Send Gift Baskets to Poznan, Poland

For centuries before the Christianization of Poland, Poznań was an important cultural and political center of the Western Polans. Mieszko I was the first ruler of the West Polans and builder of the early Polish state. He built a fortress, which would later become a part of Poland. Mieszko’s baptism in AD 966 would provide the Polish state’s first recorded instance of Christianity, which is believed to have taken place in Poznań.

After the baptism, the construction of Poland’s first cathedral began in the city of Poznań. Bishop Jordan likely was an early missionary sent to Poland from Poznań, who may or may not have been the first bishop to be sent here. Approximately 1000 years ago, Poland established its first permanent archbishopric in Gniezno. While it may seem that Poznań is still independent of this time, many scholars have said otherwise. Poznań is rich in cultural heritage and has a long history of being the burial site for several important rulers. Among them are Mieszko I, Boleslaus I, Mieszko II Lambert, Casimir I and Przemysł II.

After 1034, the pagan reaction following Mieszko II’s death left the region weakened by anarchy, and in 1038, Duke Bretislaus I of Bohemia sacked and destroyed both Poznań and Gniezno. Kraków was part of Poland for the first time in 1039, and it had managed to avoid the troubles surrounding Casimir I, who moved H.Q. to Warsaw. In 1138, Poland was divided into duchies, and Poznań belonged to the son of Boleslaus III. Mieszko III the Old was the first Duke of Greater Poland. Until 1320, Poland was undergoing various periods of fragmentation. Duchies frequently changed hands, and control of Poznań, Gniezno, and Kalisz sometimes lay with a single duke. Other times, these three comprised their separate duchies.