|Poland Table of Contents Without question the most significant
development of the formative era of Poland's history was the
gradual absorption of the country into the culture of medieval
Europe. After their relatively late arrival as pagan outsiders
on the fringes of the Christian world, the Western Slavs were
fully and speedily assimilated into the civilization of the
European Middle Ages. Latin Christianity came to determine the
identity of that civilization and permeate its intellect and
creativity. Over time the Central Europeans increasingly
patterned their thought and institutions on Western models in
areas of thought ranging from philosophy, artistic style,
literature, and architecture to government, law, and social
structure. The Poles borrowed especially heavily from German
sources, and successive Polish rulers encouraged a substantial
immigration of Germans and Jews to invigorate urban life and
commerce. From its beginning, Poland drew its primary
inspiration from Western Europe and developed a clo