The Bride Doubravka of Bohemia and the conversion of Prince Mieszko (the genealogical, political and transformational aspects)

The marriage of Princess Doubravka to Prince Mieszko I is a specific example of acculturation in Central-Eastern Europe when Christianity came from Bohemia. It was striving to emancipate its own diocese, further east, to emerging Poland. The study first addresses the genealogical issues of Bolesław I the Braves family and considers the identification of Doubravkas mother (Biagota?, Slavníkovci?). The impulse for the Christianisation of Poland was Prince Mieszkos defeat in 963; he needed military allies while a certain crisis of identity could have arosen („culture shock” – the disfavour of ethnic „daemons”). In his chronicle, Thietmar of Merseburg rather obscured the information about the marriage, through a certain bias against Mieszko, and especially towards his son Bolesław. The baptism took place before the diocese was established; it was a cultural transfer „from court to court”, from Prague to Poznań, perhaps due to the similarities between the Czech and Polish dynastic traditions. The goals of Mieszkos marriage were achieved in 967 (victory of the combined Polish-Bohemian army over Wichmann, birth of Mieszkos son Bolesław).