5,079
edits
Changes
no edit summary
Where two are fighting, the third wins, as a Polish proverb goes. Eventually, the nobility got tired of endless bickering among the senators and decided to take up the idea advocated by Crown Underchancellor Andrzej Olszowski to elect a so-called "Piast". House Piast was Poland's first royal dynasty, back when the throne was still hereditary and not elective, but the idea was not to elect someone with actual Piast roots in his family tree (if this had been the case, then Charles Leopold would have stood a better chance, thanks to Cymburgis of Masovia, a Piast duchess who was his great<sup>8</sup>-grandmother in two different lines; besides, the last actual Piast, George William of Brieg, was still alive). The idea was simply to elect a native Pole rather than any of the foreign princes. The only question was, who specifically was to become this "Piast" king?
And this is when, according to the legend, a swarm of honey bees arrived in the election field and sat on the Polish-born Prince Michael and the nobles concluded that if the bees had already made their pick, then then the rest was just formality. All the senators could do was to agree with the choice made by the bugs and the nobility, and thus a completely astonished Michael was proclaimed king.
It wasn't just Michael, though, who was totally taken by surprise. The senators and many of the nobles were shocked as well. No wonder his unexpected election was soon being explained away with divine intervention by means of insects and birds (other legends talk of a dove perched atop the Senatorial Shed and an eagle soaring above the Circle of Knights). Interestingly, I've been able to find two eyewitness accounts which actually confirm the presence of a bee swarm in the election field. In details, though, not only do they contradict the legend; they also contradict one another. Let's start with the point of view of Wespazjan Kochowski: