Category Archives: Poles

On the Names of Poland Part II

PublishedDecember 19, 2014 Post authortorino

We will come back to some descriptions/names of early Poland (including bin-Yakub‘s) in part III – but in the meantime we thought to take a detour (why not!?) describing some interesting etymologies of the name.

Some hypotheses as regards the name of Poles or Poland follow (we are trying to be complete and creative rather than trying to propose that each of those is equally likely). We also note that some of these hypotheses are complementary (e.g., Poles maybe named after Lachs but Lach was a reference to a type of a field – lęda – not to a person or they were named after Eastern Polans but those in turn were named after fields or after lędy, etc.):

Named After Fields

This is the most common interpretation of the name. This is also the interpretation given by Nestor in PVL to the name Polyane around Kiev (i.e., those Eastern Polans that would then become Rus, once the Rus took them over).

The serf overseer with his feared “skinny boomerang” – the bane of the fleeing peasant – doing what he does best – some good ol’ honest overseein’

On the other hand, at a minimum, this could not have meant “people who harvest fields”, i.e., it did not have an agricultural connotation but rather may have meant people who live in fields as in meadows or open fields. Further, it is a strange name to give to a people who lived in a heavily forested country.

Named After Forest Clearings

Could Polyane refer to “polana” a forest clearing? Initially, in Latin scripts Poland was many times referred to as Polania and to this day there is a Latin Polonia. Possible, but it makes little sense to refer to a people who live in such a large country on the assumption that most of them live in small clearings.

Polane celebrating having set themselves up in “just the right kind of clearing”

Further, etymologists tell us that we then should have seen a different form of the adjective polski – polanski. Also, the word Polak may come from pole but it is unlikely to come from polana.

Named After Lędy

Ledziny (or lędy, singular lęda) are fields but not in the sense of “pole” i.e., not the usual ones for cultivation of crops but rather fields that were were a result of the slash and burn agriculture allegedly practiced by the early Slavs. This was a theory advanced by Rostafinski (of the beech fame). (He also derives Vends/Wends from “wedzic”, i.e., to smoke fish, by drying them, i.e., to deprive them of water (i.e., wend)).

Thus, for example, the name of the Lendizi – a southeastern Polish tribe (aka Lędzianie) – would be the same as the Lachs or Polachs or Polaks or Poles. Such a tribe was mentioned in 844-845 by the Bavarian Geographer as Lendizi. This same tribe was mentioned by Porphirogenotos in De Administrando Imperio (Λενζανηνοί) as well as by Al-Masudi (“Landzaneh“).

Yo! That’s how we roll – gotta problem with that?

This etymology actually seems to make sense but only to explain the word Lachy which although applied originally with respect to the Lendizi, the Russians and others who lived next to the Lendizi then, in the same form applied to all Poles (and indeed to Pomeranians, Silesians, Mazovians and Polabian Slavs as well). (See PVL).

Named After Eastern Polans

A corollary of this is that, although the Eastern Polyane are mentioned by Nestor as the original inhabitants of Kiev, they disappear quickly after the Rus conquest of Kiev (about 882-885) (though Nestor mentions that some still live in Kiev as of the time of the writing of the PVL, i.e., in the early 12th century). At the time of the Bavarian Geographer’s writing about the lands East of the Frankish kingdom, no Poles existed on his list. Then they are there in Poland “ready to go” at least since mid-10th century.

Polyane – fleeing the Rus – only 50% would make it

Note also that while there is a Gniezno (nest) in Poland and that was the first capital of the country, there is also a Gnyozdovo in Russia just West of Smolensk.

So was Poland really a Russian venture? Or putting it less provocatively, are Poles a tribe (or some of the tribe) driven from Russia (specifically Kiev) by the Varangian Rus some time in the second half of the ninth century?

Named After Lech

One of the popular interpretations has been that the Poles are named Po-lechu, i.e., after Lech their original founder.

Lech (modern reconstruction based on DNA sampling)

As we have seen, however, the existence of Lech cannot be proven before the 12th century Dalimil Chronicle and there he was actually named Czech (i.e., Lech means a young man). Only, the later Greater Poland Chronicles and the Czech Pulkava Chronicle first mention Lech as the Urvater of the Poles. Note that the Kadlubek Chronicle, which came after Dalimil but before the other two, mentions Lechites and mentions a number of “Lestkos” as in “sly” but does not mention a tribal leader by that name as leading the Poles into Poland as is mentioned later (e.g., in GPCs and in Dlugosz where Poles arrive from the South).

Now, there was a Czech leader named Lech who perished fighting Charlamagne in 805… So were these Lechites (the alternative name for Poles) perhaps refugees from Bohemia? (There is an interesting, somewhat later, story that connects the flight of a certain Czech family from Bohemia, the Varshovtzi, to the founding of Warszawa or Warsaw in Poland).

Also there was a famous battle in 955 between Otto I and the Hungarians at Lechfeld (look – it’s got a field and a Lech (!)) named after the River Lech which was named after…

Otto I (on the right in the shorter shorts) and his most loyal knights celebrate their victory over the Hungarians

Named After Lech (but with Lech being a variation of the Norse “Lag”)

This is the theory that has Poland founded by Vikings. Allegedly Old Norse Lag means “companion”. Thus, the Viking companions would have founded Poland much like the Varangian Rus founded Russia.

“Dago, methinks it’s time to put away the flail and the attitude and start milkin’!”

There seem to be no facts that support this (a fact admitted even by Nazi scientists who sought to establish this during WWII after the occupation of Poland). In fact, what speaks against it the most is that the name Lachs/Lengiel was employed (and is employed) almost exclusively in the East by Russians, Lithuanians, Ukrainians and Hungarians but never by Germans or Scandinavians.

The theory of conquest was popular among the Polish szlachta (there is that Lach again… or Lech if szlachta is from Geschlecht) at the end of the 18th century to explain why the szlachta lived it up while the peasantry was so remarkably downtrodden (first they thought they were Vandals, then Sarmatians, then Norsemen). It was later of interest to Polish defeatists who saw Poland partitioned (Lelewel, Szajnocha) and thereafter it was picked up by German historians after WWI when reborn Poland threatened Germany’s Eastern flank.

(incidentally, some members of the Anglo-Saxon historiography establishment sought to prove that the venal szlachta were really Asiatic Sarmatians while the Polish peasantry was of Gothic origin…)

Named After Polanow, the Town

There is a town in Poland named Polanow (in southern Pomerania or northern Greater Poland, if you will). Already the Greater Poland Chronicles suggested that the country is named after that town.

