An outline, era by era

Poland, Hungary, Bohemia

Medieval / Post-Classical Era · ~500 – ~1500 CE

Poland, Hungary and Bohemia are the three main kingdoms of medieval East-Central Europe. Each began as a realm of a ruling dynasty: the Piasts in Poland, the Árpáds in Hungary and the Přemyslids in Bohemia. Between about 900 and 1000 CE their rulers accepted Latin Christianity, built up church organisation and entered the political world of western Christendom, while staying independent of the Holy Roman Empire.

Over the next five centuries the three lands grew, fragmented and recovered. They suffered the Mongol invasion of 1241, then reached a high point in the 1300s under Casimir III, Charles I and Louis of Hungary, and Charles IV of Bohemia. Later they were linked by shared dynasties and by the Jagiellonian and Luxembourg rulers. Their story matters because it shaped the Catholic, Slavic and Magyar heartland of central Europe, and set patterns of noble power and royal elections that lasted into early modern times.

Things happened, and the rest is history

  1. The baptism of Mieszko I and the rise of Poland

    Event

    What happened

    In 966 Mieszko I, ruler of the Polans, accepts Latin Christian baptism, after marrying the Bohemian princess Dobrawa in 965. He rules a state centred on Gniezno and Poznań. In 968 the first Polish bishopric is founded at Poznań.

    The rest is history

    The baptism brought Poland into Latin Christendom and gave it a link to the Church as a counter to German pressure. In the year 1000 Emperor Otto III visited Gniezno, where the archbishopric was founded. Mieszko's son Bolesław I the Brave was crowned king in 1025, shortly before his death. The Piast dynasty then ruled Poland until 1370.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryThietmar of Merseburg. Chronicon. Latin chronicle, early 11th century.Contemporary account of Mieszko, Bolesław and the meeting at Gniezno.
    2. BookUrbańczyk, Przemysław. Mieszko the First. Warsaw: Instytut Archeologii i Etnologii PAN, 2008.
    3. BookDavies, Norman. God's Playground: A History of Poland, Volume 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981.

  2. Stephen I and the founding of Christian Hungary

    Event

    What happened

    After the Magyars are defeated at the Lechfeld in 955, they stop raiding western Europe and settle in the Carpathian Basin. Géza, of the Árpád dynasty, begins to accept Christian missionaries. His son Stephen is crowned king around Christmas 1000 or on 1 January 1001, with the approval of Pope Sylvester II.

    The rest is history

    Stephen set up dioceses, founded monasteries and organised the kingdom into counties. He defeated rivals who wished to keep older customs. He died in 1038 and was canonised in 1083. Hungary became a lasting Christian kingdom, and the Árpáds ruled until 1301.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryLegenda maior sancti Stephani regis. Latin saint's life, late 11th century.Church account of Stephen's rule.
    2. BookKontler, László. Millennium in Central Europe: A History of Hungary. Budapest: Atlantisz, 1999.
    3. BookEngel, Pál. The Realm of St Stephen: A History of Medieval Hungary, 895-1526. London: I. B. Tauris, 2001.

  3. The Přemyslids and the bishopric of Prague

    Event

    What happened

    By the late 9th century the Přemyslid dukes rule from Prague Castle and Levý Hradec. Duke Bořivoj is baptised, according to tradition by Methodius, around 880. In 973 a bishopric is founded at Prague, with Bohemia placed under Mainz.

    The rest is history

    Bohemia became a duchy bound to the Holy Roman Empire yet with its own dynasty. Vratislaus II received a personal royal title in 1085. In 1212 the Golden Bull of Sicily from Frederick II confirmed the hereditary royal title of Ottokar I. Bohemia then ranked as a kingdom, later one of the imperial electors.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryCosmas of Prague. Chronica Boemorum. Latin chronicle, early 12th century.
    2. BookWihoda, Martin. Morava v době knížecí. Prague: Nakladatelství Lidové noviny, 2010.
    3. BookŽemlička, Josef. Čechy v době knížecí. Prague: Nakladatelství Lidové noviny, 1997.

