The Wielkopolska Chronicle (or Chronicle of Greater Poland, Polish : Kronika wielkopolska) is an anonymous medieval chronicle describing supposed history of Poland from legendary times up to the year 1273. It was written in Latin at the end of the 13th or the beginning of the 14th century.
The chronicle was written from the point of view of the region of Wielkopolska (Greater Poland). Its actual title is unknown. In one of the remaining copies it's written down as Chronicum Poloniae and in another Annalia vestuste gentic Polonorum vel Kronice. [1]
Some historians, such as Brygida Kürbis have argued that the first edition of the work was created between 1283 and 1296 and its author was the curator of the Poznań capitulary, Godzisław Baszko. A second edition was completed between 1377 and 1384, which is partly supported by inclusion of material supported by the Chronicle of Dzierzwa from the beginning of 14th century. Others, like Jan Dąbrowski, have posited that the entire chronicle was written by Jan of Czarnków in the second half of the 14th century. [1] [2]
There are nine existing manuscripts, including a Great Chronicle copy which contains a collection of historical sources collected in Wielkopolska at the end of the 14th century.
The purpose of the author was to record the history of the rulers of Poland. The chronicle covers mythical events from pre-history up to the year 1271/72, and in two additions the year 1273. As a source, stylistically the chronicle is composed of two parts. The first, going up to the year 1202 is based on the Chronica Polonorum of Wincenty Kadłubek. The second part, written more in the style of annals is based on yearly records of Capitularies of Gniezno and Poznań. Other sources used by the author most likely include the lost Annales Polonorum historiae, church archives, and Vita s. Stanislai, Vita maior (Life of Saint Stanisław) of Wincenty of Kielcza. The introduction to the work has survived in two editions of the manuscript. One of these was written in 1295/1296 (it mentions Przemysł II as the current ruler). The other, more extensive one, was most likely created in the 14th century.
The chronicle was translated into Polish in 1965 by Kazimierz Abgarowicz. [3]
The chronicle can be seen as a gesta ducum , a composition whose purpose is to celebrate the deeds of princes and kings. The central figures of the work are the Piast rulers of Wielkoposka, Przemysł I and Przemysł II. Przemysł I is presented as an ideal of a ruler who combines knightly valor (engaging himself only in defensive wars) with religious values (Christian humility and devotion). Other ideal rulers presented in the chronicle include other Polish kings and dukes, including Bolesław II the Generous (before the murder of Saint Stanisław) and Bolesław III Wrymouth.
Among other stories, legends, and historical narratives, the Wielkopolska Chronicle contains the first recorded version of the legend of Lech, Czech, and Rus, as well as a Polish version of the story of Waldere and Hildegyth (also Waltharius), a popular tale of medieval Europe, transplanted onto Polish soil.
Gniezno is a city in central-western Poland, about 50 kilometres east of Poznań. Its population in 2021 was 66,769, making it the sixth-largest city in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. One of the Piast dynasty's chief cities, it was the first historical capital of Poland in the 10th century and early 11th century, and it was mentioned in 10th-century sources, possibly including the Dagome Iudex, as the capital of Piast Poland.
The House of Piast was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. The first documented Polish monarch was Duke Mieszko I. The Piasts' royal rule in Poland ended in 1370 with the death of King Casimir III the Great.
Przemysł II was the Duke of Poznań from 1257–1279, of Greater Poland from 1279 to 1296, of Kraków from 1290 to 1291, and Gdańsk Pomerania (Pomerelia) from 1294 to 1296, and then King of Poland from 1295 until his death. After a long period of Polish high dukes and two nominal kings, he was the first to obtain the hereditary title of king, and thus to return Poland to the rank of kingdom. A member of the Greater Poland branch of the House of Piast as the only son of Duke Przemysł I and the Silesian Princess Elisabeth, he was born posthumously; for this reason he was brought up at the court of his uncle Bolesław the Pious and received his own district to rule, the Duchy of Poznań in 1273. Six years later, after the death of his uncle, he also obtained the Duchy of Kalisz.
The Duchy of Greater Poland was a district principality in Greater Poland that was a fiefdom of the Kingdom of Poland. It was formed in 1138 from the territories of the Kingdom of Poland, following its fragmentation started by the testament of Bolesław III Wrymouth. In 1177, the state broke had separated into the duchies of Poznań, Gniezno and Kalisz, and united again in 1279, lasting in that form until 1320, when it was incorporated back into the Kingdom of Poland. Its capital was Poznań.
Przemysł I, a member of the Piast dynasty, was Duke of Greater Poland from 1239 until his death, from 1241 with his brother Bolesław the Pious as co-ruler. He was able to re-acquire large parts of Greater Poland, ruling as Duke of Poznań and Gniezno from 1247 and, upon several inheritance conflicts with his brother, as Duke of Poznań and Kalisz from 1249, sole Duke of Greater Poland from 1250, and Duke of Poznań from 1253 until his death.
