Appreciate this momentous event and be arrogant of it

Marek Tucholski

April 18 – a unique and reported date for our nation — the anniversary of the coronation of Bolesław Chrobry as King of Poland and 1000 years of the Kingdom of Poland!

“In Bolesław Chrobry the structures of the state were strengthened, the Archbishop of Gniezno was established, many castles and border fortifications were built, the first monumental Polish cathedrals were erected. For all this, the contemporary and descendants will call him the Great.” — so we can read about Bolesław Chrobry in “The Post of the kings and princes of Poland” Jan Matejka.

Paweł Jasienica in “Polska Piastów” writes: “Koronacja was the last act of the large reign of Bolesław Chrobry, who died a fewer months later, on 17 June 1025. The first Polish king was buried in Poznań. Gall, writing his chronicle in the 12th century, did not hesitate to call Bolesław the Great. [...] There is always a memory of a king who ruled from the Baltic to the Carpathians, from Szczecin to Gdańsk, from Bug to the advanced run of the Elbe. Today, if we look at the map of then - day Europe — especially Western Europe — we will see a real mosaic of colorful stains that depict the fields of various clergy and secular greats, who are somewhat weak in their work to obey the authority of the state. In the mediate Ages, the efforts of centrifugal, spreading larger political organisms from within were far superior. Contrary to this principle, the Chrobry monarchy — about half a million square kilometers — was surely besides a richly diverse country, composed of many tribal circles, but compact, ruled efficiently.”

Boleslaw the Great, like another Piast rulers, ruled the young country under very hard geopolitical conditions. In the west, he had to contend with a powerful German state and pagan Slavic tribes east of the Elbe. In the south-west there was already a solid Czech state. In the north he had to fight the Prusai and Pomeranians, and in the east he had to fight the Kiev Rusia. Internally, the state was inactive diverse, which, as Paweł Jasienica rightly pointed out, was an additional challenge.

Today, a unique and reported date for our nation — the anniversary of the coronation of Bolesław Chrobry as King of Poland and 1000 years of the Kingdom of Poland!

“In the days of Bolesław Chrobry the structures of the state were strengthened, the Archbishop of Gniezno was established, many castles were built and... pic.twitter.com/bCQ6sSaqqa

During the following centuries the global situation of Poland did not improve – on the contrary, it became increasingly complicated. German force from the west continued. The Polish Teutonic State was created hostile, from the east the Mongol invasions, and later the Lithuanians, the Czechs allied with our enemies and gradually pulled distant Silesia. Despite this, the Piasts left behind a compact, strong and – for the realities of the 14th century – modern, capable of conducting independent politics and setting directions in the theological thought of the state. 1 can only imagine how much Poland could gain if the royal line of Piasts did not expire in the second half of the 14th century – just before the arrival of an exceptionally favourable geopolitical situation, which lasted until the end of the 16th century and was lost by the Jagiellonian dynasty. The Germans were then broken into hundreds of tiny states and were no threat. The Teutonic State fell apart from the inside under force of cities wishing to join Poland. Moscow was inactive weak and was just beginning to throw down the Tatar yoke. The Ottoman Empire has not yet reached our borders, and Sweden was only a margin of European politics.

Unfortunately, Piastom was not allowed to benefit from these favorable conditions. You were building a state, incapable to put down your sword for a moment. And in these hard realities, 1000 years ago, they made Poland a kingdom.

Let us appreciate this momentous event and be arrogant of it – we have full grounds for it. Let us usage this large legacy of the Piasts and make Poland the Great.

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