1.
Jan Matejko
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Jan Alojzy Matejko was a Polish painter known for paintings of notable historical Polish political and military events. His works include oil on canvas paintings like Rejtan, Union of Lublin or Battle of Grunwald, numerous portraits, a gallery of Polish kings. He is counted among the most famous Polish painters, Matejko spent most of his life in Kraków. His teachers at the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts included Wojciech Korneli Stattler, later, he became a director at this institution, which eventually was renamed the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts. A number of his students became prominent painters themselves, including Maurycy Gottlieb, Jacek Malczewski, Józef Mehoffer, Matejko was born on June 24,1838, in the Free City of Kraków. His father, Franciszek Ksawery Matejko, a Czech from the village of Roudnice, was a graduate of the Hradec Králové school who became a tutor. He first worked for the Wodzicki family in Kościelniki, Poland, then moved to Kraków, Jan was the ninth child of eleven that his parents had. He grew up in a building on Floriańska Street. After the death of his mother in 1845, Jan and his siblings were cared for by his maternal aunt, Anna Zamojska. At a young age he witnessed the Kraków revolution of 1846 and the 1848 siege of Kraków by the Austrians and his two older brothers served in them under General Józef Bem, one died and the other was forced into exile. He attended St. Anns High School, which he dropped out of in 1851 because of poor results, from his earliest days Matejko showed artistic talent, but he had great difficulty with other subjects. He never mastered a foreign language, despite that and because of his exceptional talent he studied at the School of Fine Arts in Kraków from 1852 to 1858. His teachers included Wojciech Korneli Stattler and Władysław Łuszczkiewicz and he selected historical painting as his specialization, and finished his first major work, Tsars Shuyski before Zygmunt III, in 1853. During this time, he began exhibiting paintings at the Kraków Society of Friends of Fine Arts. His seminal project for his graduation in 1858 was Sigismund I the Old ennobles the professors of the Jagiellonian University, following his graduation, Matejko received a scholarship to study under Hermann Anschütz at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich in 1859. Next year he received a scholarship to study at Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, but after a few days. There he opened a studio at his house at Floriańska Street. It would however be years before he would gain success, for a time he was the proverbial starving artist
2.
Coronation
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The ceremony can also be conducted for the monarchs consort, either simultaneously with the monarch or as a separate event. A ceremony without the placement of a crown on the head is known as an enthronement. Coronations are still observed in the United Kingdom, Tonga, in addition to investing the monarch with symbols of state, Western-style coronations have often traditionally involve anointing with holy oil, or chrism as it is often called. Wherever a ruler is anointed in this way, as in Great Britain and Tonga, some other lands use bathing or cleansing rites, the drinking of a sacred beverage, or other religious practices to achieve a comparable effect. Such acts symbolise the granting of divine favour to the monarch within the relevant spiritual-religious paradigm of the country, in the past, concepts of royalty, coronation and deity were often inexorably linked. Rome promulgated the practice of worship, in Medieval Europe. Coronations were once a direct expression of these alleged connections. Thus, coronations have often been discarded altogether or altered to reflect the nature of the states in which they are held. However, some monarchies still choose to retain an overtly religious dimension to their accession rituals, others have adopted simpler enthronement or inauguration ceremonies, or even no ceremony at all. In non-Christian states, coronation rites evolved from a variety of sources, buddhism, for instance, influenced the coronation rituals of Thailand, Cambodia and Bhutan, while Hindu elements played a significant role in Nepalese rites. The ceremonies used in modern Egypt, Malaysia, Brunei and Iran were shaped by Islam, Coronations, in one form or another, have existed since ancient times. Egyptian records show coronation scenes, such as that of Seti I in 1290 BC, judeo-Christian scriptures testify to particular rites associated with the conferring of kingship, the most detailed accounts of which are found in II Kings 11,12 and II Chronicles 23,11. Following the assumption of the diadem by Constantine, Roman and Byzantine emperors continued to wear it as the symbol of their authority. Although no specific coronation ceremony was observed at first, one gradually evolved over the following century, the emperor Julian was hoisted upon a shield and crowned with a gold necklace provided by one of his standard-bearers, he later wore a jewel-studded diadem. Later emperors were crowned and acclaimed in a manner, until the momentous decision was taken to permit the Patriarch of Constantinople to physically place the crown on the emperors head. Historians debate when exactly this first took place, but the precedent was established by the reign of Leo II. This ritual included recitation of prayers by the Byzantine prelate over the crown, after this event, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the ecclesiastical element in the coronation ceremonial rapidly develop. This was usually performed three times, following this, the king was given a spear, and a diadem wrought of silk or linen was bound around his forehead as a token of regal authority
3.
Gniezno
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Gniezno is a city in central-western Poland, some 50 kilometres east of Poznań, with some 70,000 inhabitants. One of the Piast dynastys chief cities, it was mentioned in 10th-century sources, including the Dagome Iudex, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Gniezno is the primate of Poland, making it the countrys ecclesiastical capital. It has belonged since 1999 to the Greater Poland Voivodeship, and is the seat of Gniezno County. There are archaeological traces of settlement since the late Paleolithic. Early Slavonic settlements on the Lech Hill and the Maiden Hill are dated to the 8th century, at the beginning of the 10th century this was the site of several places sacred to the Slavic religion. The ducal stronghold was founded just before AD940 on the Lech Hill, according to the Polish version of legends, Three brothers Lech, Czech and Rus were exploring the wilderness to find a place to settle. Suddenly they saw a hill with an old oak and an eagle on top. Lech said, This white eagle I will adopt as an emblem of my people, and around this oak I will build my stronghold, the other brothers went further on to find a place for their people. Czech went to the South and Rus went to the East and it is here that the Congress of Gniezno took place in the year 1000 AD, during which Bolesław I the Brave, Duke of Poland, received Holy Roman Emperor Otto III. The 10th-century Gniezno Cathedral witnessed royal coronations of Bolesław I in 1024, the cities of Gniezno and nearby Poznań were captured, plundered and destroyed in 1038 by the Bohemian duke Bretislav I, which pushed the next Polish rulers to move the Polish capital to Kraków. The archiepiscopal cathedral was reconstructed by the ruler, Bolesław II the Generous. In the next centuries Gniezno evolved as a seat of the eastern part of Greater Poland. Gniezno was again the site in 1295 and 1300. The city was destroyed again by the Teutonic Knights invasion in 1331, Gniezno was hit by heavy fires in 1515,1613, was destroyed during the Swedish invasion wars of the 17th–18th centuries and by a plague in 1708–1710. All this caused depopulation and economic decline, but the city was revived during the 18th century to become the Gniezno Voivodeship in 1768. Gniezno was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia in the 1793 Second Partition of Poland, but because of Kościuszkos defeat at the Battle of Maciejowice he gave up his plan to winter in Bydgoszcz and moved through Toruń and retreated to central Poland. Thus, the Prussians retook it on 7 December 1794, during the Napoleonic Wars there was an uprising against Prussian rule. Gniezno was subsequently governed within Kreis Gnesen of the Grand Duchy of Posen, following the Greater Poland Uprising and the Treaty of Versailles Gniezno became part of the Second Polish Republic
4.
Mieszko I of Poland
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Mieszko I was the ruler of the Polans from about 960 until his death. A member of the Piast dynasty, he was a son of Siemomysł, and he was the father of Bolesław I the Brave and Gunhild of Wenden with his wife Oda. The first Christian ruler of territories later called Poland, Mieszko I is considered the de facto creator of the Polish state and he continued the policy of both his father and grandfather, who were rulers of the pagan tribes located in the area of present-day Greater Poland. Through both alliances and the use of force, Mieszko extended ongoing Polish conquests and early in his reign subjugated Kuyavia. For most of his reign, Mieszko I was involved in warfare for the control of Western Pomerania, during the last years of his life, he fought the Bohemian state, winning Silesia and probably Lesser Poland. Mieszko Is marriage in 965 to the Czech Přemyslid princess Dobrawa and his baptism in 966 put him, apart from the great conquests accomplished during his reign Mieszko I was renowned for his internal reforms, aimed at expanding and improving the so-called war monarchy system. According to existing sources, Mieszko I was a politician, a talented military leader. He successfully used diplomacy, concluding alliances, first with Bohemia, then Sweden, in foreign policy, he placed the interests of his country foremost, even entering into agreements with his former enemies. On his death, he left to his sons a country with greatly expanded territories, Mieszko I also enigmatically appeared as Dagome in a papal document dating to about 1085, called Dagome iudex, which mentions a gift or dedication of Mieszkos land to the Pope. It is roughly his borders that Poland was returned to in 1945, There is no certain information on Mieszko Is life before he took control over his lands. Only the Lesser Poland Chronicle gives the date of his birth as somewhere between the years 920–931, however, modern researchers dont recognize the Chronicle as a reliable source, There are three major theories concerning the origin and meaning of Mieszko Is name. The most popular theory, proposed by Jan Długosz, explains that Mieszko is a diminutive of Mieczysław, today, this theory is rejected by the majority of Polish historians, who consider the name Mieczysław to have been invented by Długosz to explain the origin of the name Mieszko. Today, we know that ancient Slavs never formed their names using either animal names or weapon names, ancient Slavic names were abstract in nature. The chronicler related this story as follows, At that time Prince Siemomysł urgently asked the people of his country whether his sons blindness conveyed some miraculous meaning. They explained that this meant that Poland was blind back then. In addition, it is known that the Slavic word mzec can be interpreted as having his eyes closed or be blind, in that symbolic rite a child became a man. That explains that Mieszko wasnt blind in fact, besides his sons name was also Mieszko and it is hard to believe that he was also blind. In addition, as we know today ancient Slavs used only abstract names among nobility, the third theory links the name of Mieszko with his other name, Dagome, as it appeared in the document called Dagome iudex
5.
Mieszko II Lambert
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Mieszko II Lambert was King of Poland from 1025–1031, and Duke from 1032 until his death. He was the son of Bolesław I the Brave but the eldest born from his third wife Emnilda of Lusatia. He was probably named after his grandfather, Mieszko I. His second name, Lambert, sometimes considered to be a nickname, was given to him as a reference to the cult of Saint Lambert. Also, it is probable that this name Lambert was chosen after Bolesławs half-brother Lambert and it is thought that the choice of this name for his son was an expression of warming relations between Bolesław I and his stepmother Oda. He organized two devastating invasions to Saxony in 1028 and 1030, then Mieszko II ran a defensive war against Germany, Bohemia and the Kievan princes. Mieszko II was forced to escape from the country in 1031 after an attack of Yaroslav I the Wise, Mieszko took refuge in Bohemia, where he was imprisoned by the Duke Oldrich. In 1032 he regained power in one of the three districts, then united the country, making use of the remaining power structures. At this time, several Polish territorial acquisitions of his father were lost, Upper Lusatia, part of Lower Lusatia, Red Ruthenia, western and central part of Upper Hungary, Mieszko II was very well educated for the period. He was able to read and write, and knew both Greek and Latin and he is unjustly known as Mieszko II Gnuśny. He received that epithet due to the way his reign ended. Since Mieszko II was politically active before his fathers death, Bolesław I appointed him as his successor and he participated mainly in German politics, both as a representative of his father and the commander of the Polish troops. In 1013 Mieszko II went to Magdeburg, where he paid homage to the Emperor Henry II, a few months later Bolesław I paid homage in person. The real purpose of Mieszkos visit is unclear, especially since soon after his father paid homage to the Holy Roman Empire, presumably, the young prince paid homage for Milsko or Moravia and Lusatia. The relevant treaty stipulated that it was only a personal tribute, another hypothesis assumes that the territories were transferred by Bolesław to him, and as a result made Mieszko a vassal of the Empire. The position of the prince, at the both Polish and Imperial courts, became stronger in 1013 when he married Richeza daughter of Count Palatine Ezzo of Lotharingia. Ezzo was a prince of an influence as a great leader of the opposition against Henry II. Through the marriage with his daughter Mieszko, he entered into the circle of the Imperial family and became an equal to
6.
