1.
Mieszko II the Fat
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This article is about a Piast duke. See also King Mieszko II Lambert, Mieszko II the Fat was a Duke of Opole-Racibórz from 1230 until his death, and Duke of Kalisz-Wieluń during 1234–1239. He was the eldest son of Duke Casimir I of Opole by his wife Viola, following her late husbands politics, the Dowager Duchess Viola led a policy of close cooperation with the Church. In 1238, Henry I the Bearded died and was succeeded by his son Henry II the Pious, shortly after, Mieszko II began to claim the government of their lands. It is unknown exactly when Mieszko II took over the rule over Opole-Racibórz, one of the first politic decisions of Mieszko II was his marriage with Judith, daughter of Duke Konrad I of Masovia, who gave to the Duke of Opole-Racibórz greater autonomy in his rule. Mieszko IIs mother Viola and brother Władysław are expected to remain in Kalisz, the calm government of Mieszko II was brutally interrupted by the Mongol invasion at the beginning of 1241. In contrast to Bolesław V the Chaste, Duke of Sandomierz, Mieszko II didnt have any intention to give up his principality at the mercy of the enemy, on 9 April 1241 the Mongol and Christian forces clashed in the Battle of Legnica. There Mieszko II played a part, he was tricked by the Mongols into retreating in the decisive moment of the battle. This is one of the reasons of the total defeat of the Christian troops. Already in May 1241, Mieszko II began the reconstruction of the territories by the Mongolian army. Władysławs authority was threatened by the Dukes of Greater Poland. In 1243, Mieszko II military supported his father-in-law Konrad I of Masovia in his struggle for the throne of Kraków. The Masovia-Opole forces were defeat, in part because the mutual distrust between both rulers, despite the fact that Mieszko II brought further retaliatory expeditions against Bolesław V the Chaste, the cooperation has brought tangible benefits only three years later when he took the fortress of Lelów. Mieszko IIs suddenly death, however, prevent the permanent union of land to the Duchy of Opole-Racibórz. In the internal politics, Mieszko II, tried to continue his fathers politics in the spread of settlements under the German law, the Duke paid particular care to the Teutonic Order, who acquired in Upper Silesia high-value properties. By the other hand, Miesko II didnt give any support to the monastery of Czarnowąsy near Opole, Mieszko II, who — as reflected in his nickname — had not enjoyed good health, died at only twenty-six years of age, on 22 October 1246 without issue. In his will, he left all of his lands to his brother Władysław, except the district of Cieszyn, complete Genealogy of the House of Piast. Genealogical database by Herbert Stoyan MIESZKO II OTYŁY Cawley, Charles, SILESIA, Medieval Lands database, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy
2.
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
3.
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
4.
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
5.
Poland
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Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges in the south. Bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, the total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres, making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. With a population of over 38.5 million people, Poland is the 34th most populous country in the world, the 8th most populous country in Europe, Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions, and its capital and largest city is Warsaw. Other metropolises include Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk and Szczecin, the establishment of a Polish state can be traced back to 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of a territory roughly coextensive with that of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe, Poland regained its independence in 1918 at the end of World War I, reconstituting much of its historical territory as the Second Polish Republic. In September 1939, World War II started with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, followed thereafter by invasion by the Soviet Union. More than six million Polish citizens died in the war, after the war, Polands borders were shifted westwards under the terms of the Potsdam Conference. With the backing of the Soviet Union, a communist puppet government was formed, and after a referendum in 1946. During the Revolutions of 1989 Polands Communist government was overthrown and Poland adopted a new constitution establishing itself as a democracy, informally called the Third Polish Republic. Since the early 1990s, when the transition to a primarily market-based economy began, Poland has achieved a high ranking on the Human Development Index. Poland is a country, which was categorised by the World Bank as having a high-income economy. Furthermore, it is visited by approximately 16 million tourists every year, Poland is the eighth largest economy in the European Union and was the 6th fastest growing economy on the continent between 2010 and 2015. According to the Global Peace Index for 2014, Poland is ranked 19th in the list of the safest countries in the world to live in. The origin of the name Poland derives from a West Slavic tribe of Polans that inhabited the Warta River basin of the historic Greater Poland region in the 8th century, the origin of the name Polanie itself derives from the western Slavic word pole. In some foreign languages such as Hungarian, Lithuanian, Persian and Turkish the exonym for Poland is Lechites, historians have postulated that throughout Late Antiquity, many distinct ethnic groups populated the regions of what is now Poland. The most famous archaeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the Biskupin fortified settlement, dating from the Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age, the Slavic groups who would form Poland migrated to these areas in the second half of the 5th century AD. With the Baptism of Poland the Polish rulers accepted Christianity and the authority of the Roman Church
6.
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
7.
Richeza of Lotharingia
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Richeza of Lotharingia was a German noblewoman by birth, a member of the Ezzonen dynasty. She married Mieszko II Lambert, King of Poland, becoming Queen consort of Poland and she returned to Germany following the deposition of her husband in 1031, later becoming a nun, and today is revered as Blessed Richeza of Lotharingia. Richeza had three children, Casimir I the Restorer, Ryksa, Queen of Hungary, and Gertruda. She was also noted in 2009 as the mother of Agatha, wife of Edward the Exile. From her descended the eastern rulers of the Piast, Rurikid, four of her Árpád descendants were canonized, Elizabeth, Landgravine of Thuringia, Kinga, Duchess of Kraków, and Margaret and Irene of Hungary. She was beatified with one of her descendants, Yolanda. She was the eldest daughter of Ezzo, Count Palatine of Lotharingia by his wife, Matilda, daughter of Emperor Otto II and she could be even the eldest child of Ezzo and Matilda. Through her mother, Richeza was a niece of Emperor Otto III, Adelheid I, Abbess of Quedlinburg and Sophia I, Richezas parents were married in 993, so she could be born no earlier than in 993. Polish historian Kazimierz Jasiński supposed that she was few years younger than her husband Mieszko II Lambert, in 1000 during the Congress of Gniezno, an agreement was apparently made between Bolesław I the Brave and Emperor Otto III. Among the usual political talks, they decided to strengthen ties through marriage, Ottos childlessness meant that the seven daughters of his sister Mathilde were the potential brides for Mieszko, Bolesław Is son and heir, the oldest of Otto IIIs nieces, Richeza, was chosen. The Emperor took the opportunity of a settlement with the Ezzonen family, the marriage between Mieszko and Richeza took place in Merseburg, probably during the Pentecost festivities. After the final agreement between the Holy Roman Empire and Poland, which was signed in 1018 in Bautzen, Richeza. In 1021 they participated in the consecration of part of the Bamberg Cathedral, Bolesław I the Brave died on 17 June 1025. Six months later, on Christmas Day, Mieszko II Lambert and Richeza were crowned King and Queen of Poland by the Archbishop of Gniezno, Hipolit, in the Gniezno Cathedral. Mieszkos reign was short-lived, in 1031, the invasion of both German and Kievan troops forced him to escape to Bohemia, where he was imprisoned and castrated by orders of Duke Oldrich. Mieszko IIs half-brother Bezprym took the government of Poland and began a persecution of the followers of the former King. The Brauweiler Chronicle indicated that soon after the escape of her husband, Richeza and her children fled to Germany with the Polish royal crown and regalia and she subsequently played an important role in mediating a peace settlement between Poland and the Holy Roman Empire. However, modern historians discount this account, Richeza and Mieszko II never reunited, according to some sources, they were either officially divorced or separated
8.