(from the Polish National Library)

Incidentally, next to that town there is also the town of Pustow which sounds (a bit) like Piastow…

Named After Boleslaw the Great

So was bolaniorum really the correct version and Poland is named after Boleslaw the Great?Given the number of “P” polaniorum manuscripts we think unlikely. Interestingly, Poland with “B” as in Buluniia (no, not bulimia) also appears in Al-Idrisi‘s much later Tabula Rogeriana and in several other places…

Boleslaw Chrobry greets the young Otto III at Gniezno – A.D. 1000

Named After the Alans

It was named after the Alans as Poles are the remnant of the Scythian Alans (the “former Massagetae” according to Ammianus Marcellinus) most of whom went West with the Vandals and Suevi (and then onto Africa).

Alani on the Peutinger Map (in the far off grid 8A3)

After all Boleslaw is named pALANioru(m) duce above and we know from the Annales Vedastini about those “Alanos, quos dicunt Sclavos.” Here is that piece again:

We think unlikely – if anything the Polish tradition mentioned Vandals. (Although later it began to mention the Sarmatians who may have been Alans… hmmmmmm). And are Vandals just some conglomeration of Venethi and Alans – they did set out together in 406 or so… (we think this unlikely too).

Named After the North Star

A theory mentioned in 1745 by Benedykt Chmielowski has the name Poland derived from “Polo Arctico, that is the Northern Star towards which did the Polish Kingdom lay, just as Spain was named Hesperia from the Western star Hesperus.”

“No, not that one! The one on the left!!!!!”

Named After the North Pole

This is a variation on the above. We cannot recall who came up with that one though it seems to have merited at least some debate in Polish ethnographic circles.

The subfreezing temperatures made well functioning port-a-potties into highly coveted real estate (the “Polish” flag will be touched up in post production)

Named After a Colchian Field

The same Chmielowski also suggests another etymology, that of a Colchian field, with Colchis being a part of today’s Georgia which was visited by the Argonauts in their quest for the Golden Fleece (remember those Paphlagonians…).

Colchis – in all its pink glory

Named After the Baptism of Poland

‘Polac’ means to ‘pour onto’. Already the Czech Vaclav Hajek in his Kronyka Ceska (from 1541) suggested that Poles were those Slavs (or Lechites) who underwent baptism. They were “polani” (i.e., poured onto) with water. Apparently, Czech missionaries would ask “are you ‘polani‘ already?” If this “Catholic” or, rather, “Christian” etymology were correct then, by definition, only those Poles that were baptized were real Poles. This seems interesting if slightly preposterous.

966 A.D. – KQTZ brings it to you as it happened

Named After a Croatian City of Pula (or Pollentia)

After all the Poles (or Lech at least) supposedly came from Croatia (according to Jan Dlugosz) and there is a Krk island in Croatia so there should be a Polania or something in Croatia and, of course, there is: Colonia Pietas Iulia Pola Pollentia Herculanea or the modern city of Pula which was founded by “Illyrians” (or someone before them).

Eeeeee… if this is true, what were they thinking moving North!?

Oh yes, it’s also on the Peutinger Map!

Named After Vlakhs

Nestor writes in the PVL:

“Over a long period the Slavs settled beside the Danube, where the Hungarian and Bulgarian lands now lie. From among these Slavs, parties scattered throughout the country and were known by appropriate names, according to the places where they settled. Thus some came and settled by the river Morava, and were named Moravians, while others were called Czechs. Among these same Slavs are included the White Croats, the Serbs and the Carinthians. For when the Vlakhs attacked the Danubian Slavs, settled among them and did them violence, the latter came and made their homes by the Vistula, and were then called Lyakhs.”

The strange thing here is that the paragraph on the Lyachs follows a settlement by most of the other Slavs in their lands already. That is, the attack of the Vlachs (either the Romanized population of the Balkans or the Byzantines are presumably meant) seems to apply (or could be read to apply) solely to the Lyachs. Are Lyachs those who were driven out by the Vlachs? Or are they perhaps somehow the original Vlachs (in pursuit of Slavs)?

The most famous Vlach of all “No Slavs… you cannot get away!”

Named After Lany

A “lan” is a portion of a field. So if not the whole field, perhaps some of it? One of our readers suggested this and we thought worth including this etymology as well. Tell us what you think.

The Polish “lany” were a place where fertility cults thrived

The Plain Truth?

Although neither Linde nor Brueckner suggest this etymology, it is conceivable that the Polish word “plony” (as in harvest) derives from plain as in flat (they suggest its original meaning was simply “booty” both of fields and that taken from the enemy). However, the “pole” etymology was always tad suspect since by accepting it we were to accept that the forested Polish countryside was full of open fields – or at least more so than other areas of Europe. On the other hand, we do know that the Great Northern European Plain is well, plain – whether covered by forest or by fields or whatever else the area is flatland. In Latin the word us planum and means “level ground” i.e., plain…

Lech hunting “zubr” on the Great Plain of Poland [dramatization]

This would seem anecdotally supported by reports of Polish ethnographers who claimed that, e.g., Gorale claimed not to be Poles – when asked why that would be given they speak the same language, the Goral in question (a gazda – look it up) was confused because, he said, he is not a Pole as, of course, he lives in the mountains so how could he be a Pole… (Incidentally, the Nazis after their conquest of Poland exploited these kinds of musings by declaring a new “privileged” minority – the Goralenvolk – most of the leadership of this short lived “minority” were executed after the war). Similarly, by this logic Pomeranians were “not Poles” because they lived by the sea and Silesians by the Sleza mountain in the highlands.

On Krak or Krok (or Crocus?)

PublishedDecember 14, 2014 Post authortorino

King Krak is a legendary monarch of Poland. King Krok a legendary ruler of Bohemia.

The Polish Krak (known from the Master Kadlubek Chronicle and from the Greater Poland Chronicles) fought many wars, founded (and gave his name to) the city of Krakow, had to deal with a dragon, was succeeded by a son who killed another one of his son’s and then, when the crime was discovered, by a daughter – Wanda – who was of legendary beauty and who rallied her people against an Alemanic prince (only later called “German” by the name of Rittiger by the Polish Chronicler Jan Dlugosz) so smitten with her that he first tried to invade her country and then just could not bring himself up to an open war with Wanda.

The conflict between Krak and the Dragon was largely due to a case of athlete’s foot combined with the sharing of a soaking tub

The Czech Krok, after whom a castle was named, was also a great man though more in the nature of a wise man. He lacked male offspring but had three daughters: Kazi, Tetka and, most importantly, the magician Libuse. It was Libuse who married the simple ploughman Premysl, the founder of the Premyslid dynasty.

Dalimil’s Krok

And the same in “English” so to speak

BTW in this the Czech Krok legend (known from Cosmas and Dalimil) is different from the Polish one since the former connects Krok to the Czech ruling house whereas the latter does not make such a connection to the Polish House of Piast. The reason for this may be that the Polish version stems out of the (likely) formerly Czech lands of Krakow (Little or New Poland) and does not tie easily (nor has it been expressly tied by any chroniclers) to the legend of Piast known in Gniezno (Great or Old Poland).