Judith of Hungary
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Judith of Hungary was a Hungarian princess and member of the House of Arpad. She was briefly married to Bolesław Chrobry, member of the House of Piast, according to some sources, she was the eldest child of Géza of Hungary by his first wife Sarolt, a daughter of Gyula of Transylvania. However, modern historians have now discarded her parentage, and state that she was an unknown Hungarian princess, though opinions vary about the identity of Bolesław Is second wife, there are a number of researchers who still support the hypothesis of her being the daughter of Géza. At the end of 985, Judith became in the wife of Bolesław, heir of the Polish throne, after he repudiated his first wife Hunilda, daughter of Rikdag. The union produced a son, Bezprym, perhaps because of the deterioration in political relations between Poland and Hungary, around 987 Judith was repudiated and sent away. She probably remained in Poland and died shortly after her divorce, Bolesław soon re-married, this time with Emnilda, a Slavic princess, who bore him five children, including the future Mieszko II Lambert. Despite Bezprym being the son, he was deprived of the throne of Poland by his father. Around 1003 Bolesław I sent Bezprym to Italy, where he became a monk in one of Saint Romualds hermitages. In 1031, in alliance with Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor and his reign didnt last long and was murdered one year later. Judith was survived by her father, and when he died in 997, one of his distant cousins Koppány, declared his claim to the leadership of the Magyars against Judiths brother, Koppány wanted to marry Judiths stepmother, referring to the Hungarian tradition. Koppány, nevertheless, was defeated, and shortly afterwards Vajk was crowned as the first King of Hungary as Stephen I
7.
Bezprym
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Bezprym was a Duke of Poland during 1031–1032. His reign was short-lived and, according to sources, extremely cruel. He was murdered in 1032 and Mieszko II returned to the throne of Poland and its speculated that Pagan Reaction began during his short reign. In primary sources Bezprym appears as, Besprim Besfrim, Bezbriem and this name wasnt used among the Polish nobility but was known in the Bohemian sources, where it appears as, Bezprim, Bezprem, Bezperem. According to one of the hypotheses the name is of Slavonic origin, due to tradition and the impossibility of determining the correct version of the name, Bezprym remains the form used, although, according to K. Jasiński, it probably requires modifications. Older historiography frequently combined the figures of Bolesław Is two sons, Otto and Bezprym, or even attributed to Bezprym the middle name of Otto, marian Gumowski also suggested, on the basis of numismatic research that this combined prince could have governed Bohemia in 1003. These theories are based on the chronicle of Wipo of Burgundy, modern historians assume, however, that Bezprym in fact did exist, and that the chronicler erroneously combined Otto and Bezprym into one person. Though opinions vary about the identity of Bolesław I s second wife, soon after his birth, the marriage of his parents ended, probably because of the deterioration in political relations between Poland and Hungary. Bezpryms mother was repudiated and sent away, although probably she remained in Poland, shortly after his divorce, Bolesław I remarried with Emnilda, who bore him five children. The eldest son of union, the future Mieszko II Lambert. About Bezpryms first years of life almost nothing is known, in contrast with his half-brother Mieszko II and this probably showed that his father disliked him and considered Mieszko II as his successor since his birth, which was already confirmed by Bolesław Is later political activity. Bezprym was then destined to a Church career, a fact who is demonstrated in the Vita of St. Saint Romuald, there it is stated that in one of the hermitages resided a son of a Polish Duke, who in 1001 gave him a horse. According to modern historians, this Polish prince could only be Bezprym and its possible that he was in Hungary and there he was appointed head of Veszprém and Zala county. In this case the name Veszprém originated from his name, nevertheless, this hypothesis proposed by a Hungarian researcher didnt find acceptance among Polish historians. It is also probable that Bezprym was present at the coronation of his father as King of Poland in Gniezno Cathedral on 25 April 1025. Probably after Mieszko II took control over the government of Poland, however, soon Mieszko II expelled Bezprym from the country, and probably he did the same with Otto in 1030, when he discovered that they conspired against him with the help of Emperor Conrad II. Bezprym took refuge in Kievan Rus and probably used the position of Mieszko II as an excuse to gain the alliance of the Rurikids ruler Yaroslav I the Wise. In 1031, while Mieszko II was defending the border from the German expedition of Conrad II, Bezprym
8.
Regelinda
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Regelinda, a member of the Polish Piast dynasty, was Margravine of Meissen from 1009 until her death by her marriage with Margrave Herman I. She was the daughter of the Polish king Bolesław I Chrobry from his marriage with Emnilda, daughter of Dobromir. Regelinda was married to Herman I shortly after his father Margrave Eckard I of Meissen was killed on April 30,1002. While Duke Bolesław had occupied the March of Lusatia and the Milceni lands sparking a German–Polish War, the marriage brought the Polish Piasts and the Ekkardiner margraves closer. The new king Henry II of Germany named Hermans uncle Gunzelin Eckards successor, however, in 1009, deposed him, the alliance with the Polish dukes was renewed after the 1018 Peace of Bautzen, when Bolesław married Hermans sister Oda. The marriage of Herman and Regelinda proved to be childless, the margravine is better known for the 13th century statue erected in Naumburg Cathedral by the Naumburg Master, which shows a smiling Polish woman. Her exact year of death is unknown and she died about 1014, but it is also speculated that she could have lived until 1030. O. Balzer, Genealogia Piastów, Kraków 1895, K. Jasiński, Rodowód pierwszych Piastów, Wrocław-Warsaw
9.
Dynasty
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A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a house, historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends. The word dynasty itself is often dropped from such adjectival references, until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty, that is, to increase the territory, wealth, and power of his family members. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. Succession through a daughter when permitted was considered to establish a new dynasty in her husbands ruling house, however, some states in Africa, determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mothers dynasty when coming into her inheritance. It is also extended to unrelated people such as poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. The word dynasty derives via Latin dynastia from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to power, dominion and it was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, power or ability, from dýnamai, to be able. A ruler in a dynasty is referred to as a dynast. For example, following his abdication, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the House of Windsor. A dynastic marriage is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, the marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child is expected to inherit the Dutch crown eventually. But the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso to Mabel Wisse Smit in 2003 lacked government support, thus Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession, lost his title as a Prince of the Netherlands, and left his children without dynastic rights. In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a dynast is a member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchys rules still in force. Even since abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Max and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. The term dynast is sometimes used only to refer to descendants of a realms monarchs. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people, yet he is not a male-line member of the royal family, and is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor. Thus, in 1999 he requested and obtained permission from Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco. Yet a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time and that exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Catholic
10.
Piast dynasty
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The Piast dynasty was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. The first documented Polish monarch was Prince Mieszko I, the Piasts royal rule in Poland ended in 1370 with the death of king Casimir III the Great. Branches of the Piast dynasty continued to rule in the Duchy of Masovia, the Piasts intermarried with several noble lines of Europe, and possessed numerous titles, some within the Holy Roman Empire. However, the term Piast Dynasty was not applied until the 17th century, in a historical work the expression Piast dynasty was introduced by the Polish historian Adam Naruszewicz, it is not documented in contemporary sources. The first Piasts, probably of Polan descent, appeared around 940 in the territory of Greater Poland at the stronghold of Giecz, shortly afterwards they relocated their residence to Gniezno, where Prince Mieszko I ruled over the Civitas Schinesghe from about 960. The name Polani, from Slavic, pole, did not appear until 1015, the Piasts temporarily also ruled over Pomerania, Bohemia and the Lusatias, as well as Ruthenia, and the Hungarian Spiš region in present-day Slovakia. The ruler bore the title of a duke or a king, depending on their position of power. The Bohemian Přemyslid dynasty, the Hungarian Arpads and their Anjou successors, the Kievan Rus, later also the State of the Teutonic Order, the Piast position was decisively enfeebled by an era of fragmentation following the 1138 Testament of Bolesław III Krzywousty. Numerous dukes like Mieszko III the Old, Władysław III Spindleshanks or Leszek I the White were crowned, only to be overthrown shortly afterwards. After the Polish royal line and Piast junior branch had died out in 1370, the Masovian branch of the Piasts became extinct with the death of Duke Janusz III in 1526. The last ruling duke of the Silesian Piasts was George William of Legnica who died in 1675 and his uncle Count August of Legnica, the last male Piast, died in 1679. The last legitimate heir, Duchess Karolina of Legnica-Brieg died in 1707 and is buried in Trzebnica Abbey, nevertheless, numerous families, like the illegitimate descendants of the Silesian duke Adam Wenceslaus of Cieszyn, link their genealogy to the dynasty. About 1295, Przemysł II used a coat of arms with a white eagle – a symbol later referred to as the Piast coat of arms or as the Piast Eagle, Piast kings and rulers of Poland appear in list form in the following table. For a list of all rulers, see List of Polish monarchs
11.
Dobrawa of Bohemia
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Doubravka of Bohemia or Dobrawa, Dąbrówka was a Bohemian princess of the Přemyslid dynasty and by marriage Duchess of the Polans. She was the daughter of Boleslav I the Cruel, Duke of Bohemia, according to earlier sources, Dobrawa urged her husband Mieszko I of Poland to accept baptism in 966, the year after their marriage. Modern historians believe, however, that the change of religion by Mieszko was one of the points discussed in the Polish-Bohemian agreement concluded soon before his marriage with Dobrawa. Her role in his conversion is not considered now to be as important as it is represented in medieval chronicles. Dobrawas date of birth is not known, the only indication is communicated by the chronicler Cosmas of Prague, who stated that the Bohemian princess at the time of her marriage with Mieszko I was an old woman. The passage is regarded as tendentious and of little reliability, and it is possible that in the statement about Dobrawas age, Cosmas was making a reference to the age difference between her and her sister Mlada. That would give him a basis for determining Dobrawa as old, nothing is known about Dobrawas childhood and youth. In 1895 Oswald Balzer refuted reports that previous to her marriage with Mieszko I, Dobrawa was married to Gunther, Margrave of Merseburg and they had a son, Gunzelin. This view is based on the fact that Thietmar of Merseburg in his chronicles named Gunzelin, Gunthers son, brother of Bolesław I the Brave, currently, historians believed that Gunzelin and Bolesław I are in fact cousins or brothers-in-law. In the second half of 964 an alliance between Boleslav I the Cruel, Duke of Bohemia, and Mieszko I of Poland was concluded, in order to consolidate the agreement, in 965 Boleslav Is daughter Dobrawa was married to Mieszko I. There was a difference of religion between the spouses, she was a Christian, he was a pagan, two independent sources attribute to Dobrawa an important role in the conversion to Christianity of Mieszko I and Poland. The first is the chronicles of Thietmar, who was two years before the death of Dobrawa. He wrote that the Bohemian princess tried to persuade her husband to accept Christianity, in the end, she finally obtained the conversion of Mieszko I and with him, of all Poland. In turn, the 12th century chronicler Gallus Anonymus says that Dobrawa came to Poland surrounded by secular and she agreed to marry Mieszko I providing that he was baptized. The Polish ruler accepted, and only then was able to marry the Bohemian princess and they note that the conversion of Mieszko I thanks to Dobrawa formed part of the tradition of the Church which stressed the conversion of Pagan rulers through the influence of women. On the other hand, literature doesnt refuse to give Dobrawa a significant role in the Christianization of the Poles, in her wedding procession, she arrived in Poland with Christian clergymen, among them possibly Jordan, ordained the first Bishop of Poland in 968. Tradition attributes to Dobrawa the establishment of the Holy Trinity and St. Wit Churches in Gniezno, Dobrawas marriage cemented the alliance of Mieszko I with Bohemia, which continued even after her death. On 21 September 967 Mieszko I was assisted by Bohemians in the battle against the Wolinians led by Wichmann the Younger
12.
