Category Archives: Poles

Rey’s Bylica

PublishedMay 12, 2019 Post authortorino

The Polish writer Nicholas Rey in his Postilla (written in 1557) attacked certain pagan customs (he became a Calvinist) that were treated as “Christian” by his contemporaries. Some of these clearly have a Christian (Catholic) provenance but others likely go back to pagan times and had been incorporated by the Church. Putting aside his attack, the list of such practices is quite interesting. For example, he mentions the custom of wearing bylica and jumping round fires on Saint John’s Day. I will try to translate the full text but for now here is the Polish version.

Nuż, gdy przyjdzie jakie inne święto ku czci żywota Pańskiego a spraw świętych jego ustanowione, to już więc tam na dzień Bożego Narodzenia, nie będzieli kto całą noc wrzeszczał, drzwi nie wybijał a kiełbas nie nazbiera, albo kto całą noc kostki nie grając, szczęścia nie szuka, już jakoby tego święta nigdy nie święcił. W niedzielę mięsopustną, kto zasię nie oszaleje na urząd, jako ma być, twarzy nie odmieni, maszkar, ubiorów ku djabłu podobnych sobie nie wymyśli, już jakoby nie uczynił chrześciańskiej powinności dosyć. W środopostną niedzielę, kto się nie wyspowiada, już w rozpaczy chodzić musi, bo go papież nie przeżegnał. W kwietnią niedzielę, kto bagniątka nie połknął a dębowego Chrystusa do miasta nie doprowadził, to już dusznego zbawienia nie otrzymał. W wielki piątek, jeśli kto boso nie chodził, Judaszowi z Piłatem nie łajał, albo jeśli twarz umył, już męki Pańskiej nie wspomniał. W sobotę wielką ognia i wody naświęcić, bydło tem kropić i wszystkie kąty w domu poczarować, to też rzecz pilna. W dzień wielkanocny, kto święconego nie je, a kiełbasy dla węża, chrzanu dla płech, jarząbka dla więzienia, już zły chrześcijanin. A iż w poniedziałek i z panią po uszy w błoto nie wpadnie a we wtorek kiczką w łeb nie weźmie aż oko wylezie, to już nie uczynił dosyć powinności swojej. W dzień Bożego wstąpienia, kto Jezusa lipowego powrozem do nieba wciągnie a djabła z góry zrzuci a potem z nim po ulicach biega, to wielkie odpusty a przysługi sobie ku Panu Bogu otrzyma. W dzień ś. Jana bylicą się opasać a całą noc około ognia skakać i toć też niemałe uczynki miłosierne.

“…So if there come a holiday that is established to honor the Lord’s Life and His holy matters, such as Christmas, it is as if one does not celebrate the day of the Lord’s birth if he does not [also] yell all night, [does not] break down doors, [does not] collect sausages or if he does not spend all night seeking [his] luck in dice playing. [It is as if] one who on Sexagesima Sunday does not party as if ordered [to do so], does not alter his appearance putting on frightful face paints or [does not] create devil-like costumes to wear, is not sufficiently fulfilling his Christian duty. [And] whosoever on Laetare Sunday does not go to confession, must walk in despair that the Pope has not forgiven him. Who on Palm Sunday did not swallow a pussy-willow and did not carry an oaken Christ to town, did not obtain salvation for his soul. On Good Friday, whosoever did not walk barefoot, did not chide Judas along with Pilate or who washed his face, [such a person] did not [properly] recall the Lord’s suffering [Passion]. It too is an urgent matter on Holy Saturday to consecrate fire and water, to sprinkle the same on cattle and all the corners of the dwelling to enchant [with the water]. On Easter Sunday whoever does not eat the consecrated [food] or does not save [hide] sausages for the snakes, horseradish for the flees or mountain-ash* for the prisoner, is thus a bad Christian. And whosoever on the [subsequent] Monday does not fall with his woman into mud and on Tuesday does not smack a head with a rod so [hard] that the eye should pop out, is not fulfilling his obligations. Who on the Feast of the Ascension pulls up a linden Jesus with a rope up into the heavens and who [also] pulls up the devil, drops him down and then runs around the streets with him, shall have obtained great indulgences for himself and shall have performed great services for the Lord. Who on Saint John’s day girds on artemisia** and skips around fire all night, that person has performed not inconsiderable works of mercy.”

* Sorbus.
** Mugwort or, in Polish, bylica.

[this last version comes from the 1883 Haase edition but with corrections]

Polish Christian Texts

PublishedApril 19, 2019 Post authortorino

Here are some cool late 15th century Polish prayers:

Lord’s Prayer
Hail Mary
Apostles’ Creed

So that is for Christian Easter. As regards Easter’s pre-Christian, pagan origins, see here.

West of Hamburg, West (?) of Bremen

PublishedJanuary 5, 2019 Post authortorino

The commonly accepted boundary of the Germania Suavica – the acknowledged area of Suavic settlement in Germany runs mostly along the Elbe. West of the Elbe, exceptions are made for Wendland around Luneburg but, generally, the understanding is that at that point you get into ethnically German territories in Westphalia, Brunswick and Ostfriesland. But if you look closely you can just make out some interesting place names that are west of Hamburg (that is west of the Elbe) up until Bremen (which sits on the Weser) and perhaps even a bit further. (Curiously, the very name Bremen suggests the Suavic word brama meaning “gate” – perhaps to the lands on the Weser).

For example (red in the picture below):

Bülkau – mentioned first in 1404 as Bulcow and Buklow, later in 1680 as Pilkauw and then in 1702 as Biklau but it was also written as Bolkauw.
Oppeln – first mentioned in 1309 is right next to Bülkau (and WIngst). The German settlers, of course, called the Polish Opole, Oppeln. Was this because those settlers remembered a tiny village west of Hamburg? Or is this western Oppeln also a Germanization of an earlier name?
Am Dobrock – first mentioned in first mentioned in 1626, it sits just northeast of Bülkauand Oppeln , near the confluence of the rivers Oste and Elbe.
Belum – just north of Bülkau. This sounds like the Suavic bel meaning “white”.
Groden – just west of Belum. This is obviously similar to the Suavic grod meaning “burg” or “castle”.
Brest – southeast of these towns. Obviously similar to the Polish/Belorussian Brzesc and the Venetic Brest of Bretagne.
Zeven – first mentioned in 986 as “kivinan à Heeslingen” in the records of the nearby monastery of Heeslingen. Kivinan is not an apparently Suavic name but later the name comes up as Sciuena (1141), Cyuena (1158), Zcivena, Scevena, Skhevena and Tzevena.
Sievern – first mentioned in 1139. This seems connected to the “North” in Suavic just like the tribe of the Severians or Severyans or Siverians or Siewierzanie (*severjane) who are mentioned by Nestor but earlier perhaps also by the “Bavarian Geographer” as the source of all the Suavs (Zeriuani, quod tantum est regnum, ut ex eo cunctae gentes Sclauorum exortae sint et originem, sicut affirmant, ducant; although perhaps also as Zuireani habent ciuitates CCCXXV). But perhaps it comes from “seaver”.