But what is the origin of the legend? Where does the name come from? The Polish chroniclers by using the name Graccus suggested a relationship with the ancient Romans by the same name. But perhaps a different source presents itself. Note that in the Polish version, the Poles are associated with Vandals and Wanda, the daughter of Krak, is about fight an Alemannic prince…

The Real Crocus/Chrocus?

History, via the mouth of Gregory of Tours in his History of the Franks (or Decem Libri Historiarum), knows of an Alemannic Crocus (or Chrocus or Croscus) (with the -us suffix being a typical “Latinization” of the name) who raided with his comrades the Roman province of Gaul around the years A.D. 253-258 causing much damage including the destruction of the temple of Vasso Galatae (and causing the martyrdom of Saint Didier the third Bishop of Langres).

This is what Gregory says:

“Valerian and Gallienus receive the Roman imperial power in the twenty-seventh place, and set on foot a cruel perscution of the Christians. At that time Cornelius brought fame to Rome by his happy death and Cyprian to Carthage. In their time also Chrocus the famous king of the Alemanni raised an army and overran the Gauls. This Chrocus is said to have been very arrogant. And when he committed a great many crimes he gathered the tribe of the Alemanni, as we have stated, by the advice, it is said, of his wicked mother, and overran the whole of the Gauls, and destroyed from their foundations all the temples which had been built in ancient times. And coming to Claremont he set on fire, overthrew and destroyed that shrine which they call Vasso Galatae in the Gallic tongue…” (History of the Franks, Book I, 32 (Chrocus and the Shrine in Auvergne))

The Epitome de Caesaribus (41, 3) also speaks of a Crocus as a king of the Alemanni, this time serving the function of a Roman general/warlord in Britain (York) in July of the year A.D. 306. It is not clear whether this was the same or a different Crocus. But either there is a mistake or it is a different Chrocus as over 40 years separate these the events in these two accounts.

This is the text:

“Constantine [the Great], son of imperator Constantius and Helena, ruled thirty years. While a young man being held as a hostage by Galerius in the city of Rome on the pretence of his religion, he took flight and, for the purpose of frustrating his pursuers, wherever his journey had brought him, he destroyed the public transports, and reached his father in Britain; and by chance, in those very days in the same place, ultimate destiny was pressing on his parent, Constantius. With him dead, as all who were present — but especially Crocus, King of the Alamanni, who had accompanied Constantius for the sake of support — were urging him on, he took imperium.” (Translated by Thomas M. Banchich)

Finally, and this is perhaps even more of interest, the Chronicle of Fredegar, which copies portions of the History of Franks, also mentions Crocus… but this time he is a King of the Vandals, leading them along with the Alans and the Suebi across the Rhine in that fateful year A.D. 406 (i.e., 100 years after the Epitome episode) when these tribes crossed into the Roman Empire and made their way to Gaul, Spain and then, now Vandals and Alans only, to Africa. Some believe that Fredegar was mistaken here but we were tempted, given the Vandal connection, to mention this and reproduce the following (from Fredegar):

Fredegar’s Vandalic version of Crocus

So what does the above say?

“Chrocus rex Wandalorum cum Suaevis et Alanis egressus de sedibus, Galleas adpetens, consilium matris neequissimam utens, dum ei dixisset: ‘Se novam rem volueris facere et omen adquirere, quod alli aedifficaverunt cuncta distruae et populum, quem superas, totum interfice; nam nec aedificum meliorem a praecessorebus facere non potes neque plus magnam rem, per qua nomen tuum elevis’. Qui Renum Mogancia ponte ingeniosae transiens, primum ipsamque civitatem et populum vasta vit; deind cunctasque civitatis Germaniae vallans, Mettis pervenit, ubi murus civitatis divino noto per nocte ruens, capta est civetas a Wandalis. Treverici vero in arenam huius civitates, quem munierant, liberati sunt. Post haec cunctas Galleas Chrocus cum Wandalis, Suaevis et Alanis pervagans, alias ubsidione delivit, aliasques ingeniosae rumpens, vastavit. Nec ulla civetasaut caster ab eis in Gallis liberata est. Cumque Arelato obsederint, Chrocos a Mario quaedam militae captus et vinculis constrictus est. Qui ductus ad poenam per universas civitates, quas vastaverat, impia vita digna morte finivit. Cui Trasemundus successit in rignum. Alamanni adversus Wandalos arma commovunt. Uterque consencientes singulare certamen prilliandum, duos miserunt. Sed et ille qui a Wandalis missus est ab Alamannos superator. Victusque Trasemundus et Wandali, secundum placetum cum Wandalis, Suaevis et Alanis de Galllias praetermissis Spanias adpetivit, ibique multos christianorum, pro fide catholica interfecit.”

Essentially, “Chrocus king of the Vandals, left his dominions together with the Suevi and Alans, eager to attack Gaul following his mother’s wicked advice, for she had said to him: ‘if you wish to carry out a new exploit and gain renown destroy all that others have built and kill everyone you conquer; for you cannot build a better building than you forefathers nor carry out a greater deed with which to make a name for yourself.’ Thus, after crossing the Rhine through Mainz, by means of an ingenious bridge, he first devastated this city and decimated its people. After fortifying all the cities of Germania, he arrived in Metz, where the city wall collapsed when a divine wind was unleashed during the night and the city was captured by the Vandals. The inhabitants of Trier, however, were saved by taking refuge in their city amphitheater, which they had fortified. Afterwards, Chrocus, crossing the whole of Gaul with Vandals, Suevi and Alans, destroyed some towns by means of a siege and devastated others by ingeniously busting in. And there was no city or fortress in Gaul that was saved from them. However, when they were besieging Arles, Chrocus was captured and put in chains by a soldier called Marius [perhaps the Emperor usurper]. And led to execution through all the cities he had devastated, his impious life ended with the death he deserved. Thrasamund reigned after him. Then the Alamanni went to war against the Vandals and, as both parties agreed that there should be a single combat, they sent two warriors. But the one sent by the Vandals was defeated by the Alaman. And as Thrasamund and his Vandals were thus vanquished, after leaving Gaul together with Suevi and Alans, as it had been agreed, they attacked Spain and there they slew many Christians for their Catholic faith.”

