Poland–United Kingdom relations

British–Polish relations

United Kingdom	Poland

British–Polish relations are the foreign relations between the United Kingdom and Poland.

Polish–British relations have existed in one form or another since the 8th century. According to medieval tradition and relations, King Cnut (or Canute) the Great, King of England, Denmark and Norway (ruled England between 1016 and 1035) had a mother of unknown identity, but it was found that his mother was a daughter of the first (unofficially crowned) King of Poland, Mieszko I, which makes Mieszko I of Poland the grandfather of King Cnut the Great.

According to Polish historian Oskar Halecki, there was a piece of correspondence by King Henry V of England to Władysław II Jagiełło, King of Poland and Grand-Duke of Lithuania, requesting his assistance against France in the Hundred Years' War. British–Polish relations had continued in the following years largely in the area of commerce, and diplomacy. The 16th century saw the height of early modern diplomatic relations between Poland and England. When Queen Mary I of England and King Philip II of Spain were married in 1554, Krzysztof Warszewicki was present to attend and witness their wedding. Warszewicki was, at the time of the Tudor-Habsburg marriage, page to Ferdinand, King of the Romans. According to Norman Davies, Warszewicki later became a notable Polish diplomat.

After the death of Queen Mary I, her sister Elizabeth ascended to the English throne. Unlike her Catholic sister, Queen Elizabeth I was a Protestant and she gave her support to the Dutch cause against their Spanish Habsburg overlords. With the English and the Dutch at war with the Spaniards, the conflict adversely affected the Spanish trade with the Polish port city of Gdańsk as British and Dutch navies and privateers would seize Spanish vessels, including those sailing for Poland. Poland and, by extension, the city of Gdańsk sent Paweł Działyński to the Dutch and the English, persuading them to stop their attacks against Spanish ships headed for Gdańsk. However, as Norman Davies writes, Działyński was overly direct and blunt, threatening the Dutch and the English with an embargo of their merchants and goods. Queen Elizabeth I responded with an equally blunt response and Działyński’s mission ultimately failed.

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