I am not suggesting all these are Suavic (almost all have another etymology) but there is enough of them that an examination seems useful. Moreover, there are other names nearby that may hint at Suavs (or Balts) as well (blue in the picture below):

Soltau – south east of Zeven. First mentioned in 936 as Curtis Salta. However, later the names shows up as Soltouwe.
Bomlitz – next to Soltau. This is often cited as an example of a non-Suavic place name with an -itz suffix. The name was recorded for the first time in the form Bamlinestade from the river Bamlina (meaning, supposedly, a small Baumfluss). Later the town was known as Bommelse. Now (first attested in this form in 1681) both the town and the river are known as Bomlitz. Curiously, Bomlitz River (and the town) are close to the river Böhme (as in Bohemian).
Butjadingen – on the other side of which is also the name of that entire peninsula (Butjadingerland) up to the Jade Bight. Perhaps something to do with the Budinoi.
Dangast – the suffix -gast is frequent in German names but also in Suavic names (Ardagastus). When it comes to place names however most seem to be Suavic or related to Suavs. The locality Dangast sounds similar to another place name – Wolgast which is obviously a Germanization of the Suavic version. Then there is Wogastisburg of Samo’s fame – presumably also a Suavic name.
Ihlow – compare with Ihlow in Brandenburg (between Berlin and Kostrzyn); compare too with Iława (Deutsch Eylau) which was originally called Ylawia, Ilow, Ylaw and Ylow.
Balje – from low German balge but note that the East Prussian Balga supposedly came from the Old Prusian word balgnan. Thus, it seems impossible to assign the language of those who named these places between German and, in this case, Baltic Prussian.

The above mentioned towns in relation to the historical Wendland

Wilhelm Boguslawski named some other names: Steinau, Krempel, Midlum, Spieka, Lehe, Spaden, Grambke as potentially Suavic – I actually think most of these have nothing to do with Suavs. Other names nearby (from the Rastede monastery grant of 1124) that may merit an investigation: Börsten (Bursati), Swidero/Svidero, Brunin, Henchinhusin (because of Henchin-), Nertin, Tvislon, Swirlichin, Smerlachen, Magelissin, Enschinin, Withlike, Benchinhusen (because of Benchin-), Widinchusen/Windenchusen, Wellin, Wisteren/Winstrin, Wadinbech (because of Wadin), Mühlenwisch (because of the -isch), Scrotinh, Nordleda.

The Greater Poland Chronicle provides the following description:

“The Rhine and the Danube are the the greater rivers of the Teutonic nation, whereas the Vandalus (Vistula), the Oder and the Elbe are the great rivers of the countries of Poland and Bohemia. Around these last three rivers, they [Suavs] held also the lands in-between and those countries that bordered them and they hold them still, as is known, from there up to the North Sea. Whereas the Saxons, having left their very small lands and villages and moving to the wide lands of the Suavs, settled permanently in those places.”

Religions of the Suavs and the Even More Religious Historiographical Methodology

PublishedDecember 29, 2018 Post authortorino

A reader sent me a copy of a relatively new (written in Polish) book “The Religions of Ancient Suavs” (Religie Dawnych Słowian) by Dariusz Sikorski, a Polish medievalist who, among other achievements, helped to rehabilitate portions of the Chronicle of Adémar of Chabbanes. I had it read and have to say that I found that process rather wearisome.

The book is deconstructionist in a tiresomely extreme manner. It is Alexander Brückner without the acidity but also without the faux-erudite panache – par for the course, and, I confess, probably for the slightly better (less annoying but more boring – take your poison). Indeed, if you want to understand why Sikorski wrote this book, you just need to skip to the ending (which I dare suspect he wrote first), where the author fesses up as follows:

“It may seem, perhaps, to the reader that the vision presented in this book is one-sided and that the author exaggerates in many of his assertions, that his vision of Suavic religion is very limited. Perhaps, indeed, I overemphasize many of the problems and set too categorical a theses but please take note that in the entire contemporary literature there prevails the opposite trend: of an extensive sacral interpretation of all possible source testimonies. Please, therefore, take heed of my voice as a presentation of the position of the opposite side of the argument regarding the pre-Christian Suavic religion…”

Sikorski’s description of what he seems to perceive to be his reality is a description of a reality that is warped so as to be unrecognizable. What contemporary literature is he referring to where the prevailing trend is to overinterpret Suavic religious sources? Sure, people may overinterpret things, particularly if they think they found something new, get excitd and want to write a paper on it. But in terms of synthetic, comprehensive literature, which this book aims to be a part of, there is nothing recent (at least in academic literature) i know of that builds any sand castles around Suavic religion. The biggest problem of Suavic comprehensive religious literature is that there is relatively little of it (of any kind).

Presumably, he addresses his book to a Polish audience. What compendia of Suavic religion have we seen recently? Aleksander Brückner wrote his “Suavic Mythology” in 1918 and a variation, “Polish Mythology” in 1924. After that no one seriously touched the subject until Henryk Łowmiański’s “Suavic Religion and it Downfall” in 1979 and Aleksander Gieysztor’s “Mythology of the Suavs” in 1982. That’s basically it. Of those only Gieysztor’s can be seen as an attempt at some sort of positive synthesis – the other books are basically negativist. (In fact, Sikorski seems to be having an argument with Gieysztor – albeit over a quarter century after that author’s publication). You really have to live in an alternate reality to think that the deconstructionist, negativist “side” is in retreat – as far as I can tell it is about the only “side.”

No, it isn’t

Which brings me to another point. Sikorski speaks of an “opposite side of the argument.” But what argument? There was no Gieysztor – Łowmiański argument even if they took slightly different tacks on the topic. The only person arguing seems to be Sikorski – he tries to manufacture the very conflict that he obviously “feels” already exists. Even more importantly, he is a professor and, presumably, wants to be seen as a scholar. So why does he have to take any “sides”? (Not that I am that naive about the pettiness of modern academia). Why not just set your views as they are – in a more balanced way – rather than write so übercritical a book that exaggerates to such an extent that you have to come clean at the end and admit that you overexaggerated (but did so for the oh so very noble a reason of taking the “other side” in a conflict that seems to play out only in your head)? The book is over 300 pages long – did he enjoy writing a book that points out little human foibles apparent here and there of people eager to shed some more light on their ancestors’ past? Does spending hours over tiny sins of other people’s (mostly amateurs) over interpretations make him happy and pleased? Is that what he wants to be remembered for? The book does not quite rise to the level of a troll job but in a number of places the writer’s arguments certainly strike me as overly petty (Didn’t some Byzantine writer say that the Suavs were conflict prone? Maybe it’s the weather).

