Biographies of Polish rulers of the Piast dynasty: the historian’s handling of propaganda, myths, popularisation and academic facts

For centuries, biographies have invariably been an essential part of historiography. Every epoch, sometimes even every generation, has written its own ‘lives of famous men’, less frequently ‘women’. Among the numerous biographies, a prominent place is held by those relating to the Middle Ages. Among these, the lives of rulers come to the fore, where the ruler (prince, king, emperor) was among the key models. As for the title of this text, the first part of which is selfexplanatory, its subject includes broadly defined historical biographies concerning Polish rulers of the Piast dynasty. The subject therefore encompasses monographs, articles and entries in various lexicographical publications. The other part of the title is less obvious and requires some clarification as to what is meant by propaganda, myths, popularisation and academic facts. Despite various limitations, biographies are worth the effort, but princes like Mieszko Bolesławowic and Bezprym do not necessarily require biographies. In their case, all that is left is to show the broad background of the era, in which the ruler gets lost. In both cases, the source base is extremely fragile: barely a single reference (mainly Gallus Anonymous, infallible in such situations), insufficient to assemble a biography. It should be stressed that generally, there are few biographies of women: Piast dynasty women and wives of Piasts: Rycheza, Grzymisława, Kinga, Hedwig of Silesia and Elisabeth of Poland, Queen of Hungary have been covered.