Polish language
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Polish is a West Slavic language spoken primarily in Poland and is the native language of the Poles. It belongs to the Lechitic subgroup of the West Slavic languages, Polish is the official language of Poland, but it is also used throughout the world by Polish minorities in other countries. It is one of the languages of the European Union. Its written standard is the Polish alphabet, which has 9 additions to the letters of the basic Latin script, Polish is closely related to Kashubian, Silesian, Upper Sorbian, Lower Sorbian, Czech and Slovak. It is also the second most widely spoken Slavic language, after Russian, in history, Polish is known to be an important language, both diplomatically and academically in Central and Eastern Europe. Today, Polish is spoken by over 38.5 million people as their first language in Poland. It is also spoken as a language in western parts of Belarus and Ukraine, west and central Lithuania, as well as the northern parts of the Czech Republic. There are 55 million Polish language speakers around the world, Polish began to emerge as a distinct language around the 10th century, the process largely triggered by the establishment and development of the Polish state. With Christianity, Poland also adopted the Latin alphabet, which made it possible to write down Polish, the precursor to modern Polish is the Old Polish language. Ultimately, Polish is thought to descend from the unattested Proto-Slavic language, Poland is the most linguistically homogeneous European country, nearly 97% of Polands citizens declare Polish as their first language. Elsewhere, Poles constitute large minorities in Lithuania, Belarus, Polish is the most widely used minority language in Lithuanias Vilnius County and is found elsewhere in southeastern Lithuania. There are significant numbers of Polish speakers among Polish emigrants and their descendants in many other countries, in the United States, Polish Americans number more than 11 million but most of them cannot speak Polish fluently. The largest concentrations of Polish speakers reported in the census were found in three states, Illinois, New York, and New Jersey. Enough people in these areas speak Polish that PNC Financial Services offer services available in Polish at all of their machines in addition to English and Spanish. According to the 2011 census there are now over 500,000 people in England, in Canada, there is a significant Polish Canadian population, There are 242,885 speakers of Polish according to the 2006 census, with a particular concentration in Toronto and Montreal. The geographical distribution of the Polish language was affected by the territorial changes of Poland immediately after World War II. Poles settled in the Recovered Territories in the west and north and this tendency toward a homogeneity also stems from the vertically integrated nature of the authoritarian Polish Peoples Republic. The inhabitants of different regions of Poland still speak standard Polish somewhat differently, first-language speakers of Polish have no trouble understanding each other, and non-native speakers may have difficulty distinguishing regional variations
13.
Czech language
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Czech, historically also Bohemian, is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group. It is spoken by over 10 million people and is the language of the Czech Republic. Czech is closely related to Slovak, to the point of being intelligible to a very high degree. In the later 18th to mid-19th century, the written standard was codified in the context of the Czech National Revival. The main vernacular, known as Common Czech, is based on the vernacular of Prague, the Moravian dialects spoken in the eastern part of the country are mostly also counted as Czech, although some of their eastern variants are closer to Slovak. The Czech phoneme inventory is moderate in size, comprising five vowels, words may contain uncommon consonant clusters, including one consonant represented by the grapheme ř, or lack vowels altogether. Czech orthography is simple, and has used as a model by phonologists. Czech is classified as a member of the West Slavic sub-branch of the Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family and this branch includes Polish, Kashubian, Upper and Lower Sorbian and Slovak. Slovak is by far the closest genetic neighbor of Czech, the West Slavic languages are spoken in an area classified as part of Central Europe. Around the 7th century, the Slavic expansion reached Central Europe, the West Slavic polity of Great Moravia formed by the 9th century. The Christianization of Bohemia took place during the 9th and 10th centuries, the Bohemian language is first recorded in writing in glosses and short notes during the 12th to 13th centuries. Literary works written in Czech appear in the early 14th century, the first complete Bible translation also dates to this period. Old Czech texts, including poetry and cookbooks, were produced outside the university as well, literary activity becomes widespread in the early 15th century in the context of the Bohemian Reformation. There was no standardization distinguishing between Czech and Slovak prior to the 15th century, the publication of the Kralice Bible between 1579 and 1593 became very important for standardization of the Czech language in the following centuries. In 1615, the Bohemian diet tried to declare Czech to be the official language of the kingdom. After the Bohemian Revolt which was defeated by the Habsburgs in 1620 and this emigration together with other consequences of the Thirty Years War had a negative impact on the further use of the Czech language. In 1627, Czech and German became official languages of the Kingdom of Bohemia and in the 18th century German became dominant in Bohemia and Moravia, the modern standard Czech language originates in standardization efforts of the 18th century. Changes include the shift of í to ej and é to í and the merging of í
14.
Duke of Poland
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This list concerns the historical monarchs of Poland, from the Middle Ages to 1795. For presidents and other heads of state of Poland during the 20th and 21st centuries, Poland was ruled at various times either by dukes or by kings. During the latter period, a tradition of election of monarchs made it a uniquely electable position in Europe. The birth of Poland as an independent nation coincides with the ascension of Duke Mieszko I and he was succeeded by his son, Bolesław I the Brave, who greatly expanded the boundaries of the Polish state and ruled as the first king in 1025. The following centuries gave rise to the mighty Piast dynasty, consisting of kings such as Mieszko II Lambert, Przemysł II or Władysław I the Elbow-high and dukes like Bolesław III Wrymouth. The dynasty ceased to exist with the death of Casimir III the Great in 1370, in the same year, the Capetian House of Anjou became the ruling house with Louis I as king of both Poland and Hungary. During the reign of Casimir IV Jagiellon and Sigismund I the Old culture flourished and this era of progress, also known as the Polish Renaissance, continued until the Union of Lublin under Sigismund II Augustus, which unofficially marked the end of the Polish Golden Age. The meaningful rule of the Vasa dynasty initially expanded the Commonwealth, developing the arts and crafts, as well as trade and commerce. King Sigismund III Vasa, a talented but somewhat despotic ruler, involved the country in many wars and his son, Władysław IV Vasa, fiercely defended the Commonwealths borders and continued the policy of his father until death, unlike John II Casimir whose tragic rule forced his abdication. The election of John III Sobieski to the Polish throne was a great success and his brilliant military tactics led to the victory at Vienna in 1683 and partial recapture of land from the Ottoman Empire. However, the years that followed werent as successful, the long and ineffective rule of the Wettin dynasty placed the Commonwealth under the influence of Saxony, additional feud with rebelled nobility and most notably Stanisław I Leszczyński and France diminished the influence of Poland-Lithuania in the region. This led to the partitions that occurred under King Stanisław II Augustus, yet another enlightened, the last sovereign was Frederick Augustus I as Duke of Warsaw, who throughout his political career attempted at rehabilitating the Polish state. After Poland declared independence in 1918, the monarchy was abolished, uwagi o godłach napieczętnych Piastów Histmag. org June 14,2009 Duczmal M. Jagiellonowie. Dybkowska A. Żaryn J. Żaryn M. Polskie dzieje, od czasów najdawniejszych po współczesność, wyd. Rzeczpospolita w dobie złotej wolności, Kraków 2001, ISBN 83-85719-56-3 Grodziski S. Polska w czasach przełomu, Kraków 2001. ISBN 83-85719-45-8 Grodziski S. Porównawcza historia ustrojów państwowych, Kraków 1998, ISBN 83-7052-840-6 Grzybowski S. Dzieje Polski i Litwy, Kraków 2000. ISBN 83-85719-48-2 Morby J. E. Dynastie świata, przewodnik chronologiczny i genealogiczny, Kraków 1995, s. ISBN 83-7006-263-6 Wyrozumski J. Dzieje Polski piastowskiej, Kraków 1999, henryk Brodaty i jego czasy, wyd
15.
Lesser Poland
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Lesser Poland is a historical region of Poland, its capital is the city of Kraków. It should not be confused with the modern Lesser Poland Voivodeship, historical Lesser Poland is much bigger than the current voivodeship which bears its name, stretching from Bielsko-Biała in the south-west as far as to Siedlce in the north-east. It consisted of three voivodeships with the capitals in Kraków, Sandomierz and Lublin and it is almost 60,000 km2 in area and has about 9,000,000 inhabitants. Its landscape is hilly, with Karpaty mountains in the south. It has been famous for its mighty aristocracy and rich nobility, in the wider sense, Lesser Poland from the 14th century also encompassed Red Ruthenia, and from the 16th century Podlachia, Podolia and parts of modern Ukraine. In the era of partitions, its part was Galicia, was sometimes also called Lesser Poland. As a result of this division, many inhabitants of the northern part of the pre-partition region of Poland dont recognize their Lesser Polish identity. Although, Lublin has been declared independent Voivodeship as early as in 1474, flat are northern and central areas of the province – around Tarnobrzeg, Stalowa Wola, Radom and Siedlce, also valleys of the main rivers – the Vistula, the Pilica, and the San. Apart from Rysy, there are other peaks located in the province – Pilsko, Babia Góra, Turbacz. Southern part of the province is covered by the Carpathian Mountains, which are made of smaller ranges, such as Pieniny, Tatry, almost whole area is located in the Vistula Basin, with the exception of western and southern parts, belonging to the Odra and Dunaj Basins. Main rivers of the province are the Vistula, upper Warta, Soła, Skawa, Raba, Dunajec, Wisłok, Wisłoka, San, Wieprz, Przemsza, Nida, Kamienna, Radomka, and Pilica. Major lakes of the province are, Lake Rożnów, Lake Czchów, Lake Dobczyce, Lake Czorsztyn, Lake Czaniec, Lake Międzybrodzie, Lake Klimkówka, most of them are man-made reservoirs. Lesser Poland stretches from the Carpathians in the south to Pilica and it borders Mazovia to the north, Podlaskie to the northeast, Red Ruthenia to the east, Slovakia to the south, Silesia to the west, and Greater Poland to the northwest. In Silesian Voivodeship, the border between Silesia and Lesser Poland is easy to draw, because with few exceptions, it goes along boundaries of local counties. In the south, it goes along western boundary of ancient Duchy of Teschen, with the borderline along the Biała river, where Zwardoń, Milówka, and Rajcza are in Lesser Poland. Bielsko-Biała is a city made of two parts – Lesser Polands Biala, makes eastern half of the city, and only in 1951 it merged with Silesian Bielsko. Further north, the border goes along boundaries of cities of Jaworzno. Then it goes northwest, leaving Czeladź, Siewierz, Koziegłowy, Blachownia, Kłobuck, from Krzepice, the border goes eastwards, towards Koniecpol, and along the Pilica river, with such towns as Przedborz, Opoczno, Drzewica, Białobrzegi, and Kozienice within Lesser Poland
16.
