DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.31076#0017
Tke Oldest ITistorical Tidings o fC
racow
About 960 a.d., Ibrahim ibn Yakub, a Judeo-Spanish diplomat
from Tortosa, participated in an embassy from the Caliph of Cor-
doba to the imperial court of Emperor Otto the Great at Magde-
burg. Yakub then traveled on to Prague, all the while collecting
and recording information about neighboring countries—Poland
and its Prince Mieszko, in particular. The diplomat leamed that
the Czech lands of Prince Boleslaw included the important
castle-town of Cracow, from which many merchants came with
goods to Prague. Ibrahim’s original text was lost, but not before
it had been studiously rewritten by the chronicler al-Bakri.
Mieszko was the chief of the Polanes, a Slavic tribe whose
castle-towns of Poznan, Plock, and Gniezno formed the foun-
dation of the Polish state. Possessing a relatively strong military
force, he was able to successfully defend his lands from the
expansionist German Empire of the time. Moreover, he suc-
ceeded in extending his rule southwards, establishing links with
the related Vislanes tribe and incorporating their towns of
Cracow, Wislica, and Sandomierz. These southem lands were
called “Little Poland” (Malopolska)—literally, “the younger
Poland”—to distinguish them from the Great Poland of the
Polanes.
In spite of territorial conflicts, Mieszko maintained a close
relationship with the Czechs in the hope that they would be
useful in the Christianization of pagan Poland. The plan to
adopt Western civilization through the intermediary of the
Bohemians was one of the major decisions in the history of
Poland. Mieszko’s strategy was executed in 965 by means of a
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racow
About 960 a.d., Ibrahim ibn Yakub, a Judeo-Spanish diplomat
from Tortosa, participated in an embassy from the Caliph of Cor-
doba to the imperial court of Emperor Otto the Great at Magde-
burg. Yakub then traveled on to Prague, all the while collecting
and recording information about neighboring countries—Poland
and its Prince Mieszko, in particular. The diplomat leamed that
the Czech lands of Prince Boleslaw included the important
castle-town of Cracow, from which many merchants came with
goods to Prague. Ibrahim’s original text was lost, but not before
it had been studiously rewritten by the chronicler al-Bakri.
Mieszko was the chief of the Polanes, a Slavic tribe whose
castle-towns of Poznan, Plock, and Gniezno formed the foun-
dation of the Polish state. Possessing a relatively strong military
force, he was able to successfully defend his lands from the
expansionist German Empire of the time. Moreover, he suc-
ceeded in extending his rule southwards, establishing links with
the related Vislanes tribe and incorporating their towns of
Cracow, Wislica, and Sandomierz. These southem lands were
called “Little Poland” (Malopolska)—literally, “the younger
Poland”—to distinguish them from the Great Poland of the
Polanes.
In spite of territorial conflicts, Mieszko maintained a close
relationship with the Czechs in the hope that they would be
useful in the Christianization of pagan Poland. The plan to
adopt Western civilization through the intermediary of the
Bohemians was one of the major decisions in the history of
Poland. Mieszko’s strategy was executed in 965 by means of a
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