[the translation is by Agusti Alemany; the same passage is repeated in the Chronicle of Moissac though there we have “Choroscus/Chrocus/Chroscus,” Croscus/Crochus” and “Croscus/Crochus”]

Note that here Vandals lose and move on to Spain. In the version by Gregory of Tours, Vandals lose in Spain with a Suev champion defeating a Vandal one and then move on to Africa. In each case the Vandal king at this point is Thrasamund. This kind of David-Goliath one on one combat to settle affairs is also found in other places, e.g., in the combat between the Slav and Saxon champions (Slav won this one) much later in Germany. Note also that the Alamanni here seem to be distinct from the Suevi. The latter come with Chrocus and his Vandals and Alans into Gaul and also leave with him once the Alemanni defeat the Vandal champion. All in all, it is difficult to establish whether the Gregory or the Fredegar account is correct (or more correct since each has major issues). For example, Gregory has Chrocus’ Alemanni martyr one Vicentius who is known to have met that fate in the early 400s. But Fredegar also varies his timeline widely, e.g., by mentioning that Chrocus was succeeded by Thrasamund, a Vandalic king who ruled in the late 5th and early 6th century (almost 100 years after the Rhine crossing by the Vandals, Suevi and Alans). Of course, Gregory also has Thrasamund be the king. In reality, the trek to Africa was under Geiseric.* Whoever may be closer to the truth, in Fredegar we have Alemanns in one on one combat with Vandals and we have Chrocus…

This Vandalic interpretation was then picked up by Annonius (Aimonius) in his de Gestis Francorum (Book III) in the year 1008.

Could Master Kadlubek (who is known to have perused ancient sources) also perused Fredegar’s Chronicles from 600 years earlier to come up with the story of Krak? Or the slightly more recent Aimonius?

(Note that Krakow could have been named after the crowing of crows not after any Krak – such an etymology is mentioned, in the alternative, by the GPCs).

Kadlubek never connected his Polish Gracchus to the Allemanic or Vandalic Chrocus of the past – just mentioned the connection of Graccus to the city of Cracow. However, another writer then made the connection explicit. Alberic of Trois-Fontaines (Albericus Trium Fontium) a Cistercian monk and chronicler who wrote a chronicle of world events through the year 1241 (written between 1232-1252 (some people think in 1246)) when Cracow was already a well known city and a capital of (then divided) Poland) in which, under the year 413 he describes the invasion of Gall again by the Vandals and the Alans led by Craco/Crosco a duke/king in Cracoviae/Craconie (variations depending, it seems, on the manuscript):

Keeping in mind that Master Kadlubek’s Chronicle would then have already been written (Kadlubek passed away in 1223), could Alberic have had a chance to glance at it or was the connection to Cracow a figment of his own imagination (or not)?

In any event, we think the Alemanic and Vandalic connections are of interest in light of the Krak legend. It is harder, however, to connect (even if ephemerally) this to the Czech version of Krok.

Next time when we touch this subject we will talk about the Norse angle, that of Hrolf Kraki‘s saga.

* Also, Fredegar was, supposedly basing his version of events on the work by Hydatius (Idacius) the bishop of Aquae Flaviae (Chaves or Chiaves) in Gallicia (Spain), from circa 427 to 470 who was an author of a Chronicle (itself one of the continuations of Jerome) and who would have been closer to these events (for example, he discusses the plundering of Spain in 408-410 by the Vandals, Suevi and Alans). Yet the timeline given by Hydatius supposedly is closer to the 250s as specified by Gregory of Tours.

On the Names of Poland Part I

PublishedDecember 8, 2014 Post authortorino

The earliest mentions of Polish rules speak of various names but the name Poles or Poland does not at first appear.

Widukind of Corvey

Instead we read, for example, about:

“Misca (or Missacam) regem, cuius potestatis erant Sclaui, qui dicuntur Licicaviki, duabus vicibus superavit, fratremque ipsius interfecit, predam magnam ab eo extorsit.”

(Roughly: [Wichmann the Younger] twice defeated MIeszko [in 963/?/965] who was the leader of Slavs named Licikaviki, killed his brother and forced him to pay great tribute/took great bounty [or, if you prefer, “extorted”]).

This is from Widukind of Corvey‘s Rerum gestarum Saxonicarum sive annalium libri tres (On the Deeds of the Saxons in (or aka) Three Books of Annals) Book 3 chapter 66 (Gero propter iuramentum dimisit Wichmannum) (below is the text of the 1532 first print Basel edition):

This book was written sometime between 967-968 then apparently continued until 973. The above reference is to Wichmann’s working with the Veleti/Lutici against Poland’ s Mieszko I. We already mentioned this source in discussing Mieszko’s name and note here yet again that he is the leader of Slavs called Licikaviki. Interestingly, the very next chapter (discussing the margrave Gero) discusses Slavs called Lusiki as you can see above. We reproduce that here in slightly more clear format:

“Eo quoque tempore Gero preses Sclavos qui dicuntur Lusiki (Quomodo Gero Lusiki vicit) potentissime vicit et ad ultimam servi tutem coegit, non sine sui tamen gravi vulnere nepotisque optimi viri casu, caeterorum quoque quam plurimorum nobilium virorum.”

The Lusiki are, clearly, Lusatians, i.e., today’s Sorbs. Could Licikaviki be a misspelling of the same? Unlikely, as one is attacked by Wichmann, the other by Gero.

[Incidentally, the Lusatians are different from the Lutici/Veleti. The former were and are living in Southeast Germany around Cottbus/Chociebuz). The latter were a tribal federation in Northeast Germany. These two were two of three large Slavic confederations West of the Oder River – the third one being the Northwest Obodrites].

Gerhard from Augsburg

Another source of information, however meager, is Vita sancta Uodalrici (The Life of Saint Ulrich) by Gerhard from Augsburg written sometime in 983-993.

So first we have a reference to Mieszko as follows (from the 1595 print edition):

He then writes under the year 992:

“Obiit Misica dux Vandalorum“

(There died Mieszko duke of the Vandals).

Clearly, people in the West were not entirely clear as to who the Slavs were.

John Canaparius

The first time the name Poland appears is in the 997 Life of the Martyr Saint Voytech (Adalbert of Prague) (Sancti Adalberti Pragensis episcopi et martyris vita prior). Saint Voytech (Adalbert) was sent by Boleslaw the Brave to convert the Prussians. Unfortunately, the Prussians did not want to be converted resulting in an early state of Sainthood for Voytech. His half-brother Radim (Gaudentius) (who became the first Archbishop of Gniezno) survived the trip and told the story (later immortalized also in the famous Gniezno Doors) to the Abbot of the Benedictine monastery of Sts. Boniface and Alexius in Rome. That Abbot, John Canaparius, then penned the book Life of the Marty Saint Woytech. In any event, it is in that opus that the name Poland/Polish first comes up.

Specifically, we read there that a Czech magnate Soběslav Slavníkovec left on a campaign together with his buddy “bolizlavo (Boleslaw) palanioru(m) duce” (i.e., duke of the Polans or Polanian duke). The below is from the Guelferbytano codex:

Other manuscripts of the same have the following versions: poloniorum, bolaniorum, polaniorum, polonorum and a corrected pulaniorum. Similarly, Boleslaw is featured as: bolezawo, bolezlao, boleslauo, bolisclauum and boleslao.[1]

But where does the name come from? That is a topic for next time.