Adalbert of Prague
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Adalbert of Prague, known in Czech by his birth name Vojtěch, was a Bohemian missionary and Christian saint. He was the Bishop of Prague and a missionary to the Hungarians, Poles, and Prussians and he was said to be the composer of Bogurodzica, the oldest known Polish hymn, but this is now thought unlikely, as he did not know the language. St. Adalbert was later declared the saint of Bohemia, Poland, Hungary. Born as Vojtěch in 952 or ca.956 in Libice, he belonged to the Slavnik clan, Bohemian priest Cosmas of Prague recorded events from his life. His father was Slavník, a duke ruling a province centred at Libice and his mother was Střezislava, according to some belonging to the Přemyslid dynasty. He had five brothers, Soběslav, Spytimír, Dobroslav, Pořej, Cosmas also refers to Radim as a brother, he is believed to have been a half-brother of his fathers liaison with another woman, or a near friend. Having survived a grave illness in childhood, his parents decided to dedicate him to the service of God, Adalbert was well educated, having studied for approximately ten years in Magdeburg under the tutelage of St. Adalbert of Magdeburg. The young Vojtěch took his tutors name Adalbert at his Confirmation, in 981 St. Adalbert of Magdeburg died, and his young protege Adalbert returned to Bohemia. Later Bishop Dietmar of Prague ordained him a Roman Catholic priest, in 982, Bishop Dietmar died, and Adalbert, despite being under canonical age, was chosen to succeed him as Bishop of Prague. Amiable and somewhat worldly, he was not expected to trouble the secular powers by making claims for the Church. Although Adalbert was from a family, he avoided comfort and luxury. After six years of prayer and preaching, he had made headway in evangelizing the Bohemians. Adalbert opposed the participation of Christians in the trade and complained of polygamy and idolatry. Once he started to propose reforms he was met with opposition from both the powers and the clergy. His family refused to support Duke Boleslaus in a war against Poland. Adalbert was no longer welcome and eventually forced into exile and he lived as a hermit at the Benedictine monastery of Saint Alexis. Five years later, Boleslaus requested that the Pope send Adalbert back to Prague, Pope John XV agreed, with the understanding that Adalbert was free to leave Prague if he continued to encounter entrenched resistance. During the struggle four or five of Adalberts brothers were killed, the Zličan principality became part of the Přemyslids estate
17.
Bruno of Querfurt
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He is also called the second Apostle of the Prussians. Bruno was from a family of Querfurt. He is rumored to have been a relative of the Holy Roman Emperor Otto III, at the age of six, he was sent to be educated in Magdeburg, seat of Adalbert of Magdeburg, the teacher and namesake of Saint Adalbert. While still a youth, he was made a canon of the Cathedral of Magdeburg, the fifteen-year-old Otto III made Bruno a part of his royal court. Bruno spent much time at the monastery where Adalbert had become a monk, later, Bruno entered a monastery near Ravenna that Otto had founded, and underwent strict ascetic training under the guidance of Saint Romuald. Otto III hoped to open a monastery between the Elbe and the Oder to help convert the population into Christianity. In 1003 Pope Sylvester II appointed Bruno, at the age of 33, owing to a regional conflict between the Holy Roman Emperor Henry II and Duke Boleslaus I of Poland he delayed the plans for the monastery, and so Bruno set out for Hungary. There he went to the places that Saint Adalbert of Prague had attended, Bruno elected to gracefully exit the region after he first finished his book, the famous Life of St. Adalbert, a literary memorial of much worth giving a history of the conversion of the Hungarians. Bruno spent five months there and baptized some thirty adults and he helped to bring about a peace treaty between them and the ruler of Kiev. Before leaving for Poland, Bruno consecrated a bishop for the Pechenegs, while in Poland he consecrated the first Bishop of Sweden and is said to have sent emissaries to baptize the king of Sweden, whose mother had come from Poland. Bruno found out that his friend Benedict and four companions had killed by robbers in 1003. Bruno took eyewitness accounts and wrote down a touching history of the so-called Five Martyred Brothers, yotvingia was a Prussian region, then subordinate to Kievan Rus, that intersected the borders of what was then Prussia, Kievan Rus and the Duchy of Lithuania. Saint Bruno was beheaded on February 14,1009, whereas most of his companions were hanged the same day by Zebeden, Duke Boleslaus the Brave brought the bodies to Poland. The Annals of Magdeburg, Thietmar of Merseburgs Chronicle, various works of Magdeburg Bishops, soon after his death, Bruno and his companions were venerated as martyrs and Bruno was soon after canonized. It was said that Braunsberg was named after St Bruno, lithuania’s Millennium –Millennium Lithuaniae Or What Lithuania Can Tell the World on this Occasion. Lithuanias Millennium – Millennium Lithuaniae Catholic Encyclopedia, St. Bruno of Querfurt Saint Bruno Querfurt
18.
Holy Roman Empire
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The Holy Roman Empire was a multi-ethnic complex of territories in central Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806. On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish king Charlemagne as Emperor, reviving the title in Western Europe, more than three centuries after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The title was revived in 962 when Otto I was crowned emperor, fashioning himself as the successor of Charlemagne, some historians refer to the coronation of Charlemagne as the origin of the empire, while others prefer the coronation of Otto I as its beginning. Scholars generally concur, however, in relating an evolution of the institutions and principles constituting the empire, the office of Holy Roman Emperor was traditionally elective, although frequently controlled by dynasties. Emperor Francis II dissolved the empire on 6 August 1806, after the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine by Napoleon, before 1157, the realm was merely referred to as the Roman Empire. In a decree following the 1512 Diet of Cologne, the name was changed to Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, by the end of the 18th century, the term Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation had fallen out of official use. As Roman power in Gaul declined during the 5th century, local Germanic tribes assumed control, by the middle of the 8th century, however, the Merovingians had been reduced to figureheads, and the Carolingians, led by Charles Martel, had become the de facto rulers. In 751, Martel’s son Pepin became King of the Franks, the Carolingians would maintain a close alliance with the Papacy. In 768 Pepin’s son Charlemagne became King of the Franks and began an expansion of the realm. He eventually incorporated the territories of present-day France, Germany, northern Italy, on Christmas Day of 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor, restoring the title in the west for the first time in over three centuries. After the death of Charles the Fat in 888, however, the Carolingian Empire broke apart, according to Regino of Prüm, the parts of the realm spewed forth kinglets, and each part elected a kinglet from its own bowels. After the death of Charles the Fat, those crowned emperor by the pope controlled only territories in Italy, the last such emperor was Berengar I of Italy, who died in 924. Around 900, autonomous stem duchies reemerged in East Francia, on his deathbed, Conrad yielded the crown to his main rival, Henry the Fowler of Saxony, who was elected king at the Diet of Fritzlar in 919. Henry reached a truce with the raiding Magyars, and in 933 he won a first victory against them in the Battle of Riade, Henry died in 936, but his descendants, the Liudolfing dynasty, would continue to rule the Eastern kingdom for roughly a century. Upon Henry the Fowlers death, Otto, his son and designated successor, was elected King in Aachen in 936 and he overcame a series of revolts from an elder brother and from several dukes. After that, the managed to control the appointment of dukes. In 951, Otto came to the aid of Adelaide, the queen of Italy, defeating her enemies, marrying her. In 955, Otto won a victory over the Magyars in the Battle of Lechfeld
19.
Congress of Gniezno
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The Congress of Gniezno was an amical meeting between the Polish Duke Bolesław I Chrobry and Emperor Otto III, which took place at Gniezno on March 11,1000. Scholars disagree over the details of the made at the convention. After his death in 997 during a mission among the pagan Prussian tribes, Bishop Adalbert of Prague was quickly canonized by the effort of Duke Bolesław I. Thus, Adalbert became the first Slavic bishop to become a saint and his body, bought back by Bolesław from the Prussians for its weight in gold, was put into a tomb at Gniezno Cathedral, which became the ecclesiastical center of Poland. According to the chronicles of Thietmar of Merseburg, Otto III, as part of this policy he also invested Grand Prince Stephen I of Hungary with the kings crown. The Polish Piast dynasty under Mieszko I had extended their domains beyond the Oder river, after his defeat by Geros troops in 963, Mieszko I decided to come to terms with Emperor Otto I and agreed to pay tribute for this part of his lands. In turn he gained the title of amicus imperatoris and the acknowledgment of his position as a Dux of Poland, as a precaution however, shortly before his death in 992 he placed his realm under the protection of Pope John XV according to the dagome iudex regest. When his son Bolesław succeeded him, Poland remained an ally of the Empire in the campaigns against the Polabian Lutici tribes, Emperor Otto II, father of Otto III, died at age 28 in 983 and his widow Theophanu and grandmother reigned for the child-king Otto III. In 996 Otto III was crowned as Holy Roman Emperor at Rome, by the time of the congress at Gniezno in 1000 AD, he was 20 years old. On the pilgrimage to Gniezno, Emperor Otto III was received by Bolesław at the Polish border on the Bóbr river near Małomice, Bishop Unger of Poznań escorted him to Gniezno. Whether the act implemented an elevation of Bolesław to the status of king has not been conclusively established, in any case, Bolesław had himself crowned King of Poland at Gniezno Cathedral in 1025. On the same visit, Otto III raised Gniezno to the rank of an archbishopric, three new dioceses subordinate to Gniezno were created, the Bishopric of Kraków, the Bishopric of Wrocław and the Bishopric of Kołobrzeg in Pomerania. St. Adalberts brother Radzim Gaudenty became the first archbishop of Gniezno, Otto III gave Bolesław a replica of his Holy Lance, part of the Imperial Regalia, and Bolesław presented the Emperor with a relic, an arm of St. Adalbert in exchange. However, generally, the congress is seen as having established complete ecclasiastical independence of the Polish church from Magdeburg, Bolesław subsequently accompanied Otto III on his way back to Germany. Both proceeded to the grave of Charlemagne at Aachen Cathedral, where Bolesław received Charlemagnes throne as a gift, both arranged the betrothal of Bolesławs son Mieszko II Lambert with the Emperors niece Richeza of Lotharingia. Due to Ottos early death in 1002, his policies were not fully realized. King Henry II, Ottos successor, changed the empires policies, during a meeting with Henry II in Merseburg, Bolesław was attacked by Henrys men and narrowly escaped with his life. It wasnt until Henrys death in 1024, that Bolesław was able to acquire the consent for his coronation as Polish king
20.
Germans
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Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe, who share a common German ancestry, culture and history. German is the mother tongue of a substantial majority of ethnic Germans. The English term Germans has historically referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages, before the collapse of communism and the reunification of Germany in 1990, Germans constituted the largest divided nation in Europe by far. Ever since the outbreak of the Protestant Reformation within the Holy Roman Empire, of approximately 100 million native speakers of German in the world, roughly 80 million consider themselves Germans. Thus, the number of Germans lies somewhere between 100 and more than 150 million, depending on the criteria applied. Today, people from countries with German-speaking majorities most often subscribe to their own national identities, the German term Deutsche originates from the Old High German word diutisc, referring to the Germanic language of the people. It is not clear how commonly, if at all, the word was used as an ethnonym in Old High German, used as a noun, ein diutscher in the sense of a German emerges in Middle High German, attested from the second half of the 12th century. The Old French term alemans is taken from the name of the Alamanni and it was loaned into Middle English as almains in the early 14th century. The word Dutch is attested in English from the 14th century, denoting continental West Germanic dialects, while in most Romance languages the Germans have been named from the Alamanni, the Old Norse, Finnish and Estonian names for the Germans were taken from that of the Saxons. In Slavic languages, the Germans were given the name of němьci, originally with a meaning foreigner, the English term Germans is only attested from the mid-16th century, based on the classical Latin term Germani used by Julius Caesar and later Tacitus. It gradually replaced Dutch and Almains, the latter becoming mostly obsolete by the early 18th century, the Germans are a Germanic people, who as an ethnicity emerged during the Middle Ages. Originally part of the Holy Roman Empire, around 300 independent German states emerged during its decline after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 ending the Thirty Years War and these states eventually formed into modern Germany in the 19th century. The concept of a German ethnicity is linked to Germanic tribes of antiquity in central Europe, the early Germans originated on the North German Plain as well as southern Scandinavia. By the 2nd century BC, the number of Germans was significantly increasing and they began expanding into eastern Europe, during antiquity these Germanic tribes remained separate from each other and did not have writing systems at that time. In the European Iron Age the area that is now Germany was divided into the La Tène horizon in Southern Germany and the Jastorf culture in Northern Germany. By 55 BC, the Germans had reached the Danube river and had either assimilated or otherwise driven out the Celts who had lived there, and had spread west into what is now Belgium and France. Conflict between the Germanic tribes and the forces of Rome under Julius Caesar forced major Germanic tribes to retreat to the east bank of the Rhine, in Roman-held territories with Germanic populations, the Germanic and Roman peoples intermarried, and Roman, Germanic, and Christian traditions intermingled. The adoption of Christianity would later become an influence in the development of a common German identity
21.
