Bolesław I the Brave, King of Poland

The obverse features a portrait of the first Polish King Bolesław I the Brave. The reverse side of the medal shows the legendary scene of his entry to Kiev in 1018.

Material: silver color bronze

Diameter: 70 mm

Weight: 132 g

Designer: Roussana and Andrzej Nowakowski

Signed with the artist's initial.

Manufacturer: State Mint, Warsaw 1992

Issuer: TWO, Warsaw 1991

Condition: Unc.

Worldwide shipping priority registered 3-8 weeks.

Bolesław I the Brave (or Valiant, the Great) (Polish: Bolesław I Chrobry) (966 or 967 - June 17, 1025), in the past also known as Bolesław I the Great (Polish: Bolesław I Wielki), of the Piast Dynasty - son of Mieszko I and of his first wife, the Bohemian princess Dobrawa - ruled as Duke of Poland, 992-1025, and as King of Poland in 1025.

In 984 Bolesław married an unknown daughter of Rikdag (Riddag, Ricdag), Margrave of Meißen. Subsequently he married an unknown woman from Hungary, maybe a daughter of Geza, Grand Duke of Hungary; then Emnilda, daughter of Dobromir; and lastly Oda, another daughter of the Margrave of Meißen. His wives bore him sons, including Bezprym, Mieszko II and Otton; and a daughter, Mathilde. After his father's death around 992, Bolesław expelled his father's second wife, Oda von Haldensleben, and her sons, thereby attempting to unite Poland again.

In 997 Bolesław sent Saint Adalbert of Prague to Prussia, on the Baltic Sea, on a mission to convert the heathen Prussians to Christianity — an attempt that would end in Adalbert's martyrdom and subsequent canonization. From his father, he had inherited their principality, centered on Greater Poland, being along the river Warta ("valley of Warta"), and much smaller than modern Poland. By 997, Bolesław already possessed Silesia and Pomerania (with its chief city, Gdańsk) and Lesser Poland (with its chief city, Cracow). In 1002 Bolesław annexed present-day Moravia, and in 1001 or 1003, parts of present-day Slovakia.

In 1000, Emperor Otto III, while on pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Adalbert at Gniezno, invested Bolesław with the title Frater et Cooperator Imperii ("Brother and Partner in the Empire"). Some historians state that the Emperor also pledged a royal crown to Bolesław. During that same visit, Otto III accepted Gniezno's status as an archbishopric.

After the untimely death of the Emperor Otto III at age 22 in 1002, Bolesław supported Eckard I, Margrave of Meissen for the German throne. When Eckard was assassinated in April, Bolesław lent his support to Henry IV, Duke of Bavaria, and helped make him King as Henry II. Bolesław and his father had earlier backed Henry II, Duke of Bavaria, against Otto, and Henry IV was the son of the earlier Henry. With Eckard dead, Bolesław laid claim to the March of Meissen as a relative of Eckard through marriage, but Henry only acquiesced to give him the March of Lusatia and detach it from Meissen. Henry remained suspicious of Bolesław for his early support for Eckard and Bolesław for his part remained committed to extending his own territories at the expense of the Empire.

Bolesław conquered, and made himself Duke of, Bohemia in 1003 - 1004, ruling as Boleslav IV.

At the request of his son-in-law Sviatopolk I of Kiev, the Polish duke intervened in Kievan affairs: not only did he expel Yaroslav the Wise from Kiev, but possibly he deployed his troops in Rus' capital for about half a year. According to popular legend Bolesław notched his sword hitting the gate of Kiev (this sword called Szczerbiec is a symbol of polish monarchy). During this campaign Poland re-annexed the Red Strongholds, later called Red Ruthenia, lost by Bolesław's father in 981.

The intermittent wars with the Holy Roman Empire ended with the Peace of Bautzen in 1018, which left Sorbian Meißen and Lusatia in Polish hands.

Emperor Henry II obliged Bolesław to pledge his fealty again in exchange for the lands that he held in fief. After Henry's death in 1024, Bolesław crowned himself king (1025), thus raising Poland to the rank of a kingdom and being the first Polish king, his predecessors having been "princes". Bolesław sent an army to aid his friend — also his nephew, son of his sister Sigrid — Canute the Great in his conquest of England. Bolesław's son, Mieszko II, crowned himself king immediately upon his father's death.