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Let's start with simpler questions: who was this Lestek the White? And did he really intend to take the cross and travel to the Holy Land?
Lestek, known as "the White" due to his blond hair, was one of the youngest grandsons of Boleslav Wrymouth, <ref>I've adjusted the spelling of all medieval Polish names in this post to make them more pronounceable to English speakers. Back then, people didn't even know how spell their own names, so I believe that's OK.</ref> the duke who divided Poland amongst his sons. Boleslav's sons divided their parts among their sons and so forth, with Poland growing into a loose collection of ever smaller duchies. In Lestek's times, the political situation in Poland resembled that in the novels of the ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' series by George R.R. Martin. In Westeros there is supposedly one realm with one king, but in fact each of the eight regions (the old seven kingdoms plus the Riverlands) is ruled by a local great lord. All these lords are constantly fighting each other by all means possible – from diplomatic marriages to kidnappings, poisonings, assassinations, to all-out wars. The nominal king is whoever, at the given moment, controls the capital city and is able to physically sit on the Iron Throne. In 13th-century Poland there was also supposedly a single kingdom (but no king) divided into several regions, each ruled by a local duke – a grandson or great-grandson of Boleslav Wrymouth – aided by local lords. All (or almost all) of these dukes were constantly fighting each other by all means possible – from diplomatic marriages to kidnappings, poisonings, assassinations, to all-out wars. The nominal high duke of all Poland was whoever, at the given moment, controlled the capital city and was able to physically sit on the throne in Cracow. Starting from the year 1205, this would have been our Lestek.
[[File:Pieczęć Leszka I Białego.jpg|thumb|200px|A seal of Lestek the White]]
A year after Lestek's untimely death, but possibly on still on his orders, a Dominican friar of House Odrovonsh set out from Cracow on a mission to Kiev. Better known as [[Saint Hyacinth of Pierogi|Saint Hyacinth]], he is believed to be the one who brought the first recipe for pierogi on his way back to Poland. A short time before that, Conrad concluded that his brother's peaceful approach towards the Prussians was going nowhere and it would be better to hire the Teutonic Knights to do the job of converting his pagan neighbours. It must have seemed like a good idea at the time; how could he know he had just caused Poland a series of problems that would only end in 1945? For the time being, it just meant less trouble with the Prussians. It would only be the next generation of Polish dukes that had to face an invasion so terrifying, the Prussian raids would seem like a mild nuisance in comparison. Even the combined forces of the Teutonic Knights and the sons of Lestek and Henry the Bearded were unable to stop the hosts led by the Night King— I mean, Baidar, grandson of Gengis Khan (who, incidentally, had died the same year Lestek). Apart from fire and destruction, did these Mongol-Tatar hordes also bring recipes for tartar sauce and steak tartare? That's a topic for another post.
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