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Norman Davies says this in his book, God's Playground, Volume I regarding Miezsko I:

He started the recorded history of the Poles which has continued without a break from that day to this.

Even I have noticed that when I read about Miezsko's father, Siemomysl, on Wikipedia, exact dates of birth and death are not known. However, after Miezsko, most of the dates of events are exactly recorded. Same is the fate of youtube videos regarding Polish history

  1. Why is it that the recorded history of Poland began after Miezsko I's reign?

  2. How does his baptism or unification of land led to suddenly pens jotting down events?

What was amiss before his reign?

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    This is my observation and not a quote from book
    – Kutsit
    Mar 30, 2019 at 10:12
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    I suspect the answer lies in a proliferation of parish records following the official adoption of Christianity. However establishing this would require demonstrating the widespread absence of the same in the prior period. I am unsure how to do that for this region and period.
    – Pieter Geerkens
    Mar 30, 2019 at 10:22
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    FWIW it's not unique to Poland. Compare his ancestors to e.g. those of Clovis in France. There wasn't much interest in bookkeeping outside of the Roman Empire (except to the East, in Mesopotamia).
    – Denis de Bernardy
    Mar 30, 2019 at 11:14
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    Eastern European societies were illiterate before the introduction of Christianity. Writing usually came with Christianity. Examples: Lithuania, Rus, Poland.
    – Alex
    Mar 30, 2019 at 11:31
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    The Polish state was rather new in the time of Miezsko as it expanded and united various Slavic tribes. I believe the first written mention of the Polish state was in 963. Miezsko married the daughter of the Duke of Bohemia in 965 and converted to Christianity in 966. After about then there was enough contact with literate European societies for some Polish historical events to be recorded by foreign writers and more and more literate priests in Poland to write about events in Polish history. So both foreign and Polish sources for Polish history begin with Miezsko.
    – MAGolding
    Mar 30, 2019 at 17:04

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The Polish state was rather new in the time of Miezsko I - maybe a few decades - as the original Polish tribe expanded and united various neighboring Slavic tribes. I believe the first written mention of the Polish state was in 963. Miezsko married the daughter of the Duke of Bohemia in 965 and converted to Christianity in 966. After about that time there was enough contact with literate European societies for some Polish historical events to be recorded by foreign writers and more and more literate priests in Poland to write about events in Polish history. So both foreign and Polish sources for Polish history begin with Miezsko I.

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Mieszko's baptism in AD 966 brought catholic monks who, for quite a while were the only literate men in the new state. Before Christianity arrived to Poland there was no one to write it's history. There are only a handful of external sources like Ibrahim ibn Yaqub or Thietmar of Merseburg from around that time.

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