Kilka marginalnych uwag w sprawie statusu prawnego Sobiesławiców przed 1227 r.
Some marginal notes on the legal status of the Samborides before 1227

Summary/Abstract: Research into the feudal status of the rulers of Pomerelia from the Samboride dynasty and the terminology describing it has been engaging scholars already since the 19th century. In 1227 Leszek the White was assassinated and the duke of Gdańsk‑Pomerelia Świętopełk declared himself independent from the state of the Piasts. There is no agreement among researchers on whether before 1227 Świętopełk’s dynasty should be considered governors coming from the Polish knights and promoted by the Piasts during the time of Bolasław III Wrymouth’s conquest of Pomerania, or whether they should be perceived as local Pomeranian dukes coerced into submission. In the hitherto debate for both sides an important role has been played by the term princeps (equivalent of the German Fürst). In this paper the author attempts to reveal the interpretation error consisting in the assumption that this term was used in Poland and Pomerania interchangeably with the term dux, duke. Meanwhile, it seems that, like in the states of the German Reich, the term princeps meant a civil servant who was granted his office along with the state land he was to manage by a higher ruler. Taking such an office was not always related to noble birth and social position, which in the feudal society was guaranteed by the hereditary ducal title. Among the German princeps there were both archbishops and bishops as well as laymen: dukes, margraves, landgraves, and even counts. Other evidence, also discussed in the paper, points to the origin of the Samborides from the ducal dynasty. This includes the use of the ducal title by Mestwin I. Forgeries of documents from before 1227 also suggest that the title was used by Mestwin’s sons: Sambor II and Racibor.

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