Polish historiography and archaeology on the mechanisms behind the formation of the Piasts’ regnum

This paper discusses the hypotheses developed by Polish researchers on the mechanisms behind the formation of the Piast state. All issues are discussed from the perspective of medieval history, the views of which were until recently prominent in the literature on the subject, and also from the perspective of the more recent findings of early medieval archaeology. The proposals tabled by archaeologists from particular Polish research centres (in Poznań, Warsaw and Wroclaw) are confronted with the results of historical research. A representative of the Poznań centre, the author presents his ideas on the subject as based, e.g., on the results of absolute dating, which are not always consistent with the views of other scholars.