This is the 972 Battle of Cedynia. For a list of all Polish-German Wars, see Polish-German Wars.
Battle of Cedynia | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Mieszko I of Poland Prince Czcibor | Odo I, Margrave of the Saxon Ostmark | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
Unknown, not more than 4,000 | About 3,000 soldiers and 1,000–1,300 cavalrymen | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Quite small | Heavy |
In the Battle of Cedynia or Zehden, an army of Mieszko I of Poland defeated forces of Hodo or Odo I of Lusatia on 24 June 972, near the Oder river. Whether or not the battle actually took place near the modern-day town of Cedynia is disputed in modern scholarship. [1]
Mieszko I, Poland's first documented ruler based in Greater Poland, had successfully campaigned in the Cedynia area, then a West Slavic tribal territory also coveted by Holy Roman Emperor Otto I and German nobles. [1] While Mieszko's differences with Otto I were settled by an alliance and payment of tribute to the latter, the nobles whom Otto I had invested with the former Saxon Eastern March, most notably Odo I, challenged Mieszko's gains. [1] The battle was to determine the possession of the area between Mieszko and Odo. [1] Records of the battle are sparse, it was briefly described by the chronicler Thietmar of Merseburg (975−1018), whose father participated in the battle (Chronicon II.19). [2]
About 937 the Saxon margrave Gero had conquered vast territories east of the Elbe River, where he subdued the tribes of the Polabian Slavs. The German forces thereby reached the Oder River and the western border of the young Polish country. After several clashes of arms the conflict for the present was settled by an agreement in 963 whereafter Duke Mieszko had to pay a recurrent tribute to Emperor Otto.
Upon Gero's death in 965, his vast Marca Geronis was divided into several smaller marches, while the power in the area was exercised by unchecked warlords. Duke Mieszko took the occasion to capture the lightly defended and economically important estuary of the Oder on the Baltic Sea, in order to secure his influence in Pomerania up to Wolin. In turn Odo I had been vested with the Saxon Eastern March (the later March of Lusatia) by Emperor Otto I and was responsible for gathering tribute of the tribes which were Mieszko's point of interest.
The margrave wanted to extend his territory and influence, he finally gathered his forces and decided to attack. He was sure of victory; his raid was a private conflict, against the agreements made by the Emperor, who at the same time struggled to secure his rule in the Kingdom of Italy. However, against Odo's expectations, the battle was won by Mieszko.
The only more-or-less contemporary account of the battle is chapter 19 of the second book of Thietmar of Merseburg's Chronicon, consisting of three sentences:
original text | English translation |
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Interea Hodo, venerabilis marchio, Miseconem, inperatori fidelem tributumque usque in Vurta fluvium solventem, exercitu petivit collecto. Ad cujus auxilium pater meus comes Sigifridus, tunc juvenis necdumque conjugali sociatus amori, venit solum cum suis, et in die sancti Johannis Baptistae adversus eum pugnantes, primoque vincentes, a fratre ejusdem Cideburo, exceptis tantum comitibus prefatis, omnes optimi milites interfecti oppecierunt in loco, qui vocatur Cidini. Hac de fama miserabili inperator turbatus, de Italia nuncios misit, precipientes Hodoni atque Miseconi, si gratiam suimet habere voluissent, usque dum ipse veniens causam discuteret, in pace permanerent. | Meanwhile, the honorable margrave Hodo [Odo I] attacked duke Miseco [Mieszko I], who loyally paid tribute to the Emperor [Otto I] for the lands up to the Vurta [Warta, Warthe], with an army. To his aid came alone my [Thietmar's] father lord Sigifrid [Siegfried von Walbeck], then an unmarried juvenile, with his [men], and on the day of John the Baptist [24 June] they fought against him [Miesko]; they were victorious at first, but then his [Miesko's] brother Cidebur [Czcibor], except for the aforementioned great lords [Odo and Siegfried], slew all the best warriors at the site called Cidini [Cedynia, Zehden]. Disturbed by this miserable story, from Italy the emperor sent orders to Hodo but also Miseco, that by his graciousness, until he arrived himself to investigate the case, they were to remain peaceful. |
After Emperor Otto I returned to Germany, he mediated a truce between the belligerents at the Hoftag diet of 973 in Quedlinburg, according to which Mieszko was obliged to transfer his minor son Bolesław as a hostage to the Imperial court. [3] Nevertheless, the Emperor died a few weeks later and the conflict with the Saxon margraves continued to smoulder. After Mieszko had interfered in the conflict of Otto's son and successor Emperor Otto II with the Bavarian duke Henry the Wrangler, German forces again attacked Poland without success in 979.