[1] Incidentally, the same document also contains the first mention of (medieval) Prussians and of the city of Gdansk. The scrivener had some trouble with writing the latter (see too notes below in the lower left hand corner:

Polish Gods Part I

PublishedOctober 4, 2014 Post authortorino

We have a relatively thorough discussion of eastern Slavic Gods from Nestor. We also have commentaries on the western Slavic religious practices from Adam of Bremen, Thietmar, Helmold and Saxo Grammaticus. However, the central areas of Slavdom, Poland and Bohemia have often been thought of relatively empty areas as regards Slavic religious practices.

Palania – the scrivener must have missed the Polonia memo

There are usually a variety of reasons given for this situation. Some have speculated that the Slavs in those countries, not having come into contact early enough with either Romans or Germans existed in a kind of primitive society which simply found no room for detailed pantheons, involved myths or highly developed heroes. Others have noted that the early influence and penetration of the Christian Church brooked no dissent with any local, primitive practices quickly and thoroughly stamped out. For example, the first contemporaneous mention of Poland was in 965 or thereabouts but already in 966 the “Baptism of Poland” took place whereby the first historical ruler, Mieszko I, converted the country to Christianity. Whatever simple beliefs the populace possessed were thus thought to have been dealt with within a year or so of the country appearing on the world stage.

Giant Christ arrives in Poland, offering the country a Big Hug (a welcome committee is seen on the lower right approaching with some trepidation)

This, however, is far too clean a picture. While it is true that Poland’s conversion to Christianity was almost instantaneous, as a matter of edicts and laws passed (and helped by the likely contemporaneous violence inflicted), we have to remember that the early Piast state was a rather flimsy creation and, ager the spectacular expansion of MIeszko and his son Boleslaw I, it quickly came under assault by all the powers of the day.

John Paul II responds on behalf of Poland - hug received and acknowledged

Giant John Paul II accepts the Big Hug on behalf of Poland – a love fest for over a thousand years!

As a result most of the state structures collapsed and indeed there was even a so-called “pagan reaction” in the early 11th century whereby Christian clerics were killed or driven off and the whole country plunged into the chaos of civil war and foreign invasions. While subsequent Piast dukes managed to put most of the country back together, the disastrous 1138 division of Poland at the hands of Boleslaw III resulted in a new break up of the country that nearly led to its final demise. It was not until the reigns of Wladyslaw the Elbowhigh and Casimir III that the kingdom was saved and strengthened, albeit in a rump state having lost Silesia and Pomerania for the next 600 plus years.

Meanwhile in New York City, things were not going so well

It was only in that rump, barely recognizable state that emerged in the 13th and 14th century that the groundwork was laid for a more enduring project via the establishment of a much strengthened central authority. It was that central authority that contained now a rebuilt ecclesiastical component and it was that component that for the first time could and, therefore, begun to take its Christianizing mission seriously. Bishops and priests looked around to see what was then going on in their country and what was going on they did not like. Thanks to their new laws, statutes and heart-felt sermons we were able, for the first time to get a picture of the pre-Christian spiritual life in Polish central Europe.

Unsurprisingly, the new stability and wealth also brought forth the works of the nation’s first “professional” chroniclers who gave us a broader more historiographic and sometimes more secular view of the country’s pre-Christian roots. Although virtually all of such sources are dated to the 14th or 15th century the practices they describe are ones that were alive while the authors wrote – of course, we cannot tell whether such practices were also present at the birth of the Polish state some 400 years earlier or whether they were merely a remnant or a new form thereof.

Annales of Jan Długosz
(1450-1480)

Let us begin with the court chronicler Jan Dlugosz and his Annales seu cronicae incliti Regni Poloniae (Annals or Chronicles of the Famous Polish Kingdom). Then we will work our way backwards as far as we can. This is what he says (from the Codex Regius version of the Annales (of Stanislaw Augustus Poniatowski) circa 1495-1515 – we will spare you the text version of the latin – you can read it for yourself from the manuscript below):

Let us quote Dlugosz:

“This too is known about the Poles that from the beginning of their people they were idolaters and believed and honored gods and goddesses, namely Jupiter, Mars, Venus [Greek Aphrodite], Pluto, Diana [Greek Artemis] and Ceres [Greek Demeter], having fallen into the errors of other nations and tribes. Jupiter they called in their language Jessa, believing that from him, as the highest of the Gods, they receive all the earthly blessings and all occurrences the unfortunate ones but so also the serendipitous. To him, therefore, more than to the other Gods did they give the greatest praise and the most frequent offerings. Mars they called Lada. The imagination of poets made him a leader and a war god. The prayed to him for victory over their enemies and for courage for themselves, honoring him with the wildest rites. Venus they called Dzydzilelya and thought her to be the goddess of marriage, so that they asked her to bless them with children and to give them a richness of sons and daughters. Pluto they called Niya, believing him to be the god of the underworld and the guardian and caretaker of souls, when they leave the body. To him they prayed that they should be let after death into better dwellings in the underworld. To such souls/to this god they built in the city of Gniezno the most important temple and pilgrims journeyed there from everywhere. Wheres Diana, which was thought according to the pagan beliefs to be both a woman and too a virgin, was venerated by matron mothers and virgins alike placing wreaths on her statutes. Farmers and those who led an agricultural life honored Ceres, and they raced to offer to her grain seeds. For a god they also took the “weather [Pogoda]” and called the same Pogoda likewise, that is the giver of good air. There was also the god of life called Sywie. And because the state of the Lechites happened to arise in a country with many a wood and forest and such country was believed by the ancients to have been inhabited by Diana and that Diana was their [i.e., the ancient dwellers’ of Poland] mistress, whereas Ceres was seen as a mother and a goddess of plentiful harvests which the country needed, therefore these two goddesses: Diana which in their tongue was called Dziewanna and Ceres called Marzanna were especially venerated and worshipped”

He goes on to say:

“Thus it was that for these Gods and Goddesses the Poles built temples and statues, ordained priests, dedicated sacred groves in appropriate and beautiful places so as to honor these [Gods and Goddesses] and bow before them. There men and women came together together with children and gave sacrifices and burned domestic flocks and cattle and other animals, and on occasion people prisoners from battle. They also had a superstitious rite of making offerings to placate their native Gods and, on certain days and times of year they had great festivals, for which people of both sexes were called to towns from villages. These festivals they celebrated with debauched singing and dancing, sometimes clapping, lewd twisting and other debauchery in songs, games and salacious deeds; while at the same time they called on to the above-mentioned Gods/Goddesses in accordance with their custom. Rites such as those and some of their relics, even though Poles, as is known, have almost five hundred years ago accepted Christianity, they continue to practice to this day, every year during the Green Holidays [Green Week/Pentecost/polish Zielone Świątki, german Pfingsten], recalling pagan idolatery with a festivity called in their language Stado [i.e., Herd], because great multitudes of people come together for it, who then divided into herds or groups of crazed participants and sybarites, happily celebrate these holidays with partying and leisure” [the text then continues regarding the circumstances of the baptism of Poland – for that see here]

[The Green Holidays were the main feast of spring in early May (see here for information on the Bald Mountain festivities) with Christianity replacing them with the Pentecost (i.e., in the Christian version the descent of the Holy Spirit among the Apostles and other early Christians).]

