THE POLANIAN DYNASTY 61
Kingdom, the Corona regni Poloniae, and the royal title of Rex Poloniae (King
of Poland) begin their permanent careers. Throughout these early centuries, the
acts of homage and of coronation were weapons which all princes used in order
to reinforce their precarious authority. In themselves, they were not an accurate
measure of political power. They could be resorted to by weak rulers in the
search for protection and reinforcement, and by strong ones as signs of success
and independence, or as instruments of diplomacy. Equally, they could be
ignored with impunity. Especially in the early period, the German Emperors
naturally preferred to think that the Piasts owed them allegiance, whether as
friends or as allies or as vassals; and they had several sound precedents to work
on. For their part, the Piasts obviously preferred to consider themselves rulers of
an independent realm, whose alliances with the Empire were of purely
ephemeral significance. They, too, had their precedents. (See Map 5.)
Royal marriages attested to the eminence of the Piast blood. Although there
are examples of princes who married beneath their station, dynastic alliances
constituted an obvious source of political power. In the eleventh and twelfth
centuries the Piasts could aspire to imperial consorts. Mieszko II was married to
Ryksa of the Rhine (Rycheza), granddaughter of Otto the Great; Wladyslaw II
was married to a sister of Conrad III of Hohenstaufen. With increasing fre-
quency, however, princely brides were found in the east. As from Kazimierz I,
who married Maria Dobronega, daughter of Vladmir, Grand Duke of Kiev and
of Anna, sister of Basil II, Emperor of Constantinople, no less than nine of the
sixteen claimants to the senior Piast line were married to Ruthenian princesses.
From these unions, arose the Piast claim to Red Ruthenia which Casimir the
Great successfully pressed in 1340. At various times, marriage contracts were
sealed with all the leading dynasties of Central Europe. Swietoslawa Storrada,
the 'Proud', daughter of Mieszko I, was first married to Eric, King of Sweden
and then to Sven, King of Denmark, by whom she gave birth to Canute the
Great. Of the four wives of Boleslaw Chrobry, two were daughters of the
Margrave of Meissen, and one the sister of Steven I, King of Hungary; but none,
if we are to believe the Anonymous Gaul, were so beloved as his favourite
Slavonic bride, Eminilda.
Constitutionally, the realm was regarded as the prince's patrimony, and was
ruled by customary laws. The numerous local officials, designated in Latin as
comes (count), and in Polish first as pan (lord) and then as kasztelan (castellan),
were appointed and removed at the ruler's word. They were responsible for the
military and judicial administration of the various districts, each centred on its
grod or 'fortress'. They also administered the royal estates, and the many forms
of customary service and tribute, including the podwod (the provision of horses
and transport); the przewod (the provision of a guard to travellers); the stan (the
provision of board and lodging); the narzaz (tribute paid in cattle); the sep (the
corn-rent paid by the monasteries); and the poradlne (the 'plough-penny') paid
by Crown tenants. The princely court did not distinguish between its public and
private functions. The chief official, the Wofewoda or Palatinus, served as the