The relations with the Empire improved upon Mieszko's marriage with Oda of Haldensleben, daughter of Margrave Dietrich of the Northern March.
![]() | This section may lend undue weight to certain ideas, incidents, or controversies.(January 2012) |
In 1945, the implementation of the Oder-Neisse line resulted in the transfer of the town of Zehden from the German province of Brandenburg to the People's Republic of Poland. [4] The town was renamed Cedynia. Contemporary Polish historiography, tasked to justify the post-war borders, [5] turned the encounter of 972 into the first medieval battle between Poles and Germans. [6]
Largely unknown in Poland before World War II, [7] the battle was instrumentalized by post-war Polish propaganda to justify the Oder-Neisse line, [5] which in 1945 made former German Cedynia Poland's westernmost town, [4] and rendered into a German-Polish battle to underline the doctrine of "eternal German-Polish enmity". [1] Several memorials were erected in Cedynia to that effect, including a 15 metres (49 ft) tall concrete statue of a Polish eagle on a sword overseeing town and Oder river from a hilltop. [5] With the fall of Communism, the propagandistic approach was discarded, yet the battle retained some prominence and is included in modern Polish curricula. [1]
Several battle memorials were installed in the small town: walls were covered with mosaics depicting medieval battle scenarios, wooden statues of knights were placed in the town, the hotel was named "Piast" after the dynasty founded by Mieszko I. [6] A hill near the town was converted into the battle memorial "Victory at Cedynia", with a 15 metres (49 ft) tall concrete statue on the hilltop, showing a Polish eagle sitting on a sword rammed in the hill, the face turned west overseeing town and Oder river. [8] The mosaics on the hill's foot show white knights encircling and defeating black knights. [7] The monument was erected in 1972 to commemorate the 1000th anniversary of the battle, which was celebrated in the town by people from all regions of Poland, including high-ranking politicians, and accompanied by a large youth festival, "Cedynia 72". [5]
The lower Oder area, Cedynia and the associated battle in particular, had also played a prominent role in the 1000th anniversary of the Polish state in 1966. [9] The story of the battle was popularized by various means: rallies, monuments, press reports, popular science, travel guides, prosaic and lyrical works, movies, a dedicated medal, post stamps and envelope editions, even special match box designs. [9]
Recent reassessment has resulted in doubts whether the battle had taken place near modern-day Cedynia. [10] According to Pawel Migdalski, "Cedynia has lost its propagandistic value and is now just one of several small border towns". [11] The memory of the battle is now upheld in a non-political fashion, by an annual festival and re-enactments. [10]
The Battle of Cedynia is commemorated on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Warsaw, with the inscription "CEDYNIA 24 VI 972"
Mieszko I was Duke of Poland from 960 until his death in 992 and the founder of the first unified Polish state, the Civitas Schinesghe. A member of the Piast dynasty, he was the first Christian ruler of Poland and continued the policies of both his father Siemomysł and grandfather Lestek, who initiated a process of unification among the Polish tribes and the creation of statehood.
Bolesław I the Brave, less often known as Bolesław the Great, was Duke of Poland from 992 to 1025, and the first King of Poland in 1025. He was also Duke of Bohemia between 1003 and 1004 as Boleslaus IV. A member of the Piast dynasty, Bolesław was a capable monarch and a strong mediator in Central European affairs. He continued to proselytise Western Christianity among his subjects and raised Poland to the rank of a kingdom, thus becoming the first Polish ruler to hold the title of rex, Latin for king.
The Congress of Gniezno was an amicable meeting between the Polish Duke Bolesław I the Brave and Emperor Otto III, which took place at Gniezno in Poland on 11 March 1000. Scholars disagree over the details of the decisions made at the convention, especially whether the ruler of Poland was pledged the king's crown or not.
The Peace of Bautzen was a treaty concluded on 30 January 1018, between Holy Roman Emperor Henry II and Bolesław I of Poland which ended a series of Polish-German wars over the control of Lusatia and Upper Lusatia as well as Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia.
Cedynia is a small historic town in Poland, and the administrative seat of Gmina Cedynia in Gryfino County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship. It is situated close to the Oder river and the border with Germany. The town is known for the 972 Battle of Cedynia, the first historically recorded battle of Poland.