Here is another example from the 1450 manuscript:

About the author: Joannes Dlugossius, i.e. & aka, Longinus (1415-1480) is considered the father of Polish historiography. Długosz’ father was given an estate as a result of his accomplishments at the Battle of Grunwald. Długosz was educated at Krakow University (then called an academy) and, thereafter, served as a secretary and confidante to the Cracow archbishop Zbigniew Olesnicki. Afterwards he worked in the service of the King of Poland, Casimir IV Jagiellonczyk the, including as the educator of his children and an ambassador (including, among others, to Rome, Bohemia, Hungary). Before the end of his life he was to become the archbishop of Lviv, alas he was meant for greener pastures.

For another mention by Długosz of Polish paganism, see his description of the Baptism of Poland in here.

Jan Długosz’s
Insignia seu clenodia regis et regni Poloniae
(1464-1480)

However, regarding Lada, Długosz expressed a slightly different view a few years earlier in a heraldry book he wrote (Insignia seu clenodia regis et regni Poloniae) sometime in the years 1464-1480. Here he says as follows:

“Lada, que ex domo Accipitrum deriuationem sumpsit, deferens babatum cruce signatum et in uno cornu sagittam, in altero retortam, in campo rubeo. Lada a nominee dee Polonice, que in Mazouia in loco et in villa Lada celebatur, vocabulum sumpsit exinde.“

“[following the description of the tamga sign] Lada is a name of a Polish goddess which was venerated in Mazovia in the place and village Lada.”

This is from the Arma Baronum Regni Polonae Erazm Kamień version, Poznań circa 1575 (previously in the Zamoyski Estate (fidei commissum) Library) (here it is Dei not Dee, that is God not Goddess):

Note also the “up” and “down” signs, later replaced with an up arrow and down arrow (?). Curiously, in elder Futhark this was the “j” rune (*jēran meaning “year” and also “harvest” and which in English is pronounced Y and the shape of which presumably reflects the ascent and descent of the Sun?).

And this is from the earlier Kórnik manuscript (which has Dee):

Note on The Life of Saint Adalbert (Voytech) in a Manuscript on the Lives of the Saints
(circa 1450)

“Idola polonorum fuerunt ista Alado agyessze.“

“The gods/idols of the Poles were the following: Alado, agyessze.”

About the author: That is all there is. This is literally just a gloss, i.e., a note, written on the manuscript of The Life of Saint Adalbert. We know nothing else except that this comes from a Latin manuscript relating to Lives of the Saints (weighing in at 357 pages) at the Petersburg Library and was brought to the world’s attention by Rafal Lubicz.

Postilla Husitae anonymi (aka Postilla Husitae Polonici)
(pre 1450)

“Et sic Poloni, adhuc circa Penthecostes Alado gardzyna yesse colentes ydola in eorum kalenda et proch dolor istis ydolis exhibetur maior honor tune temporis a malis christianis quam de deo quia puelle que per totum annum non veniant ad ecclessiam adorare deum, illo tempore solent venire ad colenda ydola.“

“Poles even now about the time of the Pentacost honor gods/idols Alado gardzyna yesse… and unfortunately bad Christians honor these gods more than they honor God, because girls/women, who all year do not go to church to honor God, then came to honor these gods/idols.”

About the author: We only know, as per the title, that this was written by a, likely Polish, Hussite priest who, likely, will remain anonymous. This comes from Aleksander Brueckner in Prace Filologiczne, Volume 4, p. 572, and is ultimately from the Petersburg Library manuscripts. This particular manuscript (Lat. I.Q. 146) was stolen by the Russians likely after the November Uprising around 1833. It was later returned to Poland at the signing of the Treaty of Riga of 1921 concluding the Soviet-Polish War between the Second Polish Republic and the Soviet Union. Unfortunately, it was burned down by the Germans after the Warsaw Uprising in 1944.

Tractatus about Polish Orthography
by Jacob (Jakub) Parkoszowic
(circa 1440)

“Nya, quod fuit idolorum“

“Every time there was a soft ‘n’ to be written, it was always written with the help of a double ‘y’ before the appropriate vowel… This writing method was, however, inadequate to differentiate [from other situations], because between ‘Nya‘ which was the name of a [god/goddess/]idol and ‘nia’, a syllable found in the word ‘gniazdo’ [nest], there was no difference in writing.”

This is from the 1830 Samuel Bandtkie edition in Latin:

[for more on the topic see here]

About the author: Jacobus Parcossi, Parkosch de Żorawicze, Parkossius was a priest and a four time rector, i.e., Chancellor of (and a one time student at) Krakow University (his four terms of one year each were nonconsecutive, separated by a year under Jan of Dobro, who played the role of Benjamin Harrison in this rectoral sandwich). His main achievement was the creation of a tractatus (no known title) on Polish orthography, specifically, spelling out rules on the application of Latin letters to Polish phones (as in phonetics, actual phone service was not yet present in Poland). The tractatus survives at Jagiellonian Library in a manuscript from 1460-1470 scribed by one Warzykowski.

Sermones per circulum anni Cunradi
(1423)

“Sed proh dolor, nostri senes, vetule et puelle non disponunt se ad oracionem, ut sint digne acecipere spiritum sanctum, sed proh dolor hys tribus diebus qui servandi sunt in contemplacione, conveniunt vetule et mulieres et puelle non ad templum, non orare, sed ad coreas, non nominare deum, sed dyabolum scilicet ysaya lado ylely ya ya. Quibus dicit Christus: solempnitates vestras odivit anuma mea. Tales cum dyabolo venerunt, cum eodem [sic] reddeant et nisi peniteant, transient cum yassa lado ad eternam dampnacionem.“

“Unfortunately, our old men, old women and girls do not spend much effort on prayers so as to be worthy to take on the Holy Ghost but unfortunately during those three days of the Pentacost that ought to be spent on introspection, there come the old women and the girls not to church, not to prayers, but to dance, not to call God, but the devil, specifically ysaya lado ylely ya ya … those if they do not do penance, will walk with yassa lado to eternal damnation.”