Finally, exaggeration is one thing as a rhetorical device (though, again, why debate at all rather than try to help synthesize?) but writing inaccurate statements is quite another. Right before the above cited paragraph Sikorski categorically proclaims:

“From most of the lands settled (!) by the Suavs, including the lands of Poland, we have no sources [on Suavic religion].”*

* note: He make exceptions for Polabian Suavs and Eastern Suavs except that for the latter he claims the beliefs described are primarily those of the Scandinavian ruling class.

So what of Jan Długosz’s Polish Pantheon? He does mention it. He agrees that Długosz “did not just make [these Gods] all up” but then concludes (well, he does not conclude but rather uses the passive (or passive aggressive) voice “it is thought”) that the “Polish Olympus” is “merely a reflection of Długosz’s learned imagination.” I, frankly do not understand the difference between “making things up” and using your “learned imagination”. Perhaps the intended subtlety represents an agreement that there is something there but then Długosz went with that something to a conclusion beyond any that that something could have justified. I am unconvinced. Once you admit that Długosz did not make it all up then you have to ask what was the nature of that “real it”.

For example, the question of the interpretatio romana is absolutely secondary. If Yassa was the highest God of the Polish pantheon then He was equivalent to Jove – in that much. And to that extent Długosz would have been justified in linking Yassa with Jove – which is, incidentally, all he did. Whether Yassa also possessed all the attributes of the Roman Jove/Jupiter is absolutely irrelevant to the point that Długosz was making. Indeed, he was writing for an educated, Latin reading audience – of kings who, at that point, were already non-Polish and, perhaps, for the broader European elite public. I do not see any better way to relate Polish Divinities to such people’s experience than to use Latin equivalents (or, as equivalent, as they get). The fact that he also mentioned those Deities that did not (to him) seem to have a Roman equivalent (Pogoda, Sywie/Zywie) seems rather to bolster the veracity of Długosz’s account.

Moreover, the reason that Sikorski thinks that Długosz did not make it all up is because Sikorski is quite aware of the existence of earlier sources that mention the same Deities. He cites, for example, Lucas of Great Kozmin. But Sikorski does not seem to have read what that preacher wrote. To quote:

“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, and not to [the] God, as well as [dances of] young men with swords and sticks, which they then hit about… “To this day they sing and dance and name their Gods “Lado, Yassa” and others – surely not references to the Holy Father so can anything good come of this? Certainly not… One does not receive salvation through the names of Lado, Yassa or Nia but rather through the name of Jesus Christ… 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.”

So Lucas claims to have read in his youth about Polish Gods in chronicles (or at least “a” chronicle) with names that matched the names of the Deities that he himself claims to have heard being uttered during the ceremonies described above which he may well have witnessed. Thus, he testifies to what he has (yes, “probably”) seen (but then others have seen the same) and testifies to what he has read. He interprets (quite logically) the former by means of the latter.

I ventured to guess previously that, had Brückner been aware of Lucas’ sermons, he would have discounted them the same as he did Długosz. As any child does (or any good, or at least persistent, barrister), we can always ask “but how did he know?” If you assume that Poland became Christianized in one fell swoop in 966 then, no amount of post-966 evidence can ever convince you (same as if you assume that no Suavs lived in Poland before, say, the 6th century then, by definition, every artifact found in Poland and dated to earlier times must, necessarily, be of non-Suavic provenance).

Sikorski is not as one-sided as Brückner (though, to be fair, few could be) and does not discount Lucas’ testimony. He mentions it but then ignores it and is thus able to reach the above false conclusion by ignoring the evidence he himself acknowledges exists. (I strongly suspect this is because he wrote that conclusion – at least in his head – before he wrote the section on Długosz’s Olympus and never went back to soften the language).

Is there anything positive in the book? I feel I have to answer this question positively lest I be accused of doing the very same thing the author did.

Nevertheless, I can honestly say, “yes, sure”. The book does go on to describe some (if hardly all) sources of Suavic paganism and, due to the fact, that it is far newer than the prior “comprehensive” studies, does address new sources and findings. But that, by itself, would not justify reading it since there are, scattered in other places, better sources for that updated material.

More importantly, the book does, in places, demonstrate quite ably the weakness of over interpreting sources and does show the reader what we know and what we really do not know and, thus, where we could be letting our “learned imagination” travel far beyond where it is logically justified to go. My pet peeve of interpreting Svarog and “Perun” (Piorun really) as definitely Polish Deities, may serve as an example. Neither name made any ethnically Polish Pantheon/Olympus compendium so all we have to go on is some place names in Poland. But the author accurately notes that place names cannot with any reasonable certainty serve to reconstruct the cultic history of the locals who lived there to the extent such place names may also, even more likely, refer to other things. Thus, Sikorski observes that the Polish town of Swarorzyn is unlikely to have anything to do with any Svarog Deity. He also correctly points out that any “Piorun” place names may simply refer to those places where, a piorun, that is, “thunder” struck.

On the other hand, of course, we do know of Perkunas (and Lada, incidentally which is also a place name) being worshipped in Lithuania where the Varangians did not loiter so some such place names may have something to do with the Suavic/Baltic God of Thunder. It is here, of course, where the book fails by being overly one-sided. (Indeed the author, like Brückner, also manages to take a few digs at Baltic Prussian religion).

Even if you do not want to be faced with the “glass is 1% empty” method of synthesis (or anti-synthesis), to the extent you’re overenthusiasic about Suavic religion or, assuming you really believe that there is an “argument” here, and you want to know all the aces of the “other side,” you should read the book (assuming you read Polish) because it will show you the strongest (?) arguments that that “side” purports to make. And that itself is a positive learning experience.

I do hope that the author will in the future use his not inconsiderable talents to write something creative with a rather nobler intention of actually presenting a vision and elevating discourse as opposed to merely sounding the trumpet of the naysayers. If that’s too much to ask then at least writing something more balanced would produce a better use of everyone’s time. No one enjoys the morose pronouncements of a Debbie-downer even if, once in a while, those happen to be quite right.