Thietmar, Prince-Bishop of Merseburg from 1009 until his death in 1018, was an important chronicler recording the reigns of German kings and Holy Roman Emperors of the Ottonian (Saxon) dynasty. Two of Thietmar's great-grandfathers, both referred to as Liuthar, were the Saxon nobles Lothar II, Count of Stade, and Lothar I, Count of Walbeck. They were both killed fighting the Slavs at the Battle of Lenzen.
The Saxon Eastern March was a march of the Holy Roman Empire from the 10th until the 12th century. The term "eastern march" stems from the Latin term marchia Orientalis and originally could refer to either a march created on the eastern frontier of the East Frankish duchy of Saxony or another on the eastern border of the Duchy of Bavaria: the Bavarian marchia Orientalis, corresponding to later Austria.
Eckard I was Margrave of Meissen from 985 until his death. He was the first margrave of the Ekkehardinger family that ruled over Meissen until the extinction of the line in 1046.
The March or Margraviate of Lusatia was an eastern border march of the Holy Roman Empire in the lands settled by Polabian Slavs. It arose in 965 in the course of the partition of the vast Marca Geronis. Ruled by several Saxon margravial dynasties, among them the House of Wettin, the lordship was contested by the Polish kings as well as by the Ascanian margraves of Brandenburg. The remaining territory was finally incorporated into the Lands of the Bohemian Crown in 1367.
OdoI was margrave in the Saxon Eastern March of the Holy Roman Empire from 965 until his death.
Emnilda, was a Slavic noblewoman and Duchess of Poland from 992 by her marriage with the Piast ruler Bolesław I the Brave.
Oda of Meissen, also named Ode, Old High German form for Uta or Ute, was a Saxon countess and member of the Ekkehardiner dynasty. She married Piast Duke Bolesław I the Brave as his fourth and last wife.
Henry II, also known as Saint Henry, Obl. S. B., was Holy Roman Emperor from 1014. He died without an heir in 1024, and was the last ruler of the Ottonian line. As Duke of Bavaria, appointed in 995, Henry became King of the Romans following the sudden death of his second cousin, Emperor Otto III in 1002, was made King of Italy in 1004, and crowned emperor by Pope Benedict VIII in 1014.
The Treaty of Merseburg of 1033 was an agreement between the Salian Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II and the Piast king of Poland Mieszko II Lambert, settling the question of Polish succession which had been contested between Mieszko Lambert and his half-brothers Bezprym, Otto, and Dytryk, since the death of Bolesław I the Brave. Poland was divided into three parts with Mieszko Lambert designated as the supreme ruler. In exchange for the Emperor's support however, Mieszko was forced to renounce the title of king, which had been acquired in 1025 by his father and give up control over Lusatia and Upper Lusatia. Soon after the treaty was concluded, however, Otto died of natural causes and Mieszko prevented Dietric from assuming power in his portion of the divided Poland. Mieszko also subsequently continued to use the title of king until his death shortly after the treaty in 1034.
This is the 1003-1018 German-Polish War. For a list of all Polish-German Wars, see Polish-German Wars.
The siege of Niemcza took place during three weeks in August 1017, in the last phase of the German–Polish War (1002–18), when the forces of the Emperor Henry II besieged the town of Niemcza controlled by the Polish ruler Bolesław I the Brave. Despite the aid of Bohemian and Lutici allies, the Imperial attack was ultimately unsuccessful, according to medieval chronicler Thietmar of Merseburg due to the arrival of reinforcements which managed to break into the city and the illness among the German forces. The failure of the siege marked the end of Henry's campaign in Poland and led the emperor to agree to the Peace of Bautzen in 1018, which left the eastern March of Lusatia and the Milceni lands under Polish control.
Czcibor, a member of the Piast dynasty, was a Polan prince, son of Duke Siemomysł and younger brother of the first Christian ruler, Mieszko I of Poland.
Siegfried I the Elder, Count of Walbeck and Möckerngau, son of Lothar II the Old, Count of Walbeck, and Mathilde von Arneburg.
Gero was a Count of Alsleben, conjectured to be the son of Siegfried and therefore grandson of Gero the Great. If so, his mother was Hedwig, daughter of Wichmann the Elder. Gero was the brother of Tetta, who established a monastery at Alsleben in his name. Thietmar of Merseburg, whose Chronicon is the major source of information here, refers to Gero as a Count in Northern Thuringia and Morzani. Gero was married to Adela of an unknown family. Gero and Adela had one daughter, Adela of Alsleben, who married Siegfried II, Count of Stade. No other counts of Alsleben are recorded until the 12th century.
This is the 979 German-Polish War. For a list of all Polish-German Wars, see Polish-German Wars.