Rankings

Thought it would be fun to rank some of the Polish rulers up until the time prior to the creation of the Jagiellonian monstrosity. So here it goes – the are all Piasts and only those who realistically held or were hoping to hold most of Poland. I did not mention some others that lasted too short. I did not mention those that are considered legendary (possible but we know little of them outside of Gallus Anonymous). Władysław I Herman did not make the top 10 (or, put differently, he was the worst of all these lot):

 

1. Władysław I the Short (6th Polish King)
   • plus – brought together most of the country; got himself crowned king
   • minus – none
2. Bolesław I the Great (1st Polish king)
   • plus – kicked ass – established western Polish frontier on Souava (Saale) west of the Elbe; temporarily broke the Varangian hold on Kiev; got himself crowned king
   • minus – overstretched his realm; did not provide a solid foundation post-demise
3. Mieszko II (2nd Polish King)
   • plus – made peace with the Veleti; gave all to preserve father’s kingdom
   • minus – well, the whole country kind of fell apart
4. Bolesław II the Bold  (3rd Polish King)
   • plus – tried to kick ass; tried to control the magnates and church hierarchy
   • minus – picked too many fights
5. Mieszko I 
   • plus – built and formalized the state; was wise enough not too piss off too many people
   • minus – failed to win over other Suavic tribes; remained subservient to the Frankish kingdom
6. Casimir I the Restorer
   • plus – managed to restore the state
   • minus – everything else
7. Przemysł II (4th Polish King)
   • plus – won the Polish crown after over two centuries; helped Władysław I the Short
   • minus – managed to be knocked off way too early
8. Casimir III (7th Polish King)
   • plus – built out state infrastructure
   • minus – gave up on Silesia, expanded eastwards creating a weird country shape with an Orthodox population, spent too much time partying instead of planning for succession
9. Bolesław III Wrymouth
   • plus – tried to kick ass as if he were Bolesław I the Great
   • minus – kicked ass more like Bolesław II the Bold; altogether too much ass kicking without cementing the country; most importantly, his lesson from his war against his brother Zbigniew was all wrong and resulted in the partition of the country
10. Zbigniew
    • plus – fought with Bolesław III Wrymouth against their father’s lackeys
    • minus – lost to Bolesław III Wrymouth so never got the chance to do more

Copyright ©2018 jassa.org All Rights Reserved