Casimir I the Restorer
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Casimir I the Restorer, was Duke of Poland of the Piast dynasty and the de jure monarch of the entire country from 1034 until his death. He was the son of Mieszko II Lambert by his wife Richeza, daughter of Count Palatine Ezzo of Lotharingia. Casimir is known as the Restorer because he managed to reunite all parts of the Polish Kingdom after a period of turmoil and he reinstated Masovia, Silesia and Pomerania into his realm. However, he failed to crown himself King of Poland, mainly because of internal and external threats to his rule, relatively little is known of Casimirs early life. He must have spent his childhood at the court of Poland in Gniezno. In order to acquire an education, he was sent to one of the Polish monasteries in 1026. According to some sources he initially wanted to have a career in the Church. This hypothesis, however, is not supported by modern historians, regardless, he left church work for good in 1031. Casimirs father, Mieszko II, was crowned King of Poland in 1025 after the death of his father Bolesław I the Brave, however, the powerful magnates of the country feared a strong central government like the one that existed under Bolesław Is rule. This led to friction between the King and the nobility. Sometime during the reign of Bezprym, Casimir and his sisters were taken by their mother to Germany for refuge. At the time of his fathers death in 1034, Casimir was about 18 years old and in Germany at the court of his uncle Hermann II, the central district of Greater Poland revolted against the nobles and Catholic clergy in a mass rebellion. A pagan revival in the area lasted for several years, the district of Masovia seceded and a local lord, Miecław, formed a state of his own. A similar situation occurred in Pomerania, in 1037 both the young prince and his mother returned to Poland and attempted to seize the throne. This precipitated a rebellion by local barons, which coupled with the so-called Pagan Reaction of the commoners, forced Casimir, however, soon Casimir returned to Poland and in 1038, once again, tried to regain power with the aide of his influential mother. This also failed and he had to again, this time to the Kingdom of Hungary where he was imprisoned by Stephen I. The Dowager Queen remained in Germany as a nun until her death, taking advantage of the chaos and his neighbours weakness, Duke Bretislaus I of Bohemia invaded and ravaged the country in 1039. Lesser and Greater Poland were severely pillaged, Poznań was captured, and Bretislaus sacked Gniezno, taking the relics of Saint Adalbert, Radim Gaudentius, and the five hermit brothers with him
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.
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
12.
Lambert of Maastricht
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Saint Lambert Latin, Landebertus/Lambertus was the bishop of Maastricht-Liège from about 670 until his death. Lambert was from a family of Maastricht, possibly son of Robert II, Lord Chancellor of France. When Theodard was murdered soon after 669, the councillors of Childeric II made Lambert bishop of Maastricht, Lambert was related to Hugobert and Plectrude, Pepin of Herstals lawful wife and thus an in-law of hereditary mayors of the palace who controlled the Merovingian kings of Austrasia. After Childeric was murdered in 675, the faction of Ebroin, majordomo of Neustria, Lambert spent seven years in exile at the recently founded Abbey of Stavelot. With a change in the turbulent political fortunes of the time, the Cathedral of Our Lady and St. Lambert in Liege was built in his honor. In company with Willibrord, who had come from England in 691, Lambert preached the gospel to the pagans in the stretches of the Meuse. Around 705, Lambert completed the Christianization of Liège and its surroundings, christian conversion may still not have been quite universal, since Lambert was murdered in Liège and thereafter regarded as a martyr for his faith. To enshrine Lamberts relics, his successor, Hubertus, built a basilica near his residence became the true nucleus of the city. Lambert had been the director of Hubertus. Lambert thus became a martyr for his defence of marital fidelity, denouncing Pepins liaison with Alpaida, daughter of Dodo, although Lambert was buried at Maastricht, his successor as bishop, Hubertus, translated his relics to Liège, to which the see of Maastricht was eventually moved. The shrine became St. Lamberts Cathedral, destroyed in 1794 and its site is the modern Place Saint-Lambert. Lamberts tomb is now located in the present Liège Cathedral and his feast day in the Roman Catholic Church calendar is 17 September. The Lambertusfest in Münster has long been a holiday, celebrated for two weeks culminating on the eve of 17 September. Children build Lambertus pyramids of branches, decorated with lanterns and lamps around which they dance, das Ökumenisches Heiligenlexikon, Lambert von Maastricht Herbermann, Charles, ed. St. Lambert
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Saxony
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Its capital is Dresden, and its largest city is Leipzig. Saxony is the tenth largest of Germanys sixteen states, with an area of 18,413 square kilometres, located in the middle of a large, formerly all German-speaking part of Europe, the history of the state of Saxony spans more than a millennium. It has been a medieval duchy, an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire, a kingdom, the area of the modern state of Saxony should not be confused with Old Saxony, the area inhabited by Saxons. Old Saxony corresponds approximately to the modern German states of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony is divided into 10 districts,1. After a reform in 2008, these regions - with some alterations of their respective areas - were called Direktionsbezirke, in 2012, the authorities of these regions were merged into one central authority, the Landesdirektion Sachsen. The Erzgebirgskreis district includes the Ore Mountains, and the Schweiz-Osterzgebirge district includes Saxon Switzerland, the largest cities in Saxony according to the 31 December 2015 estimate. To this can be added that Leipzig forms a metropolitan region with Halle. The latter city is located just across the border to Saxony-Anhalt, Leipzig shares for instance an S-train system and an airport with Halle. Saxony has, after Saxony Anhalt, the most vibrant economy of the states of the former East Germany and its economy grew by 1. 9% in 2010. Nonetheless, unemployment remains above the German average, the eastern part of Germany, excluding Berlin, qualifies as an Objective 1 development-region within the European Union, and is eligible to receive investment subsidies of up to 30% until 2013. FutureSAX, a business competition and entrepreneurial support organisation, has been in operation since 2002. Microchip makers near Dresden have given the region the nickname Silicon Saxony, the publishing and porcelain industries of the region are well known, although their contributions to the regional economy are no longer significant. Today the automobile industry, machinery production and services contribute to the development of the region. Saxony is also one of the most renowned tourist destinations in Germany - especially the cities of Leipzig and Dresden, new tourist destinations are developing, notably in the lake district of Lausitz. Saxony reported an unemployment of 8. 8% in 2014. By comparison the average in the former GDR was 9. 8% and 6. 7% for Germany overall, the unemployment rate reached 8. 2% in May 2015. The Leipzig area, which recently was among the regions with the highest unemployment rate, could benefit greatly from investments by Porsche. With the VW Phaeton factory in Dresden, and many part suppliers, zwickau is another major Volkswagen location
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Yaroslav the Wise
