Wroclaw (Breslau) Wroclaw Poland

The first known states to hold power in Silesia had been those of Greater Moravia at end of the ninth century and Bohemia early in the tenth century.

The alliance between Poland and Bohemia had been overturned between 977 and 985.

Poland has participated in invasions led by the German Empire against Bohemia, and in 985 or 990 acquires Silesia at Bohemia’s expense.

Silesia had come within the sphere of influence of two other neighbors, the German Empire and Poland, at the end of the ninth century.

In order to proselytize Silesia to Christianity, Emperor Otto I in 971 had donated the tithe of the Dedosize area to the Diocese of Meissen, and in 996 Otto III defines the Oder up to the spring as the border of the Margraviate of Meissen.

All this, however, is without practical consequences as the expanding Polish state of Mieszko I had conquered Silesia at the same time.

The Dedosize area had already been incorporated around 970.

In 990, Mieszko had annexed Middle Silesia and its main township Niemcza with the help of the German Empire, which had supported Poland in order to weaken Bohemia.

In the ensuing years, Mieszko’s successor, Bolesław I, has integrated the area of the Opolane and Golensize into his realm.

…Wroclaw and …

Henry, more interested in consolidating his own political power than in spreading Christianity, makes a pact with the pagan Lutici tribe against the Christian Boleslaw in 1003, and allows the Lutici to resist German missionaries east of the Elbe River.

…Bretislaus conquers part of Silesia, including Wrocław.

His main goal is to set up an archbishopric in Prague and create a large state subject only to the Holy Roman Empire.

Henry goes north in 1054 to deal with Casimir of Poland, now on the warpath.

He transfers Silesia from Bretislaus to Casimir.

Bretislaus will nevertheless remain loyal to the end.

Poland, Bohemia and Hungary prepare for the Mongol attack while the Austrians observe from the sidelines.

Henry’s army consists of thirty thousand Polish knights, Teutonic Knights, French Knights Templar and an infantry levy including German gold miners from the town of Zlotoryja, or Goldberg.

The death of Duke Henry, who had been close to unifying the Polish lands and reversing their fragmentation, has set back the unification of Poland, and also means the loss of Silesia, which will drift outside the Polish sphere of influence until the unification takes place in the fourteenth century.

The kingdom of Poland, which had been growing in strength under the rule of the Piast dynasty, had In in 1138 encountered an obstacle that impeded its development for nearly two hundred years.

In the will of King Bolesław Krzywousty, Poland had been divided into five provinces—Silesia, …

John of Bohemia gives up his claims to the Polish throne in exchange for twenty thousand Prague groschen and the recognition of his suzerainty over Silesia.

Wroclaw (Breslau), founded in the tenth century on the Oder River as a trade center on the route between southern Europe and the Baltic Sea and the capital of Silesia from the twelfth century, passes from Polish to Bohemian control.