Origins of Northern Slavs – the later Polish Chronicles (1200s-1300s)

Polish Chronicles – the Kadlubek Chronicle

In the Polish corner, we have the Master Wincenty (aka “Kadlubek”) Chronicle (the Kadlubek Chronicle) written between 1190 and 1208, which starts off the deep end discussing Poles in deep antiquity and just goes deeper into the rabbit hole.  Either Kadlubek was, in the “tradition” of the then German Chroniclers (who tried to connect the Carolingian and then German empire to the legacies of Rome (Holy Roman Empire, etc.)), trying to ennoble the new Polish nation or he was reading a lot about the Venethi (or both).  In any event, what he writes is difficult to take seriously but let us mention some of it.

Although it’s not very clear from his writing, it appears that, according to Kadlubek, the Poles in trays past first fought the Danes and their King Canute (who, incidentally, actually was Polish via his the mother).  Then we are told that “we” split the world with the Galls (taking most of the country from the borders of Persia to the borders of Bulgaria and those of Carinthia (in today’s Austria). That after many a fight with the Romans, “we” selected as a prince a man named Gracchus.  We hear that the Galls then fought the Pannonians and once they defeated them then also fought “this tribe” – by which he, again, seems to mean Slavs or Poles who were, according to Kadlukek, neighbors of the Pannonians.  Later we hear that upon “returning from Pannonia” (presumably from the campaign against the Galls) the leader Grakh (Gracchus?)* persuades others to elect him king.

Krak faces a dragon and, wisely, has his sons fight the beast.  Unfortunately, one of them is able to defeat the monster (this is the Cracow dragon) but then falls to the jealousy of his brother (Krak II) – Cain and Able style.   Consequently, once that comes out, Krak II can’t really stay on the throne.

Thankfully, Krak (the first) also had a daughter who was named Wanda and whose kingdom, we are told, was centered on the river Wandal (which river was so named after her for that same reason, i.e., that it was running through Wanda’s kingdom) (this is the Vistula).  This is the first recorded asserted connection of Poles to Vandals,** however, incredible.  The reference is to the river Vistula, well known to the ancients as Vistla (or similar) which sits the city of Cracow (Gracchovia or Caraucas/Caraucis/Carantas/Carancia/Carentia (anyone recall Caracas, the capital of Venezuela?), depending on how you read it elsewhere in the text).

Then Kadlubek discusses Poles fighting against Alexander the Great (in Poland although perhaps also in Greece since Cracow is discussed here as Corinth (see above names for it) – which leads to fascinating thoughts on Lech & Czech – see later post on that), Julius Caesar (defeated three times) and Crassus (“in the country of the Parthians”).***

Specifically, we learn that Alexander was defeated by Leszek (or Lech) I who wisely had the Polish soldiers put on Macedonian garb and thereby tricked the Macedonians (Leszek = sly).

Leszek II, who was not, it seems, his descendant, was the next ruler – this one named Leszek (again, sly) because he was able to win a race for the crown of the Poles by defeating others’ tricks and coming in first in the race.

Leszek II had a son Leszek III who appears to have eventually allied with Ceasar and married his sister Julia (plus got Bavaria as dowry from Ceasar; accordingly, of course, BMW = made in Poland).

Leszek III had a son named Pompiliusz I and Pompiliusz I had Pompiliusz II (in effect, Popiel) who killed his uncles (at the inspiration of his wife) and who was replaced by Piast‘s son Ziemowit, as in the Gallus Anonymous Chronicle (this the two chronicles are connected).

Thus, we see that Kadlubek says little to nothing of the origin of the Poles or Slavs.  He refers to Poles variously as Poles or Lechites (no previous Polish source has) though he does not mention Lech as a founder of the nation – his Lech/Leszek is one of three of the name and is not a father of the nation type of a figure – just the first ruler.  He  places them all over the ancient world in various fights and struggles but provides no trek story or other origin explanations.  We note here that his references to Pannonia are not assertions of Slav or Polish origin being there – he never says that at all (e.g., note that Krak returns from an apparent expedition to Pannonia but Kadlubek does not claim that Krak (or any of his people) comes from Pannonia (or from anywhere else)).  He also does not mention either brother Czech or brother Rus.

Polish Chronicles – the Dzierzwa (Mierzwa) Chronicle

The Dzierzwa (or Mierzwa) Chronicle (Miersuae Chronicon) of the early 14h century paints an even more convoluted picture.

