Medieval Liturgy and the Making of Poland: A Study in Early Medieval Political Identification (c. 960s—c. 1030s)

Although the issues of premodern ethnogenesis, early medieval state formation, and political identification are central fields of inquiry in recent historiography, scholars rarely refer to liturgical sources even when discussing the significance of political rituals. Therefore, the goal of this paper is to examine identity formation in the Piast realms based on liturgical evidence. First, the paper analyzes the meaning and spread of the name Polonia proper, as applied c. 1000 for the territory under the Piast ruler. Second, the paper analyzes how Christian liturgy enabled leaders to shape and internalise Polish political identity through the liturgical invocation of the name of a ruler. Finally, based on the Carolingian, post-Carolingian, and Slavic analogies, the paper argues that the political message conveyed by liturgical phenomena should not be seen as exclusively limited to the members of the clergy, but rather that it could have reached a broader audience as well.