Boleslav I

Boleslav I, called The Brave or The Mighty (c. 966-1025), first King of Poland. In 992 he succeeded his father Mieszko as Prince of Poland and embarked on a vigorous programme of expansion, beginning by declaring his country's independence of the Holy Roman Empire. In the west he conquered Lusatia and Meissen, and in 1003 he forced Bohemia to acknowledge him as its prince. Later losing these territories to the German King Henry II, he finally regained them by the Treaty of Bautzen (1018). In the same year, he invaded the Russian state of Kiev, giving its throne to his son-in-law Svyatopolk. Boleslav continued his father's support of Christianity and made the Polish Church independent under the papacy, establishing Gniezno as an archbishopric. Crowned king in the year of his death, he left Poland one of the strongest states in Europe.