P.S. For someone who purports to represent a deconstructionist trend, I find it curious that the author would agree to place a picture of what is, evidently, an effigy of Odin on the cover of the book. I have long suspected that Odin may be a variation on Yassa/Iasion/Jason but Sikorski does not try to make any such connections which makes me think this is (hopefully) just an example of the unfortunate laziness of the publishers.

Radagost the Green

PublishedDecember 23, 2018 Post authortorino

A most curious name pops up in Adam of Bremen’s “History of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen” – the name of an alleged Suavic Deity of the Redarii tribe – Redigast.

Adam’s Deity

As Adam seemed to be describing the same area as that previously described earlier by Thietmar where the Redarii’s’ chief Deity’s name is Zuarazici but this Zuarazici is worshipped in a town named Riedegost, a fight immediately broke out among various Suavic scholars whether the Deity’s name was really Svarozic or Redagost/Radagost.

Thietmar’s town

The German scholar Alexander Brückner famously quipped that Adam got himself mixed up and Redagost/Radagost was the name of the local tavern and the name Svarozic was the right one. He translated Radagost as “Rady Gość” that is essentially meaning “Happy guest.” From there it was a simple path to conclude that Adam mistook the name of an inn or tavern for a Suavic cultic place. Most academics are not exactly Mensa stars and so they largely went along with the mocking conclusions of Brückner’s faux erudition. Some clung on by ascribing to Radagost the celestial portfolio of hospitality. That last bit certainly seems to have been a stretch but whatever one may say about the Deity Name, it seems to me that they were wrong to adopt the tavern explanation.

The answer may be in the word gwozd, gozd or gozdawa, that is a “forest” or, perhaps, a “tree”. Today the name continues in Polish in the word for “nail” (gwóźdź) and for a carnation (goździk, that is a “little tree”). As discussed, the same word appears in the Suavic (and Baltic) word for “star” – gwiazda suggesting that the ancient Suavs looked at the night sky as basically a heavenly wood. Curiously, the Breton (Armorican Venetic?) word for “trees” is, similarly, gwez. Since we do know that ancient Suavs (like “Germans”) worshipped trees and groves, Redagost/Radagost would simply mean a “Happy Grove” – perhaps a place of worship – a sacred grove. Thus, Rethra was the name of the town in this telling, the Sacred Forest was called by its Suavic appellation – Radagast – and the Deity worshipped there could have been, among others, Svarozic.

That the “tavern” etymology is doubtful is indicated by the fact that the name is quite widespread. It appears throughout Central Europe.

Poland

Radogoszcz on the Złota (Golden) River near Łódź
Radogoszcz on Lake Kałęba (German Radegast)
Redgoszcz near a lake of the same name between Poznań and Bydgoszcz
Radgoszcz near Tarnów (incidentally just west of Radomyśl, a name which is also very popular)
Radgoszcz between Łomża and Ostrołęka
Radgoszcz near Międzychód
Radgoszcz (Wünschendorf) Near Luban, Lower Silesia

Czech Republic

Radhošť near the town of Vysoké Mýto
Radhošť a mountain (curiously a chapel and a sculpture of Saints Cyril and Methodius are located on the summit; southeast of that there is also a statute of Radegast)

Germany

Radagost a river that starts south of Gadebusch, passes through the Radegasttal/Rehna and enters the River Stepenitz just below Börzow (also written as Radegast, Radegost, Rodogost)
Radegast NNE of Leipzig
Radegast southwest of Rostock just past Satow
Radegast east of Lüneburg
Radegast west of Lützow

Ukraine

Mala Radohoshch at Khmelnytskyi Oblast near Ostroh
Velyka Radohoshch at Khmelnytskyi Oblast near Ostroh
Radohoshcha at Zhytomyr Oblast
Radohoshch near Chernihiv*

* exact location uncertain – this could have been in Belarus.

Belarus

Radohoszcz(a) (Rahodoszcz) near Ivanava (interestingly nearby just west of Kobryn you have Vandalin)
Radohoszcza a river near Grodna (Grodno)*
Radohoszcza on the river Nevda south of Navahrudak (Nowogródek)

* exact location uncertain

Italy

Radigosa – a place near Bologna with a similar name (aka Raigosole, Ragigosa, Rigosa am Lavino).

Here is a map of all of these places (some are an approximation).

These names can rather easily be linked to forest that previously covered vast swaths of these countries or to local worship groves but linking them to roadside inns seems a much tougher goal to achieve.

That all these place names have a Suavic etymology no one seriously doubts. With the exception of the Bologna reference, every place they appear is a place where Suavs have lived or are living still (sometimes, in Germania Suavica, Suavs qua Germans).

But then we come to a puzzle. There is also a much earlier (half a millennium) mention of a Goth, a “true Scythian” who threatened Rome and its senators in the very early 5th century – his name was Radagaisus. This brings up the question of what language the admittedly multi-ethnic Goths really spoke and, as the vast throngs of humanity poured into the Roman Empire how much Goth was there really in the Goths? More on Radagaisus and the sources that mention him soon.

PS That Tolkien took the name of Radagast the Brown from the above ancient European histories is obvious. What some people do not know is that the Tolkien name is likely Old Prussian, derived from the village of Tołkiny (the Old Prussian Tolkyn) in the former East Prussia and today’s north Poland.

Signs of Lada Part VIII – Back to Lycia

PublishedDecember 18, 2018 Post authortorino

This comes from the Yearbooks of Friends of Antiquity Society in the Rheinland (Jahrbücher des Vereins von Alterthumsfreunden im Rheinlande), volume 7.

I discussed the same inscription some time back here along with others mentioned by the society:

MINERVAE CVR LADAE (above)
IMPLE O LADA
P.VAL.LADA

Minerva is, of course, the same as Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, courage, war, law, etc. She is given the epithet Pallas, a word that is derived either from πάλλω (to brandish [a weapon]), or from παλλακίς (also an interesting fact – note that in Russian palyanka meant a brave woman) and related words, meaning “youth” that is a “young woman.” She is also the protector of the palace and the king. She was the daughter of Zeus.

Lada is, as we know, has been called “Mars” by Długosz who also, elsewhere, called her a Mazovian Goddess. These statements are reconcilable if you interpret the Goddess as a warrior Goddess. In other words, Długosz would not have been saying that Lada was Mars but merely that Mars was the closest analogy to Lada in his interpretatio romana of the Polish Pantheon.

Of course, Brueckner objected that Lada was just a Slavic name for the “betrothed” or “wife.” The interesting thing is, as I pointed out some time back that Lada in Lycian (!) (Lycia in Anatolia) meant the exact same thing (see here).

What escaped my notice that the author of the above (L.J.F. Janssen) also made the claim that not only was Lada the word for a “wife” in Lycian (that is what Gemahlin that is Ehefrau, Ehegattin, Gattin, Frau means in this context) but that – in Lycia – Lada was the wife/betrothed of Jupiter. The source of this assertion, he does not give.