For one, it goes the extra mile and derives the Poles from Japheth via Jawan/Ivan, Philir, Alan, Anchises,  Eneas, Asthanius, Numa Pamphilius, Rea-Silisius, Alan (II) who, upon entering Europe, bore Negnon.  Got that?  Great – there is more.  Negnon, not to be outdone, had four sons, the first one being Wandalus (Vandalus) (who lived in the days of Josephus – yes, that Josephus).  Wandalus gave his name to the river Wisla/Vistla which is known as Wanda (see the Wanda story already present in the Kadlubek Chronicle) and to a mountain of the same name.  Interestingly, we discover that Wandalus’ offspring got a quarter of Europe, including: Russia, Poland, Pomerania, Sweden, Kaszubia, Saxony, Bohemia, Moravia, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, Sklavonia/Dalmatia, Croatia, Pannonia, Bulgaria and many others.  We also find out that Poles never (since Wandalus at least) wanted to have any kings of their own (all the way up to King Assuer the husband of Esther).

Thereafter, follows a similar story as that we already know of from the Kadlubek Chronicle, starting with King Gracchus (Krak I) who fought against the Galls (and fought the dragon or, more specifically, the Olophagus – Alleater).  Then came Krak II who killed his brother and thereafter Wanda who was so named by virtue of being from the people of Vandal, i.e., (we are told) Poles or Lechites or, in the alternative, from the river of the Vandals (i.e., Vistula).  This latter is a variation on Kadlubek since, according to him, the river was named after Wanda – not the other way around.

Thereafter, Poles fought against Alexander the Great who came from Pannonia (but again, it was Alexander coming from Pannonia, not the Poles themselves) and then we get three stories of the three Lesteks/Leszeks/Lechs, the two Pompiliuszs/Popiels and then Piast and Ziemowit.  Again, however, there is no ur-Vater Lech – just the three Lechs/Leszeks.

Consequently, other than the Japhetian pedigree, the Dzierzwa Chronicle does not add much beyond Kadlubek.

Polish Chronicles – the Greater Poland Chronicles

We also have the Greater Poland Chronicles (Kroniki Wielkopolskie) (GPCs) written between  1245-1270 although dates 1283 and 1384 have also been given.

There are at least two versions of these chronicles which suggests that the GPCs were initially written around the late 13th century and then upgraded to a bigger &, of course, better version in the late 14th century (in the process incorporating, perhaps, some ideas from the Dzierzwa Chronicle).

The GPCs take up where Kadlubek left off and take the confusion one step further connecting the confusion to the writings of Marcus Iunianus Iustinus (Justin to his friends) and to Isidore of Seville.

As a side note, the earlier portions of the GPCs have initially been called the Chronicle of Bishop Boguchwal and Godyslaw Pasek.  Boguchwal was a Poznan Bishop (and earlier a cantor in Cracow) who, according to XVIIIth century learning (Sommersberg) actually wrote the chronicle.  Godyslaw Pasek was a Poznan priest who continued Boguchwal’s Chronicle, hence both share authorship .  CBP was written probably between 1245-1270.

Jan from Czarnkow is a 14th Century source and may also have been involved in the production of the GPCs.  He was a chancellor in the Schwerin Bishopric (strangely working for a Polish bishop of Schwerin).  Later he was an archdeacon at the Gniezno archbishopric and was involved in the founding of the Cracow (Jagiellonian) University.  His intrigues (favoring the Pomeranian duke Casimir IV of Slupsk over the French/Hungarian dynasty of Angevins) after the death of Casimir the III resulted in his being banished from the country.  However, he returned later to reclaim the Gniezno archdeacon position.   Whether he wrote the earlier parts of the GPCs is debatable but what is relatively certain is that he wrote the portions of the GPCs about the years 1370-1384 (criticizing the Angevin kings of Poland).

So what do the GPCs tell us?

Now these chronicles, for the first time, give a place for the origin of the Slavs and it is, surprise, surprise, Pannonia.  This is actually, of course, not surprising because Pannonia was viewed at the time as the original Heimat of a lot of Indoeuropean people on the theory (repeated, with respect to the Slavs, in the GPC) that that was the place where the children (sons, really, but we are trying to be inclusive here) of Japheth arrived from the Middle East to then spread themselves (or their seed) all over Europe.  Since the GPCs continue the theme of “us too” being the children of Japheth, they point to Pannonia.

The genealogy, however, that they give is a little bit different than Dzierzwa’s.  In particular, after Japheth (and may be others), came Janus (or Jan, brother to Kus, the latter being the forefather, according to the chronicle, of the Germans), then Nemrod, then Pan (hence Pannonia) and then, for the first time in Polish historiography, Lech, Czech & Rus.

Perhaps the most intresting fun fact of the day provided by the GPCs is the assertion that “there are not in the world other peoples who are as friendly to one another as the Niemcy (Germans) and the Slavs.” The chronicler goes to say that it was the Latins (Romans) who named one group Deutsch and another Slav “or Germani [Germans], that is brothers.”  Here the Latin word German is being used by the chronicler to describe the Teutonics and the Slavs together, a rather difficult notion to accept in light of… facts… or is it?  (Another fun fact of the day is the GPCs assertion that Hungarians are too Slavs – which, at least, linguistically, is not true).

