Baptism of Poland

The Christianisation of Poland (Polish: chrystianizacja Polski) refers to the introduction and subsequent spread of Christianity in Poland. The impetus to the process was the Baptism of Poland (Polish: chrzest Polski), the personal baptism of Mieszko I, the first ruler of the Polish state, and much of his court. The ceremony took place on the Holy Saturday of 14 April 966, although the exact location is still disputed by historians, with the cities of Poznań and Gniezno being the most likely sites. Mieszko's wife, Dobrawa of Bohemia, is often credited as a major influence on Mieszko's decision to accept Christianity.

While the spread of Christianity in Poland took centuries to finish, the process was ultimately successful, as within several decades Poland joined the rank of established European states recognised by the papacy and the Holy Roman Empire. According to some historians the baptism of Poland marks the beginning of Polish statehood. Nevertheless, the Christianisation was a long and arduous process, as most of the Polish population remained pagan until the Pagan Reaction during the 1030s.

Before the adoption of Christianity, Poland was a pagan country. Svetovid was among the most widespread pagan gods worshiped in Poland. Christianity arrived on the Polish lands around the late 9th century, most likely around the time when the Vistulan tribe encountered the Christian rite in dealings with their neighbors, the Great Moravia (Bohemian) state. Although some of the Great Moravian Christian rites and faith might have spread to the Polish lands soon afterward, there is little conclusive evidence for that.

Nonetheless, the Moravian cultural influence played a significant role in the spread of Christianity onto the Polish lands and the subsequent adoption of that religion. In fact, the Christianisation of Poland through the Czech–Polish alliance represented a conscious choice on the part of Polish rulers to ally themselves with the Czech state rather than the German one. In a similar fashion, some of the later political struggles involved the Polish Church refusing to subordinate itself to the German hierarchy and instead being directly subordinate to the Vatican.

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