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Yaroslav I, Grand Prince of Rus, known as Yaroslav the Wise or Iaroslav the Wise was thrice grand prince of Veliky Novgorod and Kiev, uniting the two principalities for a time under his rule. Yaroslavs Christian name was George after Saint George, a son of the Varangian Grand Prince Vladimir the Great, he was vice-regent of Novgorod at the time of his fathers death in 1015. Subsequently, his eldest surviving brother, Sviatopolk I of Kiev, Yaroslav, with the active support of the Novgorodians and the help of Varangian mercenaries, defeated Svyatopolk and became the Grand Prince of Kiev in 1019. Under Yaroslav the codification of customs and princely enactments was begun. During his lengthy reign, Kievan Rus reached the zenith of its cultural flowering, the early years of Yaroslavs life are shrouded in mystery. He was one of the sons of Vladimir the Great, presumably his second by Rogneda of Polotsk. It has been suggested that he was a child out of wedlock after Vladimirs divorce from Rogneda and marriage to Anna Porphyrogenita. Yaroslav figures prominently in the Norse sagas under the name Jarisleif the Lame, in his youth, Yaroslav was sent by his father to rule the northern lands around Rostov but was transferred to Veliky Novgorod, as befitted a senior heir to the throne, in 1010. While living there, he founded the town of Yaroslavl on the Volga River and his relations with his father were apparently strained, and grew only worse on the news that Vladimir bequeathed the Kievan throne to his younger son, Boris. In 1014 Yaroslav refused to pay tribute to Kiev and only Vladimirs death, in July 1015, during the course of this struggle, several other brothers were brutally murdered. However, the name is given there as Burizaf, which is also a name of Boleslaus I in the Scandinavian sources. It is thus possible that the Saga tells the story of Yaroslavs struggle against Svyatopolk, Yaroslav defeated Svyatopolk in their first battle, in 1016, and Svyatopolk fled to Poland. But Svyatopolk returned in 1018 with Polish troops furnished by his father-in-law, seized Kiev, Yaroslav at last prevailed over Svyatopolk, and in 1019 firmly established his rule over Kiev. One of his first actions as a prince was to confer on the loyal Novgorodians, numerous freedoms. Thus, the foundation of the Novgorod Republic was laid, for their part, the Novgorodians respected Yaroslav more than they did other Kievan princes, and the princely residence in their city, next to the marketplace was named Yaroslavs Court after him. It probably was during this period that Yaroslav promulgated the first code of laws in the lands of the East Slavs, a less appealing side of his personality is revealed by his having imprisoned his youngest brother Sudislav for life. Yaroslav and Mstislav then divided Kievan Rus between them, the area stretching left from the Dnieper River, with the capital at Chernihiv, was ceded to Mstislav until his death in 1036. In his foreign policy, Yaroslav relied on the Scandinavian alliance, in 1030, he reconquered Red Ruthenia from the Poles and concluded an alliance with King Casimir I the Restorer, sealed by the latters marriage to Yaroslavs sister, Maria
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Upper Lusatia
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Upper Lusatia is a historical region in Germany and Poland. Along with Lower Lusatia to the north, it makes up the region of Lusatia, both Lusatias are home to the West Slavic minority group of the Sorbs. The major part of Upper Lusatia belongs to the German state of Saxony, roughly comprising the Bautzen, the northwestern extremity around Ruhland and Tettau is incorporated into the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district of Brandenburg. The Polish part, east of the Neisse River, belongs to Lower Silesian Voivodeship, a small strip of land in the north around Łęknica, together with the Polish part of Lower Lusatia, is incorporated into Lubusz Voivodeship. The historic capital of Upper Lusatia is Bautzen, while the largest city in the region is Görlitz/Zgorzelec, the name Lusatia superior was first recorded in a 1474 deed, derived from the adjacent Lower Lusatian lands in the north, which originally were just called the March of Lusatia. The Upper Lusatian territory was referred to as Milsko in contemporary chronicles, named after the local West Slavic Milceni tribe. Geomorphological Upper Lusatia is shaped by the uniform Lusatian granite massif, only the north and northeast, the UNESCO has declared this area a Biosphere Reserve in 1996, in particular for the protection of otters. The middle part is hilly, while the south of the is characterized by the Lusatian Mountains, the highest peaks of the Zittau Mountains are the Lausche at 792.6 m and Hochwald at 749 m. The adjacent Lusatian Highlands comprise the Landeskrone, Löbauer Berg, Kottmar, Czorneboh, Bieleboh, all major rivers in the Upper Lusatia flow from south to north. In the west, the Pulsnitz at Königsbrück formerly marked the border with the Meissen lands of the Saxon Electorate, the Spree river has its source in the Lusatian Highlands in the far south of the country and flows through Bautzen. The Lusatian Neisse has formed the German-Polish border since 1945, the river rises in the Czech Jizera Mountains, enters Upper Lusatia near Zittau, flows through Görlitz/Zgorzelec and leaves the country at Bad Muskau for Lower Lusatia. Most of the rivers are called -wasser, often in combination with the name of a village which the stream flows through. The eastern border of Upper Lusatia with Lower Silesia is marked by the River Kwisa, the central hilly Gefilde landscape between Kamenz and Löbau was especially well suited for agriculture and is still very profitable. In the 19th century, in the part of Upper Lusatia. Especially the digging in open pits has destroyed large parts of the old cultural landscape, currently the Nochten pit south of Weißwasser and Turów near Bogatynia in the Polish part are still active. Many of the old mines have been restored since the 1970s, especially after 1990. The newly formed lakes are named and advertised as the Lusatian Lake District. Even the oldest agricultural cultures left behind only little evidence of settlement, in the early Bronze Age people of the Lusatian culture entered the previously uninhabited region from Bohemia and the Lusatian Neisse
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Lower Lusatia
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Lower Lusatia is a historical region in Central Europe, stretching from the southeast of the German state of Brandenburg to the southwest of Lubusz Voivodeship in Poland. Like adjacent Upper Lusatia in the south, Lower Lusatia is a settlement area of the West Slavic Sorbs whose endangered Lower Sorbian language is related to Upper Sorbian, the sparsely inhabited area within the North European Plain is characterised by extended pine forests, heathlands and meadows. In the north it is confined by the middle Spree River with Lake Schwielochsee, in the glacial valley between Lübben and Cottbus, the Spree River branches out into the Spreewald riparian forest. Other rivers include the Berste and Oelse tributaries as well as the Schlaube, in the east, the Bóbr River from Łagoda via Krzystkowice down to the historic town of Żary forms the border with the lands of Lower Silesia. In the west the course of the upper Dahme River down to Golßen separates it from the former Electoral Saxon lands of Saxe-Wittenberg, between Lower and Upper Lusatia is a hill region called the Grenzwall, the eastern continuation of the Fläming Heath. In the Middle Ages this area had forests, so it represented a major obstacle to civilian. Today it is roughly congruent of the border between Brandenburg and the state of Saxony, today the area comprises the Brandenburg districts of Oberspreewald-Lausitz and Spree-Neiße with the unitary authority of Cottbus, as well as parts of Elbe-Elster, Dahme-Spreewald, and Oder-Spree. Since 1945, when a part of Lusatia east of the Oder-Neisse Line was incorporated into Poland. Emperor Conrad II reconquered the territories