Długosz claimed that Jesse or Jassa was the equivalent of Jupiter (though not that Jassa was Jupiter) in the Polish pantheon. If so, then the matching of both Jassa and Lada by him as well as by earlier writers makes complete sense. Lada is the Athena female wife-protector of Jassa – a bit of an Amazon warrior princess from Mazovia.

Of course, Athena had a complicated relationship with Zeus to say the least. But, again, there is nothing to indicate a similar relationship between Jassa and Lada. If Jassa corresponds better to the Greek Iasion then Lada would have been his companion/consort/female protector. Perhaps a bit like Demeter. Note too that in Polish and a number of Suavic languages the names of the seasons correspond to the above Names:

wiosna (pron. vyosna) – spring – to Iasion
lato – summer – to Lada
jesień (pron. yesyen) – fall – to Iasion, again

It is worth noting that Iasion’s namesake, Jason, was also assisted on his quest by Athena. For similar connections between Jove and Lada from Spain see here. For an English connection (?), see here. For more on the Amazonic connection see here.

All the Wends of Saxo Grammaticus – Books III, IV, V & VI

PublishedDecember 8, 2018 Post authortorino

Here are the remaining books of the Gesta Danorum that mention Wends or related peoples. Since the Russians are referred to in the Latin as Ruthenos, that is kept in the English translation to avoid confusion. Some of these may well be Slavs but most are most likely the “Rus”.

Book III

Chapter 4

1. Now although Odin was regarded as chief among the gods, he would approach seers, soothsayers, and others whom he had discovered strong in the finest arts of prediction, with a view to prosecuting vengeance for his son. Divinity is not always so perfect that it can dispense with human aid. Rosthiof the Finn foretold that Rinda, daughter of the Ruthenian king, must bear him another son, who was destined to take reprisal for his brother’s killing; the gods had ordained that their colleague should be avenged by his future brother’s hand. Acting on this intelligence, Odin muffled his face beneath a hat so that he would not be betrayed by his appearance and went to this king to offer his services as a soldier. By him Odin was made general, took over his master’s army, and achieved a glorious victory over his enemies. On account of his adroit conduct of this battle the monarch admitted him to the highest rank of friendship, honouring him no less generously with gifts than decorations. After a brief lapse of time Odin beat the enemy’s line into flight singlehanded and, after contriving this amazing defeat, also returned to announce it. Everybody was astounded that one man^s strength could have heaped massacre’on such countless numbers. Relying on these achievements Odin whispered to the king the secret of his love. Uplifted by the other’s very friendly encouragement, he tried to kiss he girl and was rewarded with a slap across the face.

15. Later, after he had called his chieftains to a meeting, Høther announced that he was bound to take on Bo and would perish in the fight, a fact he had discovered not by doubtful surmises but from the trustworthy prophecies of seers. He therefore begged them to make his son Rørik ruler of the kingdom and not let the votes of wicked men transfer this privilege to unknown foreign houses, declaring that he would experience more delight in the assurance of his son’s succession than bitterness at his own approaching death. When they had readily acceded to his request he met Bo in battle and was slain. But Bo had little joy in his victory; he was so badly stricken himself that he withdrew from the skirmish, was carried home on his shield in turns by his foot-soldiers and expired next day from the agony of his wounds. At a splendidly prepared funeral the Ruthenian army buried his body in a magnificent barrow erected to his name, so that the record of this noble young man should not soon fade from the memory of later generations.

Chapter 5

1. The Kurlanders and Swedes, who used to show their allegiance to Denmark each year with the payment of taxes, felt as though the death of Høther had liberated them from their oppressive tributary status and had the idea of making an armed attack on the Danes. This gave the Wends also the temerity to rebel and turned many of the other vassal states into enemies. To check their violence Rorik recruited his countrymen and incited them to courageous deeds by reviewing the achievements of their forefathers in a spirited harangue. The barbarians saw that they needed a leader themselves, for they were reluctant to enter the fray without a general, and therefore they elected a king; then, putting the rest of their military strength on display, they hid two companies of soldiers in a dark spot. Rørik saw the trap. When he perceived that his vessels were wedged in the shallows of a narrow creek, he dragged them off the sandbanks where they had grounded and steered them out into deep water, fearing that if they struck into marshy pools the enemy would attack them from a different quarter. He also decided that his comrades should find a site where they could lurk during the day and spring unexpectedly on anyone invading their ships; this way, he said, it was quite possible that the enemy’s deception would rebound on their own heads. The barbarians had been assigned to their place of ambush, unaware that the Danes were on the watch, and as soon as they rashly made an assault, every man was struck down. Because the remaining band of Wends were ignorant of their companions’ slaughter, they hung suspended in great amazement and uncertainty over Rørik’s lateness. While they kept waiting for him, their minds wavering anxiously, the delay became more and more intolerable each day, and they finally determined to hunt him down with their fleet.

2. Among them [the Wends] was a man of outstanding physical appearance, a wizard by vocation. Looking out over the Danish squadrons he cried: ‘As the majority may be bought out of danger at the cost of one or two lives, we could forestall a general catastrophe by hazarding single persons. I won’t flinch from these terms of combat if any of you dare attempt to decide the issue along with me. But my chief demand is that we employ a fixed rule for which I have devised the phrasing: “If I win, grant us immunity from taxes; if I am beaten, the tribute shall be paid to you as of old.” This day I shall either be victorious and relieve my homeland of its slavish yoke, or be conquered and secure it more firmly. Accept me as pledge and security for either outcome.’

3. When one of the Danes, who had a stouter heart than body, heard this, he ventured to ask Rørik what remuneration the man who took on the challenger would receive. Rørik happened to be wearing a bracelet of six rings inextricably interlocked with a chain of knots and he promised this as a reward for whoever dared to enter the contest. But the young man, not so sure of Fate, replied: ‘If things go well for me, Rørik, your generosity must judge what the winner’s prize should be and award a suitable palm. But if this proposal turns out very much against my wishes, what compensation shall be due from you to the defeated, who will be enveloped in cruel death or severe dishonour? These are the usual associates of weakness, the recompense of the vanquished; what is left for such persons but utter disgrace? What payment can a man earn, what thanks can he receive, when his bravery has achieved nothing? Who has ever garlanded the weakling with the ivy crown of war or hung the tokens of victory on him? Decorations go to the hero not to the coward. His mischances carry no glory. Praise and exultation attend the former, a useless death or an odious life the latter. I am not sure which way the fortune of this duel will turn, so that I have no rash aspirations to any reward, having no idea whether it should rightly be my due. Anyone unexpectant of victory cannot be allowed to take the victor’s expected fee. Without assurance of obtaining the trophy I am not going to lay any firm claim to a triumphal wreath. A presentation which could equally signify the wages of death or life, I refuse. Only a fool wants to lay his hands on unripe fruit and pluck something before he knows if he has earned it properly. This arm will secure me laurels or the grave.’

