christian countries, in front of God.
The date of the trip is known - January of that year. Its details are known. Mieszko's team struck Meissen, which was ruled by the hated sister of Piast, Regelinda. Finally, the results of the expedition are known, because apart from the spoils, Mieszko also brought the captured bishop of Brandenburg, Louis, to Poland. Historians also explain the sudden transfer of another bishopric from Żytyce to Naumburg as a Polish threat. If something remains a mystery, it is only… reasons for Mieszko's actions.
Mieszko II sincerely hated his sister Regelinda. The best proof of this was the fact that as soon as he took power, he immediately plundered Meissen, which she ruled. The illustration shows a gothic figure of Regelinda in the Naumburska cathedral (photo:Linsengericht; license CC BY-SA 3.0).
The trip, in short, made no sense. There were no political ties or current arguments for it. The war was not going on, and the Polish king did not defend himself against any aggression. He just gathered an army one day and just like that, without warning, he began to plunder his neighbor's lands. Although some researchers try to defend Mieszko, it is difficult to take their theories seriously. In their light, Piast just… got lost.
In Germany, opponents of the new king, Conrad II, had been raging for some time. The party centered around the Duchess of Upper Lorraine, Matilda, even tried to form an alliance with Mieszko. The rebellious faction, however, broke up in ... 1025! The news of this political reshuffle reached Poland after two or three weeks at the most. But certainly not after three years! Although later other conspiracies emerged in the Reich, they had nothing to do with the Duchess of Lorraine. And none of the rebels sought support from Poland.
The Meissen row needs to be explained differently. Not through the prism of political arguments, but through down-to-earth human emotions. Mieszko, instigated by soldiers thirsty for loot, wanted to prove his worth at all costs. He undertook a mission as insane as it was audacious. He looked into the lion's mouth.
He saw that he was still dozing, so he ambushed him with a stick, struck his fangs out, and returned home before the beast shook off its lethargy. He convinced himself that he was defending the honor of the family and that he was fighting against the insults. His royal coronation was loudly criticized in Germany. Mieszko was called a false king, a fraud. And the ruler intended, sword in hand, to silence anyone who claimed that he, son of Bolesław, did not deserve the highest sacredness.
After taking power, Konrad II had to face a strong opposition that sought support from Mieszko II. The invasion of 1028, however, had nothing to do with the rebellion against the German ruler. Conrad II and his descendants in the picture (source:public domain).
If he hoped to convince the Germans, he was counterproductive. Now, in the Reich, he was seen not only as a usurper, but even as a tool of Satan. I Bezprym knew that a one-of-a-kind opportunity was opening up for him.
Venom of envy
The oldest and most humiliated of the princes also poisoned Otto's third sibling with his hatred. It can be guessed that Mieszko despised this brother just like the firstborn of Brave. After all, he had inherited such an attitude towards competitors from his father.
The two dynasts demanded more government participation and the expansion of their humble neighborhoods. Each of their claims met with a resolute refusal by the sovereign. Finally, Mieszko's patience ran out. He sentenced the brothers to banishment and deprived them of their property. However, Bezprym and Otton did not go to Germany. They went straight to ... Kiev. It is very possible that they were guided by the advice of Presław:a Ruthenian princess and slave of Bolesław the Brave, who had been forced to live in Poland for years. This cunning woman was ready to do anything to break free from captivity. Even manipulate two princes, awaken in them a desire for revenge and push them to act in the name of their own cause ...
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Whatever the case, things got complicated quickly. Unaware of the current events in Rus, Przedsław overestimated the possibilities and intentions of her brother, Grand Duke Jarosław the Wise. She believed that he would willingly declare war on Mieszko in order to regain the border towns seized by the Brave and to place the grateful Bezprym on the Polish throne. However, Jarosław was not at all eager to fight. He was at one point in a civil war with one of his own brothers, and it was this conflict that drew most of his attention. Besides, Rurykowicz probably did not believe in the ease of the trip to Poland. After all, Mieszko had just successfully invaded Saxony, plundering the German border with impunity.
Exile in the East
Tempted by the co-conspirator, the brothers stayed on the ice. The German chronicler admitted that for some time they were forced to vegetate poorly in Ruthenia, deprived of any support from the local ruler. Meanwhile, Mieszko continued to achieve success. Konrad II could not ignore the insult made. Although his thoughts were preoccupied with more important problems, the pride of the Poles simply had to be punished. In 1029, the emperor summoned a hasty expedition and struck the border Bautzen. The siege definitely did not go according to the emperor's plan. The Hildesheim annals noted: Many were wounded and killed on both sides. The emperor, seeing that he would not be able to defeat his opponents, returned to Saxony .
In 1029, Konrad II decided to punish the pride of the Polish ruler. However, the military expedition went completely against his plan. The illustration shows the image of Mieszko II by Wojciech Gerson (source:public domain).
It was the second show of the Polish king's strength. Or at least:the second illusionist trick. In fact, Mieszko was flexing his muscles, which he did not have. The Polish state had been in a deep crisis for years. The loot from the Saxons raised morale, but was unable to fill the void-gaping treasury. Significantly, after 1025 Mieszko did not even try to mint his own coins.
The Russian chronicles also report on the riots that swept across the country following the death of Brave. If the young king triumphed, it was mainly because Konrad made a mistake in his estimates. He went to Bautzen with a purely symbolic unit. Earlier, he got along with the pagan Lutyks who lived in the northern part of the Elbe. They felt once again threatened by Polish expansion and wanted to conclude an alliance with the empire once again. They even agreed to take on the main burden of the fighting. Only with time it turned out that they were only throwing words to the wind. Not a single Lutheran soldier turned up near Bautzen. And the emperor simply lacked the troops needed to carry out the assault.
