MIESZKO I’S LEGAL AND FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS TOWARD HIS THANES IN THE LIGHT OF IBRAHIM IBN YAQUB’S CHRONICLE

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MIESZKO I’S LEGAL AND FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS TOWARD HIS THANES IN THE LIGHT OF IBRAHIM IBN YAQUB’S CHRONICLE

Journal Title: Annuals of the Administration and Law - Year 2015, Vol 2, Issue 0

Abstract

One of the first monuments of the history of Poland is the account by Ibrahim Ibn Yaqub, a Jewish merchant, a so-called radhanite (ar-rādhānīyya), xe historical account of the history of Poland mentioned above originated from 10th century. Among the great amount of information handed over by Ibrahim Ibn Yaqub’s account there is data about Prince Mieszko I’slegal obligations toward his army. xe obligations were connected with obligation of army equipment for his warriors and with obligation of paying an amount of money to the parents of a child upon the latter’s birth. xe prince gives these men clothes, horses, weapons and everything they need. Prince Mieszko the First also when of these men (warriors) has a child, he [i.e. Mieszko] orders to pay a salary to this child since his birth. xe subject of this article will be an attempt to answer the question whether the ruler of the Polans was able to #nance the obligations described by Ibrahim Ibn Yaqub. xe discovery during last 20 years of archaeological sites associated with the extraction and smelting of lead as well as of silver which was associated with lead ores and the co-occurring ores. xe chronology of the archaeological sites that were examined, associated with the extraction and smelting of lead (and silver) from the borderlands of Upper Silesia and Little Poland runs from the second half of the 11th c. and the turn of the 13th c. Research of lead pollutions in peat bogs yields even much earlier dating. It indicates that lead, and what follows, silver, began to be smelted already in the 9th century. In the light of historical accounts and the ever-increasing number of new archaeological sources one may assume that on the eve of the establishment of the early medieval state – of which the legal con#rmation in the European system of that time was the baptism of the prince in 966 – the ruler of the Vistula state was capable of having his obligations toward his closest armed team described in the account.<br/><br/>

Authors and Affiliations

Dariusz Rozmus

Keywords

10th century Ibrahim Ibn Yaqub Prince Mieszko I’slegal obligations toward his army

EP ID EP400459
DOI -
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