  4. The fragmentation of Poland, 1138

    Event

    What happened

    When Bolesław III Wrymouth dies in 1138, his will divides Poland among his sons, with the eldest as senior duke at Kraków. Disputes among the Piast branches follow. Over the next century the realm splits into many duchies.

    The rest is history

    The division weakened Poland's defence and let neighbours, such as the Teutonic Knights called in by Conrad of Masovia in the 1220s, gain footholds. The country was reunited only slowly. Władysław I the Elbow-high was crowned in 1320, and his son Casimir III continued the work of restoration.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryGallus Anonymus. Gesta principum Polonorum. Latin chronicle, early 12th century.
    2. BookKnoll, Paul W. The Rise of the Polish Monarchy: Piast Poland in East Central Europe, 1320-1370. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972.

  5. The Mongol invasion of 1241

    Event

    What happened

    In 1241 Mongol armies under Batu and Subutai invade Poland, Hungary and the lands near Bohemia. They defeat Polish and German forces at Legnica in April and crush King Béla IV at the Sajó River (Mohi) in April. Béla flees, and the Mongols ravage Hungary until they withdraw in 1242.

    The rest is history

    Hungary lost a large part of its population, by some estimates a substantial share. Béla IV afterwards encouraged stone castles and settlers, and is sometimes called the second founder of the state. Bohemia, protected by its mountains, was spared. The invasion changed defence across the region.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryRogerius. Carmen miserabile. Latin eyewitness account of the Mongol invasion of Hungary, c. 1244.
    2. BookJackson, Peter. The Mongols and the West, 1221-1410. Harlow: Pearson Longman, 2005.

  6. Ottokar II and Bohemia's rise and fall

    Event

    What happened

    Ottokar II of Bohemia (reigned 1253 to 1278) takes Austria, Styria and further lands, and founds towns and fortresses. After Rudolf of Habsburg is elected king of the Romans in 1273, Ottokar refuses to recognise him. He is defeated and killed at the Battle on the Marchfeld in 1278.

    The rest is history

    The loss ended Bohemian rule over the Austrian lands and began the rise of the Habsburgs there. Bohemia remained a major kingdom. Ottokar's reign also encouraged German settlement in Bohemian towns, which changed the country's make-up.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryChronicon Aulae Regiae (Zbraslav Chronicle). Latin chronicle, early 14th century.
    2. BookŽemlička, Josef. Přemysl Otakar II. Prague: Nakladatelství Lidové noviny, 2011.

  7. The Angevins, Louis the Great and Casimir the Great

    Event

    What happened

    After the Árpád line ends in 1301, Charles I of Anjou wins the Hungarian throne by 1310 and reforms finances. His son Louis I reigns 1342 to 1382 and, by agreement with Casimir III of Poland, becomes king of Poland in 1370. Casimir III, last Piast king, has founded the University of Kraków in 1364 and built many castles.

    The rest is history

    Louis left no son, so his daughter Jadwiga was crowned king of Poland in 1384. She married Jogaila of Lithuania in 1386, starting the Jagiellonian dynasty. Hungary under Louis stretched from the Adriatic to the Black Sea in influence. These ties joined Poland's future with Lithuania.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryChronicon pictum (Illuminated Chronicle). Hungarian Latin chronicle, c. 1358.
    2. BookEngel, Pál. The Realm of St Stephen: A History of Medieval Hungary, 895-1526. London: I. B. Tauris, 2001.

  8. Charles IV, Prague and the Hussite movement

    Event

    What happened

    Charles IV of Luxembourg, king of Bohemia from 1346 and emperor from 1355, makes Prague an imperial capital. He founds Charles University in 1348 and the New Town. In 1415 the preacher Jan Hus is burned at the Council of Constance, and Hussite wars follow from 1419.

