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A.D. 966. Chrzest księcia Mieszka. Dylematy naukowe i znaczenie tego aktu dla przemian kulturowych na ziemiach polskich. Zagadnienia wybrane

100%

Wyrwa A. M.

Studia Lednickie

2016

vol. 15

19-72

This paper provides a general overview of selected sources and ideas functioning in Polish historiography on the baptism of Duke Mieszko I and the early stages of the Christianization of the Polish lands. The issue has long been debated by historians specialising in different fields, and new hypotheses and interpretations are still formulated. As part of this unfinished discussion, this paper seeks to make some general comments on some of the most lively discussed questions. Understandably, the hypotheses presented in the paper do not unravel all the mysteries and issues are still pending further research. The baptism of Duke Mieszko I, and thus the symbolic baptism of Poland, coincided with a moment of an intense expansion of Christianity in Europe (Fig. 1). Regardless of its religious, political and cultural significance for the next generations of rulers, nobles, prelates, chroniclers, historians, writers, artists and many others, the baptism has always been a great inspiration for various creative undertakings. The origins of historical reflections on this act can be found, e.g., in the chronicles of Thietmar or Gallus Anonymous. The latter rendered the events of this Holy Saturday of 966 in a very colourful and symbolic way, approximately 150 years later. In his chronicle, Gallus Anonymous noted, e.g., that just as Duke Mieszko was healed from blindness as a child, so having married a Bohemian Duchess Dobrawa, Mieszko — as a prudent and foresighted ruler — accepted baptism. The baptism freed him and his subjects from the blindness and darkness of paganism, giving them in return the clarity and truthfulness of the new faith. Although the very act, its exact date and location, as well as its cultural and civilization- bearing role are still subjects of heated debate among historians specialising in various fields, there is no doubt that it marked the beginning of a new phase in the connection between the Polish lands and the European cultural circle. At first, the process of Christianization involved merely a small circle of the society. The establishment of Christianity in the whole area of Poland was a very long process, characterised by varying dynamics and completed — using a variety of means — not earlier than at the end of the thirteenth century. Nevertheless, Mieszko I’s baptism inscribed our lands into the circle of Christian Europe in perpetuity. What did the adoption of Christianity mean for Poland? Through the introduction of the Christian faith, regardless of its initial kinks (in the 1030s), the Church strengthened the position of the ruler, offered him a divine legitimacy and made him an equal partner in the family of the Christian rulers of Europe. Christianity introduced also new, previously unknown cultural elements. These were, for example: — a new concept of God, the world and the place of humans within it; — the opening of expanded international contacts in the secular and ecclesiastical sphere; — bringing religious orders, such as the Benedictines, later Cistercians, Canons Regular, mendicant orders and others. These, as in Europe, actively participated in the shaping of the new economic and cultural image of the Polish lands, irrespective of their spiritual duties; —Latin, a universal language and alphabet associated with the circle of the clergy, and the princely chancellery; — a new way of measuring time (a calendar and related holidays and liturgical celebrations); — the inclusion of Christian symbols into the native cultural space, including the symbolism of colours, signs and gestures, the symbols of the natural world, etc.; — scriptoria, book and wall painting; — various worship and liturgy-related objects, such as, e.g., frescoes, the statues of saints and patron saints, reliquary boxes, liturgical combs, signs of episcopal dignity, patens, chalices, bowls, crosses, bells, suspended canopy lighting, etc.; — new architecture, and canons of style and workshops (the mastery of stone processing, techniques of construction and the preparation of mortars and mosaics); — inhumation took over from cremation as the dominant burial rite, etc. And other things. Slowly but consequently, these elements replaced and sometimes demolished the hitherto prevailing way of perceiving and ordering the world and its evaluation. Therefore, there is no exaggeration in the statements of the ‘revolutionary’ nature of the new faith formulated by scholars. Due to the enigmatic nature of the written sources and an unsatisfactory state of knowledge of, e.g., the earliest architecture related to the Christianization of the Polish lands (especially its more precise chronology), some issues addressed in this paper remain unresolved. However, despite many shortcomings and unexplained hypotheses, there is no doubt that an area in Europe, which since c.1000 came to be called Polonia, became permanently linked to the European Christianitas in the second half of the tenth century. All this started in 966, following previous preparations, due to Duke Mieszko I of the Piast dynasty.

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1 Studia Lednickie

1 Wyrwa A. M.

1 2016

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A.D. 966. Chrzest księcia Mieszka. Dylematy naukowe i znaczenie tego aktu dla przemian kulturowych na ziemiach polskich. Zagadnienia wybrane