In this episode, we weave together the few sources of the Riverlands in the 10th and early 11th centuries with what we have already learned about Slavic societal development to tell a narrative of Poland's foundation and consolidation under Mieszko I, Bolesław the Brave, and Mieszko II. In a mere half-century, they would go from a single semi-consolidate tribe under the Piasts in greater Poland, to a northern hegemony taking on and gaining victories over such powers as the Holy Roman Empire and the Rus. Of course, this would not happen without much difficulty, near total collapse, and permanent implications for the future.

Source List

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Sources

Intro: Zachary Wheeler and Nathaniel Scarborough, "Hej, Sokoły" folk tune

Outro: Antonín Dvořák, Serenade for Strings, Op. 22 (London Symphony Orchestra 1960)

Davies, Norman. God’s Playground: A History of Poland Volume 1: Origins to 1795. Columbia University Press, 2005.

Davies, Norman. Moorhouse, Roger. Microcosm: A Portrait of a Central European City. Jonathan Cape, 2002.

Wilson, Peter H. Heart of Europe. Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University, 2020.

Berend, Nora. Urbanczyk, Przemyslaw. Wiszewski, Przemyslaw. Central Europe in the High Middle Ages: Bohemia, Hungary, and Poland, C.900-C.1300. Cambridge University Press, 2014.

Reports of the Slavs from Muslim Lands Part I, Ibrahim Ibn Ya'Qub's Account. Jassa.org, 2015.