Konrad withdrew, but never laid down his arms. He immediately announced that the expedition would resume in the next year, 1030. This time on such a scale that failure was out of the question. The news about the emperor's stumbles, his growing fierceness and his declarations also reached Russia. And they really made Bezprym think. The banned prince knew that he needed to establish contact with the emperor as soon as possible. However, he did not go to Germany personally. Instead, he sent his brother, Otto.
A beggar in a German court
The youngest of the three Polish dynasts was much better suited to the role of an emissary. The very name itself added splendor to him. After all, his godfather was none other than the unfortunate Otto III. The thirty-year-old simply had access too. Maybe he did not know the imperial officials or chamberlains, but he could attack a woman who was considered to be one of the most faithful supporters of Conrad II. Margraves of Meissen, Regelinda. For Bezprym she was only a stepsister.
The godfather plotting against the brother of the Polish prince was the German emperor himself. This was an extremely important advantage in negotiations with our western neighbor. Emperor Otto III shown (source:public domain).
Something else for Otto. They both came from the third union of Bolesław the Brave. And although the age difference made them almost unknown - Regelinda got married when Otto was three years old - the man could count on a really warm reception at the Meissen court. They were united by their blood, but also by their interests. The relationship between the Polish king and the margrave had long been far from correct.
For years, Mieszko had been driving a spiral of violence and hatred. Regelinda, moreover, did nothing to stop the escalation of the dispute. Now she wanted repayment for her wrong as much as the royal brothers. She stood up for Otto with Empress Gizela without hesitation. The latter, in turn, whispered a good word about the Polish prince to the emperor himself.
As a result, it was possible to omit the truly Byzantine procedures in force at the German court. Usually, the petitioner, even the high-born, had to go from Annas to Caiaphas with his case - or from one office to the next - until finally, after weeks, someone decided it was worth referring the matter ... one step higher. All this required a titanic effort, especially since the court was constantly in motion. Often an audience took place only after the petitioner asking for it had traveled hundreds of kilometers in the imperial retinue.
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Otto was not told to wait that long. The siege of Bautzen took place in late summer. If the prince left Ruthenia after the fall of the autumn rain, he reached Meissen in February at the latest. To this end, he had to go around Poland in a wide arc. He must have traveled through Hungary and through the Czech rule of Ołdrzych. His journey, however, was still not over. We can guess that after a few or a dozen days he left the Meissen March together with his sister. The margrave's retinue traveled across the Reich to finally stop at Ingelheim on the Rhine. This is where the Emperor spent Easter in 1031.
A toxic pact
Gizela's mediation was enough for Konrad to at least want to hear what Otto had to say. And the same:he wanted to see the new Bezprym project. This man had already put everything in order in his feverish mind. Of course, Jarosław refused to attack Poland on his own ... But what would he say if the German emperor also joined the same war? Two powerful powers, Russia and the Reich, would crush Mieszko's forces like ants.
Empress Gizela (source:public domain) was a great advocate of the Polish rebels.
Each side would grab what it cared about most, but all the rest would be left to Bezprym. Well, maybe not counting a few castle districts, which would have to be surrendered to Otto ... It was only necessary to convince the two rulers that they had a unique opportunity. And that, thanks to a joint, coordinated attack, they will most easily achieve their intended goals.
No wonder this project sounds somewhat familiar. The first partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth did not take place in 1772. Bezprym had already prepared plans to divide Poland between its neighbors before the end of 1029. Though it might be more accurate to call this peculiar alliance the first Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. With Konrad in place of the infamous minister of the Third Reich and Jarosław Mądry in place of the communist apparatchik. And of course, with Bezprym, Przedsławą and Regelinda in the background.
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Selected bibliography:
The article was based on materials collected by the author during his work on "Ladies with a scourge" . Some of these items are shown below. Full bibliography in the book.
- D. Borawska, The crisis of the early Piast monarchy in the 1330s , Warsaw 2013.
- G. Labuda, Mieszko II, King of Poland (1025–1034). Breakthrough times in the history of the Polish state , Poznań 2008.
- G. Labuda, Imprisonment of the coronation insignia to Germany in 1031 [in:] Medieval and Old Polish culture. Studies offered to Aleksander Gieysztor in the 50th anniversary of his scientific work , ed. D. Gawinowa, Warsaw 1991.
- H.J. Lang, The Fall of Monarchy of Mieszko II Lambert , Speculum, vol. 49 (1974).
- A. Lewicki, Mieszko II , "Dissertations of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences. Department Hist.-Philosophy. ”, Vol. 5 (1876).
- A. Pospieszyńska, Mieszko II and Germany , "Annals of History", vol. 14 (1938).
- D.A. Sikorski, Church in Poland under Mieszko I and Bolesław the Brave , Poznań 2013.
- B. Śliwiński, Bezprym. Firstborn son of the first king of Poland (986 – winter / spring 1032) , Krakow 2014.
- J. Sochacki, Public-law relations between the Polish state and the Roman Empire in the years 963– 1102, Słupsk – Gdańsk 2003.
- P. Wiszewski, Domus Bolezlai. In search of the Piast dynastic tradition (until around 1138) , Wrocław 2008.
- H. Wolfram, Conrad II, 990–1039. Emperor of Three Kingdoms , University Park 2006.