The Origins of the Christianity in Poland. Actual Research on Church Archaeology (original) (raw)
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There are three very important questions regarding Piast architecture around 1000 AD. The first is the origin of the architectural shapes used. The second is the relationship between architecture and liturgy. The third is the research of mechanisms of creating a Christian state, based on the collaboration between the ruler and the church and its missionaries. Comparative studies between Central Europe and Scandinavia in the field of monumental architecture are suggested.
Magdeburg/Poznań and Gniezno The Emergence of the Polish Ecclesiastical Hierarchy and its Dichotomy
The present work aims to study one of the basic problem of the medieval Polish ecclesiastical hierarchy, the formation of the first (arch)bishopric centers, the construction process of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. Two different level are to be distingished in this process, the first, the foundation of Poznań supported by Otto I’s imperial-eccliastical policy which attached the Polish territories to Magdeburg and the imperial hierarchy. On a second level, around the first millenium, the foundation of the archbishopric seat at Gniezno, by Otto III referrs to a new imperial and ecclesiasical idea, the development of the Orbis Christianus by the organization of independent ecclesiastical province of Poland. The present study examinates also if this double level has influenced the further development of the hierarchy and contributed to the dichotomy which is clearly detected in the 12th century. Key words: Medieval Poland, Polish ecclesiastical hierarchy, Magdeburg, Poznań, Gniezno
The article is connected with an interdisciplinary postdoctoral research project, involving aspects of archaeology, history and social anthropology. My aim is to investigate the area between the Oder and the Vistula region in Europe at the turn of Antiquity and the Middle Ages, using written and archaeological sources in order to assess the socioeconomic and cultural changes which were experienced by the peoples inhabiting the studied area from the 1 st century AD up until the beginning of the 10 th century AD. In my studies I apply selected social theories to the collected material which is the database of archaeological sites gathered as the result of AZP project (Archaeological Photograph of Poland project) and to the collected fragments of written sources. In my research I am inspired by achievements in cultural and social anthropology, particularly by the concepts of identity, ethnicity and power. It enables me to treat the studied area as part of a larger socio-economic and political system which might have existed at that time. By referring to some more general theories I am able to show the analyzed area in a wider European context and look at the changes which took place -how they were affected by both internal (within local societies) and by external (from Europe or further) influences.
2019
The medieval Mazovian-Ruthenian borderland came under the influence of Christianity relatively late. This was caused mostly by its peripheral location in relation to the cultural centres of Poland and Rus’ States. The absence of a developed local administrative and religious network, moreover –up to the second half of the 14th century – the neighborhood of pagan Lithuania kept the pre-Christian religious practices alive longer than it was in cases of other lands. We should not forget as well, that analyzed areas were a zone of rivalry between Orthodox and Roman Churches. As a consequence, within the longitudinally windrowing territory of a range of about 100 km a multi cultural conglomerate has been established, with archaeologically recognized influences of Christian religion and local ethnic practices having their roots in older traditions. Through the implementation of the research program a comprehensive analysis of archaeological data concerning funeral customs in the area of the middle Bug River has been carried out. Thus, the basis for discussing the stages of adaptation and acculturation of new burial forms and funeral rituals by local communities has been defined.
The beginnings of Christianity in Pomerania
In: The Dawning of Christianity in Poland and across Central-Eastern Europe: History and the Politics of Memory, eds. I. Kąkolewski, Ch. Lübke, P. Urbańczyk, (= Polish Studies - Transdisciplinary Perspectives 26), Berlin 2020, 91-109., 2020
This chapter discusses the earliest traces of Christianity's spread into Pomerania (Pomorze) during the two centuries before a lasting Church organization was finally built in the 12th c. As evidenced through archaeological finds, already in the late 10th /early 11th c. do we observe an erosion of the traditional sepulchral behaviors and the appearance of new grave and burial-site forms among the Slavic Pomeranians. This phenomenon might be associable with the stronger penetration of Christianity into this region, i.a., during the short-lived conquest of Pomerania by the Piasts at the end of the 10th c. Moreover, the rhythm of economic development in the early-urban residential merchant settlements in this Baltic region, ones which functioned in the pre-state (tribal) period, implied a regular arrival of merchants, including Christian ones. In contrast to the early-Piast monarchy, the penetration of Christianity into Pomerania before the 12th c. was not supported by powerful structures of centralized power.
Architecture in the Early Period of the States of Central Europe, 2018
For the last 120 years, a debate has been unfolding over the relations in the triangle between Great Moravia, Bohemia and Poland in the early Middle Ages. For years, the dispute has been revolving around a few most crucial and at the same time controversial problems. The first problem concerns the role of Duchess Doubravka of Bohemia in the Christianization of Greater Poland. The second one, which is widely reflected in the professional literature, is the incorporation of the Land of Kraków into Great Moravia or strong ties of "the Land of the Vistulans" with that early state organism. There are some other controversies widely discussed by historians and archaeologists. One of them is the incorporation of the Land of Kraków into Bohemia in the middle of the 10th century. In this case the annexation, which is now accepted by most of the scholars, is not a subject of controversy, but the role of the possible Bohemian influence on the alleged Christianization of Lesser Poland, which resulted in the construction of sacral stone buildings. The verification of the old theories has shed light on several issues, changing the perspective of future considerations, or rather introducing alternative possibilities of interpretation. Studies on those problems must carried out in future as interdisciplinary research of archeologists, art historians and historians.