„Tak się też stało” po raz wtóry. Święty Metody o wojnie z poganami znad Odry

In Polish medieval studies, the issue of Christianisation of the lands of present-day Poland in the 9th century has been reduced to an analysis of the content of only one of the three prophecies in the ”Life of St. Methodius”. A sentence about defeating and baptising a pagan Vistula prince is treated as the only written source confirming contacts between the Great Moravian state and Polish lands. The chronicle, however, has greater cognitive potential. The division of its content into short chapters (stemming from editing requirements), made by the historian Josef Šafařík in the 19th century, disturbed the perception of the entire account. This fragment, taken as a continuous narrative, brings new content to the discussion on the Great Moravian State’s relations with the neighbouring territories, especially the upper Oder basin, in the 880s. The ‘Life of Saint Methodius’ contains an extended paragraph describing the relationship between the Great Moravian State and the lands to the north of it, and the political and ideological repercussions it caused, in Great Moravia and in the areas under the influence of German bishops. The ‘Life’ is a hagiographical text, but also a chronicle record of facts, portraying the saint as an archbishop-pastor and a seasoned politician and diplomat.