Kingdom of Poland | |||||||||||||
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| 1025–1795 | |||||||||||||
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 Kingdom ofPoland in 1025 | |||||||||||||
 Kingdom of Poland in 1370 | |||||||||||||
| Capital | Gniezno(until 1038)Kraków(until 1793)[1]Warsaw(until 1795) | ||||||||||||
| Official languages | Polish,Latin | ||||||||||||
| Religion |
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| Demonym | Polish | ||||||||||||
| Government | Hereditary monarchy Feudal monarchy Elective monarchy | ||||||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages Early Modern | ||||||||||||
| Currency | |||||||||||||
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TheKingdom of Poland (Polish:Królestwo Polskie;Latin:Regnum Poloniae) was a state inCentral Europe during the medieval and early modern periods from 1025 until 1795.
TheWest Slavic tribe ofPolans who lived in what is today the historic region ofGreater Poland, gave rise to a state in the early 10th century, which would become the nascent predecessor of the Kingdom of Poland. Following theChristianization of Poland in 966, and the emergence of theDuchy of Poland during the rule ofMieszko I, his eldest sonBolesław I the Brave inherited his father's dukedom and subsequently was crowned as king.[2]
In 1025,Bolesław I the Brave of thePiast dynasty was crowned the firstKing of Poland atGniezno Cathedral, elevating Poland from aduchy to akingdom with the approval ofPope John XIX.[3] Following the death of Bolesław, his sonMieszko II Lambert inherited the crown and a vast territory after his father, which includedGreater Poland (withMazovia),Lesser Poland,Silesia,Pomerania,Lusatia,Moravia,Red Ruthenia, andUpper Hungary. However, in 1031, he was forced to renounce the title and flee the country when a series of peasant uprisings broke out in what became known as thepagan reaction,[4] andYaroslav I the Wise, theGrand Prince of Kiev, invaded the country from the east while Mieszko II was in Lusatia fighting the Holy Roman Emperor,Conrad II. Yaroslav I installed his ally, the half-brother of Mieszko II, DukeBezprym, as the ruler of Poland. However, as a result of the upheavals, the kingdom suffered territorial losses and was effectively reduced to a duchy.
Casimir I the Restorer managed to reunite parts of the kingdom following the crisis and moved the capital toKraków. However, he failed to reinstitute the monarchy due to opposition from theHoly Roman Emperor.[5] In 1076,Bolesław II the Bold, with the support ofPope Gregory VII, regained the royal crown but was laterexcommunicated and banished from the kingdom in 1079 for murdering his opponent, BishopStanislaus of Szczepanów. In 1079,Władysław I Herman, who never pursued kingship took over the reins after the expulsion of Bolesław II. Władysław I was disinterested in becoming king and the country was effectively run bywojewodaSieciech.
In 1102,Bolesław III Wrymouth became the ruler of Poland.[6] Unlike Władysław I, Bolesław III proved to be a capable leader who restored the full territorial integrity of Poland but ultimately was not able to obtain the royal crown due to continued opposition from theHoly Roman Empire. Upon his death in 1138,the country was divided between his sons into the duchies ofGreater Poland,Lesser Poland,Masovia,Silesia,Sandomierz, and aPomeranianvassal. As a result, Poland entered a period offeudal fragmentation that lasted for over 200 years.
During the first half of the 13th century, theSilesian Piasts attempted to restore the kingdom.Henry the Bearded undertook efforts to reunite the fragmented duchies through a combination of political maneuvering and conquest. He also undertook efforts towards the coronation of his son,Henry II the Pious, and negotiated with other Polish dukes and the Holy Roman Emperor,Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, to this end. Henry II, continued his father's efforts, but thefirst Mongol invasion in 1241 and his death at theBattle of Legnica, abruptly halted the unification process.[7]
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The next attempt to restore the monarchy and unify the Polish kingdom would occur in 1296, whenPrzemysł II was crowned as the King of Poland in Gniezno. The coronation did not require papal consent as the title of king was already instituted in 1025. However, his reign was short-lived, as he was murdered by assassins sent by the margraviates ofBrandenburg. After the killing ofPrzemysł II, next to take the title of king wasWenceslaus II of Bohemia from the CzechPřemyslid dynasty, who reigned until 1305.[8] Following a vacancy that lasted until 1320, the Kingdom of Poland was fully restored underWładysław I the Elbow-High, who was crowned at theWawelcathedral inKraków, and then subsequently strengthened by his sonCasimir III the Great, who expanded into Red Ruthenia. However, he had to renounce his claims to Silesia in order to secure peace with the Holy Roman Empire. Casimir III is the only Polish king to receive the title "Great", and his reign was marked by substantial developments in the kingdom's urban infrastructure, civic administration, and military strength. After his death on 5 November 1370, the rule of the Piast dynasty would come to an end.
