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Historians point to the rule of the Piast dynasty as crucial to the formation of the Polish state. However, some differentiate between members of the dynasty like Władysław I Herman, who ruled as duke from 1079 to 1102 CE and less well-documented figures like Lestek, who is said to have ruled in the 9th and 10th centuries but whose historical actuality is disputed. Lestek appears in the Gesta principum Polonorum, a chronicle of medieval Polish history written between 1112 and 1118. However, the chronicle's documentation of Lestek relies on oral tradition, unlike its records of later rulers.