Archbishopric of Magdeburg
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The Archbishopric of Magdeburg was a Roman Catholic archdiocese and Prince-Archbishopric of the Holy Roman Empire centered on the city of Magdeburg on the Elbe River. All his successors were only administrators of the prince-archbishopric and Lutheran too, in political respect the Erzstift, the archiepiscopal and capitular temporalities, had gained imperial immediacy as prince-archbishopric in 1180. The prince-archbishopric maintained its statehood as a monarchy until 1680. Then Brandenburg-Prussia acquired Magdeburg prince-archbishopric, and after being secularised, transformed it into the Duchy of Magdeburg, the 1994-founded modern Diocese of Magdeburg is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic church located in the German states of Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg and Saxony. After the wars of the years 940 and 954, when the Polabian Slavs, as far as the Oder, the Magyars had come far into Germany, at the Battle of Lechfeld in 955 they were defeated and repelled. Immediately in 955 Otto the Great set to work to establish an archbishopric in Magdeburg and he wished to transfer the capital of the diocese from Halberstadt to Magdeburg, and make it an archdiocese. But this was opposed by the Archbishop of Mainz, who was the metropolitan of Halberstadt. When, in 962, Pope John XII sanctioned the establishment of an archbishopric, the estates belonging to the convents mentioned above were converted into a mensa for the new archbishopric, and the monks transferred to the Berge Convent. The archiepiscopal church made St. Maurice its patron, and in addition received new donations and its ecclesiastical province included the existing dioceses of Brandenburg and Havelberg and the newly founded dioceses of Merseburg, Zeitz, and Meißen. The new archdiocese was close to the border regions of the Holy Roman Empire and Slavic tribes. Then, on 20 April 967, the archbishopric was established at the Synod of Ravenna in the presence of the pope. The first archbishop was Adelbert, a monk of St. Maximins at Trier, afterwards missionary bishop to the Ruthenians. He was elected in the autumn of 968, received the pallium at Rome, the archdiocesan area of Magdeburg was rather small, it comprised the Slavonic districts of Serimunt, Nudizi, Neletici, Nizizi, and half of northern Thuringia, which Halberstadt resigned. The cathedral school especially gained in importance under Adalberts efficient administration, the scholastic Othrich was considered the most learned man of his times. Many eminent men were educated at Magdeburg, Othrich was chosen archbishop after Adalberts death. Gisiler of Merseburg by bribery and fraud obtained possession of the See of Magdeburg, and also succeeded temporarily in grasping the Bishopric of Merseburg. Among successors worthy of mention are the zealous Gero, Werner, who was killed in battle with Henry IV, St. Norbert, prominent in the 12th century, Archbishop Wichmann was more important as a sovereign and prince of the Holy Roman Empire than as a bishop. Albrecht II quarrelled with Otto II, Margrave of Brandenburg, because he had pronounced the ban against the latter
22.
Diocese
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The word diocese is derived from the Greek term διοίκησις meaning administration. When now used in a sense, it refers to a territorial unit of administration. This structure of governance is known as episcopal polity. The word diocesan means relating or pertaining to a diocese and it can also be used as a noun meaning the bishop who has the principal supervision of a diocese. An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese, an archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or have had importance due to size or historical significance. The archbishop may have authority over any other suffragan bishops. In the Latter Day Saint movement, the bishopric is used to describe the bishop himself. Especially in the Middle Ages, some bishops held political as well as religious authority within their dioceses, in the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated in a larger unit, the diocese. With the adoption of Christianity as the Empires official religion in the 4th century, a formal church hierarchy was set up, parallel to the civil administration, whose areas of responsibility often coincided. With the collapse of the Western Empire in the 5th century, a similar, though less pronounced, development occurred in the East, where the Roman administrative apparatus was largely retained by the Byzantine Empire. In modern times, many dioceses, though later subdivided, have preserved the boundaries of a long-vanished Roman administrative division, modern usage of diocese tends to refer to the sphere of a bishops jurisdiction. As of January 2015, in the Catholic Church there are 2,851 regular dioceses,1 papal see,641 archdioceses and 2,209 dioceses in the world, in the Eastern rites in communion with the Pope, the equivalent unit is called an eparchy. Eastern Orthodoxy calls dioceses metropoleis in the Greek tradition or eparchies in the Slavic tradition, after the Reformation, the Church of England retained the existing diocesan structure which remains throughout the Anglican Communion. The one change is that the areas administered under the Archbishop of Canterbury and Archbishop of York are properly referred to as provinces and this usage is relatively common in the Anglican Communion. Certain Lutheran denominations such as the Church of Sweden do have individual dioceses similar to Roman Catholics and these dioceses and archdioceses are under the government of a bishop. Other Lutheran bodies and synods that have dioceses and bishops include the Church of Denmark, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, the Evangelical Church in Germany, rather, it is divided into a middle judicatory. The Lutheran Church-International, based in Springfield, Illinois, presently uses a traditional diocesan structure and its current president is Archbishop Robert W. Hotes. The Church of God in Christ has dioceses throughout the United States, in the COGIC, each state is divided up into at least three dioceses that are all led by a bishop, but some states as many as seven dioceses
23.
Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor
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Otto III was Holy Roman Emperor from 996 until his early death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the son of the Emperor Otto II. Otto III was crowned as King of Germany in 983 at the age of three, shortly after his fathers death in southern Italy while campaigning against the Byzantine Empire, though the nominal ruler of Germany, Otto IIIs minor status ensured his various regents held power over the Empire. His cousin Henry II, Duke of Bavaria, initially claimed regency over the young king, Otto III was then still a child, so his grandmother, the Dowager Empress Adelaide of Italy, served as regent until 994. In 996, Otto III marched to Italy to claim the titles King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor, Otto III also sought to reestablish Imperial control over the city of Rome, which had revolted under the leadership of Crescentius II, and through it the papacy. Crowned as Emperor, Otto III put down the Roman rebellion and installed his cousin as Pope Gregory V, after the Emperor had pardoned him and left the city, Crescentius II again rebelled, deposing Gregory V and installing John XVI as Pope. Otto III returned to the city in 998, reinstalled Gregory V, when Gregory V died in 999, Otto III installed Sylvester II as the new Pope. Otto IIIs actions throughout his life further strengthened imperial control over the Catholic Church, from the beginning of his reign, Otto III faced opposition from the Slavs along the eastern frontier. Following the death of his father in 983, the Slavs rebelled against imperial control, Otto III would fight to regain the Empires lost territories throughout his reign with only limited success. While in the east, Otto III strengthened the Empires relations with Poland, Bohemia, returning to Rome in 1001, Otto III faced a rebellion by the Roman aristocracy, which forced him to flee the city. While marching to reclaim the city in 1002, however, Otto III suffered a sudden fever, with no clear heir to succeed him, his early death threw the Empire into political crisis. Otto III was born in June or July 980 somewhere between Aachen and Nijmegen, the only son of Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu, Otto III was the youngest of the couples four children. Immediately prior to Otto IIIs birth, his father had completed military campaigns in France against King Lothar, on 14 July 982, Otto IIs army suffered a crushing defeat against the Muslim Emirate of Sicily at the Battle of Stilo. Otto II had been campaigning in southern Italy with hopes of annexing the whole of Italy into the Holy Roman Empire, Otto II himself escaped the battle unharmed but many important imperial officials were among the battles casualties. This was the first time a German ruler had been elected on Italian soil, after the assembly was concluded, Otto III and his mother Theophanu travelled across the Alps in order for Otto to be crowned at Aix, the traditional location of the coronation of the German kings. Otto II stayed behind to address military action against the Muslims, while still in central Italy, however, Otto II suddenly died on 7 November 983, and was buried in St. Peters Basilica in Rome. Otto III was crowned as king on Christmas Day 983, three weeks after his fathers death, by Willigis, the Archbishop of Mainz, and by John, news of Otto IIs death first reached Germany shortly after his sons coronation. The unresolved problems in southern Italy and the Slavic uprising on the Empires eastern border made the Empires political situation extremely unstable, with a minor on the throne, the Empire was thrown into confusion and Otto IIIs mother Theophanu assumed the role of regent for her young son
24.
Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor
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Henry II, also known as Saint Henry, Obl. S. B. was Holy Roman Emperor from 1014 until his death in 1024 and the last member of the Ottonian dynasty of Emperors as he had no children. The son of Henry II, Duke of Bavaria and his wife Gisela of Burgundy, Emperor Henry II was a great-grandson of German King Henry I, since his father had rebelled against two previous emperors, the younger Henry was often in exile. This led him to turn to the Church at an age, first finding refuge with the Bishop of Freising. He succeeded his father as Duke of Bavaria in 995 as Henry IV, as Duke, he attempted to join his second-cousin, Holy Roman Emperor Otto III, in suppressing a revolt against imperial rule in Italy in 1002. Before Henry II could arrive, however, Otto III died of fever, after defeating several other claimants to the throne, Henry II was crowned as King of Germany on July 9,1002 and as King of Italy on 15 May 1004. Henry II in 1004 aided Jaromír, Duke of Bohemia against the Poles, unlike his predecessor, who had focused upon imperial attention in Italy, Henry spent most of his reign concerned with imperial territory north of the Alps. His main focus was on a series of wars against the Polish Duke Bolesław I, on 14 February 1014, Pope Benedict VIII crowned Henry as Holy Roman Emperor in Rome. The rule of Henry II is seen as a period of centralized authority throughout the Empire and he consolidated his power by cultivating personal and political ties with the Catholic Church. He greatly expanded the Ottonian dynastys custom of employing clergy as counter-weights against secular nobles, through donations to the Church and the establishment of new dioceses, Henry strengthened imperial rule across the Empire and increased control over ecclesiastical affairs. He stressed service to the Church and promoted monastic reform, for his personal holiness and efforts to support the Church, Pope Bl. Eugene III canonized him in 1146, making Henry II the only German monarch to be a saint, Henry II married Cunigunde of Luxembourg, who later became his queen and empress. As the union produced no children, after Henrys death the German nobles elected Conrad II, Conrad was the first of the Salian dynasty of Emperors. Henry was born in May 973, the son of Duke Henry II, Duke of Bavaria, through his father, he was the grandson of Henry I, Duke of Bavaria, and the great-grandson of King Henry I of Germany. By his mother, he was the grandson of King Conrad I of Burgundy, the elder Henry came into conflict with his cousin Holy Roman Emperor Otto II, in 974. After an initial failed revolt, Otto II imprisoned the elder Henry in Ingelheim, after escaping, Henry again revolted against Otto II. When this second failed, Otto II deposed Henry as Duke of Bavaria. As a consequence of his revolt, the Emperor stripped the Duchy of Bavaria of its southeastern territories bordering Italy, during his fathers exile, the younger Henry lived in Hildesheim. As a child he was educated in the Christian faith by Saint Wolfgang, bishop of Regensburg, the Emperor himself ensured the younger Henry received an ecclesiastical education in order that by becoming a religious official he would be prevented from participating in the Imperial government
25.
