Świętopełk Mieszkowic (b. ca. 980 – d. bef. 991?), was a Polish prince member of the
House of Piast
The House of Piast was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. The first documented List of Polish monarchs, Polish monarch was Duke Mieszko I of Poland, Mieszko I (–992). The Poland during the Piast dynasty, Piasts' royal rule in Pol ...
.
He was the third son of
Mieszko I of Poland
Mieszko I (; – 25 May 992) was Duchy of Poland (966–1025), Duke of Poland from 960 until his death in 992 and the founder of the first unified History of Poland, Polish state, the Civitas Schinesghe. A member of the Piast dynasty, he was t ...
but the second born from his second marriage with
Oda, daughter of
Dietrich of Haldensleben, Margrave of the
North March.
Life
Nothing is known about his first years of life. Świętopełk is only named in the chronicles of
Thietmar of Merseburg
Thietmar (also Dietmar or Dithmar; 25 July 9751 December 1018), Prince-Bishop of Merseburg from 1009 until his death in 1018, was an important chronicler recording the reigns of German kings and Holy Roman Emperors of the Ottonian (Saxon) dynas ...
; he was omitted in the document "''
Dagome iudex''" (ca. 991/92), which names his parents and full-brothers
Mieszko
Mieszko is a Slavic given name of uncertain origin.
Onomastics
There are three major theories concerning the origin and meaning of the name of Duke Mieszko I of Poland. The most popular theory, proposed by Jan DÅ‚ugosz, explains that Mieszko is a ...
and
Lambert, a fact which indicates that he may have been dead by that time, in or before 991.
Another hypothesis stated that the absence of Świętopełk from the "''Dagome iudex''" was because he was already in
Western Pomerania
Historical Western Pomerania, also called Cispomerania, Fore Pomerania, Front Pomerania or Hither Pomerania (; ), is the western extremity of the historic region of Pomerania, located mostly in north-eastern Germany, with a small portion in no ...
, which was granted to him as a fief and in consequence he was the ancestor of the earlier Dukes of Pomerania; however, this theory is now discarded by the majority of modern historians, who linked the first Pomeranian Dukes with the Piast Dynasty through a daughter of either Mieszko I or Baltic
Žemužil .
References
* ''Thietmari chronicon'' (edited by Marian Zygmunt Jedlicki), Poznań 1953, p. 224.
*
Balzer O., ''Genealogia Piastów'', Kraków 1895.
*
Gieysztor A., ''Świętopełk'',
n:''Słownik starożytności słowiańskich'', 1975, vol. V, p. 585.
*
Jasiński K., ''Rodowód pierwszych Piastów'', Wrocław-Warsaw 1992.
*
Labuda G., ''Czy książęta zachodniopomorscy wywodzili się z Piastów?'', (in:) ''Studia i materiały do Dziejów Wielkopolski i Pomorza'', 1958, vol. IV, No 1, pp. 33–47.
* G. Labuda, ''Mieszko I'', Wrocław 2002, p. 154, 199.
*
Rymar E., ''Dagome iudex jako organiczna część decyzji Mieszka I w sprawie podziału Polski na dzielnice. Reanimacja hipotezy o piastowskim rodowodzie dynastii pomorskiej'', 1986, pp. 293–348.
* J. Widajewicz, ''Początki Polski'', Wrocław 1948.
* Z. Wojciechowski, ''Polska nad Wisłą i Odrą w X wieku'', Katowice 1939, p. 111.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mieszkowic, Swietopelk
980s births
Piast dynasty
10th-century deaths