in 1031, in 1136 Conrad the Great of the mighty House of Wettin, margrave of Meissen since 1123, also received the March of Lusatia. This remained under the rule of the Wettin dynasty until in 1303 it was acquired by the Ascanian margraves of Brandenburg, Charles father King John of Bohemia had already acquired the adjacent territory to the south around Bautzen and Görlitz, which became known as Upper Lusatia. The former Lordship of Cottbus was acquired by Brandenburg in 1455, both Lusatias formed separate Bohemian crown lands under the rule of the Luxembourg, Jagiellon and—from 1526—Habsburg dynasties. In the course of the Reformation the vast majority of the population turned Protestant, as the Kingdom of Saxony had sided with Napoleon it had to cede Lower Lusatia to Prussia in the 1815 Congress of Vienna, whereafter the territory became part of the Province of Brandenburg. With the implementation of the Oder-Neisse line by the 1945 Potsdam Conference, the Lower Lusatian bull is first documented in 1363, upon the death of Emperor Charles IV in 1378 it appeared in gules on a field argent, similar to the coat of arms of Luckau. Spreewald biosphere reserve Lusatian Lake District Lower Lusatian Heath Nature Park Lower Lusatian Ridge Nature Park List of regions of Saxony
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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
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Upper Hungary
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Upper Hungary is the usual English translation of Felvidék, the Hungarian term for the area that was historically the northern part of the Kingdom of Hungary, now mostly present-day Slovakia. The region has also been called Felső-Magyarország, during the Ottoman wars, Upper Hungary meant only the northeastern parts of the Hungarian Kingdom. The northwestern regions belonged to Lower Hungary, sometime during the 18th or 19th centuries, Upper Hungary began to imply the whole northern regions of the kingdom. The population of Upper Hungary was mixed and mainly consisted of Slovaks, the first complex demographic data are from the 18th century, in which Slovaks constituted the majority population in Upper Hungary. Historically there are different meanings,1, at the same time, the word felvidék remains a common Hungarian noun applied to areas at higher elevations, e. g. Balaton-felvidék, a hilly region and national park adjacent to Lake Balaton. After World War I, the meaning of Felvidék in the Hungarian language was restricted to Slovakia, the three counties of the region that remained in Hungary after World War I, however, are never called Upper Hungary today, only Northern Hungary. Some of them call themselves felvidéki magyarok, i. e. the Upland Hungarians, the word felvidék is also used as a component of the toponym Balaton-felvidék, describing the hilly area north of Lake Balaton, with no connection to the historical Upper Hungary. The term Upper Hungary often occurs in publications on history as a somewhat anachronistic translation of other, earlier designations denoting approximately the same territory and these other terms were, for example, Partes Danubii septentrionales or Partes regni superiores. The actual name Upper Hungary arose later from the latter phrase. In the 15th century, the Šamorín, Trnava, Hlohovec, Nitra, Levice, Lučenec, Rimavská Sobota, Rožňava, Jasov, Košice, Sečovce, Michalovce line was the northern boundary of the Hungarian ethnic area. The Principality of Nitra emerged in the 8th century and developed into an independent Slavic state, in the early 9th century, the polity was situated on the north-western territories of present-day Slovakia. That territory formed a military district within Royal Hungary. At that time, present-day western Slovakia, and sometimes also the territories of Royal Hungary to the south of it, were called Lower Hungary. It was briefly a separate state of the Ottoman Empire under Imre Thököly in the 1680s. Although not strictly defined, the name Felvidék became commonplace to the point that at least one publication concerning the area used it as its title, other nations used the terms Upper Hungary, Slovakia, and Ruthenia in parallel. The Slovaks themselves called the territories of the Kingdom of Hungary to the south of Slovakia Dolná zem, in the course of the creation of Czechoslovakia at the end of World War I, Czechoslovakia originally demanded that all of the so-called Upper Hungary be added to Czechoslovak territory. The claim for its acquisition, however, was not based on the area having a single common name, Upper Hungary. In 1720 of the 63 largest towns on the territory of present-day Slovakia with at least 100 taxpaying households 40 had Slovak majority,14 German and 9 Hungarian majority, the first ethnic data of whole Hungarian Kingdom by county was published in 1842
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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
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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
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Greek (language)
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Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any living language, spanning 34 centuries of written records and its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history, other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic and many other writing systems. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, during antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and many places beyond. It would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire, the language is spoken by at least 13.2 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the Greek diaspora. Greek roots are used to coin new words for other languages, Greek. Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, the earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the worlds oldest recorded living language. Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now extinct Anatolian languages, the Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods, Proto-Greek, the unrecorded but assumed last ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. The unity of Proto-Greek would have ended as Hellenic migrants entered the Greek peninsula sometime in the Neolithic era or the Bronze Age, Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Mycenaean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 15th century BC onwards, Ancient Greek, in its various dialects, the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of the ancient Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman Empire, after the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial bilingualism of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. The origin of Christianity can also be traced through Koine Greek, Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, the continuation of Koine Greek in Byzantine Greece, up to the demise of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century. Much of the written Greek that was used as the language of the Byzantine Empire was an eclectic middle-ground variety based on the tradition of written Koine. Modern Greek, Stemming from Medieval Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the Byzantine period and it is the language used by the modern Greeks, and, apart from Standard Modern Greek, there are several dialects of it. In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia, the historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language is often emphasised. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language and it is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, Homeric Greek is probably closer to demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English, Greek is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece, Albania and Cyprus, but also worldwide by the large Greek diaspora. Greek is the language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population
22.
