Mieszko I of Poland before his death among a number of princes. They were probably his sons: Bolesław I the Brave, Mieszko and Lambert. In 1999 the archeologist Hanna Kóčka-Krenz located what's left of Mieszko's palace-chapel complex in Poznań. The basic structure of the early Polish state was Mieszko's military force. The ruler managed to create an army composed of about 3,000 mounted warriors. This increasingly powerful force allowed the Polans to attack weaker neighboring tribes and conquer their lands. A key factor promoting cohesion of the growing state was fear of the invaders impressed by them among local populations. The first Piasts reinforced
Mieszko I of Poland in the entry for the year 985 it is noted that Mieszko came to help the Saxons in their fight against some Slavic forces, presumably the Polabians. One year later, the Polish ruler had a personal meeting with the Emperor, an event mentioned in the "Annals of Hersfeld": According to Thietmar and other contemporary chronicles the gift given by Mieszko to the Emperor was a camel. The meeting consolidated the Polish-German alliance, with Mieszko joining Otto's expedition against a Slavic land, which "together they wholly devastated (...) with fire and tremendous depopulation". It is not clear which Slavic territory was