History of Poland in the Middle Ages

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Prehistory and protohistory
Middle Ages
Piast period10th century–1385
Jagiellonian period1385–1572
Early Modern
Early elective monarchy1572–1648
Deluge and decline1648–1764
Three partitions1764–1795
Modern
Partitioned Poland1795–1918
World War I1914–1918
Second Republic1918–1939
World War II1939–1945
Communist Poland1945–1989
Contemporary
Third Republic1989–present

Timeline of Polish history

This article covers the

Reformation
unfolded is generally associated with the transition out of the Middle Ages, with European overseas expansion as a succeeding process, but such dates are approximate and based upon nuanced arguments.

Early Middle Ages

Main article: Poland in the Early Middle Ages
See also:
Slavic peoples

The first waves of

Antes.[a] The Slavs had first migrated into Poland in the second half of the 5th century, some half century after these territories had been vacated by Germanic tribes (after a period during which settlements were absent or rare).[2][3] According to the references given in this and Poland in the Early Middle Ages article, many scholars now believe that the Slavic tribes had not been present in Poland before the earliest medieval period,[b] though the opposite view, predominant in Polish prehistory and protohistory in the past, is still represented.[4][5]

From there, over the 6th century, the new population dispersed north and west. The Slavs lived mostly by cultivating crops but also engaged in

Magyars.[4][5]

West Slavic tribes in 9th/10th century (Slovaks did not exist in the 9th/10th century)

A number of West Slavic Polish tribes formed small states, beginning in the 8th century, some of which later coalesced into larger states. Among these tribes were the Vistulans (Wiślanie) in southern Poland, with Kraków and Wiślica as their main centers (major fortified centers were built in their country in the 9th century), but later the tribe(s) referred to as the Polans (Polanie—literally, "people of the fields") would prove of decisive historic importance. At the end of the 9th century Vistulans were part of the Great Moravia, according to some theories.

The tribal states built many

gords – fortified structures with earthen and wooden walls and embankments – from the 7th century onward. Some of these were developed and inhabited; others featured a large empty space and may have served primarily as refuges in times of trouble. The Polans settled the plains around Giecz, Poznań and Gniezno that would become the early center of Poland and lent their name to the country. They went through a period of accelerated building of gord-type fortified settlements and of territorial expansion, beginning in the first half of the 10th century, and the Polish state developed from their tribal polities in the second half of the 10th century.[5][6]

High Middle Ages

Main article:
Poland during the Piast dynasty

The Polish state begins with the rule of

Kingdom of Poland that was to follow.[7]

Late Middle Ages

Main article:
Poland during the Jagiellon dynasty

Beginning with the

religious tolerance. The European Renaissance currents evoked in late Jagiellon Poland (kings Sigismund I the Old and Sigismund II Augustus) an immense cultural flowering. Poland's and Lithuania's territorial expansion included the far north region of Livonia.[7][8]

See also

Notes

a.^ "Though their names are now dispersed amid various clans and places, yet they are chiefly called Sclaveni and Antes"; transl. by Charles Christopher Mierow, Princeton University Press 1908, from the University of Calgary web site

b.

autochthonic theory
the opposite is true

References

  1. et al.), "Y-STR Variation among Slavs: Evidence for the Slavic Homeland in the Middle Dnieper Basin" Archived 2012-04-25 at the Wayback Machine, in Journal of Human Genetics, Springer
    Japan, May 2007. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
  2. ISBN 83-85719-34-2
    , p. 337
  3. ^ Piotr Kaczanowski, Janusz Krzysztof Kozłowski – Najdawniejsze dzieje ziem polskich (do VII w.), pp. 327-330 and 346
  4. ^ a b Piotr Kaczanowski, Janusz Krzysztof Kozłowski – Najdawniejsze dzieje ziem polskich (do VII w.), pp. 325-352
  5. ^
    ISBN 83-7023-954-4
    , pp. 122-67
  6. ISBN 83-85719-38-5
    , pp. 47-86
  7. ^
    ISBN 83-01-03732-6
  8. ISBN 83-01-03732-6
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