Battle of Cedynia Battle of Cedynia In the Battle of Cedynia or Zehden, an army of Mieszko I of Poland defeated forces of Hodo or Odo I of Lusatia on 24 June 972, near the Oder river. Whether or not the battle actually took place near the modern-day town of Cedynia is disputed in modern scholarship. Mieszko I, Poland's first documented ruler based in Greater Poland, had successfully campaigned in the Cedynia area, then a West Slavic tribal territory also coveted by Holy Roman Emperor Otto I and German nobles. While Mieszko's differences with Otto I were settled by an alliance and payment
Mieszko I of Poland responsible according to Gallus Anonymus, who claimed that it was the Bohemian Princess Dobrawa who convinced her husband to change his religion. Likewise chronicler Thietmar attributes Mieszko's conversion to Dobrawa's influence. There are no reasons to negate Dobrawa's role in Mieszko's acceptance of Roman Catholicism; however crediting rulers' wives with positive influence over their husbands' actions was a common convention at that time. It is generally recognized that the baptism of Mieszko I took place in 966. The place is unknown; it could have had happened in any of the cities of the Empire (possibly Regensburg), but also in one