Word: wichman
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1950-1959
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Historically, the Roman Catholic Church is identified with nationalism in Poland as it is in few other countries; Poland became Catholic to avoid being gobbled up. When the pagan Polish ruler Mieszko I was attacked A.D. 963 by Saxon Warlord Count Wichman, Mieszko cannily guessed that this early German Drang nach Osten would disguise itself as a Christian missionary enterprise. To undercut this excuse, he married a Bohemian Catholic princess, took himself and country to the Church of Rome in 966. The office of primate, which in many countries degenerated into a mere courtesy title, remained in Poland...