Pole Position
…Or, on Standing Erect in a Crooked World
A Tale of the Piasts of Poland
…Or, on Standing Erect in a Crooked World
A Tale of the Piasts of Poland
The major players (as so far as I'm caught up with writing):
Boleslaw ‘the Bold’ Piast; King of Poland; Duke of Lesser Poland, Count of Opole, Cieszyn, Krakow, and Sandomierz.
• Skilled Tactician
• Strong
• Diligent
• Wroth
• Charitable
• Brave
Wladyslaw I Piast; Duke of Mazowja, and Kujawyja, Count of Plock, Czersk, Sieradz, and Kujawy. (not a big player, but turned out a necessary plot point, sort of a bit... well only in the prelude)
• Amateurish Plotter
• Greedy
• Gluttonous
• Deceitful
• Arbitrary
• Infirm
Przemyslaw I Poraj; Duke of Greater Poland, Count of Poznan, Lubusz and Kalisz. (A generally useless vassal)
• Detached Priest
Wlost I Dunin; Duke of Silesia, Count of Upper-Silesia, and Lower-Silesia.
• Elusive Shadow
The messenger entered Boleslaw’s chamber late in the evening.
“My Liege; he is died”, said the rain soaked man. A fitting night for rain, thought Boleslaw. In truth, Wladyslaw’s death was not a surprise at all, but the young King was still pained to hear of his brother’s untimely passing.
“He had no heir, either” the messenger continued, “and women cannot-“
“hold any titles in my Kingdom; I’m well aware of all the rules and stipulations. I may be a young king, but I am not a naïve one.” Boleslaw looked on the messenger and breathed a sigh of resignation,
“In truth, I have been expecting this. Sickly, my dear brother always was. I have just the man in mind; he’s long been a part of my retinue.” Boleslaw motioned to one of his squires, “Dawid, fetch me a holy man. I am a man of war not script, so for this battle I will need a learned man’s hands.” Dawid exited promptly to fetch one of the local priests hauled up in Krakow’s Keep.
“So who, my Liege, have you in mind?” Asked the messenger, who had now removed his furs and moved to the warmth of the hearth.
“Boguchwal of Pruszkow, he’s of the right blood; I presume that maybe his grandmother lay with one of my father’s farm animals” Boleslaw chuckled sarcastically, and looked ponderingly out the window. The second man was not as moved to humor, all things considered.
“Is he capable, do you think?” Asked the second man; rubbing his hands together to gather some more warmth.
“He’s not much of a fighter, to be sure, but he was competent enough in our taking of Prussia 3 summers ago, and the sacking of the Italian peninsula. I will give him the Duchy of Kujawy. Afterall my sickly brother ruled both it and Mazowia somehow. This man can’t do any worse with half his realm.” Replied Boleslaw, as the second man nodded in walked the squire with the holy-man, as Boleslaw referred to him.
“Praises be to you, my liege,” began the priest, officially, the Prince-Bishop of Sacz, “I’m terribly saddened by the news of your brother’s passing, he was a great man”
“Spare me your false compliments, unless you intended to be facetious” broke in Boleslaw, “We both know my brother was anything but a great man. In truth; he was half a man. I wonder if he even fathered those two daughters. They look nothing like us Piasts” Boleslaw motioned for the Prince Bishop to sit,
“Either way, it matters not. We shall have to mourn him, and have him entombed here at Krakow. He was the son of a King, and shall be buried like as his position deserves. More importantly, though, is the matter of his succession. His eldest daughter is betrothed to a prince of Denmark, his youngest, though, has had no such luck of yet.”
The Prince-Bishop nodded his consent and moved for the parchment and quill, starting dutifully at his task…
As the doors to the hall closed, it was all Boleslaw could do to not strike the nearest underling to him in his anger. Wlost Dunin was right to bring his concerns before the King, but in such a public place, and at the King’s brother’s funeral of all times. The silver lining in the whole event, for Boleslaw’s sake, was that Przemyslaw Poraj, the Duke of Greater Poland, was appeased enough about the splitting of the late Wladyslaw’s fief into two halves; the Duchy of Kujawy passing to Boguchwal of Purszkow, while the remaining counties of Plock and Czersk passing to the Polish crown.
Przemylsaw took Boleslaw at the shoulder and leaned in toward his ear,
“He will be the cause of a lot of grief, that one,” Boleslaw could only nod his consent, “If not him, I suspect anything that shoots forth from his loins will be a thorn in the Kingdom’s side.”
Boleslaw could only, again, nod his silent agreement. The Duke continued;
“You know, I know many shady characters, my Liege, I can make certain arrangements…”
Boleslaw quickly shook off the notion,
“Przemek; hushed tones, a few silver pieces, and a dagger in the night are not how a King rules his land. If Wlost Dunin wishes to strike the Silesian in rebellion, I will bring to bear the full might of my army onto him, and give him the fool’s death he would desire.” Przemyslaw could see the truth in that; he himself was satisfied with the situation in the Kingdom, and a sense of overall pleasure and unity was achieved for the crown at the state funeral held for Wladek.
“Your right, my liege,” started Przemyslaw, “and you can fully count on house Poraj to join you on the warpath, if it comes to be.” Boleslaw nodded, and promptly turned to the other lords; all busy with intermittent conversations amongst themselves.
“Lords; truly Wladyslaw’s passing was as untimely as it was a cruel jab of fate,” started Boleslaw, and all assembled raised their drinks in a toast, “Let us now drink to his memory, and let us drink this night out of our own!” he bellowed, and promptly gulped down his goblet of wine. It would be a long night, Boleslaw knew, but an even longer morning. Boleslaw also knew he would be in for a long and hard few years. Something told him that for sure. What it was; he could not pinpoint; but he just had that gut wrenching feeling. He felt that maybe, just maybe he now understood what his father had tried for ever to convey to him.
…
So a brief synopsis:
Boleslaw warred for Pagan Prussia right from the start (through marriage to Adelheid of the HRE a massive alliance was gained), his brother Wlad was infirm, and incapable and in general a terrible, terrible Duke. The sacking of the Italian peninsula occurred just after the Conquest of Prussia (from both of the two Pagan chieftans there); the HRE warred with Savoie, Forez, Bologna, Toscana and Ancona, and the dutiful King Boleslaw marched in aid of the Emporer, and as recompense for helping to widen Poland’s borders earlier.
I’m doing my best to catch up on this King, and trying my best not to play his heir’s story as much as possible. Let’s just say that from the start of this kings reign, to his death, I kept track of most everything with screenshots of most? Important evens, and the 30 year reign netted me about 200 screens to now sort through and write up interesting events/dialogue for. My brain hurts already from this written improv…
Pictures I'll try to get in tomorrow. Anyone know of any good free image hosting websites? That's an aside.
