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Since around 960 he ruled the Duchy of Poland. It was a patrimonial monarchy which means that it was the state of the ruler.

Mieszko decided to get baptized, because:

I. He wanted to annex the lands of Pomerania, but he did not have enough strength to do it by his own. He realized that only when was Christian that he could form alliances with other Christian rulers.

II. Christianity also provided safety. Christians believed that pagans should get converted into Christians and if they didn't, they shall be killed. The duke knew that after his baptism the countries and wealthy men around him could not attack Poland since Christian countries could not attack each other.

III. Christianity was able to replace the different beliefs of conquered tribes and untite Poland as one country with one religion.

IV. Christianity strengthened the Duke's power. The priests preached that Mieszko the I rules from "The will of God" and a rebellion against him is equally bad as rebelling against god.

V. Christianity explained the world better than all the Pagan beliefs. Moreover, stone temples, the splendor of the rites and the knowledge of the priests shocked the education-less Polans.

The Chechs baptized Mieszko the I in 966. He came into a alliance with the Checks through marriage of the Duke of Bohemia's daghter: Doubravka.

The outcomes of baptism were:

I .The rise of Poland as a Christian country.

II. Including Poland in the West European circle of exchange and trade amongst other Christian countries.

III. Learning to write and read because of the arrival of monks to Poland.

IV. Introduction of Christian Holidays and Christian calendar to Poland.

V. Because of it, new buildings were becoming built from stone.

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After Miszko I's dath, his son Bolesław I the Brave became the duke in 992.

In 997 Bolesław the Brave helped organize Bishop Adalbert's expedition to Prussia to convert the Pagan Prussians to Christianity. However, the Prussians killed Adalbert. Bolesław I the Brave bought Wojciech's body who was proclaimed a saint because (he died for faith) and deposited it in Gniezno as a relic. Thanks to this, Gniezno became an important religious place.

In 1000, Otto III (The Roman Emperor) went on a pilgrimage to Gniezno to visit the relic of Saint Wojciech. Bishoprics got established in Poland, and an archbishopric was established in Gniezno.

Otto III put the imperial diadem on Bolesław's head and gave a copy of the spear of Saint. Maurice. Those were signs of royal power.

Bolesław the Brave fought against the Kievian Rus and the Holy Roman Empire.

The emperor was against Bolesław the Brave's coronation since they were now fighting a war. Once Otto died, Bolesław became the king of Poland in 1025. Now Poland was a kingdom and was equally emportant as the other states in Europe and now the ruler was considered to be chosen by god. Unfortunately, Bolesław died in the same year as his corronation.

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Mieszko II took power after his death.

There was also a crisis at his time:

I. The death of Bolesław made all of his sons to take over power.

II. Aspirations of the nobles to become independent arose because they wanted it to be like in the old days when they ruled their own pieces of land.

III. Striving to restore old cults was happening in Christian Poland.

IV. Poland was still in a conflict with many countries around it because of Mieszko II's dad.

V. People in Poland were revolting against the finanicial loads of the country caused by war (They did it, because they had to pay higher taxes).

After Mieszko II's death there was plenty of Chaos. His son was exiled from Poland and there was a rebellion of peasants. The duke of Bohemia, Bretislav, used the opportunity for victory and attacked Poland during the Chrisis. He destroyed it.

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I. At the end of the year 1039 Miszko II's son returned to Poland with half a thousand german soldiers.

II. He rebuilt Poland and set the new hq in the city of Cracow because Gnizno was too severely damaged to be a hq location.

III. He was dependent on Germany.

IV. Casimir had no money to give the soldiers so he offered them the land that they have conquered.

V. He also gave some land to clergy.

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I. He was the ruler following Casimir the Restorer.

II. He put his own candidates on the thrones of the Kievian Rus and Hungary.

III. In 1076 he became king.

IV. He gained independance from the Emperor

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When Władysław Hermain suffered death in 1079, the country was split between his two sons- Bolesław and Zbigniew. Both wanted to rule the whole country so a civil war began. Bolesław won the war and exiled his brother.

Zbigniew asked Germany for help so a war erupted. Bolesław won.

Zbigniew returned to Poland, and still demanded that he would get power. In response, Bolesław blinded him and he died soon after. People saw this badly so Bolesław had to do penance.

Bolesław also annexed Pomerania into Poland.

Bolesław did not want his sons to have the same conflict as he had, so he wrote a testament that divides Poland into heridatory districts.