The Act
On the pilgrimage to Gniezno, Emperor Otto III was received by Bolesław at the Polish border on the Bóbr river near Małomice. Bishop Unger of Poznań escorted him to Gniezno. Between the 7th and 15th of March Otto invested Bolesław with the titles frater et cooperator Imperii ("Brother and Partner of the Empire") and populi Romani amicus et socius as rendered in the 1115 Gesta principum Polonorum by the Kraków chronicler Gallus Anonymus, the first author of Polish history. Whether the act implemented an elevation of Bolesław to the status of "king" has not been conclusively established. In any case, Bolesław had himself crowned King of Poland at Gniezno Cathedral in 1025.
On the same visit, Otto III raised Gniezno to the rank of an archbishopric. Three new dioceses subordinate to Gniezno were created: the Bishopric of Kraków (assigned to Bishop Poppo), the Bishopric of Wrocław (assigned to Bishop Jan) and the Bishopric of Kołobrzeg in Pomerania (assigned to bishop Reinbern). St. Adalbert's brother Radzim Gaudenty became the first archbishop of Gniezno. Otto III gave Bolesław a replica of his Holy Lance, part of the Imperial Regalia, and Bolesław presented the Emperor with a relic, an arm of St. Adalbert in exchange.
The status of the Bishopric of Poznań of Bishop Unger, whose diocese had also comprised Gniezno before and who had not supported the creation of a separate archdiocese in Gniezno, is also subject to historical debate. One view holds that it stayed independent and with Unger as a missionary bishop directly subordinate to the pope while another one holds that it was attached to the Archbishopric of Magdeburg, the nearest German ecclesiastical province. However, generally, the congress is seen as having established complete ecclasiastical independence of the Polish church from Magdeburg.
Bolesław subsequently accompanied Otto III on his way back to Germany. Both proceeded to the grave of Charlemagne at Aachen Cathedral, where Bolesław received the Charlemagne's throne as a gift. Both arranged the betrothal of Bolesław's son Mieszko II Lambert with the Emperor's niece Richeza of Lotharingia.
Read more about this topic: Congress Of Gniezno
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