Bolesław I the Brave
Videos
Bolesław I the Brave, less often known as Bolesław the Great, was Duke of Poland from 992 to 1025, and the first King of Poland in 1025. He was also Duke of Bohemia between 1003 and 1004 as Boleslaus IV. A member of the ancient Piast dynasty, Bolesław was a capable monarch and a strong mediator in Central European affairs. He continued to proselytise Western Christianity among his subjects and raised Poland to the rank of a kingdom, thus becoming the first Polish ruler to hold the title of rex, Latin for king.
One of the earliest Polish coins featuring the supposed effigy of Bolesław with the inscription Bolizavs - gnezdvn civitas, c. 992–1000.
Bolesław's replica of the Holy Lance, Wawel Hill, Kraków
Henry II depicted in the Seeon Evangeliary, c. 1014–1024
Coronation of the First King, as imagined by Jan Matejko
Bruno of Querfurt
Videos
Bruno of Querfurt, O.S.B. Cam.,, also known as Brun, was a Christian missionary bishop, Camaldolese monk and martyr, who was beheaded near the border of Kievan Rus and Lithuania for trying to spread Christianity. He is also called the second "Apostle of the Prussians".
The lands given Bruno in 1003 were in the region shown on left bank of the Oder, Hither Pomerania along the coast, or the future Margraviate of Brandenburg to its south