Mieszko Mieszkowic

Mieszko Mieszkowic (b. 979/984 - d. aft. 992/95), was a Polish prince member of the House of Piast.

He was the second son of Mieszko I of Poland but the eldest born from his second marriage with Oda, daughter of Dietrich of Haldensleben, Margrave of the North March.

Life

Nothing is knew about his first years of life. Mieszko's first appearance was in the document called "Dagome iudex" (ca. 991/92), alongside with his parents and brother Lambert. The intention of the issued of this document was to protect Mieszko and Lambert's inheritance from their older half-brother Bolesław I the Brave, who wasn't named there. After Mieszko I's death (25 May 992) began the war between Bolesław I and his half-brothers; accordin to some historians, the struggle lasted only a few weeks, and by others, only finished in 995.

At the end, Bolesław I took control over all the paternal heritage and expelled his stepmother and half-brothers from Poland to Germany. Mieszko's further fate is unknown, but in 1032 certain Dytryk (son of either Mieszko or his brother Lambert) returned of Poland and took control over part of the country after the fall of Mieszko II Lambert, but his reign was short-lived: in 1033 he was deposed and expelled by Mieszko II, who reunited all Poland under his hands.

References

• Thietmari chronicon (edited by Marian Zygmunt Jedlicki), Poznań 1953, p. 224.
• Kürbisówna B., Dagome iudex - studium krytyczne, [w:] Początki Państwa Polskiego, vol. I, Poznań 1962, p. 396.
• O. Balzer, Genealogia Piastów, Kraków 1895.
• K. Jasiński, Rodowód pierwszych Piastów, Wrocław-Warsaw 1992, pp. 100-101.
• J. Widajewicz, Początki Polski, Wrocław 1948.