WI Henry the Pious unites Poland?

What if Henry the Pious is not killed in 1241 during the Mongol conquests (which are butterflied away due to the early death of Genghis Khan in 1214) and manages to unite Poland?

What does this entail? What might this united Poland look like? How might it relate to the other countries in the region? What changes might it bring?

Worth noting that without the Mongol invasion of Russia, the major powers existing from the collapse of the Kievan Rus' are Galicia-Volhynia, Vladimir-Suzdal, and the Novgorod Republic (and a bunch of smaller principalities). Also worth noting that Hungary is in a much better position, having not been devastated by the Mongol conquests.
 
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What if Henry the Pious is not killed in 1241 during the Mongol conquests (butterflied away due to the early death of Genghis Khan in 1214) and manages to unite Poland?

What does this entail? What might this united Poland look like? How might it relate to the other countries in the region? What changes might it bring?

Worth noting that without the Mongol invasion of Russia, the major powers existing from the collapse of the Kievan Rus' are Galicia-Volhynia, Vladimir-Suzdal, and the Novgorod Republic (and a bunch of smaller principalities). Also worth noting that Hungary is in a much better position, having not been devastated by the Mongol conquests.

You could swap his fate with that of Conrad of Masovia.
 
A Poland that is (re)united early (compared to OTL), and like this, does not lose Silesia. This is a pretty valuable piece of territory.

It might well negate OTL's Lithuania, and carve out territory in the east under the Polish crown.

Additionally or instead, we might see a Poland in personal union with one or both of Bohemia and Hungary, and a factor within the HRE - a westward and German leaning Poland might be TTL's Kingdom of Prussia, and more.
 
Anyone know what Henry would have to actually do to unite Poland?

A Poland that is (re)united early (compared to OTL), and like this, does not lose Silesia. This is a pretty valuable piece of territory.
Okay. How might the Ostsiedlung be affected? How much German influence/settlers in Silesia?

It might well negate OTL's Lithuania, and carve out territory in the east under the Polish crown.
How would it negate Lithuania? How might Mindaugas come into all of this?

Additionally or instead, we might see a Poland in personal union with one or both of Bohemia and Hungary, and a factor within the HRE - a westward and German leaning Poland might be TTL's Kingdom of Prussia, and more.
Yes, that could be interesting. By TTL's Prussia I assume you mean a rapidly expanding power within the HRE that seeks to increase its own power at the detriment of the HRE, yes?

Actually, his descendants did, you could have him killed by the Mongols instead.
The Mongols don't invade Eastern Europe at all ITTL. The early death of Genghis Khan (in 1214) leaves the Mongols divided before they've even taken Northern China.
 
Anyone know what Henry would have to actually do to unite Poland?

Continue strengthening his position as High Duke. Get crowned.

Basically, "be accepted by the nobility and either Church or Emperor or ideally both."

Okay. How might the Ostsiedlung be affected? How much German influence/settlers in Silesia?
That's anyone's guess. Inviting Germans in is almost as desirable as OTL, but with Poland in a stronger position as a state, they're more likely to assimilate than Germanize.

How would it negate Lithuania? How might Mindaugas come into all of this?
Poland sees pagan land to the east, Poland conquers it, Lithuania never amounts to the big sprawling grand duchy it was OTL.

Yes, that could be interesting. By TTL's Prussia I assume you mean a rapidly expanding power within the HRE that seeks to increase its own power at the detriment of the HRE, yes?

Essentially.
 
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Anyone know what Henry would have to actually do to unite Poland?

At the moment of his death, Henry controlled Greater Poland, Lower Silesia and Kraków, along with some minor scraps of land. Oh, and Lubusz which is a minor, but strategically important piece and now won't get sold to Brandenburg. To unite the country he needs to be crowned king, when that's done the other provinces will fall in his hands one by one as the one most likely to be lost is already his heartland. As a comparison, the next duke to get crowned king only had Greater Poland and Pomerania, and Władysław the Elbow-High who actually restarted the kingdom wasn't much more powerful than him.

Okay. How might the Ostsiedlung be affected? How much German influence/settlers in Silesia?

The Mongol invasion created a lot of free space for settlers, so there'll probably be less of them. Aside from that, Silesia wasn't the only place to receive a large amount of settlers, the other was southern Lesser Poland and southwestern Red Ruthenia. The difference was that Silesia was a part of Bohemia and HRE, and strongly tied to Germany, while Lesser Poland was the Polish heartland. In Silesia the natives assimilated into the colonists, and in Lesser Poland it was the other way round. Silesia will still have more contact with Germany due to its location, but in my opinion it will take a route more similar to the lesserpolish one, which means: German settlers do come, but eventually most of them end up speaking Polish. Maybe not all of them, but a significant amount nonetheless.
 
If my memory of what I've read serves correctly, Silesia becomes part of Bohemia only after Henry the Pious and the Silesian dukes - accepted as such by Casimir III, specifically, but disputable until then.
 
Thought you were saying that it was part of Bohemia earlier, my bad.

Do you think Poland would look (for expansion) westward or eastward in this scenario?

I think after Silesian Piasts gather all the provinces (Silesia, Greater Poland, Masovia, Lesser Poland, Kuyavia and Pommerelia), securing Stettin becomes the obvious big goal.

It's hard to say something more though, because no Mongols is a huge change - Rus' and Hungary were greatly weakened by them, so there may be less opportunity for expansion into the Dniester valley. OTOH, Poland would have the strength to rein in the Order much faster, and Lithuania would have been weaker, because Rus' wouldn't be such an easy target. As for westward expansion, Poland was very interested in it IOTL (at least until late XVI century), it just didn't have the power to stand against its western neighbors. Maybe this will change now, but Hungary was an important factor even in our timeline and they'll be much stronger here.
 
How might Galicia-Volhynia and Hungary, which both seem in a position to be major states in Eastern Europe, interact with this nascent Poland?
 
Originally posted by Rudi Maxer
Perhaps north? Henry takes over the Teutonic Knights business and tries to christianize Balts by himself.

Not necessarily. The relations between most of Polish dukes and the Order were quite good at the time. IIRC, it was Henry's father, Henry the Bearded, who advised Conard of Masovia to invite the Teutonic Order to fight the Old Prussians.
 
Didn't the Poles at that time still divide inheritances? So even if he DID unite Poland, might it not be split up again in a generation or two?
Not sure, but if that was the case, then they'd need to somehow institute a new system of inheritance, if the Kingdom of Poland was to remain united. Any ideas on how this could be done?
 
How might Galicia-Volhynia and Hungary, which both seem in a position to be major states in Eastern Europe, interact with this nascent Poland?

Not sure, but if that was the case, then they'd need to somehow institute a new system of inheritance, if the Kingdom of Poland was to remain united. Any ideas on how this could be done?

Bump.
.........
 
Hungary is likely to see Poland as either an ally or a rival.

Galich-Volynia - depends a LOT on the policy of its rulers. If they're focused on the Rus, that's one thing, if they look west, see Hungary.

As for inheritance: Get someone strong enough to impose his wishes for his successor, and that successor to keep that trend going, and things will work out.

OTL it seems to have been manged, in the end.
 
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