page_title: Gniezno
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Gniezno / History
caption_attribution_description: Polski: Herb Gniezna na pieczęci z XIV wieku. English: Gniezno seal from 14th century Template:Coat of arms of Gniezno
context_page_description: Gniezno is a city in central-western Poland, about 50 kilometres east of Poznań, with 68,943 inhabitants making it the sixth-largest city in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. One of the Piast dynasty's chief cities, it was the first historical capital of Poland in the 10th century and early 11th century, it was mentioned in 10th-century sources, possibly including the Dagome Iudex, as the capital of Piast Poland. The Roman Catholic archbishop of Gniezno is the primate of Poland, making it the country's ecclesiastical capital. It has belonged since 1999 to the Greater Poland Voivodeship, and is the administrative seat of Gniezno County.
context_section_description: There are archaeological traces of human settlement since the late Paleolithic. Early Slavonic settlements on Lech Hill and Maiden Hill are dated to the 8th century. At the beginning of the 10th century this was the site of several places sacred to the Slavic religion. The ducal stronghold was founded just before AD 940 on Lech Hill, and surrounded by some fortified suburbs and open settlements.
caption: Medieval seal of Gniezno
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