Latin (language)
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Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. The Latin alphabet is derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets, Latin was originally spoken in Latium, in the Italian Peninsula. Through the power of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language, Vulgar Latin developed into the Romance languages, such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Romanian. Latin, Italian and French have contributed many words to the English language, Latin and Ancient Greek roots are used in theology, biology, and medicine. By the late Roman Republic, Old Latin had been standardised into Classical Latin, Vulgar Latin was the colloquial form spoken during the same time and attested in inscriptions and the works of comic playwrights like Plautus and Terence. Late Latin is the language from the 3rd century. Later, Early Modern Latin and Modern Latin evolved, Latin was used as the language of international communication, scholarship, and science until well into the 18th century, when it began to be supplanted by vernaculars. Ecclesiastical Latin remains the language of the Holy See and the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. Today, many students, scholars and members of the Catholic clergy speak Latin fluently and it is taught in primary, secondary and postsecondary educational institutions around the world. The language has been passed down through various forms, some inscriptions have been published in an internationally agreed, monumental, multivolume series, the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Authors and publishers vary, but the format is about the same, volumes detailing inscriptions with a critical apparatus stating the provenance, the reading and interpretation of these inscriptions is the subject matter of the field of epigraphy. The works of several hundred ancient authors who wrote in Latin have survived in whole or in part and they are in part the subject matter of the field of classics. The Cat in the Hat, and a book of fairy tales, additional resources include phrasebooks and resources for rendering everyday phrases and concepts into Latin, such as Meissners Latin Phrasebook. The Latin influence in English has been significant at all stages of its insular development. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, English writers cobbled together huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek words, dubbed inkhorn terms, as if they had spilled from a pot of ink. Many of these words were used once by the author and then forgotten, many of the most common polysyllabic English words are of Latin origin through the medium of Old French. Romance words make respectively 59%, 20% and 14% of English, German and those figures can rise dramatically when only non-compound and non-derived words are included. Accordingly, Romance words make roughly 35% of the vocabulary of Dutch, Roman engineering had the same effect on scientific terminology as a whole
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Magdeburg
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Magdeburg is the capital city and the second largest city of the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe, Emperor Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor, founder of the archbishopric of Magdeburg, was buried in the towns cathedral after his death. Magdeburgs version of German town law, known as Magdeburg rights, spread throughout Central, the city is also well known for the 1631 Sack of Magdeburg, which hardened Protestant resistance during the Thirty Years War. Prior to it Magdeburg was one of the largest German cities, Magdeburg was destroyed twice in its history. Magdeburg is the site of two universities, the Otto-von-Guericke University and the Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences, nowadays Magdeburg is a traffic junction as well as an industrial and trading centre. In 2005 Magdeburg celebrated its 1200th anniversary, in June 2013 Magdeburg was hit by record breaking flooding. Founded by Charlemagne in 805 as Magadoburg, the town was fortified in 919 by King Henry I the Fowler against the Magyars and Slavs. Edith loved the town and often lived there, at her death she was buried in the crypt of the Benedictine abbey of Saint Maurice, in 937, Magdeburg was the seat of a royal assembly. Otto I repeatedly visited Magdeburg and was buried in the cathedral. He granted the abbey the right to income from various tithes, the Archbishopric of Magdeburg was founded in 968 at the synod of Ravenna, Adalbert of Magdeburg was consecrated as its first archbishop. The archbishopric under Adalbert included the bishoprics of Havelberg, Brandenburg, Merseburg, Meissen, the archbishops played a prominent role in the German colonisation of the Slavic lands east of the Elbe river. In 1035 Magdeburg received a patent giving the city the right to hold exhibitions and conventions. These laws were adopted and modified throughout Central and Eastern Europe, visitors from many countries began to trade with Magdeburg. In the 13th century, Magdeburg became a member of the Hanseatic League, with more than 20,000 inhabitants Magdeburg was one of the largest cities in the Holy Roman Empire. The town had a maritime commerce on the west, with the countries of the North Sea. The citizens constantly struggled against the archbishop, becoming independent from him by the end of the 15th century. In about Easter 1497, the then twelve-year-old Martin Luther attended school in Magdeburg, in 1524, he was called to Magdeburg, where he preached and caused the citys defection from Catholicism. The Protestant Reformation had quickly found adherents in the city, where Luther had been a schoolboy, Emperor Charles V repeatedly outlawed the unruly town, which had joined the Alliance of Torgau and the Schmalkaldic League
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.
Ezzo, Count Palatine of Lotharingia
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Ezzo, sometimes called Ehrenfried, a member of the Ezzonid dynasty, was Count Palatine of Lotharingia from 1015 until his death. As brother-in-law of Emperor Otto III, father of Queen Richeza of Poland and several other illustrious children, Ezzo was the son of the Lotharingian count palatine Herman I and his wife Heylwig of Dillingen. He was sent as a child to be educated by Bishop Ulrich of Augsburg, nothing is known about his youth. Having married Matilda of Germany, a daughter of Emperor Otto II and his consort Theophanu, Ezzo became prominent during the reign of his brother-in-law, the marriage was expressly consented by the Dowager Empress Theophanu, probably to rally the powerful family of Ezzo to the throne. Matilda received as dowry out of Ottonian possessions lands in Thuringia and in the Duchy of Franconia, at the death of his father in 996, Hermans rich allodial property was shared between his sons. Ezzo received lands in Cochem on the Mosel river, in Maifeld, about the same time, he must have received the Palatinate and previous countal rights, as he is referred as count in the Auelgau in 1015 and as Count Palatine in the Bonngau in 1020. He also received the county of Ruhrgau with tutelage of Essen Abbey, unsuccessful candidate to the imperial throne upon the death of Emperor Otto III in 1002, his relation with the new Ottonian king Henry II was immediately very tensed. Henry disputed Ezzos ownership of territories, that he defended as his wifes inheritance of late Otto III, the conflict dragged on for years and reached its peak in 1011. Facing disturbances in Lotharingia, and in need for Ezzos military support, Ezzos victory led the king to make concessions and to a complete transformation of its policy. He reconciled with Ezzo, recognized its rights of inheritance and gave him the territories of Kaiserswerth. He also associated the Ezzonid dynasty to his Eastern policies, and these huge territorial concessions made Ezzo one of the most powerful princes in the Empire. The Benedictine monastery, which was consecrated in 1028 by Archbishop Pilgrim of Cologne, was to be the grave, the first member of the family buried there was Ezzo wife Matilda, who died on 4 November 1025. Very little is known about Ezzos later life, but we are told that he died at an age at Saalfeld on 21 March 1034. Ezzo has been quite a personality, even if the reporting on his life and offices. He was mostly active in political affairs when it came to his own interests and the standing of his house, and his dexterous management of the favours of Empress Theophano, Emperor Otto III and later Henry II, testify of his personal ambition and political dexterity. Ezzo and Mathilda left three sons and seven daughters, the first two sons, Liudolf and Otto were aimed at perpetuating the dynasty while the third Hermann, was raised to enter the clergy. Of the seven daughters only Richeza was conspicuously married, while the others were placed in monasteries of which all became abbesses. Otto I, Count Palatine of Lotharingia and later Duke of Swabia as Otto II, Theophanu, Abbess of Essen and Gerresheim
26.