Following the death of Casimir III, who died without an heir,Louis I of Hungary from theHouse of Anjou became king in 1370. The period of his transitional rule also marked the rise of the nobility in the political life of the country. When Louis I died in 1382, his daughterJadwiga took over the throne as King of Poland. Her advisors negotiated withJogaila ofLithuania, concerning a potential marriage to Jadwiga. Jogaila pledged to convert toChristianity and signed theUnion of Krewo in 1385. The agreement also heralded a change in the legal status of the Polish realm to that of aCrown of the Kingdom of Poland, which was a political concept that assumed unbroken unity, indivisibility and continuity of the state. According to this concept, the Kingdom of Poland ceased to be thepatrimonial property of amonarch ordynasty, and became a common good of the political community of the Polish kingdom. After the conclusion of the union, Queen Jadwiga married Grand Duke Jogaila, who was crowned as King Władysław II Jagiełło on 4 March 1386, an event that marked the beginning of theJagiellon dynasty.[9]
In the second half of the 14th century and the ruleLouis I, the doctrine and the concept of theCrown of the Kingdom of Poland emerged.[10] It emphasized the role of theCrown as the true, indivisible, and permanent sovereign of the Kingdom, distinct from the person of the reigning monarch, as well as emphasizing the unity of the Polish lands lying outside the borders of the kingdom.[11] The king ceased to be the owner of the state and became merely its ruler; his authority did not derive from heredity and was limited.[12]
Alongside the King, the Crown’s authority was also shared by the developing parliament, known as theSejm, which included representatives of the kingdom’s nobility. This growing influence was expressed through participation in the election of rulers. Initially, from the early 15th century onward, only the most powerful magnates sitting in theSenate took part, confirming the succession within the rulingJagiellonian dynasty. After the childless death ofSigismund Augustus in 1572, the procedure of the “free election” took shape, in which every nobleman had the right to participate and the list of candidates was no longer limited to a single ruling family. The last free election took place in 1764, at which Stanisław August was elected.[13]
From the late 14th century, the Kingdom of Poland entered into close relations with theGrand Duchy of Lithuania, appointing as co-ruler, through his marriage toQueen Jadwiga, the grand dukeWładysław Jagiełło. In 1413, theUnion of Horodło was concluded, in which, alongside the monarchs, the lords of both polities also took part. Thepersonal union, interrupted only occasionally, was transformed into a real union and the creation of a joint state, thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, referred to by contemporaries mostly as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Over time, a custom emerged of referring to the Polish part of the joint state as “the Crown” and the Lithuanian part as “the Grand Duchy.” During this period, the Commonwealth, and with it the Kingdom of Poland, entered into personal unions with theKingdom of Sweden (1592–1599) and theElectorate of Saxony (1697–1763).
Under the partition agreements betweenPrussia, theHabsburgs, andRussia, the Kingdom of Poland ceased to exist. According to the 1797 convention, it was decided that the Kingdom of Poland was “from now on and forever abolished,” and none of the three courts would seek its restoration.[14] During theNapoleonic period, efforts to rebuild the Kingdom, supported by France, emerged, but in practice only the Duchy of Warsaw was created. At theCongress of Vienna, theKingdom of Poland was established, tied to Russia through the person of its ruler and largely dependent on it. After subsequent uprisings, its autonomy was gradually reduced, but it formally existed until 1915. After the occupation of central Polish lands by German and Austrian forces, the creation of a German-dependentKingdom of Poland, administered by theRegency Council, was proclaimed. After Poland regained independence, the Council transferred authority to a democratically elected government, and no further real attempts were made to restore monarchy in Poland.
As ruler of Poland, however, he was never crowned king, and German suzerainty over Poland was in fact reestablished during his reign.
there are no preserved information about a papal consent for the coronations of Wenceslaus II in 1300 and Ryksa-Elisabeth in 1303.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)| Early Middle Ages |
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