The Development of a Parish Network and the Beginnings of Decanal Structure in the Diocese of Kraków until the end of the Twelfth Century. An Attempt at a Summary

Abstract

The Polish version of the article was published in “Roczniki Humanistyczne,” vol. 56 (2008), issue 2.
 The paper is an attempt to sum up studies to date on the development of the parish network and the organisation of deaneries in the Diocese of Kraków until the end of the twelfth century. Historians at large and Church historians in particular who dealt with these issues in the 1990s put forward a hypothesis concerning the establishment of deaneries and a number of temples in the Krakow diocese before 1200. The paper confronts this hypothesis with the claims of historians. In the recent years, either indirectly or directly, they have addressed the development of the territorial organisation of the Kraków diocese until the end of the twelfth century. The paper offers a critical appraisal of their findings. In conclusion, the hypothesis is put forward that the establishment of the network of deaneries in the Kraków diocese was a one-time action. The initiative was most obviously Bishop Gedko’s in the 1170s, as a result of which there appeared over 1200 churches in the territory of the Kraków diocese.