Lotharingia
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It was named after King Lothair II who received this territory after the kingdom of Middle Francia of his father Lothair I was divided among his sons in 855. Neither Lotharingia nor Middle Francia had any natural coherence, but each was conceived after territorial division of a larger realm. Conflict between East and West Francia over Lotharingia was based on the fact that these were the old Frankish homelands of Austrasia, the latter term, formed with the Germanic suffix -ing, indicating ancestral or familial relationships, gave rise to the Latin term Lotharingia in the tenth century. Later French terms like Lorraine and Lothier are derived from this Latin term, in 817 emperor Louis the Pious made plans for division of the Carolingian Empire among his three sons after his death. Unforeseen in 817 was a further heir besides Louiss three grown sons, a fourth son, Charles the Bald was born to Louiss second wife Judith of Bavaria in 823. When Louis tried in 833 to re-divide the empire for the benefit of Charles, he met with opposition of his sons, Lothair, Pepin. A decade of war and fluctuating alliances followed, punctuated by brief periods of peace. Pepin died in 838, and Louis the Pious in 840, the remaining three brothers made peace and divided Empire with the 843 Treaty of Verdun. Lothair, as the eldest, kept the title and received a long strip of territories stretching from the North Sea to southern Italy. Middle Francia thus included all the land between Aachen and Rome and it has sometimes called by historians the Lotharingian axis. In 855, when Lothair I was dying in Prüm Abbey, to the eldest son, Louis II went Italy, with the imperial title. To the youngest, Charles, still a minor, went Provence, to the middle son, Lothair II, went the remaining territories to the north of Provence, a kingdom which lacked ethnic or linguistic unity. Lothair II ruled from Aachen and did not venture outside his kingdom, when he died in 869 Lothair II left no legitimate children, but one illegitimate son - Hugh, Duke of Alsace. Thus Lotharingia, as a kingdom, ceased to exist for some years. In 876 Charles the Bald invaded eastern Lotharingia with the intent to capture it, in 879 Louiss son, king Louis the Younger was invited by a faction of the West Frankish nobility to succeed king Louis the Stammerer, Charless son, on the throne of West Francia. After a brief war, Louis the Stammerers young sons, Carloman II and Louis III, the border between the two kingdoms was established at Saint-Quentin in 880 by the Treaty of Ribemont. In November 887 Arnulf of Carinthia called a council of East Frankish nobility to depose emperor Charles the Fat, who by 884 had succeeded to thrones of all the kingdoms of the Empire. The Lotharingian aristocracy, in attempt to assert its right to elect a sovereign, joined the other East Frankish nobles in deposing Charles the Fat in 887 and elected Arnulf as their king
27.
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
28.
Wawel
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Wawel is a fortified architectural complex erected over many centuries atop a limestone outcrop on the left bank of the Vistula river in Kraków, Poland, at an altitude of 228 metres above sea level. The complex consists of buildings and fortifications, the largest and best known of these are the Royal Castle. Some of Wawels oldest stone buildings, such as the Rotunda of the Virgin Mary can be dated to 970AD, there are also wooden parts of the complex which date to about the 9th century. The castle itself has described as one of the most fascinating of all European castles. The first historical ruler Mieszko I of Poland of the Piast dynasty and his successors, Boleslaw I the Brave, at the same time Wawel became one of the principal Polish centres of Christianity. The first early Romanesque buildings were erected there including a cathedral serving the bishopric of Kraków in the year 1000. From the reign of Casimir the Restorer Wawel became the leading political, until 1611, the Wawel was the formal seat of the Polish monarchy, this was because Kraków was the capital of Poland from 1038 to 1569 and of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1569 to 1596. Later, it became the Free City of Kraków from 1815 to 1846, the Grand Duchy of Cracow from 1846 to 1918 and it is now the capital of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. Therefore, the fortress-like Wawel complex which visually dominates the city has often been viewed as seat of power, Wawel Cathedral was not only a place of coronation for the Kings of Poland, but also their mausoleum. Later, it became a national pantheon, following the cessation of hostilities, the Wawel was restored and once again become a national museum, a place of worship and centre depicting Polands complex history. The history of Wawel is deeply intertwined with the history of the Polish lands, as the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth formed and grew, Wawel became the seat of one of Europes most important states. This status was only lost when the capital was moved to Warsaw in the 17th century, thus, the significance of the Wawel hill comes in part from its combination of political and religious significance. The Cathedral holds the relics of St. Stanisław and stands adjacent to the Royal Castle. The Hill has a history of religious functions, some of the oldest extant architectural remains are those of the Rotunda of the Virgin Mary. The hill which takes the form of a horst originated in the Miocene epoch and this limestone is strongly karsted and abounds in caves. This possibly explains why the hill was originally called wąwel, meaning ravine in Polish and this ravine once divided the hill. An alternative theory is that the word means protrusion from the marshes which surrounded the hill, however, the most recent theory is that Wawel is a regular continuation of the name Babel in both Greek and Old Church Slavonic languages. The Wawel Hill has archaeological remains indicating settlement from the 4th century, Wawel is believed to be one of the strongholds of the Vistulan tribe which formed a nation at the turn of the 8th and 9th century AD
29.
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
30.
Oder
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The Oder is a river in Central Europe. It rises in the Czech Republic and flows through western Poland, the river ultimately flows into the Szczecin Lagoon north of Szczecin and then into three branches that empty into the Gulf of Pomerania of the Baltic Sea. Ptolemy knew the modern Oder as the Συήβος – a name derived from the Suebi. While he also refers to an outlet in the area as the Οὐιαδούα Ouiadoua, the name Suebos may be preserved in the modern name of the Świna river – an outlet from the Szczecin Lagoon to the Baltic. In the Old Church Slavonic language, the name of the river is Vjodr, the Oder is 854 kilometres long,112 km in the Czech Republic,742 km in Poland and is the second longest river in Poland. It drains a basin of 118,861 square kilometres,106,056 km2 of which are in Poland,7,217 km2 in the Czech Republic, channels connect it to the Havel, Spree, Vistula system and Kłodnica. It flows through Silesian, Opole, Lower Silesian, Lubusz, and West Pomeranian voivodeships of Poland, the main branch empties into the Szczecin Lagoon near Police, Poland. The Szczecin Lagoon is bordered on the north by the islands of Usedom, between these two islands, there is only a narrow channel going to the Bay of Pomerania, which forms a part of the Baltic Sea. The largest city on the Oder is Wrocław, in Lower Silesia, the Oder is navigable over a large part of its total length, as far upstream as the town of Koźle, where the river connects to the Gliwice Canal. The upstream part of the river is canalized and permits larger barges to navigate between the sites around the Wrocław area. Further downstream the river is flowing, passing the towns of Eisenhüttenstadt. Downstream of Frankfurt the river Warta forms a connection with Poznań. At Hohensaaten the Oder–Havel Canal connects with the Berlin waterways again, near its mouth the Oder reaches the city of Szczecin, a major maritime port. The river finally reaches the Baltic Sea through the Szczecin Lagoon, the river in Germania Magna was known to the Romans as the Viadrus or Viadua in Classical Latin, as it was a branch of the Amber Road from the Baltic Sea to the Roman Empire. In German language it was and is called the Oder, written in older records as Odera or Oddera in Medieval Latin documents and it was mentioned in the Dagome iudex, which described territory of the Duchy of Poland under Mieszko I of Poland ca. 990, as a part of western frontier. Before Slavs settled along its banks, Oder was an important trade route, a document of the Bishopric of Prague mentions Zlasane, Trebovyane, Poborane, and Dedositze in Silesia. In the 13th century, the first dams were built to protect agricultural lands, the Finow Canal, built for the first time in 1605, connects Oder and Havel
31.