4. With these words he smote the barbarian with his sword, with a more forward disposition than his fortunes warranted. In return the other delivered such a mighty stroke that he took his life at the first blow. This was a woeful spectacle for the Danes, whereas the Wends staged a great procession accompanied by splendid scenes of jubilation for their triumphant comrade. The following day, either carried away by his recent success or fired by greed to achieve a second one, he marched close up to his enemies and began to provoke them with the same challenge as before. Since he believed he had felled the most valiant Dane, he thought no one was left with the fighting spirit to respond to another summons. He trusted that with the eclipse of one champion the whole army’s strength had wilted, and estimated that anything to which he bent his further efforts he would have no trouble at all in dealing with. Nothing feeds arrogance as much as good fortune nor stimulates pride more effectively than success.

5. Rørik grieved that their general bravery could be shaken by one man’s impudence, and that the Danes, despite their fine record of conquests, could be received with insolence and even shamefully despised by races they had once beaten; he was sad too that among such a host of warriors no one could be found with so ready a heart and vigorous an arm that he was capable of wanting to lay down his life for his country. The first noble spirit to remove the damaging illrepute which the Danes’ hesitancy had cast on them was Ubbi. He had a mighty frame and was powerful in the arts of enchantment. When he deliberately enquired what the prize for this match was to be, the king pledged his bracelet again. Ubbi answered: ‘How can I put any faith in your promise, when you carry the stake in your hands and will not trust such a reward to anyone else’s keeping? Deposit it with someone standing by, so that you can’t possibly go back on your word. Champions’ souls are only aroused when they can depend on the gift not being withdrawn.’ Without any doubt he spoke with his tongue in his cheek, since it was sheer valour that had armed him to beat off this insult to his fatherland.

6. Rørik thought that he coveted the gold; as he wanted to prevent any appearance of withholding the reward in an unkingly fashion or revoking his promise, he decided to shake off the bracelet and hurl it hard to his petitioner from his station aboard ship. However, the wide intervening gap thwarted his attempt. It needed a brisker and more forceful fling and the bracelet consequently fell short of its destination and was snatched by the waves; afterwards the nickname ‘Slyngebond’ always stuck to Rørik. This incident gave strong testimony to Ubbi’s courage. The loss of his sunken fee in no way deterred him from his bold intention, for he did not wish his valour to be thought a mere lackey to payment. He therefore made his way to the contest eagerly to show that his mind was set on honour, not gain, and that he put manly resolution before avarice; he would advertise that his confidence was grounded rather in a high heart than in wages. No time was lost before they made an arena, the soldiers milled round, the combatants rushed together, and a din rose as the crowd of onlookers roared support for one or the other competitor. The champions’ spirits blazed and they flew to deal one another injuries, but simultaneously found an end to the duel and their lives, I believe because Fortune contrived that the one should not gain praise and joy through the other’s fate. This affair won over the rebels and restored Rørik’s tribute.

Book IV

Chapter 9

1. After him Dan assumed the monarchy. While only a 12 year old, he was pestered by insolent envoys who told him he must give the Saxons tribute or war. His sense of honor put battle before payment, driving him to face a turbulent death rather than live a coward. In consequence he staked his lot on warfare; the young warriors of Denmark crowded the River Elbe with such a vast concourse of shops that one could easily cross it over the decks lashed together like a continuous bridge. Eventually the king of Saxony was compelled to accept the same terms he was demanding from the Danes.

Book V

Chapter 4

1. Word came later of an invasion by the Wends. Erik was commissioned to suppress this with the assistance of eight ships, since Frothi appeared to be still raw in matters of fighting. Never wishing to decline real man’s work, Erik undertook the task gladly and executed it bravely. When he perceived seven privateers, he only sailed one of his ships towards them, ordering that the rest be surrounded by defences of timber and camouflaged with the topped branches of trees. He then advanced as if to make a fuller reconnaissance of the enemy fleet’s numbers, but began to beat a hasty retreat back towards his own followers as the Wends gave chase. The foes were oblivious of the trap and, eager to catch the turn-tail, struck the waves with fast, unremitting oars. Erik’s ships with their appearance of a leafy wood could not be clearly distinguished. The pirates had ventured into a narrow, winding inlet when they suddenly discovered themselves hemmed in by Erik’s fleet. At first they were dumbfounded by the extraordinary sight of a wood apparently sailing along and then realized that deceit lay beneath the leaves. Too late they regretted their improvidence and tried to retrace the incautious route they had navigated. But while they were preparing to turn their craft about they witnessed their adversaries leaping on to the decks. Erik, drawing up his ship on to the beach, hurled rocks at the distant enemy from a ballista. The majority of the Wends were slaughtered, but Erik captured forty, who were chained and starved and later gave up their ghosts under various painful tortures.

2. In the meanwhile Frothi had mustered a large fleet equally from the Danes and their neighbours with a view to launching an expedition into Wendish territory. Even the smallest vessel was able to transport twelve sailors and was propelled by the same number of oars. Then Erik told his comrades to wait patiently while he went to meet Frothi with tidings of the destruction they had already wrought. During the voyage, when he happened to catch sight of a pirate ship run aground in shallow waters, in his usual way he pronounced serious comment on chance circumstances: ‘The fate of the meaner sort is ignoble,’/ he remarked, ‘the lot of base individuals squalid.’ Next he steered closer and overpowered the freebooters as they were struggling with poles to extricate their vessel, deeply engrossed in their own preservation.

3. This accomplished, he returned to the royal fleet and, desiring to cheer Frothi with a greeting which heralded his victory, hailed him as one who, unscathed, would be the maker of a most flourishing peace. The king prayed that his words might come true and affirmed that the mind of a wise man was prophetic. Erik declared that his words were indeed true, that a trifling conquest presaged a greater, and that often predictions of mighty events could be gleaned from slender occurrences. He then urged the king to divide his host and gave instructions for the cavalry from Jutland to set out on the overland route, while the remainder of the army should embark on the shorter passage by water. Such a vast concourse of ships filled the sea that there were no harbours capacious enough to accommodate them, no shores wide enough for them to encamp, nor sufficient money to furnish adequate supplies. The land army is said to have been so large that there are reports of hills being flattened to provide short-cuts, marshes made traversable, lakes and enormous chasms filled in with rubble to level the ground.

