Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/298

Rh 286 forming an opinion. Thus the trade of the country fell wholly into the hands of foreigners and Jews. Mieczys- With the reign of Mieczystaw I. (962-99:2) we begin to taw have something firmer in our grasp. He became a suitor for the hand of Dabrowka, the daughter of the king of Bohemia, Being a Christian she refused to give her hand to a pagan, and Mieczystaw consented to be baptized in 965. He had been previously conquered by the Germans, who seem to have enforced conversion from all whom they brought into subjection. After this he proceeded to extirpate the worship of idols in as autocratic a manner as Vladimir had employed, when at Kieff Peroun, the god of war, was thrown from his pedestal and ignominiously cast into the Dnieper. In 980 an edict was issued that every Pole who had not already submitted to baptism should immediately undergo it. Xo opposition was offered to this strange decree, which from its easy adoption would seem to have left but little impression upon the neo phytes, and probably the chroniclers have some reason for their assertion that Mieczystaw himself subsequently relapsed into gross sins. This complete conversion of the nation appears to have been aided by the labours of St Adalbert, bishop of Prague. Such traces as remained of the early Orthodox creed which had been introduced from Moravia were effaced, although they remained for some time in the sister kingdom of Bohemia, and we find a monastery established by the emperor Charles IV. for Greek monks at Prague. Mieczystaw acknowledged himself to be the feudatory of Otho of Germany ; he also resisted the encroachments of Vladimir of Russia, for already the feud between the two nations was commencing. He died in 992 universally regretted, as we are told, and Boleslaw was succeeded by his son Bolestaw, surnamed the Great. the Great. During his reign Otho III. of Germany paid him a visit, and the Polish prince received him with such magnificence that the emperor elevated his duchy into a kingdom, probably intending that it should always remain a fief of the empire. Dlugosz and Kromer vie with each other in describing the splendour of this meeting ; they are, how ever, far outdone by their predecessor Gallus, who speaks of magnificent military manoeuvres prepared by Bolestaw to delight his guest, and of the gorgeous array of the lords and court ladies; &quot;for gold,&quot; he adds, &quot;was at this time held as common as silver and silver as cheap as straw.&quot; Finally, Otho hailed Bolestaw as king, and him self put the diadem upon his head. At his departure he presented the Polish king with the lance of St Maurice, still to be seen, as Kromer tells us, in the cathedral of Cracow ; and Bolestaw in turn offered as a gift the arm of St Adalbert, the patron saint of Poland. Lelewel treats the whole story of this coronation as a myth, because, as he observes, at that time kings were always crowned by bishops. Bolestaw afterwards defeated the Russian prince, and spent the latter part of his reign in administering justice throughout his kingdom. By the commencement of the llth century he had absorbed nearly all the western Slavonic states, including Bohemia. He enjoyed among his subjects the epithet of Chrobry, or brave. The Germans, however, in derision of his corpulence, which he endea- Toured to lessen by hunting, called him Trinkbier. To him is due the foundation of the archbishopric of Gniezno (Gnesen), the chief see in Poland. Towards the end of his life he sought to aggrandize himself at the expense of Russia. He had previously, in 1013 according to Thietmar, given his daughter in marriage to Sviatopolk, the nephew of Vladimir. His expedition against Kieff is alluded to by Nestor, but narrated more in detail by Thietmar and Martin Gallus. According to the latter he entered Kieff with the Polovtzi as his auxiliaries, and struck the golden gate with his [UISTOKY. sword. He was succeeded by Mieczystaw his son, who abandoned himself to pleasure and left the kingdom in a disordered state. He is said to have first divided Poland into palatinates, a term which will be explained shortly. On his death an interregnum ensued and his queen Ryxa, niece of Otho of Germany, held the regency. Owing, however, to the continual feuds between the Slavs and Germans, she was driven out of the kingdom and betook herself to Saxony, whither her son soon followed her. During their absence Poland presented a spectacle of anarchy, the commencement of the long series of miseries of this unhappy country. The serfs are said to have risen everywhere and massacred their lords, and even the priests were not spared. Moreover, two foreign wars, with Bohemia on the one hand and Russia on the other, increased their miseries. The pious Kromer chiefly laments the sacred relics carried off by the ferocious Bohemians which were never restored. To heal the universal wounds it was resolved to send for Kazimierz (Casimir), the son of Mieczystaw and Ryxa. But it required some time to find him, for he was hidden in Germany, although the story of his having become a monk in the abbey of Cluny in Burgundy has been shown by Rb pell to be groundless. We shall see afterwards that a Polish king did actually seek in a cloister rest from the turbulence of his subjects. Kazimierz married Maria the sister of Yaroslav, the prince of Kieff, who was willing to abjure the Greek faith, and embrac ing the Latin took the name of Dobrogniewa. By this marriage he became the brother-in-law of Henry I. of France, who had married another sister. This king induced several monks to come from Cluny, and founded two monasteries for them, one near Cracow and the other in Silesia, at this time forming part of the kingdom of Poland. From the earliest period we find the country inundated with foreign ecclesiastics ; and to this cause we may probably trace the long use among the Poles of the Latin language. Kazimierz was succeeded by a second Bolesi Bolestav (1058-1101), of whom many curious stories are H- told. In an expedition against Iziaslav, the prince of Kieff, he took that city and remained in it some time with his troops. The stay of Bolestaw and his soldiers at Kieff is said to have been attended with the same deleterious effects as befell Hannibal and the Carthaginians at Capua ; and the conduct of the Polish ladies during the absence of their lords, unless the chroniclers belie them, cannot be held up as an example to wives. The whole story, how ever, has a very mythical air. The most remarkable event, however, of the reign of Bolestaw was the murder of St Stanistaw. In this respect he emulated Henry II. of England; he dared to come into collision with the ecclesiastical power, but he did not sug gest the assassination of so prominent a person to others ; he accomplished the deed with his own hand. His excesses had long drawn upon him the censure of Stanis taw, who concluded by putting all the churches of Cracow under an interdict. Upon this the king vowed vengeance on his denunciator. The Polish chroniclers tell us that, on hearing that the saint was to celebrate mass in a chapel, he took with him a few determined followers and hurried to the place. He, however, forbore to break in upon the scene till the service was concluded. This being over, he ordered some of his attendants to enter and slay the pre late. They were restrained, however, by a miracle, for, endeavouring to strike Stanistaw to the earth, they all suddenly fell backward. Again and again Bolestaw urged them on, and the miracle was repeated a third time, until the king rushed in and with one blow clove the skull of the ecclesiastic. Kromer tells us that immediately after the murder the king and his impious satellites slashed the body, separated it into many pieces, and cast