    The rest is history

    Prague became one of the great cities of Europe. The Hussite wars saw Bohemian armies defeat several crusades called against them. The Hussites formed a distinct church, and the Compacts of Basel of 1436 gave Bohemia a settlement that tolerated two forms of communion. Afterwards George of Poděbrady became king in 1458.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryVita Caroli. Autobiography of Charles IV, Latin, c. 1350.
    2. BookKaminsky, Howard. A History of the Hussite Revolution. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967.

  9. Lech, Czech and Rus

    Origin story

    The legend

    Three brothers, Lech, Czech and Rus, set out from their homeland. Lech sees a white eagle's nest at a place he calls Gniezno and settles there, founding the Poles, and takes the white eagle as his emblem. Czech and Rus found the Czechs and the Rus.

    The rest is history

    The tale appears in later chronicles, notably the Chronica Polonorum of Wincenty Kadłubek and the Greater Poland Chronicle of the 13th and 14th centuries, and in Bohemian tradition for Czech. No evidence shows three brothers. Gniezno was indeed an early Piast centre, and the white eagle became the Polish emblem by the 13th century. The story gave medieval Slavs a shared past.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryChronica Poloniae Maioris (Greater Poland Chronicle). Latin chronicle, 14th century.
    2. BookDavies, Norman. God's Playground: A History of Poland, Volume 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981.

  10. Libuše and the founding of Prague

    Origin story

    The legend

    Libuše, a wise princess, foresees from a rock above the Vltava a great city whose glory will touch the stars. She orders it built where a man is making a threshold, and calls it Praha. She marries the ploughman Přemysl, from whom the dynasty descends.

    The rest is history

    The tale is first written by Cosmas of Prague around 1119, centuries after the supposed events. Přemysl the ploughman is a legendary ancestor. Prague Castle was indeed settled by the late 9th century and the Přemyslids were real rulers. The legend explained the dynasty's humble, rightful origin and the city's name.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryCosmas of Prague. Chronica Boemorum. Latin chronicle, early 12th century.
    2. BookWihoda, Martin. První česká království. Prague: Nakladatelství Lidové noviny, 2015.

  11. The Hunt of the Wonder Stag and the Huns

    Origin story

    The legend

    The brothers Hunor and Magor chase a magical stag across the steppe and find fertile land. There they marry the daughters of a prince and become ancestors of the Huns and the Magyars. Later Árpád leads the Magyars into the Carpathian Basin.

    The rest is history

    The tale appears in Hungarian chronicles such as Simon of Kéza's Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum of the 1280s. It links the Magyars to Attila's Huns. Modern scholarship holds that the Magyars are a Finno-Ugric speaking people who came from the east in the late 9th century, and had no direct descent from the Huns. The conquest of the basin around 895 is real.

    Sources

    1. PrimarySimon of Kéza. Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum. Latin chronicle, c. 1282 to 1285.
    2. BookKéza, Simon. The Deeds of the Hungarians. Ed. and trans. László Veszprémy and Frank Schaer. Budapest: Central European University Press, 1999.

  12. The Wawel Dragon and Krakus

    Folk tale

    The legend

    A dragon lives in a cave beneath Wawel Hill and devours livestock and maidens. Prince Krakus, or in some versions a cobbler's apprentice, feeds it a sheep stuffed with sulphur, and it bursts from thirst. The city of Kraków is founded and named for Krakus.

    The rest is history

    Wincenty Kadłubek told of Krak and a dragon in his chronicle around 1200, and later versions added the cobbler. Wawel Hill was settled long before the Piasts, and Kraków was an important town by the 10th century. A dragon cave beneath Wawel can be visited today. The story belongs to folklore and not to recorded events.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryKadłubek, Wincenty. Chronica Polonorum. Latin chronicle, c. 1200.
    2. BookDavies, Norman. God's Playground: A History of Poland, Volume 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981.

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