4. Although Strumik, the Wendish king, sent ambassadors in the meanwhile to ask for a cessation of hostilities, Frothi refused him time to equip himself; an enemy, he said, should not be supplied with a truce. Also, having till now spent his life away from fighting, once he had made the break he shouldn’t let matters hang doubtfully in the air; any combatant who had enjoyed preliminary success had a right to expect his subsequent military fortunes to follow suit. The outcome of the first clashes would give each side a fair prognostication of the war, for initial achievements in battle always boded well for future encounters. Erik praised the wisdom of his reply, stating that he should play the game abroad as it had begun at home, by which he meant that the Danes had been provoked by the Wends. He followed up these words with a ferocious engagement, killed Strumik along with the most valiant of his people, and accepted the allegiance of the remnant.

5. Frothi then announced by herald to the assembled Wends that if any persons among them had persistently indulged in robbery and pillage, they should swiftly reveal themselves, as he promised to recompense such behaviour with maximum distinction. He even told all who were skilled in the pursuit of evil arts to step forward and receive their gifts. The Wends were delighted at the offer. Certain hopefuls, more greedy than prudent, declared themselves even before anyone else could lay information against them. Their strong avarice cheated them into setting profit before shame and imagining that crime was a glorious thing. When these folk had exposed themselves of their own accord, Frothi cried: ‘It’s your business, Wends, to rid the country of these vermin yourselves.’ Immediately he gave orders for them to be seized by the executioners and had them strung up on towering gallows by the people’s hands. You would have calculated that a larger number were punished than went free. So the shrewd king, in denying the self-confessed criminals the general pardon he granted to his conquered foes, wiped out almost the entire stock of the Wendish race. That was how deserved punishment followed the desire for reward without desert, how longing for unearned gain was visited by a well-earned penalty. I should have thought it quite right to consign them to their deaths, if they courted danger by speaking out when they could have stayed alive by holding their tongues.

Chapter 5

1. The king was exhilarated by the fame of his recent victory and, wanting to appear no less efficient in justice than in arms, decided to redraft the army’s code of laws; some of his rules are still practised, others men have chosen to rescind in favour of new ones. He proclaimed that each standard-bearer should receive a larger portion than the other soldiers in the distribution of booty; the leaders who had the standards carried before them in battle, because of their authority, should have all the captured gold. He wished the private soldier to be satisfied with silver. By his orders a copious supply of arms must go to the champions, captured ships to the ordinary people, to whom they were due, inasmuch as these had the right to build and equip vessels.

Chapter 7

1. During this period the king of the Huns heard of his daughter’s dissolved marriage and, joining forces with Olimar, king of the East [Rus], over two years collected the equipment for a war against the Danes. For this reason Frothi enlisted soldiers not merely among his own countrymen but from the Norwegians and Wends too. Erik, dispatched by him to spy out the enemy^s battle array, discovered Olimar, acting as admiral (the Hunnish king led the land troops), not far from Ruthenia; he addressed him with these words:

2. ‘Tell me, what means this weighty provision for war, King Olimar? Where do you race to, captaining this fleet?’

Olimar replied:

‘Assault on Frithlef’s son is the strong desire of our hearts. And who are you to ask these arrogant questions?’

Erik answered:

‘To allow into your mind hope of conquering the unconquerable is fruitless; no man can overpower Frothi.’

Olimar objected:

‘Every thing that happens has its first occurrence; events unhoped-for come to pass quite often.’

3. His idea was to teach him that no one should put too much trust in Fortune. Erik then galloped on to meet and inspect the army of the Huns. As he rode by it he saw the front ranks parade past him at dawn and the rear-guard at sunset. He enquired of those he met what general had command of so many thousands. The Hunnish king, himself called Hun, chanced to see him and, realizing that he had taken on the task of spying, asked the questioner’s name. Erik said he was called the one who visited everywhere and was known nowhere. The king also brought in an interpreter to find out what Frothi’s business was. Erik answered: ‘Frothi never waits at home, lingering in his halls, for a hostile army. Whoever intends to scale another’s pinnacle must be watchful and wakeful. Nobody has ever won victory by snoring, nor has any sleeping wolf found a carcass.’ The king recognized his intelligence from these carefully chosen apothegms and reflected: ‘Here perhaps is the Erik who, so I’ve heard, laid a false charge against my daughter.’ He gave orders for him to be pinioned at once, but Erik pointed out how unsuitable it was for one creature to be manhandled by many. This remark not only allayed the king’s temper, but even inclined him to pardon Erik. But there was no doubt that his going unscathed resulted not from Hun’s kind-heartedness but his shrewdness; the chief reason for Erik’s dismissal was that he might horrify Frothi by reporting the size of the king’s host.

4. After his return he was asked by his lord to reveal what he had discovered; he replied that he had seen six captains of six fleets, any one of which comprised five thousand ships; each ship was known to contain three hundred oarsmen. He said that each millenary of the total assemblage was composed of four squadrons. By ‘millenary’ he indicated twelve hundred men, since each squadron included three hundred. But while Frothi was hesitating over how he should combat these immense levies and was looking about purposefully for reinforcements, Erik said: ‘Boldness helps the virtuous; it takes a fierce hound to set upon a bear; we need mastiffs, not lapdogs.’ After this pronouncement he advised Frothi to collect a navy. Once this had been made ready they sailed off in the direction of their enemies. The islands which lie between Denmark and the East were attacked and subdued. Proceeding farther, they came upon several ships of the Ruthenian fleet. Although Frothi believed it would be unchivalrous to molest such a small squadron, Erik interposed: ‘We must seek our food from the lean and slender. One who falls will rarely grow fat; if he has a great sack thrown over his head, he won’t be able to bite.’ This argument shook the king out of his shame at making an assault, and he was led to strike at the few vessels with his own multitude, after Erik had shown that he must set profitability higher than propriety.

5. Next they advanced against Olimar, who, on account of the slow mobility of his vast forces, chose to await his opponents rather than set upon them; for the Ruthenian vessels were unwieldy and seemed to be harder to row because of their bulk. Even the weight of their numbers was not much help. The amazing horde of Ruthenians was more conspicuous for its abundance than valour and yielded before the vigorous handful of Danes. When he wished to return to his own land, Frothi found an unusual obstruction to his navigation: that whole bight of the sea was strewn with myriads of dead bodies and as many shattered shields and spears tossing on the waves. The harbours were choked and stank, the boats, surrounded by corpses, were Locked in and could not move. Nor were they able to push off the rotten floating carcasses with oars or poles, for when one was removed another quickly rolled into its place to bump against the ships’ sides. You would have imagined that a war against the dead had begun, a new type of contest with lifeless men.