Peace of Bautzen
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After both emperor Otto III and Eckards death in 1002, Bolesław took over Eckards domain of Meissen, as well as the march of Lusatia. Once Henry secured his position within Germany, an agreement was reached which left Bolesław with Lusatia, fighting soon resumed however, after an unsuccessful assassination attempt against Bolesław, which he believed had been ordered by Henry occurred soon after the peace was concluded. In the ensuing struggle Bolesław allied himself with the Holy Roman Empires noble opposition to Henry, while the emperor sought support among the Lutici, a Slavic pagan Polabian tribe. An intermediate peace was concluded in Merseburg in 1013 which preserved the status quo, with Bolesław holding on to Moravia and Slovakia. Bolesław however agreed to support the Emperors Italian campaign, open warfare continued when Bolesław I did not comply with this condition, and instead supported Henry IIs Italian adversaries. Henry II was however unable to defeat Bolesław I, and agreed on a peace in Bautzen which left Duke of Poland in charge of the Lusatian march, the two rulers also strengthened the dynastic bonds between them through Bolesławs marriage with Oda, first daughter of Margrave Eckard. After the death of emperor Otto III, Bavarian duke Henry IV, meanwhile, Henry IV had consolidated his rule against rival candidates, and, as Henry II, was crowned king of Germany in June. When Bolesław I left Merseburg, he was ambushed, but due to the aid of Henry of Schweinfurt and Saxon duke Bernard I, Henry II did neither protect him, nor punish the assailants. In 1003, Bolesław I conquered the Duchy of Bohemia, imprisoned its Přemyslid duke, Boleslaus III, Henry II did not accept this, and was determined to contest the Polish claims to the Bohemian duchy. Bolesław I had further allied with the noble German opposition to Henry II and this alliance included Henry of Schweinfurt, his cousin Ernst as well as Henry IIs brother Brun, bishop of Augsburg, all of which fled to Bolesławs court when their rebellion against Henry II failed. While Bolesław I could draw upon the support of many secular Saxon nobles, also in 1003, Henry II allied with the pagan Lutici against Bolesław I, and in 1004 launched a campaign against the latter. A few months later, together with Veleti and Czech allies and he crossed the Oder near Krosno and advanced into Greater Poland. Bolesław however avoided a battle, harried the emperors troops with guerrilla tactics and caused great losses. Despite the peace of Poznan, warfare between Bolesław I and Henry II continued between 1007 and 1013, in 1007, Bolesław I again took control of Lusatia with the fortress of Bautzen. A campaign led by Henry II in 1010 was unsuccessful, during this campaign, which started in Belgern, Henry II was struck by an illness at Jarina castle and returned with some of his bishops, while the remaining armies devastated the surrounding area. A Saxon campaign in 1012 was also unsuccessful, Henry II had mobilized the Saxon nobility to mount campaigns in his name, since he needed a peace agreement before 1013, when his coronation in Rome was scheduled. The treaty was confirmed by the marriage of Richeza, a niece of Otto III, to Mieszko II, during the ceremony Bolesław I carried the sword for Henry II. Bolesław I however did not aid Henry II in his Italian campaign, instead, he supported Crescentian antipope Gregory VI and intrigued against Henry II in Italy, who had denied Gregory his support in Pöhlde
26.
Kiev
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Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population in July 2015 was 2,887,974, Kiev is an important industrial, scientific, educational, and cultural centre of Eastern Europe. It is home to many industries, higher education institutions. The city has an infrastructure and highly developed system of public transport. The citys name is said to derive from the name of Kyi, during its history, Kiev, one of the oldest cities in Eastern Europe, passed through several stages of great prominence and relative obscurity. The city probably existed as a centre as early as the 5th century. A Slavic settlement on the trade route between Scandinavia and Constantinople, Kiev was a tributary of the Khazars, until seized by the Varangians in the mid-9th century. Under Varangian rule, the city became a capital of the Kievan Rus, completely destroyed during the Mongol invasion in 1240, the city lost most of its influence for the centuries to come. It was a capital of marginal importance in the outskirts of the territories controlled by its powerful neighbours, first the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, followed by Poland. The city prospered again during the Russian Empires Industrial Revolution in the late 19th century, in 1917, after the Ukrainian National Republic declared independence from the Russian Empire, Kiev became its capital. From 1919 Kiev was an important center of the Armed Forces of South Russia and was controlled by the White Army. From 1921 onwards Kiev was a city of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, which was proclaimed by the Red Army, during World War II, the city again suffered significant damage, but quickly recovered in the post-war years, remaining the third largest city of the Soviet Union. During the countrys transformation to an economy and electoral democracy. Kievs armament-dependent industrial output fell after the Soviet collapse, adversely affecting science, Kiev emerged as the most pro-Western region of Ukraine where parties advocating tighter integration with the European Union dominate during elections. As a prominent city with a history, its English name was subject to gradual evolution. The early English spelling was derived from Old East Slavic form Kyjev, the name is associated with that of Kyi, the legendary eponymous founder of the city. Early English sources use various names, including Kiou, Kiow, Kiew, on one of the oldest English maps of the region, Russiae, Moscoviae et Tartariae published by Ortelius the name of the city is spelled Kiou. On the 1650 map by Guillaume de Beauplan, the name of the city is Kiiow, in the book Travels, by Joseph Marshall, the city is referred to as Kiovia
27.
Sviatopolk I of Kiev
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Sviatopolk I Vladimirovich was the Kniaz of Turov and Velikii Kniaz of Kiev whose paternity and guilt in the murder of brothers are disputed. Sviatopolks mother was a Greek nun captured by Sviatoslav I in Bulgaria and married to his lawful heir Yaropolk I, in 980, Yaropolks brother Vladimir had him murdered, and the new sovereign raped his predecessors wife, who soon gave birth to a child. Thus, Sviatopolk was probably the eldest of Vladimirs sons, although the issue of his parentage has been questioned. When Sviatopolk was eight years old, Vladimir put him in charge of Turov, the young princess came to Turov together with Reinbern, the Bishop of Kołobrzeg. Dissatisfied with his father and encouraged by his own wife and Reinbern, Sviatopolk began preparations for war against Vladimir, Vladimir soon discovered Sviatopolks intentions, however, and threw him, his wife and Reinbern in prison. Not long before Vladimirs death, Sviatopolk was freed from prison, when Vladimir died in 1015, Sviatopolks retinue concealed his fathers death from him to prevent him from claiming the Kievan throne. When Sviatopolk learned his fathers demise, he seized power in Kiev almost immediately, the citizens of Kiev did not show much sympathy for Sviatopolk and, therefore, he decided to distribute presents in order to win them over. Then, he decided to rid himself of his brothers, Boris, Gleb, Boris presented most danger to him because he had been in charge of Vladimirs druzhina and army, and enjoyed the support of the citizens. He sent the boyars of Vyshgorod to execute his brother, Boris and his manservant were stabbed to death when sleeping in a tent. The prince was discovered still breathing when his body was being transported in a bag to Kiev, Sviatopolks cold-blooded reprisal earned him the nickname of the Accursed. The battle took place in 1016 not far from Lubech, near Dnieper river, Sviatopolk was defeated and fled to Poland. In 1018, he returned to Rus, defeated Yaroslav with the help from his father-in-law, Bolesław I Chrobry of Poland and his army remained in Rus for several months, but later left for Poland. On his way to Poland, Boleslaus seized some of the Cherven towns, meanwhile, the posadnik Konstantin Dobrynich and other citizens of Novgorod persuaded Yaroslav to go to war against Kiev once again. Sviatopolk was defeated and fled to the steppes, soon he returned with the Pecheneg army and attacked Yaroslav on the Alta River, but was once again defeated and fled to Poland, eventually dying on his way there. Sviatopolks death could have been procured by a descendant of Valuk Conqueror who in 1018 helped him, during the last century, the traditional account of Svyatopolks career has been somewhat modified. It has been argued that it was Boris who succeeded Vladimir in Kiev, one Norse saga called Eymunds saga, with remarkable details, puts on Yaroslav the blame of his brother Burizlafs murder. This Burizlaf, however, may be Svyatopolk as well as Boris, therefore, it has been suggested that Svyatopolk ascended the throne after Boriss assassination and tried to fence off Yaroslavs attacks as well as to punish his agents guilty of Boriss murder. Unfortunately it can be interpreted ambiguously as far as the question of Svyatopolks guilt is concerned, one place in his chronicle can be understood as telling that Svyatopolk escaped from Kiev to Poland immediately after his fathers death
28.
Golden Gate, Kiev
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The Golden Gates of Kiev was the main gate in the 11th century fortifications of Kiev, the capital of Kievan Rus. It was named in imitation of the Golden Gate of Constantinople, the structure was dismantled in the Middle Ages, leaving few vestiges of its existence. It was completely rebuilt by the Soviet authorities in 1982, though no images of the gates have survived. The decision has been controversial, for there were many competing reconstructions of what the original gate might have looked like. The rebuilt structure on the corner of Volodymyr street and Yaroslaviv Val Street contains a branch of the National Sanctuary Sophia of Kyiv museum, the name Zoloti Vorota is also used for a nearby theatre and a station of the Kiev Metro. Modern history accepts this gateway as one of three constructed by Yaroslav the Wise, the golden gates were built in 1017-1024 at about the same time the Saint Sophia Cathedral was erected. Despite the belief of a construction such as the painting by Jan Matejko of hitting the Golden Gate during the iev succession crisis in 1018) it is now regarded a legend. Originally named simply the Southern Gate, it was one of the three entrances to the walled city, along with the Lyadski and Zhydivski Gates. The latter two have not survived, the stone fortifications stretched for only 3.5 km. The fortification of the Upper City stretched from the Southern Gates down to what is now Independence Square, from there the moat followed what is now Kostyol Street, skirting St. Michaels Monastery and continuing along todays Zhytomyr Street toward the Jewish Gates. From there the fortification stretched what is now Yaroslaviv Val Street back to the Southern Gate, later the Southern Gate became known as the Great Gate of Kiev. After the Blahovist Church was built next to the gates, its golden domes became a prominent landmark visible from outside the city. Since then, the gateway has been referred to as the Golden Gate of Kiev, the gates passageway was about 40 feet high and 20 feet wide. For almost half a millennium, it served as the citys Triumphal Arch and it was reputedly modeled on the Golden Gate of Constantinople. Later a similar name was given to the gates of Vladimir city where one of the Monomakhs descendants, Andrei I Bogolyubsky, established his own state, in 1240 it was partially destroyed by Batu Khans Golden Horde. It remained as a gate to the city through the eighteenth century, in 1832 Metropolitan Eugenius had the ruins excavated and an initial survey for their conservation was undertaken. Further works in the 1970s added an adjacent pavilion, housing a museum of the gate, in the museum visitors can learn about the history of construction of the Golden gate as well as ancient Kiev. In 1982, the gate was reconstructed for the 1500th anniversary of Kiev
29.