Czarnków is a town in Poland in Czarnków-Trzcianka County in Greater Poland Voivodeship. As of December 2021, the town has 10,279 inhabitants.
Wincenty Kadłubek was a Polish Catholic prelate and professed Cistercian who served as the Bishop of Kraków from 1208 until his resignation in 1218. His episcopal mission was to reform the diocesan priests to ensure their holiness and invigorate the faithful and cultivate greater participation in ecclesial affairs on their part. Wincenty was much more than just a bishop; he was a leading scholar in Poland from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. He was also a lawyer, historian, church reformer, monk, magister, and the father of Polish culture and national identity.
Gallus Anonymus, also known by his Polonized variant Gall Anonim, is the name traditionally given to the anonymous author of Gesta principum Polonorum, composed in Latin between 1112 and 1118. Gallus is generally regarded as the first historian to have described the history of Poland. His Chronicles are an obligatory text for university courses in Polish history. Very little is known of the author himself and it is widely believed that he was a foreigner.
The Battle of Hundsfeld or Battle of Psie Pole was said to be fought on 24 August 1109 near the Silesian capital Wrocław between the Holy Roman Empire in aid of the claims of the exiled Piast duke Zbigniew against his ruling half-brother, Bolesław III Wrymouth of Poland. It was recorded by the medieval Polish chronicler Bishop Wincenty Kadłubek of Kraków in his Chronica seu originale regum et principum Poloniae several decades later.
The Gesta principum Polonorum is the oldest known medieval chronicle documenting the history of Poland from the legendary times until 1113. Written in Latin by an anonymous author, it was most likely completed between 1112 and 1118, and its extant text is present in three manuscripts with two distinct traditions. Its anonymous author is traditionally called Gallus, a foreigner and outcast from an unknown country, who travelled to the Kingdom of Poland via Hungary. Gesta was commissioned by Poland's then ruler, Boleslaus III Wrymouth; Gallus expected a prize for his work, which he most likely received and of which he lived the rest of his life.
The Duchy of Eastern Pomerania, was a duchy centred on Pomerelia, with Gdańsk as its capital.
Lechites, also known as the Lechitic tribes, is a name given to certain West Slavic tribes who inhabited modern-day Poland and eastern Germany, and were speakers of the Lechitic languages. Distinct from the Czech–Slovak subgroup, they are the closest ancestors of ethnic Poles and of Pomeranians, Lusatians and Polabians.
Walddeutsche was the name for a group of German-speaking people, originally used in the 16th century for two language islands around Łańcut and Krosno, in southeastern Poland. Both of them were fully polonised before the 18th century, the term, however, survived up to the early 20th century as the designation na Głuchoniemcach, broadly and vaguely referring to the territory of present-day Sanockie Pits, which has seen a partial German settlement since the 14th century, mostly Slavicised long before the term was coined.
The Royal-Imperial Route in Poznań is a tourist walk running through the most important parts of the city and presenting the history, culture and identity of Poznań. The Route leads in a westward direction, from The Church of St. John Jerusalem behind the Wall to the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and St. Florian.
The period of rule by the Piast dynasty between the 10th and 14th centuries is the first major stage of the history of the Polish state. The dynasty was founded by a series of dukes listed by the chronicler Gall Anonymous in the early 12th century: Siemowit, Lestek and Siemomysł. It was Mieszko I, the son of Siemomysł, who is now considered the proper founder of the Polish state at about 960 AD. The ruling house then remained in power in the Polish lands until 1370. Mieszko converted to Christianity of the Western Latin Church in an event known as the Baptism of Poland in 966, which established a major cultural boundary in Europe based on religion. He also completed a unification of the Lechitic tribal lands that was fundamental to the existence of the new country of Poland.
Bolesław the Forgotten or the Cruel was a semi-legendary King of Poland of the Piast dynasty from 1034 until his death in 1038 or 1039. He was allegedly the first-born son of Mieszko II Lambert.
The Treaty of Kępno was an agreement between the High Duke of Poland and Wielkopolska Przemysł II and the Duke of Pomerania Mestwin II signed on February 15, 1282, which transferred the suzerainty over Gdańsk Pomerania (Pomeralia) to Przemysł. As a result of the treaty Przemysł adopted the title dux Polonie et Pomeranie.
Ludgarda, was a German noblewoman of the House of Mecklenburg, and by marriage Duchess consort of Poznań during 1273–1283 and of all Greater Poland during 1279–1283.
Chronica Polonorum is a treatise about Polish history and geography written in Latin by a Polish renaissance scholar Maciej Miechowita, a professor of Jagiellonian University, historian, geographer, astrologer, and royal physician of king Sigismund I the Old. Chronica Polonorum was first published in 1519.
Jan Gerbicz, or Herbisz was a thirteenth century bishop of Poznan.