Historical story

How did Bolesław the Brave celebrate Christmas?

There was no Christmas tree in his palace. He did not watch the nativity play or set up a nativity scene. But at least we know for sure that he was giving Christmas presents. Anyone… except my wife.

None of the dignitaries who visited the court of the famous Piast during the Christmas celebrations left any chronicles or notes. The early medieval holidays were also not recorded in a single document.

Even scholars of customs spread their hands helplessly, pointing out that the oldest of Polish Christmas Eve rituals can be applied to at most the 15th or 16th century. What about the previous centuries? They laconically state that some Christmas was also gone then. However, they are afraid to say anything more. Wrong. Former Poland did not function in a vacuum. Knowing the facts from the history of neighboring countries, it is easy to draw analogies and indicate points of contact. With a little effort, it is even possible to - recreate the atmosphere of a thousand-year-old Christmas.

It was at Christmas that Charlemagne was crowned emperor.

Korona is the best Christmas gift

The greatest help is not ethnology, or even cultural history, but purely political history. Christmas, like no other holiday, had an eminently secular, even national character. It has been established that the anniversary of Jesus' birth, and thus his inauguration as God Incarnate, is an ideal celebration for all beginnings of earthly power.

The tradition was started by Charlemagne himself - a man who was an unchanging point of reference for European rulers for centuries. In 800, the king of the Franks was elevated to the rank of the new emperor of the West. It happened no other day, but on the day of Christ the Lord's birth. Many monarchs of Germany and neighboring countries followed Charles.

It is possible that Mieszko I was baptized not at Easter, but at Christmas.

All the Ottonians ruling the Reich were crowned during the holidays:the first, the second and the third (respectively the king of Italy, the emperor and the king of Germany). In England, on the other hand, the tradition was picked up by William the Conqueror. The crown was placed on his head on Christmas Day 1066 - not long after the famous Battle of Hastings.

The date of the first Polish coronation is unknown. Most historians assume it happened on Easter 1025. However, there are also voices according to which the ceremony took place as early as 1024. And it was Christmas. The holiday could be particularly close to the Piasts also for another reason. There is no shortage of arguments indicating that on the 966th anniversary of Jesus' birth there was an act that introduced Poland to Europe. So for the baptism of Mieszko I and his court (read more about this in our other article) .

Political holidays

In Germany - a country from which the Piasts drew their political models - Christmas was accompanied by important state conventions, negotiations and synods. The initiators of various political demonstrations also gathered on December 25.

What could the path of Bolesław the Brave to the imperial sacred look like? Check the cult novel by Teodor Parnicki entitled Silver Eagles.

In 1024, Saxon nobles used the holidays to officially submit to the authority of the new king, Conrad II. In 1025 the Lorraine opposition announced its capitulation on that day. On Christmas Day, acts of servility should not be rejected. The monarch's grace was the perfect Christmas present. Perfect, but not the only one.

In the early Middle Ages, there were no Christmas trees (at best, less ostentatious floral ornaments). There were also no Christmas gifts as we understand them today. Nobody exchanged boxes wrapped in decorative paper. The gifts were much fancier.

This article has more than one page. Please select another one below to continue reading.

Attention! You are not on the first page of the article. If you want to read from the beginning click here.

It was at Christmas that kings conferred new titles on their subjects, rewarded their faithful service with land estates and created new dignitaries. Anyway, the exchange of gifts was mutual. On the subject of German holidays in 1038, it is known, for example, that "the local population sent messengers carrying gifts to the monarch." They were welcomed and returned home "carrying precious gifts".

These types of gifts were part of the rituals of power. It was difficult to talk about the intimate, family atmosphere of Christmas if all the celebrations were held in public and with the participation of countless guests. We hear nothing about private gifts - for spouses, parents, children. Bolesław Chrobry gave people right and left, but he did not think about a gift for his beloved Emnilda. At least on Christmas Day.

Christmas? A purely political holiday.

Christmas Eve the day after Christmas Eve

The holidays were, of course, also an occasion to organize sumptuous feasts. In the times of the first Piasts, neither in Poland nor in neighboring countries, Christmas Eve was celebrated yet. Great feasts took place on the first day of Christmas and… on eleven consecutive days! This is how long, according to contemporary concepts, a full-fledged celebration of Christmas lasted.

They were often accompanied by great extravagance and outright striking ostentation. In England, in the thirteenth century, King Henry III invited a thousand knights each time to Christmas games. He had as many as six hundred oxen for the occasion. In the fifteenth century, the number of the king's Christmas visitors rose to ten thousand. Just one day of playtime required twenty-six oxen and three hundred sheep to be baked, plus countless poultry and other birds.

Emperor Conrad II knew very well what quarrels were at the festive table…

Great feasts were also held in Germany. In fact, it was almost the only occasion for them! In this country, the ruler was expected to be constantly on the move. The Reich Kings traveled thousands of kilometers each year, visiting individual provinces of the state, imperial palaces and estates of various bishops.

They could play and eat, but a day or two later they were forced to lift a heavy belly and move on. Customs allowed only three long, even several-week stops each year. On the occasion of Pentecost, Easter and, of course, Christmas.

Family atmosphere of Christmas

In Poland, around the year 1000, there could not yet be a celebration of the kind known from the court of Henry III. However, it is easy to imagine that Bolesław the Brave followed in the footsteps of his neighbors and did everything to turn Christmas into a celebration in honor of himself. He rewarded his subjects, granted them new estates, accepted tributes. Or maybe… he got into fights with his own family.

What could the path of Bolesław the Brave to the imperial sacred look like? Check the cult novel by Teodor Parnicki entitled Silver Eagles.

Gifts from close relatives in the eleventh century were still a phenomenon. But the quarrels at the holiday table - by no means. The German king Konrad II got into a memorable quarrel with his wife during the Christmas feast of 1031. He was so angry that he didn't try the food at all. And who knows if similar cases did not happen in Poland as well. After all, even the most outstanding rulers were only human.

Inspiration:

The article was inspired by the cult novel by Teodor Parnicki entitled Silver Eagles which has just been re-released.

Selected bibliography:

  1. D. Diehl, M.P. Donelly, Medieval Celebrations. Your Guide to Planning and Hosting Spectacular Feasts, Parties, Weddings, and Renaissance Fairs , Mechanicsburg 2011.
  2. K. Janicki, Ladies with a flaw. Women who crowned Poland , Krakow 2016.
  3. K. Janicki, Ladies of iron. The Women Who Built Poland , Krakow 2015.
  4. R.A. Johnston, All Things Medieval. An Encylopedia of Medieval World , Santa Barbara 2011.
  5. C.K. Kaufman, Christmas [in:] Entertaining from Ancient Rome to the Super Bowl . An Encyblopedia , ed. M.W. Adamson, F. Segan, Vol. I, Westport-London 2008.
  6. Culture of medieval Poland, 10th-13th centuries, ed. J. Dowiat, Warsaw 1985.
  7. H. Wolfram, Conrad II, 990–1039. Emperor of Three Kingdoms , University Park 2006.

A fictional vision of the times of Brave. One of a kind: