Dobrawa
Bohemian princess and wife of Mieszko I of Poland. Thietmar of Merseburg and the Polish court chronicle both say that it was through her that the duke became a Christian, though they tell the story differently.
Thietmar of Merseburg says that she was the sister of Boleslav the elder of Bohemia, that her name means “good”, and that she lived up to it. Married to the pagan Mieszko I, she broke her Lenten fast at his request so as to win his ear, and by her persistence brought him to baptism. She then bore him a son, whom she named Boleslav after her brother (Thietmar, Chronicle 4.55–56, pp. 194–196).
In the Polish court chronicle of the early twelfth century she refuses to marry Mieszko until he promises to give up his seven wives and become a Christian (Gallus Anonymus, Deeds of the Princes of the Poles 1.5–6, p. 428). The annals of the Kraków chapter enter her coming to Mieszko under 965 (Annals of the Kraków Chapter, year 965, p. 585). See the Baptism of Mieszko I of Poland.
In the timeline
- AD 966, estimated dateThe Baptism of Mieszko I of Poland
Mieszko, duke of the Poles, marries the Bohemian princess Dobrawa and is baptized, and his people follow him. The annals of the Kraków chapter date the baptism to 966. In 1000 the emperor Otto III founds an archbishopric at Gniezno.