The beginnings of Polish statehood in the mid-tenth century are linked to the conversion of Duke Mieszko I to Christianity. This took place via the intermediary of Bohemia. Mieszko first married Dobrawa (Dąbrówka), daughter of the Bohemian duke Bolesław I Srogi (Boleslaus I the Cruel) – an event dated to 965. A year later, the duke and his entourage were baptised, starting the Christianization of Poland. Mieszko’s marriage to Dąbrówka and his baptism, establishing Christianity as the ruling religion, were fundamental to the subsequent development of the state, making it part of the circle of Europe’s Christian monarchies.
These events were described in contemporary annals and later chronicles. The circumstances of Mieszko’s baptism were related by an anonymous chronicler known as Gallus Anonimus, active at the court of Bolesław Krzywousty(Bolesław III Wrymouth). We do not know his name or his country of origin. He is believed to have come from the south of France, although more recent research suggests that he may have hailed from northern Italy. He was probably a Benedictine monk. His Polish Chronicle, composed in Latin ca 1113 (its narrative stops at this date), describes the history of Poland since its mythical beginnings until the chronicler’s times. The author’s intent was to relate the deeds of Polish dukes, predecessors of Bolesław Krzywousty, and of Bolesław himself. It was doubtless a work intended to praise the ruler and his family, and to justify his title to the Polish throne. Gallus’s Chronicle is the first work of such breadth to have been written in Poland and treating of its history, hence despite its Latin and the author’s foreign origins it is considered the first work of Polish national literature. It remains a seminal and unrivalled source for the study of the early Piast period.
