Domus Bolezlai

Values and social identity in dynastic traditions of medieval Poland (c.966-1138)

ISBN: 9789004181427
Liczba stron: 640
Rok wydania: 2010
Wydania: 1 (BRILL)

Przemysław Wiszewski

Ph.D. (2000) in History, University of Wrocław, Poland, assistant professor at the University of Wrocław. His main field are social and cultural phenomena uniting social groups of different sizes in the medieval and early modern eras.

Between the middle of the 10th century and the middle of the 12th century both the cultural and the national identities of the Poles were formed. They were determined by political decisions made by the rulers from the Piast ruling house and built on a framework consisting of stories focused on the Piasts’ past. In all of this a dynastic tradition supported by the current ruler and his entourage was created and re-created. Tradition was understood as communication, the aim of which was to transmit values which define ways of perceiving the world by those people who accept this tradition as their own – by the Poles. The aim of the work is to seek traces of these traditions and values still alive in Polish culture.