In any event, after discussing Krak (but note here, for the first time preceded by Lech), we are told by the chronicler that his daughter Wanda confronted (as in the above chronicles of Kadlubek and Dzierzwa) an Alemanni prince who tried to take her country and/or her and was riding so high in popularity ratings that even Vistula was named after her (i.e., as the river Wandal/Vandalus)  (this is consistent with Kadlubek; Dzierzwa includes a version whereby Wanda is named after the river) and the whole nation’s name was changed to Vandals (from the prior designation of Lechites).  We also get at least two Lestkos, with one Pompiliusz and then move on to Piast and Ziemowit from whom the road to Mieszko is quick and easy. (As a final fun fact, the GPCs derive the name Wanda from wedzic/wedka, i.e., today’s fishing rod but yesterday’s hook/bend(ing) (recall the English wend) in that she hooked everyone with her radiant personality (or other attributes).  

Summary

So, we get Lech in the GPC as the first ruler.  And in all of these chronicles we get (in the GPCs after Lech) Krak(s)/Wanda, then Leszeks (two or three) then Piast.

Other than that, and the occasional mention of Pannonia we do no learn much from these chronicles.  One might surmise that if it were not Pannonia, it would have, nonetheless been some other part of southern Europe given the need of the authors to derive the Slavs from the hometown of Japheth.  This was not unique to medieval authors as evidenced in the, e.g., Fraenkische Voelkertaffel.

* This is the first Polish reference to King Krak of Cracow who seems to be much like the Czech Krok from both the Cosmas Chronicle and the Dalimil Chonicle (minus two daughters, plus two sons and minus the dragon). We will tell the story of both King Krak and King Krok later in another post.  Incidentally, Gracchus seems to be a reference to a Roman tribune and statesman from the 2nd century B.C.

But maybe not.  Maybe, he is the much more temporarily and geographically close Chrocus, who was said by Gregory of Tours in his History of the Franks to be the King of the (Germanic) Alamanni and to have overrun all of the Gauls in the time of the Emperors Valerian and Gallienus (253-268)?  At least that is what Gregory says…

But Fredegar says Chrocus was a Vandal king that took part in the trek of the Vandals, Suevi and Alans (i.e., the early 400s)! But Fredegar’s Chronicle is actually (in its Book III) a copy of Gregory!  But this passage is in another part (Book II, Chapter 60).  But that is a copy of the Chronicles of Eusebius and Hydatius!  What’s going on!? In any event, some question whether Fredegar’s correctness as to this point (BTW Fredegar is better known here for his Book IV, Chapter 48 on the Kingdom of Samo).

(There is also a mention of a Chrocus in a Roman contingent in Britain, that seems to be a different Chrocus from the one in Gregory of Tours).

** Although it is not the first time that the Vandals are mentioned in that geographic area after the fall of the Western Roman Empire.  E.g., Vita [Saint] Hrodberti.  There is an interesting article by Ludwig Steinberger on the question of Wandale/Wenden (titled with a “=”) from 1920 (in the Archiv fuer Slavische Philologie).  Other, more recent, and more critical, articles include the work of Ronald Steinacher (“Wenden, Slawen, Vandalen…”) from 2004.  See also Vita [Saint] Marini et Anniani authentica (edited by Sepp).

The notion that Vandals are named after the river Vandalus is also present in Isidore of Seville‘s Etymologies. Book IX (ii), 96: “The river Vindilicus springs out from the far frontier of Gaul, and people maintain that the Vandals lived by it and got their name from it. ”

Certainly, we know that some Vandals stayed behind as there is a story available (Procopius) about their embassy to their cousins now settled in Africa (regarding the question of who gets all that land these African Vandals left behind) – however, Procopius makes clear that few of these Vandals were left in their homeland and that, perhaps, they have mixed (yikes, Mischung!) with other peoples (he says “willingly”) and have likely disappeared as a separate people.  Whether the Vandals were themselves a type of Venethi, a derivative of Venethi or something else entirely is another series of questions that we will not tackle at this time. (Note, however, that the Vandals (at least by that name) are not mentioned in Tacitus‘ Germaniae, whereas the Venethi are).  Although Tacitus does mention the Naharvali, who have been identified with the Silingi (who were part of the later Vandals), this identification appears to be purely geographic – along the lines of arguing that Vandals or Venethi are Poles simply because they lived in the same space – even we won’t go to those lengths.  

*** See Appian (Illyrica) & Cicero (Epistolae familiares) regarding Ceasar losing three times to the Parthians.  Interestingly, although Poles never fought against the Romans, the Veneti did (the Gallic Veneti that is and the Vindili around the Bodensee and presumably the Venice Venethi too or at least, in the latter case, against the Etruscans who seem to have driven the Venethi or Antenoi out even before the Romans), an affair in which both Ceasar and Publius Crassus (the son of the triumvir Crassus of, among many other things, the Persian Wars) were involved,  See Caesar’s Gallic Wars, Book III for a Caesar-centric point of view.

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