THE POLANIAN DYNASTY 69vassals, especially those of the marcher lords of Brandenburg. In 1249, the
Brandenburgers seized the territory of Lubusz (Lebus) astride the Odra and
turned it into their base for expanding their Neumark into the valleys of the
Notec and Warta. In 1308-12, in exploitation of their raid on Gdansk, they
appropriated Slupsk (Stolp), Stawno (Schlawe), and Walce (Walzen), driving a
permanent wedge between Wielkopolska and Pomerania.
Pomerania was first settled permanently by West Slav tribes, who like the
Sorbs of the Ostmark, were closely related to the Poles. It is generally regarded
by Polish historians as a Polish province, and by German historians as a
German one. In the course of the Middle Ages, it was much affected by dense
German colonization in the western districts and in the lower Vistula valley,
and by Polish colonization in between. In the 960s, it was briefly united by
Mieszko I, but under his successors was allowed to split into two parts. Eastern
Pomerania, known in German as Pommerellen, and centred on Gdansk
(Danzig), remained a Polish principality until its conquest by the Teutonic
Order in 1308. In the ecclesiastical order, it was subject first to the Bishop of
Kolberg, but from 1148 to the Bishop of Kujawy and thus to the Polish See.
Western Pomerania centred on Szczecin (Stettin), was ruled by a native Slav
dynasty, and was contested in turn by the Poles, Danes, and Brandenburgers, all
eager to effect its conversion to Christianity. Boleslaw HI Krzywousty was par-
ticularly active in this area. Having reduced the Pomeranian forts of Bialograd
(Belgard), Kolobrzeg (Kolberg), Wolin (Wollin), Kamieri (Cammin), and
Szczecin (Stettin) to submission over a period of years, in 1124 he imported
Bishop Otto of Bamberg (1062-1139) to evangelize the heathen on his behalf. At
that point, his plans went awry. In 1128 Bishop Otto returned to Pomerania
under the auspices of the German King, Lothar of Supplinburg. He subordi-
nated the new bishopric of Wolin to the See of Bamberg thereby propelling the
province into the German sphere. After the death of Krzywousty, the Poles lost
all direct influence. One of their few memories of the episode, immortalized in
a song recorded by the Anonymous Gaul, was that of the taste of fresh sea fish:
Pisces salsos et foetentes apportabant alii.
Palpitantes et recentes nunc apportant filii.
Civitates invadebant patres nostri primitus
Hii procellas non verentur neque maris sonitus.
Agitabant patres nostri cervos, apros, capreas,
Hii venantur monstra maris et opes aequoreas.*Silesia's fortunes were not dissimilar to those of Pomerania. Lying on the
confines of both the Poles and the Czechs, the rich lands of the Slezanie were
long disputed between them. In the three hundred years between 990 and 1290,* Our fathers brought us reeking, salted, fish;/But we, their sons, bring fish that's fresh and
wriggling./Our fathers invaded cities in the olden times/But we, their sons fear neither
storms nor thundering waves./Our fathers dealt with deer, and bees, and goats;/Their sons
hunt for monsters and for treasures of the deep.^6