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A slightly confusing title I know but bear with me. Whilst doing some reading on the high middle ages one of the maps of Europe I saw reminded me how roughly close the borders of the Kingdom if Poland up until 1385 or so were with modern day Poland's, not surprising considering that the territory they picked up after WW2 was called the recovered territories. Already knew this but guess had kind of forgotten what with Poland generally being Europe's doormat and having such an ineffectual government for so long.
Anyway, what I looking for is there any way to avoid the union with Lithuania and the long decline after the Piasts so the Poland is able to survive as an independent country - bonus points if they eventually absorb Prussia and Pomerania - that's strong enough to not be everyone's punching bag yet weak enough/internally divided enough that they generally concentrate on internal matters and not go stomping around the region militarily? Poland and Eastern Europe has never really been my strong point so having a look around a couple of points of departure that jump out are perhaps Boleslaw III leaves a slightly less screwed up testament so whilst things fragment a bit it's so bad as in our timeline or Casimir III the Great has a legitimate heir. Anyone else have any interesting ideas on how to achieve this or something like it?