About the author: This quotation is from the Czestochowa manuscript of the Sermons of Conrad (probably Waldhausen?) for the liturgical year. The year this dates to is 1423 although, if Waldhausen, is the author of the underlying original (and he would not have been writing about Poland being concerned with Czech and German matters), then the original (without the above notes) would have been written about during the life of the same, i.e., 1320- 1369. We are not, however, interested in the original but in this version. Source: Manuscriptum Czenstochoviense, Expliciunt sermones per manus Johannis de Michoczyn (Johannis/Johannes de Michoczyn (Jan z Michocina) was the copier? Conrad Waldhauser, the author?) located by Rafal Lubicz.

Statutes From the Collection of Nicholas of Pyzdry
aka Statuta provincialia breviter
(no later than 1414)

“Item prohibeatis plausus et cantalenas in quibus invocantur nomina ydolorum lado yleli yassa Nya que consueverunt fieri tempore festi penthecosten, cum revera Christi fidelis tunc debent deum invocare denocte ut ad instar apostolorum valeant accipere spiritum sanctum, quem non ex actibus demoniorum merebuntur accipere sed ex fideli catholice fructuose.“

“Forbid clapping and singing too in which the names of the gods Lado, Yleli, Yassa, Nya are invoked and which usually takes place during the Pentacost…”

The manuscript where these were first discovered (and labeled statuta provincialia breviter) is in the Ossolineum library. That manuscript houses the Lviv (Lwów) provincial statutes (1415-1417). The below is from an edition of the manuscript by Wladyslaw Abraham from the year 1920:

However, later it seems another manuscript (from Czerwińsk), now in the Polish National Library in Warsaw came to light of Poznań provincial statutes and now these statutes are referred to (because of a reference at their beginning) as statutes “from the collection of Nicholas of Pyzdry” (Mikołaj Peyser that is z Pyzdr aka Peyser from Sługocinek). That manuscript was published by Jakub Sawicki in 1957. They are dated prior to the year 1414 (and the Lviv (Lwów) statutes are basically a copy of the earlier Poznań statutes). These Peyser statutes are stuck between the statutes of Mikołaj Trąba from 1420 (themselves casting anathemas on those practicing sortilegys) and the latter statutes’ table of contents.

If you compare the above texts, you will notice that the Ossolineum text has tija in lieu of Nya – as Krzysztof Bracha pointed out and as Kolankiewicz suspected, an error.

About the authors: It appears that these statutes were enacted during a Poznań provincial synod (i.e., meeting of the clergy) perhaps at Wieluń/Kalisz (within the Poznań province). That synod, in turn, was a result of the Council of Constance (during which, among other exciting things, John Hus was put to the stake). The synod was attended Primate of Poland Mikołaj Trąba and the Poznań Bishop Andrzej Łaskarz. Mikołaj Peyser may have been present and may have been a co-author/editor. The statutes seem to have been important enough to be adopted by the Lviv (Lwów) province as noted above. In fact, Łaskarz enacted a longer Poznań version of the statutes at a later (1420) Poznań synod. Those appear to be based largely on the Wieluń/Kalisz statutes (though do not mention the above Divine Names found only in the “provincial” statutes).

Pentacostal Postilla Sermons
no. 2, no. 4 & no. 7
by Lucas from Great Kozmin
(circa 1405-1412)

[From Sermo Secundus]:

“Hoc deberent advertere hodie in choreis vel in aliis spectaculis nefanda loquentes et in cordibus immunda meditantes, clamantes et nominantes idolorum nomina: ‘Lada*, Yasse‘ et attendere an possit referro ad Deum Patrem? Certe non [.(?)] venit ad summum bonum nisi quod bonum. Non enim festa Liberi, id est Bachi, quales proh dolor celebrant ex remanentiis rituum exsecrabilium paganorum, quales fuerunt praedecessores nostri, pervenire possunt ad aures Dei nisi ad ulciscendum, sicut ascenderat clamor Sodomorm et Gomorrhorum. Nam in hoc festo Liberi fiebant turpes / denudationes et alia turpia, quae deixit Apostolus etiam non nominari gratia Domini Dei, tamem talia iam auctis praedicatoribus cessant et in multis locis cessaverunt…

“To this day they sing and dance and name their Gods “Lada*, Yassa” and others – surely not references to the Holy Father so can anything good come of this? Certainly this not does not lead to the highest good [?]. For we should not allow our ears to freely hear these holidays, that have remained [derived] from the festivities of the accursed pagans who were our ancestors except perhaps to show the ancient cries of Sodom and Gomorrah. For during those holidays there took place obscene nudities and other abominations that it is not becoming to even name [in the presence of/ because of] God the Father. These events though are disappearing or have already disappeared thanks to the increase in the number of preachers [deployed]…”

* Following the Corpus Christi manuscript. Ossolineum has “Lado”.

“[nominantes nominorum ydolorum alado yasa … Non est aliud nomen sub celo in quo oporteat non salvos fieri.] Non enim salvatur in hoc nomine [Jassa, Quia, Niya] Lado, Yassa, Nia* sed in nomine Ihesus Christus …”

“…[They name the names of idols alado yasa… There is no other name under heaven in which we may be saved.] One does not receive salvation through the names of [Jassa, Quia, Niya] Lado, Yassa or Nia* but rather through the name of Jesus Christ…”

* The first and second bracketed language may be an addition in the Kielce manuscript. The other brackets are an alternative listing in another manuscript (Cracow?) .

“…Non Lada, non Yassa, non Nia, que sunt nomina alias ydolorum in Polonia hic cultorum, ut quedam cronice testantur ipsorum Polonorum.“

“…Not Lada, Yassa or Nia, that incidentally are the names of the gods worshipped here in Poland as will attest certain chronicles of the Poles.”

[There is also this potential fragment of Sermo Secundus which appears to be found only in the Kielce manuscript?]

