The King of Poland, a short story

Poland in 1025

Once upon a time in Poland, there lived a mighty warrior named Boleslav. The Polish Knights named Boleslav the Bold because Boleslav led them victory in battle against the Czechs, the Russians, Germans and the Huns. In the tenth century after Christ, Christianity was new to Poland. And Pope Gregory the Great favored this Polish Prince. Boleslav was a kingmaker. In the year of Our Lord 1077, Pope Gregory made Boleslav king of all the Poles.

Boleslav was smart as well as brave. Foreign currency dominated the Polish markets at the beginning of his reign. Boleslav minted his own currency. He established Benedictine monasteries for poor people.

God made man in his own image. His ways are not our ways. We may look like God. We may speak like God. We may act like God. But that does not make us God. Thus all evil men will always abuse the offices of authority to violate the rights of men. They get away with it. It doesn’t make it right - not in the eyes of God. Death makes all men equal. God will not be mocked.

Boleslav like all men had feet of clay. Laurels and praise always breed envy. The great noble houses chafed under the kingship of Boleslav. No one had the guts to speak out against it - No one - except the Bishop of Krakow - Stanislav.

Bishop Stanislav purchased land on the banks of the Vistula river from Peter of Lublin. Peter had three sons. Having collected Bishop Stanislav’s money, Peter died before the Bishop could take possession of the land. The three sons of Peter sold the land to the King in exchange for royal favor. It took three years after Peter’s death before the King would listen to the Bishop’s petition. Bishop Stanislav would have to argue his case before a corrupt and greedy judge - the King Himself - Boleslav the Bold, Boleslav the Generous.

Bishop Stanisłav asked King Boleslav for three days to produce his witness. Knowing his witness was dead, King Boleslav and his court of lackeys laughed at the absurd request, but the King granted the Bishop his three days. Stanisłav prayed and prayed. Then he got up. He put on the armor of God, the holy vestments of the Bishop of Krakow. He called up his supporters to make a prayerful procession to the cemetery.

Stanislav dug up Peter’s grave. He opened up the casket. In front of everyone Stanislav, Bishop of Krakow ordered Peter to rise and he did so.

Dressed in a cloak, Peter, witness for the Bishop of Krakow made his testimony before King Bolesłav. The first thing the dead man did was rebuke his three evil sons. Imagine your own father rebuking you from the grave.

Peter told the King that the Bishop paid for the land. Unable to give any other verdict, the King ruled in favor of the Bishop. Before dismissing the witness, the King asked Peter if he had his choice to remain alive or go back and die. Peter told the King, that his salvation was secure and that he wanted to go back to Jesus. Thus he laid to rest once more in his grave. And once more, the Bishop buried him.

The Bishop won. But Stanislav gave the credit to Christ his true King. Bishop Stanislav urged Boleslav to follow Christ’s example. But the life and crucifixion of Christ did not interest Boleslav. War interested Boleslav. Intrigues in Ruthenia provided Boleslav the pretext for a short war - a demonstration against the Ruthenians. Boleslav rattled the saber among his young warriors, but he hope to negotiate more land for himself against his erstwhile ally the Ruthenians of the Kievan Rus.

But the short war turned into a long one. And the warriors spent a long time away from home. Many received word from home that their wives had been faithless. Others received word that their servants had risen up against them. Others still received news that debtors oppressed their families. In some instances, the wives had left their husbands for the stewards and property managers and they grew wealthy. The warriors begged the King to take leave so that they could tend to their affairs. The King said no. But the knights went home anyway.

So the King made peace with the Rus. He went home to set his house in order. The first thing he did was he rounded up all the deserters. The king branded each deserter regardless of circumstance a traitor. He gave each deserter a traitor’s death. The King’s men killed each man through a series of indiscriminate and public mutilation. This involved cutting off the traitor’s nose. Fear reigned in the kingdom. Everyone was scared. This had never happened before. No one wanted to speak out against the King. The bloodthirsty King was not satisfied so he took the land of the traitors and sold the women and children into slavery. The King spared the knights left penniless by their unfaithful wives. The King instead condemned the unfaithful wives not for the crime of infidelity but gave them a traitor’s fate. He dispossessed them as well. He needed the money to pay for his wars he was planning.

Boleslav fashioned himself not just as a King but began to regard himself as a God on Earth. So he himself took another man’s wife as his own. He moved her into Wawel Castle.

This was too much for Stanislav, Bishop of Krakow. He spoke out against the King in his sermons and at public gatherings. Many of the nobles gathered around the Bishop. The Bishop pulled out his sword and cursed the King and laid the punishment of excommunication against the king. Excommunication meant that the subjects of Poland no longer had to obey or even listen to King Boleslav the Generous. It also meant that others could rebel against the King. Many did.

The King accused the Bishop of treachery. The King ordered his arrest and murder. But the King’s men feared the Bishop and God more than they did the King. They refused. So the King went himself to kill the Bishop. When the King opened the church doors, the Bishop presided over a mass. Drawing his sword, the King slew the Bishop. He then cut the King up into pieces and fed them to his dogs.

The next day the church held a funeral for the Bishop. To the shock of the King, the Bishop laid in state in his vestments and regalia laid whole. The King thought he saw the Bishop rise. The King went mad and got on the fastest horse he could find and went into exile in Hungary.

King Ladislav owned his Kingdom to Boleslav - the Kingmaker of Europe. Naturally he received Boleslav with open arms. But he could not host the deposed King indefinitely. Ladislav advised deposed King Boleslav to travel to Rome to see Pope Gregory VII, his erstwhile patron against the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV of Germany. 

Pope Gregory received the King of Poland in hopes he would gain aid. Boleslav learned that his brother Vładisłav Herman usurped him. The Pope entertained his request and imposed his own judgment. The Pope ordered that Boleslav travel mute and incognito to the Benedictine Abbey in Ossiach in the Kingdom of Carinthia, Austria. Once Boleslav made a good confession and really repented of his sins, then he could return with the Pope’s support to retake his Kingdom from the usurper Vładisłav. 

 Boleslav did what he was told. He traveled to Carinthia and to the Ossiach Abbey. And he made a good confession. Instead of taking back his kingdom, he lived a life of penance and did many good works. He died in the friendship of God in the year 1082. Saint Stanislav, Bishop of Krakow PRAY FOR US.