Szczerbiec
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Szczerbiec is the coronation sword that was used in crowning ceremonies of most Polish monarchs from 1320 to 1764. It is currently on display in the vault of the Royal Wawel Castle in Kraków as the only preserved piece of the medieval Polish Crown Jewels. However, the Golden Gate was only constructed in 1037 and the sword is actually dated to the late 12th or 13th century and it was first used as a coronation sword by Władysław I the Elbow-high in 1320. Looted by Prussian troops in 1795, it changed several times during the 19th century until it was purchased in 1884 for the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. The Soviet Union returned it to Poland in 1928, during World War II, Szczerbiec was evacuated to Canada and did not return to Kraków until 1959. In the 20th century, an image of the sword was adopted as a symbol by Polish nationalist, Szczerbiec is a 98 cm-long ceremonial sword bearing rich Gothic ornamentation, dated to the mid-13th century. The hilt consists of a round pommel, a flat grip, the grip is 10.1 cm long,1.2 cm thick, and from 2 to 3 cm wide. It is rectangular in cross-section and its hard edges make it difficult to handle and impractical for fighting, the pommel is 4.5 cm in diameter and 2.6 cm thick, with a chamfered outer ring that is 1.3 cm wide. The crossguard forms an arch that is 1.8 cm wide in the middle and it is 1 cm thick near the grip and measures 20 cm in length along its upper edge. The pommel and the crossguard are made of silver, the core of the grip is a brass chest encasing the tang of the blade. It was probably made in the 19th century to replace an original organic core, at the same time the tang was riveted to the top of the pommel. The head of the rivet, which is 0.5 cm in diameter, all parts of the hilt are covered with golden plates, which are engraved with sharp or rounded styli and decorated with niello, or black metallic inlay that contrasts against the golden background. Each plate is 1 mm thick and made of about 18-carat gold, the niello designs include inscriptions written in late Romanesque majuscule, Christian symbols, and floral patterns. The floral ornaments are in negative, that is, golden against a black, on the obverse side of the hilt, the pommel bears a large stylized letter T on top of a letter C or G between the Greek letters Α and ω surmounted with little crosses. Below the letter T, there is another cross placed within a cloud or flower with twelve petals, on the chamfered edge around this design runs a circular Latin inscription in two rings which reads, Rec figura talet ad amorem regum / et principum iras iudicum. The grip bears the symbols of two of the Four Evangelists, the lion of Saint Mark and the ox of Saint Luke, the crossguard bears the following Latin inscription, Quicumque hec / nomina Deii secum tu/lerit nullum periculum / ei omnino nocebit. The reverse side of the pommel is decorated with a bush surrounded by a wreath of vine leaves. On the reverse of the grip, there are the eagle of Saint John and the angel of Saint Matthew, the crossguard bears, above another pattern of vine leaves, an inscription in corrupted Hebrew in Latin script, Con citomon Eeve Sedalai Ebrebel
30.
Strategist
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A strategist is a person with responsibility for the formulation and implementation of a strategy. Strategy generally involves setting goals, determining actions to achieve the goals, a strategy describes how the ends will be achieved by the means. The senior leadership of an organization is tasked with determining strategy. Strategy can be intended or can emerge as a pattern of activity as the organization adapts to its environment or competes and it involves activities such as strategic planning and strategic thinking. The strategy role exists in a variety of organizations and fields of study, in large corporations, strategic planners or corporate financial planning and analysis personnel are involved in the formulation and implementation of the organizations strategy. The strategy is typically set by business leaders such as the Chief Executive Officer, an economic strategist is a person who can create a sustainable commercial advantage by applying innovative and quantitative ideas and systems at a sell side financial institution. A sport strategist is a professional that performs scouting and analysis of the involved in an upcoming competitive match. Sports strategists typically analyze film footage, organize video libraries, and recommend attacks, working closely with investment managers, a principal investment strategist contributes revenue by providing principal investment analytics and alternative product structuring. A sales strategist develops innovative trade ideas and assists in the marketing of those trades to buy side clients, a banking strategist partners with investment bankers and capital market experts on corporate finance and capital structure analyses to identify and execute banking transactions. A trading strategist contributes revenue to the business in which his team is embedded by developing and delivering innovative trade ideas, models, within the financial services industry, strategists are known as “strats”. A military strategist develops strategies in the field of warfare with the objective of outmaneuvering their opponent, strategists are known to have an INTJ personality trait, based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. The MBTI was derived from Psychiatrist Carl Jung theory of psychological types enabling us to have an understanding of people’s personality traits. It is commonly found that strategists are more prone to possess a combination of 4 specific personality traits, however, this combination of personality traits is known to be very rare among people, making strategists to be very sought after especially by major firms. Dr. Vladimir Kvint defined strategist as a wise, disciplined, and optimistic professional with a strategic mindset, a vision of the future, and intuition. It is possible at times to find that the vision or ideas of a strategist may not be align with conventional ideas which can make it difficult for others to accept or envision. People who possess a strategist mindset are generally capable of doing well in any possible field due to the traits that they own. Strategists tend to follow a path that challenges them mentally in terms of development. It is said that, Sun-Tzu managed to convince the King of that era that he knew how to train soldiers, furthermore, Sun Tzu’s work is comparably shorter and uses less jargon as compared to the works of other strategist such as Clausewitz
31.
Slovakia
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Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Slovakias territory spans about 49,000 square kilometres and is mostly mountainous. The population is over 5 million and comprises mostly ethnic Slovaks, the capital and largest city is Bratislava. The Slavs arrived in the territory of present-day Slovakia in the 5th and 6th centuries, in the 7th century, they played a significant role in the creation of Samos Empire and in the 9th century established the Principality of Nitra. In the 10th century, the territory was integrated into the Kingdom of Hungary, which became part of the Habsburg Empire. After World War I and the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a separate Slovak Republic existed in World War II as a client state of Nazi Germany. In 1945, Czechoslovakia was reëstablished under Communist rule as a Soviet satellite, in 1989 the Velvet Revolution ended authoritarian Communist rule in Czechoslovakia. Slovakia became an independent state on 1 January 1993 after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The country maintains a combination of economy with universal health care. The country joined the European Union in 2004 and the Eurozone on 1 January 2009, Slovakia is also a member of the Schengen Area, NATO, the United Nations, the OECD, the WTO, CERN, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Visegrád Group. The Slovak economy is one of the fastest growing economies in Europe and its legal tender, the Euro, is the worlds 2nd most traded currency. Although regional income inequality is high, 90% of citizens own their homes, in 2016, Slovak citizens had visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 165 countries and territories, ranking the Slovak passport 11th in the world. Slovakia is the world’s biggest per-capita car producer with a total of 1,040,000 cars manufactured in the country in 2016 alone, the car industry represents 43 percent of Slovakia’s industrial output, and a quarter of its exports. Radiocarbon datingputs the oldest surviving archaeological artefacts from Slovakia – found near Nové Mesto nad Váhom – at 270,000 BC and these ancient tools, made by the Clactonian technique, bear witness to the ancient habitation of Slovakia. Other stone tools from the Middle Paleolithic era come from the Prévôt cave near Bojnice, the most important discovery from that era is a Neanderthal cranium, discovered near Gánovce, a village in northern Slovakia. The most well-known finds include the oldest female statue made of mammoth-bone, the statue was found in the 1940s in Moravany nad Váhom near Piešťany. Numerous necklaces made of shells from Cypraca thermophile gastropods of the Tertiary period have come from the sites of Zákovská, Podkovice, Hubina and these findings provide the most ancient evidence of commercial exchanges carried out between the Mediterranean and Central Europe. The Bronze Age in the territory of modern-day Slovakia went through three stages of development, stretching from 2000 to 800 BC
32.
Moravia
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Moravia is a historical country in the Czech Republic and one of the historical Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. Moravia has an area of over 22,348.87 km2 and about 3 million inhabitants, the statistics from 1921 states, that the whole area of Moravia including the enclaves in Silesia covers 22,623.41 km2. The people are historically named Moravians, a subgroup of Czechs, the land takes its name from the Morava river, which rises in the northern tip of the region and flows southward to the opposite end, being its major stream. Moravias largest city and historical capital is Brno, however before being sacked by the Swedish army during the Thirty Years War, though officially abolished by an administrative reform in 1949, Moravia is still commonly acknowledged as a specific land in the Czech Republic. Moravian people are aware of their Moravian identity and there is some rivalry between them and the Czechs from Bohemia. Moravia occupies most of the part of the Czech Republic. Moravian territory is naturally strongly determined, in fact, as the Morava river basin, with effect of mountains in the west and partly in the east. Moravia occupies a position in Central Europe. All the highlands in the west and east of part of Europe run west-east. Moravia borders Bohemia in the west, Lower Austria in the south, Slovakia in the southeast, Poland very shortly in the north and its natural boundary is formed by the Sudetes mountains in the north, the Carpathians in the east and the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands in the west. The Thaya river meanders along the border with Austria and the tripoint of Moravia, Austria and Slovakia is at the confluence of the Thaya, the northeast border with Silesia runs partly along the Moravice, Oder and Ostravice rivers. Between 1782–1850, Moravia also included a portion of the former province of Silesia – the Austrian Silesia. Geologically, Moravia covers an area between the Bohemian Massif and the Carpathians, and between the Danube basin and the North European Plain. Its core geomorphological features are three wide vales, namely the Dyje-Svratka Vale, the Upper Morava Vale and the Lower Morava Vale, the former two form the westernmost part of the Subcarpathia, the latter one is the northernmost part of the Vienna Basin. The vales surround the low range of Central Moravian Carpathians, the highest mountains of Moravia are situated on its northern border in Hrubý Jeseník, the highest peak is Praděd. Second highest are the Moravian-Silesian Beskids at the very east, with Smrk, the White Carpathians along the southeastern border rise up to 970 m at Velká Javořina. The spacious, but moderate Bohemian-Moravian Highlands on the west reach 837 m at Devět skal. The fluvial system of Moravia is very cohesive, as the border is similar to the watershed of the Morava river
33.
Red Ruthenia
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Red Ruthenia, Red Rus is a historic term used since the Middle Ages for southeastern Poland and Western Ukraine. First mentioned in a 1321 Polish chronicle, Red Ruthenia was the portion of Rus incorporated into Poland by Casimir the Great during the 14th century. From the 14th century, after the disintegration of Rus, Red Ruthenia was contested by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Kingdom of Poland, the Kingdom of Hungary and the Kingdom of Ruthenia. After the Galicia–Volhynia Wars, for about 400 years most of Red Ruthenia became part of Poland as the Ruthenian Voivodeship, there are at least three theories concerning the origins of the name Red Ruthenia. A popular belief that it was derived from the associations of particular colours with cardinal points of the compass. This originated with mythology of the pre-Christian god Svetovid, who had four faces, his face was white, the southern black, eastern green. According to a theory, many place names in Red Ruthenia start in cherv-. These include the so-called Cherven Cities, the first known inhabitants of Red Ruthenia were Lendians, with Boykos and Lemkos on its perimeters. Later Walddeutsche, Jews, Armenians and Poles also made up part of the population, according to Marcin Bielski, although Bolesław I Chrobry settled Germans in the region to defend the borders against Hungary and Kievan Rus the settlers became farmers. Maciej Stryjkowski described German peasants near Rzeszów, Przemyśl, Sanok, Casimir the Great settled German citizens on the borders of Lesser Poland and Red Ruthenia to join the acquired territory with the rest of his kingdom. In determining the population of late medieval Poland, colonisation and Polish migration to Red Ruthenia, Spiš, during the second half of the 14th century, the Vlachs arrived from the southeastern Carpathians and quickly overspread southern Red Ruthenia. Although during the 15th century the Ruthenians gained a foothold, it was not until the 16th century that the Wallachian population in the Bieszczady Mountains, from the 14th to the 16th centuries Red Ruthenia underwent rapid urbanization, resulting in over 200 new towns built on the German model. During the Middle Ages, the region was part of the Ruthenian Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia and it came under Polish control in 1340, when Casimir the Great acquired it. During his reign from 1333 to 1370, Casimir the Great founded several cities, the name Ruś Czerwona has been used for the territory extending to the Dniester, centring on Przemyśl. Since the reign of Władysław Jagiełło the Przemyśl Voivodeship was called the Ruthenian Voivodeship, the voivodeship consisted of five regions, Lwów, Sanok, Halicz, Przemyśl, and Chełm. The town of Halych gave its name to Galicia, in October 1372, Władysław Opolczyk was deposed as count palatine. Although he retained most of his castles and goods in Hungary, as compensation, Opolczyk was made governor of Hungarian Galicia. In this new position, he contributed to the development of the territories entrusted to him
34.