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
32.
Herman I, Margrave of Meissen
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Herman I was Margrave of Meissen from 1009 until his death. He was the eldest son of Margrave Eckard I of Meissen and his wife Swanehilde, on 30 April 1002 his father was murdered at the Kaiserpfalz of Pöhlde, after he had raised claims to the German throne in the royal election. The new king Henry II passed the Margraviate of Meissen to Hermans uncle Gunzelin, while he, in the summer of 1002, Herman married Regelinda, a daughter of the Polish prince Bolesław I the Brave. During the ongoing German–Polish War in 1007, he was created count of Bautzen and he and his younger brother Eckard II feuded with their uncle Gunzelin in what was one of 11th-century Germanys ugliest civil wars. The feud concerned the insult and humiliation entailed in taking and destroying a fortified residence, the tide turned when Margrave Gunzelin began to deal with the Polish forces and at the instigation of King Henry II was deposed and arrested at a princely council in Merseburg in August 1009. His nephew Herman was selected to replace him, he was on terms with the king than Gunzelin was, though even his brother. Herman himself did not participate in the 1015 campaign of King Henry against Bolesław, whereby his stepbrother, in 1018 he witnessed the conclusion of the Peace of Bautzen. Margrave Herman became a supporter of King Henrys Salian successor Conrad II. In 1029, he was appointed count in the Saxon Hassegau and he sent his forces against the Polish king Mieszko II Lambert to reconquer the Polish-occupied territories, sealed by the 1033 Treaty of Merseburg. Herman also fought against the Thuringian count William III of Weimar, in his later years, he left the rule to his younger brother Eckard II, who succeeded Herman upon his death in 1038. Germany in the Early Middle Ages 800–1056
33.
Niemcza
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Niemcza is a town in Dzierżoniów County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the district called Gmina Niemcza. The town lies on the Ślęza River, approximately 20 kilometres east of Dzierżoniów, from 1975 to 1998 Niemcza was in Wałbrzych Voivodeship. Niemcza is historically one of the most important towns of Silesia, the oldest traces date back to the Bronze age. Between 1000 and 800 B. C. people of the Lusatian culture fortified the city hill. This fort was destroyed during a battle against the Scythian around 500 BC. Slavs arrived after the 6th century and called this place Nemci, thietmar of Merseburg later described Nemzi as eo quod a nostris olim sitcondita, dicta. The settlement was expanded and evolved into the center of the Ślężanie district, in early times Niemcza became an important base in Bohemias fight for Silesia. After 990 it was seized by Poland and withstood both emperor Henry II. in 1017 and an offensive of Bohemia in 1093. After 1155 it became the center of a Piast castellany district, the area was surrounded by several manors. The German Ostsiedlung reached Niemcza and the area already in 1210. Remarkable was the establishment of the parish church St. Marien, before 1300 a new city wall was built, which is in parts preserved. At the same time the wooden castle was replaced by a stone castle. With the partition of the Duchy of Wrocław/Breslau in 1311 the town passed to the Duchy of Brzeg/Brieg, after his duchy passed to Bohemia in 1392 the town came back to the duchy of Brieg. The Hussites seized Nimptsch in 1430 and held the town for several years, after six unsuccessful sieges Nimptsch was returned in 1434 and razed to the ground by the Silesians. In 1494 the administration of the area was moved to Schlottnitz. In 1635 Daniel Casper von Lohenstein was born in the residence, only 12 out of 103 landlords of Nimpsch survived firestorm and pest. The slow rebuilding, with the help of immigrated Bohemians, was stopped by several major fires
34.
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
35.
Hungary
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Hungary is a unitary parliamentary republic in Central Europe. With about 10 million inhabitants, Hungary is a member state of the European Union. The official language is Hungarian, which is the most widely spoken language in Europe. Hungarys capital and largest metropolis is Budapest, a significant economic hub, major urban areas include Debrecen, Szeged, Miskolc, Pécs and Győr. His great-grandson Stephen I ascended to the throne in 1000, converting the country to a Christian kingdom, by the 12th century, Hungary became a middle power within the Western world, reaching a golden age by the 15th century. Hungarys current borders were established in 1920 by the Treaty of Trianon after World War I, when the country lost 71% of its territory, 58% of its population, following the interwar period, Hungary joined the Axis Powers in World War II, suffering significant damage and casualties. Hungary became a state of the Soviet Union, which contributed to the establishment of a four-decade-long communist dictatorship. On 23 October 1989, Hungary became again a democratic parliamentary republic, in the 21st century, Hungary is a middle power and has the worlds 57th largest economy by nominal GDP, as well as the 58th largest by PPP, out of 188 countries measured by the IMF. As a substantial actor in several industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds 36th largest exporter and importer of goods, Hungary is a high-income economy with a very high standard of living. It keeps up a security and universal health care system. Hungary joined the European Union in 2004 and part of the Schengen Area since 2007, Hungary is a member of the United Nations, NATO, WTO, World Bank, the AIIB, the Council of Europe and Visegrád Group. Well known for its cultural history, Hungary has been contributed significantly to arts, music, literature, sports and science. Hungary is the 11th most popular country as a tourist destination in Europe and it is home to the largest thermal water cave system, the second largest thermal lake in the world, the largest lake in Central Europe, and the largest natural grasslands in Europe. The H in the name of Hungary is most likely due to historical associations with the Huns. The rest of the word comes from the Latinized form of Medieval Greek Oungroi, according to an explanation the Greek name was borrowed from Proto-Slavic Ǫgǔri, in turn borrowed from Oghur-Turkic Onogur. Onogur was the name for the tribes who later joined the Bulgar tribal confederacy that ruled the eastern parts of Hungary after the Avars. The Hungarians likely belonged to the Onogur tribal alliance and it is possible they became its ethnic majority. The Hungarian endonym is Magyarország, composed of magyar and ország, the word magyar is taken from the name of one of the seven major semi-nomadic Hungarian tribes, magyeri
36.