“…ut mos erat polanie, scilicet hijs diebus sanctis nominaciones vtinam non invocaciones, scilicet Leda yassa et quia [nya], que recolo me legisse tempore adolescencie fuisse idola…”

“… as is the custom with the Poles, that on holy days they name – wuld that they did not invoke them – Leda, yassa and quia, which I recall having read in my youth were idols…”

[from Sermo Quartus (in Kielce manuscript only?)]:

“…eos dicentes lada, yassa, nya, que in quadam Cronica recolo tempore adolescencie mee me legisse fuisse [fuere] ydola in Polonia, unde et iste ritus usque ad tempora nostra pervenit, nam chorea exercebantur puellule [puelle] cum gladiis ac si ymmolande demonibus et non Deo disponebantur et masculi cum fustibus et gladiis armabantur et invicem adinvicem findebantur, more illa quo legitur fecisse sacerdotes baal…”

“…Those that are called Lada, Yassa, Nya, I recall that in youth I read in a certain chronicle that there were in Poland Gods and from those days to our times such rites come that, young women [in his time] dance with swords, as if in offering to the pagan Gods [Baal], and not to [the] God, as well as [dances of] young men with swords and sticks, which they then hit about…”

[from Sermo Septimus (in Kielce manuscript only?)]:

“…Vnde illi, qui faciebant, vtinam iam non facerentur conventicula et talibus diebus, que lingua Polonorum dicuntur stada, in quibus omnes pariter de vna villa congregati pugnabant contra alios et tunc plures interficiebantur et tales faciebant contra spiritum sanctum, qui vnit et, ipsi dividunt. Na, certe habitare fratres in vnum, in bonum et iocundum dixit Ps. [132.1-3] et post subiungit de vnccione, de ascensione, de ascendante dicens: ‘sicut vnguentum [optimum] in capite, quod descendit in barbam Aaron’ et que vnccio, quo est vnguentum sic in vnitas descendas nisi illa, de qua Johannes in Canonica dicit [1 John 2.27]: ‘ ‘vnccio docebit vos’ in eodem loco, id est in cenaculo, quia datur sepius cenantibus spiritualiter, scilicet dum auditur verbum dei…”

[English translation to come]

About the author: Lucas from Great Kozmin (or Nicolaus Lucas de Jaroslaw olin de Cosmin if you are looking for a mouthful) lived between (approximately) 1370-1412. He started his studies at Prague University in 1395 and got his B.A. there. He then lived in Sandomierz where he was the head of a collegiate church school in 1400. Thereafter, he studied at Cracow University (the later Jagiellonian University) where he got his masters degree in 1403 and, thereafter, began to teach the liberal arts at the same university. He later studied theology at Cracow and got another B.A. in 1410. His master was Nicholas (Mikolaj) from Pyzdry In 1411 he was chosen to be the Rector, i.e., Chancellor of Cracow University. He is know to have defended Jan Hus (who, as noted above, was put to fire in 1415). Lucas is last mentioned alive at the end of June 1412 but for the school year 1413-1414 he is listed as deceased (whether that is related to the information provided in the immediately preceding sentence is not currently known).

The above quotations come from one of his Pentacostal sermons are part of his Postylla, a series of sermons dedicated to Bishop Wojciech Jastrzebiec. The Postylla survive in several manuscripts: the Ossolineum Library (above shown version); the Collegiate Church at Kielce [this includes the portion referring to sword dances]; Jagiellonian Library (without the beginning parts); in parts, perhaps (uncertain), in the Polish National Library (from the Bieszow Library); and outside of Poland in Prague’s Capitula Library; and in Cambridge at Corpus Christi College.

The relevance of Lucas is at least threshold. First, his is the earliest (known) source that lists Polish Gods by name. In fact, he refers to them three times and each time uses the same spelling lending some additional credibility to his account (or at least to his orthographic prowess).

Second, he refers to earlier Polish chronicles as referencing such Gods, thereby, potentially, taking us to times before the 15th century. In fact, elsewhere, he says (as per Kielce manuscript):

“In quadam Cronica recolo tempore adolescencie mee legisse fuisse ydola in Polonia, unde et iste ritus usque ad tempora nostra pervenit, nam chorea exercebantur puellule cum gladiis ac si ymmolande demonibus et non Deo disponebantur et masculi cum fustibus et gladiis armabenatur et invicem findebantur…” (see above for translation).

Third, and less relevantly, for all his bluster and dismissiveness, the 19th century historian Alexander Brueckner who ridiculed the idea of the above being trustworthy sources for the names of Polish Gods (tracing Dlugosz and all earlier sources solely to the above mentioned Statuta provincialia breviter which he considered unreliable), was apparently unaware of the mentions in the above sermons. (This may be because he derived his knowledge of the topic from various, then popular, compilations that were put together by others).

(Of course, if one reads Brueckner, an unavoidable conclusion might be that, upon seeing this, he would just claim that the Statuta Breviter are derived from Lucas from Kozmin who just made it all up. In other words, Brueckner never showed that the source was actually a single document but rather he just took the earliest one, assumed that it was the source of all the latter (none of these latter ones cites the Statuta Breviter so, again, it is just his supposition that all originated with the Statuta) and then proceeded to discredit it).

Finally, a lot of time in the literature has been spent on the mythical “Quia” whose name was supposed to have been placed between the Lado/a and the Yassa in the second occurrence of this list and which, it was speculated, may have been the “Kiy”or “Kij” of Kiyev or, perhaps, some legendary smith figure (koval = smith; what a koval does is “kuy” or hits, i.e., hits the iron) a la Hephaestos. We just do not see any such name in the above – let us know if you disagree.

For the full text of the sermon see here.

Earlier Sources

Although no earlier Polish sources are known (yet), there are some earlier Czech sources which mention Czech/Slavic gods/goddesses. For example, the previously discussed (in the context of the Zlowene gloss) Mater Verborum (from 1240 though the notes/glosses may have been added at a different time – Patera & Baum‘s book/article provides interesting criticism for some unbelievers with “Lada” listed as a falsified gloss (along with other gods), presumably, by Vaclav Hanka, though they are not explicit on this) proves useful here as well by mentioning, some have thought, Lada but as Venus (rather than, as with Dlugosz, Mars). Further, the same identifies Yassa with Isis suggesting that either that is true or that Hanka was aware of what Tacitus’ Germania says about “some of the Suevi.” (For that see here). More mysteries.

(On the other hand, a much much later source (or compilation really), Sacra Moraviae Historia (the Life of Cyril and Methodous) by Jan Jiri (Joannes Georgius) Ignac Stredovsky (1710) equates Ladon with Mars following Dlugosz’ interpretatia romana. On p 53 of the same you will also find other divine references, amongst them, a reference apparently to Yassa, the highest of the Gods here too but in Moravia known as Chasson sive Jassen. We do not discuss these gods here as they properly belong in the Czech section which is to come).

Annales of Jan Długosz (1450-1480)

Jan Długosz’s Insignia seu clenodia regis et regni Poloniae (1464-1480)

Note on The Life of Saint Adalbert (Voytech) in a Manuscript on the Lives of the Saints (circa 1450)

Postilla Husitae anonymi (aka Postilla Husitae Polonici) (pre 1450)

Tractatus about Polish Orthography by Jacob (Jakub) Parkoszowic (circa 1440)

Sermones per circulum anni Cunradi (1423)

Statutes From the Collection of Nicholas of Pyzdry aka Statuta provincialia breviter (no later than 1414)

Pentacostal Postilla Sermons no. 2, no. 4 & no. 7 by Lucas from Great Kozmin (circa 1405-1412)