Meissen
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Meissen is a town of approximately 30,000 about 25 km northwest of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, the Albrechtsburg castle, the Gothic Meissen Cathedral, the Große Kreisstadt is the capital of the Meissen district. German, Meißen, Meissen French, Misnie Latin, Misnia, Misena, Misnensium Polish, Miśnia Czech, Míšeň Upper Sorbian, Mišno Lower Sorbian, in 968, the Diocese of Meissen was founded, and Meissen became the episcopal see of a bishop. The Margraviate of Meissen was founded in 968 as well, with the city as the capital of the Margraves of Meissen. A market town by 1000, Meissen passed to the Duchy of Poland in 1002 under Boleslaw I the Brave, afterwards into hands of Henry II a few months later, in 1015 Meissen was besieged by the Poles led by future King Mieszko II. The city was at the forefront of the Ostsiedlung, or intensive German settlement of the rural Slavic lands east of the Elbe, the construction of Meissen Cathedral was begun in 1260 on the same hill as the Albrechtsburg castle. The resulting lack of space led to the cathedral being one of the smallest cathedrals in Europe, the church is also known as being one of the purest examples of Gothic architecture. In 1423 Meissen became capital of the Electorate of Saxony, in 1464 the capital was moved to Dresden. In 1759 the Austrians defeated the Prussians at the Battle of Meissen, during World War II, a subcamp of Flossenbürg concentration camp was located in Meissen. Meissen is famous for the manufacture of porcelain, based on local deposits of china clay. Meissen porcelain was the first high-quality porcelain to be produced outside of the Orient, the first European porcelain was manufactured in Meissen in 1710, when by decree of King Augustus II the Strong the Royal-Polish and Electoral-Saxon Porcelain Factory was opened in the Albrechtsburg. In 1861, it was moved to the Triebisch river valley of Meissen, along with porcelain, other ceramics are also manufactured. The Albrechtsburg, the residence of the House of Wettin, is regarded as being the first castle to be used as a royal residence in the German-speaking world. Built between 1472 and 1525, it is an example of late Gothic style. It was redecorated in the 19th century with a range of murals depicting Saxon history, today the castle is a museum. Nearby is the 13th-century Gothic Meissen Cathedral, whose chapel is one of the most famous places of the Wettin family. The hill on which the castle and the cathedral are built offers a view over the roofs of the old town, meissens historical district is located mostly around the market at the foot of the castle hill. It contains many buildings of Renaissance architecture, also imposing is the view from the 57 metre high tower of the Frauenkirche, situated in the old market-place
35.
Lusatia
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Lusatia is a region in Central Europe. The region is the home of the group of Lusatian Sorbs. Historically, Lusatia belonged to different countries. Being part of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown for three hundred years, alongside them it passed to the Habsburg Monarchy and from it to the Electorate of Saxony, the greater part passed to the Kingdom of Prussia in 1815 and the whole region merged into Germany in 1871. In the Polish part today Polish is spoken, and in the German part German, Upper-, the biggest Lusatian town is Cottbus. The name derives from the Sorbian word łužicy meaning swamps or water-hole, Lusatia is the Latinised form which spread in the English and Romance languages area. Lusatia comprises two both scenically and historically different parts, a hilly southern section and a lower region. Neighbouring regions were Silesia in the east, Bohemia in the south, the Margraviate of Meissen and the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg in the west as well as the Margraviate of Brandenburg in the north. Upper Lusatia is today part of the German state of Saxony, except for a part east of the Neisse River around Lubań. Among those villages are Niedercunnersdorf, Obercunnersdorf, Wehrsdorf, Jonsdorf, Sohland an der Spree with Taubenheim, Oppach, most of the area belonging to the German state of Brandenburg today is called Lower Lusatia and is characterised by forests and meadows. In the course of much of the 19th and the entire 20th century, it was shaped by the lignite industry, important towns include Cottbus, Eisenhüttenstadt, Lübben, Lübbenau, Spremberg, Finsterwalde, Senftenberg, and Żary, which is now considered the capital of Polish Lusatia. Between Upper and Lower Lusatia is a called the Grenzwall, literally meaning border dyke. In the Middle Ages this area had forests, so it represented a major obstacle to civilian. Some of the villages were damaged or destroyed by the open-pit lignite mining industry during the DDR era. The Lusatian Lake District will become Europes largest artificial lake district, some of the biggest lakes are Lake Senftenberg and Bluno Southern Lake. The Upper Lusatian Heath and Pond Landscape is the region richest in ponds in Germany, as Lusatia is not, and never has been, a single administrative unit, Upper and Lower Lusatia have different, but in some aspects similar, histories. The city of Cottbus is the largest in the region, and though it is recognized as the capital of Lower Lusatia. Historically, the centres of Lower Lusatia were at Luckau and Lübben
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Bohemia
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Bohemia is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech lands in the present-day Czech Republic. Bohemia was a duchy of Great Moravia, later an independent principality, a kingdom in the Holy Roman Empire, and subsequently a part of the Habsburg Monarchy, after World War I and the establishment of an independent Czechoslovak state, Bohemia became a part of Czechoslovakia. Between 1938 and 1945, border regions with sizeable German-speaking minorities of all three Czech lands were joined to Nazi Germany as the Sudetenland, in 1990, the name was changed to the Czech Republic, which become a separate state in 1993 with the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. Until 1948, Bohemia was a unit of Czechoslovakia as one of its lands. Bohemia was bordered in the south by Upper and Lower Austria, in the west by Bavaria and in the north by Saxony and Lusatia, in the northeast by Silesia, and in the east by Moravia. In the 2nd century BC, the Romans were competing for dominance in northern Italy, the Romans defeated the Boii at the Battle of Placentia and the Battle of Mutina. After this, many of the Boii retreated north across the Alps, much later Roman authors refer to the area they had once occupied as Boiohaemum. The earliest mention was by Tacitus Germania 28, and later mentions of the name are in Strabo. The name appears to include the tribal name Boi- plus the Germanic element *haimaz home and this Boiohaemum was apparently isolated to the area where King Marobods kingdom was centred, within the Hercynian forest. The Czech name Čechy is derived from the name of the Slavic ethnic group, the Czechs, Bohemia, like neighbouring Bavaria, is named after the Boii, who were a large Celtic nation known to the Romans for their migrations and settlement in northern Italy and other places. Another part of the nation moved west with the Helvetii into southern France, to the south, over the Danube, the Romans extended their empire, and to the southeast in Hungaria, were Sarmatian peoples. In the area of modern Bohemia the Marcomanni and other Suebic groups were led by their king Marobodus and he took advantage of the natural defenses provided by its mountains and forests. In late classical times and the early Middle Ages, two new Suebic groupings appeared to the west of Bohemia in southern Germany, the Alemanni, many Suebic tribes from the Bohemian region took part in such movements westwards, even settling as far away as Spain and Portugal. With them were also tribes who had pushed from the east, such as the Vandals, other groups pushed southwards towards Pannonia. These are precursors of todays Czechs, though the amount of Slavic immigration is a subject of debate. The Slavic influx was divided into two or three waves, the first wave came from the southeast and east, when the Germanic Lombards left Bohemia. Soon after, from the 630s to 660s, the territory was taken by Samos tribal confederation and his death marked the end of the old Slavonic confederation, the second attempt to establish such a Slavonic union after Carantania in Carinthia. Other sources divide the population of Bohemia at this time into the Merehani, Marharaii, Beheimare, Christianity first appeared in the early 9th century, but only became dominant much later, in the 10th or 11th century
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Central Europe
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Central Europe lies between Eastern Europe and Western Europe. The concept of Central Europe is based on a historical, social and cultural identity. Central Europe is going through a phase of strategic awakening, with such as the CEI, Centrope. While the regions economy shows high disparities with regard to income, elements of unity for Western and Central Europe were Roman Catholicism and Latin. According to Hungarian historian Jenő Szűcs, foundations of Central European history at the first millennium were in connection with Western European development. The keyword of Western social development after millennium was the spread of liberties and autonomies in Western Europe and these phenomena appeared in the middle of the 13th century in Central European countries. There were self-governments of towns, counties and parliaments, in 1335 under the rule of the King Charles I of Hungary, the castle of Visegrád, the seat of the Hungarian monarchs was the scene of the royal summit of the Kings of Poland, Bohemia and Hungary. They agreed to cooperate closely in the field of politics and commerce, in the Middle Ages, countries in Central Europe adopted Magdeburg rights. Before 1870, the industrialization that had developed in Western and Central Europe, even in Eastern Europe, industrialization lagged far behind. Russia, for example, remained rural and agricultural. The concept of Central Europe was already known at the beginning of the 19th century, an example of that-time vision of Central Europe may be seen in J. Partsch’s book of 1903. On 21 January 1904, Mitteleuropäischer Wirtschaftsverein was established in Berlin with economic integration of Germany, another time, the term Central Europe became connected to the German plans of political, economic and cultural domination. The bible of the concept was Friedrich Naumann’s book Mitteleuropa in which he called for a federation to be established after the war. The concept failed after the German defeat in World War I, the revival of the idea may be observed during the Hitler era. According to Emmanuel de Martonne, in 1927 the Central European countries included, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, italy and Yugoslavia are not considered by the author to be Central European because they are located mostly outside Central Europe. The author use both Human and Physical Geographical features to define Central Europe, the interwar period brought new geopolitical system and economic and political problems, and the concept of Central Europe took a different character. The centre of interest was moved to its eastern part – the countries that have appeared on the map of Europe, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, however, the conflict of interests was too big and neither Little Entente nor Intermarium ideas succeeded. The interwar period brought new elements to the concept of Central Europe, after the war, the Eastern part of Central Europe was placed at the centre of the concept
Polish (help·info), Czech: Boleslav Chrabrý; 967 – 17 June 1025), less often known as Bolesław I the Great (Polish: Bolesław I Wielki), was Duke of Poland from 992 to 1025, and the first King of Poland in 1025. As Boleslav IV, he was also Duke of Bohemia between 1002 and 1003, he was the son of Mieszko I of Poland by his wife, Dobrawa of Bohemia. According to a scholarly theory, Bolesław ruled Lesser Poland already during the last years of his father's reign. Mieszko I, who died in 992, divided Poland among his sons, but Bolesław expelled his father's last wife, Oda of Haldensleben, and his half-brothers and reunited Poland between 992 and 995.
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Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "St. Ludmilla". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton.
Media related to Boleslaus I of Poland at Wikimedia Commons