Vienna
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Vienna is the capital and largest city of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austrias primary city, with a population of about 1.8 million, and its cultural, economic and it is the 7th-largest city by population within city limits in the European Union. Today, it has the second largest number of German speakers after Berlin, Vienna is host to many major international organizations, including the United Nations and OPEC. The city is located in the part of Austria and is close to the borders of the Czech Republic, Slovakia. These regions work together in a European Centrope border region, along with nearby Bratislava, Vienna forms a metropolitan region with 3 million inhabitants. In 2001, the city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, apart from being regarded as the City of Music because of its musical legacy, Vienna is also said to be The City of Dreams because it was home to the worlds first psycho-analyst – Sigmund Freud. The citys roots lie in early Celtic and Roman settlements that transformed into a Medieval and Baroque city and it is well known for having played an essential role as a leading European music centre, from the great age of Viennese Classicism through the early part of the 20th century. The historic centre of Vienna is rich in architectural ensembles, including Baroque castles and gardens, Vienna is known for its high quality of life. In a 2005 study of 127 world cities, the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked the city first for the worlds most liveable cities, between 2011 and 2015, Vienna was ranked second, behind Melbourne, Australia. Monocles 2015 Quality of Life Survey ranked Vienna second on a list of the top 25 cities in the world to make a base within, the UN-Habitat has classified Vienna as being the most prosperous city in the world in 2012/2013. Vienna regularly hosts urban planning conferences and is used as a case study by urban planners. Between 2005 and 2010, Vienna was the worlds number-one destination for international congresses and it attracts over 3.7 million tourists a year. The English name Vienna is borrowed from the homonymous Italian version of the name or the French Vienne. The etymology of the name is still subject to scholarly dispute. Some claim that the name comes from Vedunia, meaning forest stream, which produced the Old High German Uuenia. A variant of this Celtic name could be preserved in the Czech and Slovak names of the city, the name of the city in Hungarian, Serbo-Croatian and Ottoman Turkish has a different, probably Slavonic origin, and originally referred to an Avar fort in the area. Slovene-speakers call the city Dunaj, which in other Central European Slavic languages means the Danube River, evidence has been found of continuous habitation since 500 BC, when the site of Vienna on the Danube River was settled by the Celts. In 15 BC, the Romans fortified the city they called Vindobona to guard the empire against Germanic tribes to the north
37.
Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor
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Conrad II, also known as Conrad the Elder and Conrad the Salic, was Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 1027 until his death in 1039. The founder of the Salian dynasty of emperors, Conrad also served as King of Germany from 1024, King of Italy from 1026, and King of Burgundy from 1033. The son of a nobleman in Franconia, Count Henry of Speyer and Adelaide of Alsace, he inherited the titles of count of Speyer. Conrad extended his power beyond his inherited lands, receiving the favor of the princes of the Kingdom of Germany. When the Saxon-based Ottonian dynasty of emperors died off with the childless Emperor Henry II, Conrad founded his own dynasty of rulers, known as the Salian dynasty, which ruled the Holy Roman Empire for over a century. Conrad continued the policies and achievements of the Ottonian Henry II regarding the Catholic Church, Conrad continued to build the Church as a center for imperial power, preferring to appoint church bishops over secular lords to important posts across the Empire. Like Henry II before him, Conrad also continued a policy of neglect over Italy, especially for the city of Rome. His reign marked a point of the medieval imperial rule. Following the death of the childless King Rudolph III of Burgundy in 1032, Conrad claimed dominion over the Kingdom of Arles, the three kingdoms formed the basis of the Empire as the royal triad. The Salian dynasty has its origins with Count Werner V of Worms and his son, Conrad the Red, succeeded him as Count in 941 and King Otto I of Germany appointed him as Duke of Lorraine in 944. He was subsequently married to Liutgarde, one of Ottos daughters, in 947, the relationship was strained, however, when Otto refused to honor a peace treaty Conrad, as Ottos representative, had conducted with the rebellious Berengar II of Italy. Conrad also resented the influence of Ottos brother Henry I of Bavaria. In 953 Conrad joined the kings son Liudolf in rebellion against Otto, Conrad and Otto were soon reconciled, with Conrad fighting for Otto in the great Battle of Lechfeld in 955. Though the Germans were successful in halting the Hungarian invasions of Europe, Conrad was succeeded as Count of Worms in 956 by his son Otto of Worms, a grandson of Otto I. Sometime between 965 and 970 Otto of Worms oldest son, Henry of Speyer, was born, little is known of his life as he died the age of 20 between 985 and 990. Conrad IIs father was Henry of Speyer, and his mother was Adelaide of Alsace, after Henrys death, Adelaide married a Frankish nobleman. After her remarriage, Adelaide demonstrated no close relationship with her son, in 978 Emperor Otto II appointed his nephew Otto of Worms as Duke of Carinthia after deposing the rebellious Duke Henry I of Carinthia during the War of the Three Henries. Upon receiving the title, however, Otto lost his position at Worms
38.
Thietmar of Merseburg
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Thietmar, Prince-Bishop of Merseburg from 1009 until his death, was an important chronicler recording the reigns of German kings and Holy Roman Emperors of the Ottonian dynasty. Two of Thietmars great-grandfathers, both referred to Liuthar, were the Saxon nobles Lothar II, Count of Stade, and Lothar I and they were both killed fighting the Slavs at the Battle of Lenzen. Thietmar was a son of the Saxon count Siegfried I the Older of Walbeck and his wife Kunigunde, daughter of Henry I the Bald and his father fought with Margrave Odo against Duke Mieszko I of Poland at the 972 Battle of Cedynia. At the time of Thietmars birth, his family sided with the Ottonian duke Henry II of Bavaria in his uprising against his cousin Emperor Otto II. Later, a balance was achieved, Siegfried became burgrave at Möckern, baptized in Halberstadt, Thietmar prepared for an ecclesiastical career. He was educated at the St. Servatius chapter of Quedlinburg Abbey, from 1 November 990, he attended the Magedeburg cathedral school, together with his relative Bruno of Querfurt. He was familiar with the works of Augustine of Hippo, but even more with classical authors like Virgil, Horace, Lucan, Thietmar witnessed the struggles of the young Ottonian king Otto III and his mother Theophanu to secure their reign. He took some part in political events of the time, in 994 he was a hostage in the hands of the Northmen. Upon the death of his parents, he inherited parts of the Walbeck estates and in 1002 became provost of the family monastery. On 21 December 1004, he was ordained as a priest by Archbishop Tagino of Magdeburg, in 1009, through the intercession of Archbishop Tagino, he became Bishop of the Merseburg diocese, which had been re-established by King Henry II in 1004. Thietmar was concerned with the restitution of his bishopric. A loyal supporter of the German kingship, he interfered in political affairs. He died on 1 December 1018 and was buried in Merseburg cathedral, as counsellor of the Emperor and participant in many important political transactions he was well equipped for writing a history of his times. Nor does he always discriminate between important and unimportant events, the chronicle is nevertheless an excellent source for the history of Saxony during the reigns of the emperors Otto III and Henry II. No information is excluded by Thietmar, but the fullest details refer to the Bishopric of Merseburg, and to the wars against the Wends, the original manuscript was moved in 1570 to Dresden. When the city was destroyed by bombing during World War II the manuscript was severely damaged, fortunately a complete facsimile edition had been published by L. Schmidt. Thietmari Merseburgensis episcopi Chronicon, Mentzel-Reuters, Arno and Gerhard Schmitz, images of the Dresden MS, a search facility and Holtzmanns 1935 edition, available online Holtzman, Robert and J. C. M. Laurent, J. Strebitzki und W. Wattenbach, die Chronik des Thietmar von Merseburg
Polish (help·info); c. 990 – 10/11 May 1034) was King of Poland from 1025–1031, and Duke from 1032 until his death.
Media related to Mieszko II Lambert at Wikimedia Commons