Envoys at the end of the war
The Peace of Bautzen ended years of conflict between Henry II and Bolesław I, duke of Poland. The final round of war began in 1015. In 1017, the emperor’s forces besieged Niemcza in Silesia but failed to take it, then faced disease and difficulties in retreat. The campaign had not compelled Bolesław to abandon his resistance, while both sides continued to bear the costs of war.
That autumn, the Polish side offered to return the captured young noble Liudolf in exchange for its own prisoners, while asking about restoring relations with the emperor. Thietmar, bishop of Merseburg, recorded that Henry accepted the approach after advice from the princes. Prisoner exchanges and messages opened negotiations before formal peace.
The oath of 30 January 1018
Peace was reached at Bautzen on 30 January 1018, following the Julian calendar used at the time. Thietmar called the town Budisin. The imperial representatives included Gero, archbishop of Magdeburg; Arnulf, bishop of Halberstadt; counts Hermann and Dietrich; and Frederick, an officer of the emperor’s household.
The chronicle explicitly records that the representatives swore an oath on the emperor’s orders and returned after receiving hostages. Henry did not meet his opponent personally at Bautzen, and the account does not say whether Bolesław attended the local ceremony. Authorized envoys, hostages and oaths together provided guarantees for carrying out the peace.
Territorial control and legal interpretation
Later accounts commonly describe the territorial result as Bolesław retaining Lusatia and Milzenerland. Rosik notes that this interpretation has a long scholarly tradition, although it is not taken directly from a surviving treaty’s territorial clauses. Whether the lands remained fiefs or were freed from earlier obligations has also attracted differing interpretations.
The final campaign did not take the disputed lands out of Bolesław’s control or force him to attend the imperial court in submission. He retained practical power, but this does not establish a set of modern-style sovereignty-recognition clauses. Ideas of universal imperial authority could coexist with the autonomy exercised by local rulers.
Peace followed by marriage
Immediately after describing the peace, Thietmar recorded that Oda, daughter of Ekkehard, margrave of Meissen, arrived at Cziczani four days later. Bolesław had already sought her hand and sent his son Otto to meet her. Their subsequent marriage further connected the Polish ruler, who had just ceased hostilities, with a Saxon noble family.
The bishop’s account also contains moral criticism of the wedding’s timing and participants, revealing his partial perspective. It gives a relative date for Oda’s arrival, rather than an exact wedding date. The marriage helped consolidate relations; the surviving account does not specify whether it was an explicitly agreed condition of the peace.
Military cooperation toward Kiev
Peace in the west soon had practical consequences. In the summer of 1018, Bolesław marched into Rus’ to help his son-in-law Sviatopolk contest rulership. Thietmar recorded three hundred supporting troops from the imperial side and dated the entry of Bolesław and Sviatopolk into Kiev to 14 August.
After the campaign, Bolesław sent Abbot Tuni to Henry with gifts, seeking continued support. Troops and envoys show relations changing from war to cooperation, but do not establish that every military arrangement was settled in January. Rosik emphasizes the interval between the peace and the summer expedition, during which further cooperation could have been negotiated.
A workable compromise
No text of the Peace of Bautzen survives for examination clause by clause. Historian Żmudzki has suggested that the negotiations may have ended in an oral agreement. The surviving material does not provide separate dates for signature, ratification and entry into force. Its most direct record is the oath establishing peace on 30 January, followed by hostages, marriage and military contacts.
Thietmar was dissatisfied with the result, suggesting that only such a peace was then attainable. Rosik interprets this as allowing both parties to claim success from different perspectives: the emperor had received a request for peace, while Bolesław avoided personally submitting at the imperial court. The agreement’s effectiveness appeared in the cessation of war, renewed political connections and changed opportunities for action.