6. (sometimes chapter 8.1) Then Frothi assembled the races he had conquered and decreed by law that any head of a family who had fallen in that year should be consigned to a burial-mound along with his horse and all his panoply of arms. If any greedy wretch of a pall-bearer meddled with the tomb, he should not only pay with his lifeblood but remain unburied, without a grave or last rites. The king believed it just that one who interfered with another’s remains should not receive the benefit of a funeral, but that the treatment of his body should reflect what he had committed on someone else’s. He ordained that a commander or governor should have his corpse laid on a pyre consisting of his own boat. A single vessel must serve for the cremation of ten steersmen, but any general or king who had been killed should be cast on his own ship and burnt. He desired these precise regulations to be met in conducting the obsequies of the slain, for he would not tolerate lack of discrimination in funeral ritual. All the Ruthenian kings had now fallen in battle, apart from Olimar and Dag.

7. (sometimes chapter 8.3) He ordered the Ruthenians to celebrate their wars in the Danish fashion, and that no one should take a wife without purchasing her; it was his belief that where contracts were sealed by payment there was a chance of stronger and securer fidelity. If anyone dared to rape a virgin, the punishment was castration; otherwise the man must make a compensation of a thousand marks for his lechery.

8. (sometimes chapter 8.2) He also ruled that any sworn soldier who sought a name for proven courage must attack a single opponent, take on two, evade three by stepping back a short distance, and only be unashamed when he ran from four adversaries. The vassal kings must observe another usage regarding militiamen’s pay: a native soldier in their own bodyguard should be given 3 silver marks in wintertime, a common soldier or mercenary 2, and a private soldier who had retired from service just 1. This law slighted their bravery, since it took notice of the men’s rank more than their spirits. You could call it a blunder on Frothi’s part to subordinate desert to royal patronage.

Chapter 8

1. (sometimes chapter 7.6) After this, when Frothi asked Erik whether the armies of the Huns were as profuse as Olimar‘s forces, he began to express himself in song:

‘l perceived, so help me, an innumerable throng, a throng which neither land nor sea could contain. Frequent campfires were burning, a whole forest ablaze, betokening a countless troop. The ground was depressed beneath the trample of horses’ hooves, the hurrying wagons creaked along, wheels groaned, the chariot drivers chased the wind, matching the noise of thunder. The cumbered earth could hardly sustain the weight of the warrior hordes running uncontrolled. The very air seemed to crash, the earth tremble as the outlandish army moved its might. Fifteen companies I saw with their flashing banners, and each of these held a hundred smaller standards, with twenty more behind, and a band of generals to equal the number of ensigns.’

2. (sometimes chapter 7.7) As Frothi enquired how he might combat such multitudes, Erik told him that he must return home and first allow the enemy to destroy themselves by their own immensity. His advice was observed and the scheme carried out as readily as it had been approved. Now the Huns, advancing through trackless wastes, could nowhere obtain supplies and began to run the risk of widespread starvation. The territory was vast and swampy, and it was impossible to find anything to relieve their necessity. At length, having slaughtered and eaten the pack animals, they began to scatter owing to shortage of transport as well as food. This straying from the route was as dangerous as the famine; neither horses nor asses were spared and rotting garbage was consumed. Eventually they did not even abstain from dogs; the dying men condoned every monstrosity. Nothing is so unthinkable that it cannot be enforced by dire need. In the end wholesale disaster assailed them, spent as they were with hunger; corpses were carried to burial ceaselessly, and though everyone dreaded death no pity was felt for those who were expiring; fear had shut out all humanity. At first only squads of soldiers withdrew from the king gradually,’then the army melted away by companies. He was abandoned also by the seer Ugger, a man whose unknown years stretched beyond human span; as a deserter he sought out Frothi and informed him of all the Huns’ preparations.

3. (sometimes chapter 7.8) Meanwhile Hithin, king of a sizable people in Norway, approached Frothi’s fleet with a hundred and fifty vessels. Selecting twelve of these, he cruised nearer, raising a shield on his mast to indicate that they came as friends. He was received by Frothi into the closest degree of amity and brought a large contingent to augment his forces. Afterwards this man and Hild fell in love with each other; she was a girl of most excellent repute, the daughter of Hogni, a Jutland princeling; even before they met, each was impassioned by reports of the other. When they actually had a chance to look upon one another, they were unable to withdraw their eyes, so much did clinging affection hold their gaze.

4. (sometimes chapter 7.9) During this time Frothi had spread his soldiery through the townships and was assiduously collecting the money needed for their winter provisions. Yet even this was not sufficient to support a cripplingly expensive army. Ruin almost on a par with the Huns’ calamity beset him. To discourage foreigners from making inroads he sent to the Elbe a fleet under the command of Revil and Mevil, to make sure that no one crossed it. When the winter had relaxed its grip, Hithin and Hegni decided to cooperate in a pirating expedition. Hegni was unaware that his colleague was deeply in love with his daughter. He was a strapping fellow, but headstrong in temperament, Hithin very handsome, but short.

5. (sometimes chapter 7.10) Since Frothi realized that it was becoming more and more difficult to maintain the costs of the army as days went by, he directed Roller to go to Norway, Olimar to Sweden, King Ønef and the pirate chieftain Glomer to Orkney to seek supplies, assigning each man his own troops. Thirty kings, his devoted friends or vassals, followed Frothi. Immediately Hun heard that Frothi had dispersed his forces, he gathered together a fresh mass of fighting men. Høgni betrothed his daughter to Hithin and each swore that if one perished by the sword, the other would avenge him.

6. (sometimes chapter 7.12) In the autumn the hunters of supplies returned, richer in victories than actual provisions. Roller had killed Arnthor, king of the provinces of Sørmøre and Nordmøre, and laid these under tribute. Olimar, that renowned tamer of savage peoples, vanquished Thori the Tall, king of the Jämts and Hälsings, with two other leaders just as powerful, not to mention also Estland, Kurland, Öland, and the islands that fringe the Swedish coast. He therefore returned with seventy ships, double the number he had sailed out with. Trophies of victory in Orkney went to Ønef, Glomer, Hithin, and Høgni. These carried home ninety vessels. The revenues brought in from far and wide and gathered by plunder were now amply sufficient to meet the costs of nourishing the troops. Frothi had added twenty countries to his empire, and their thirty kings, besides those mentioned above, now fought on the Danish side.

7. (sometimes chapter 7.12) Relying in this way on his powers, he joined battle with the Huns. The first day saw a crescendo of such savage bloodshed that three principal Ruthenian rivers were paved with corpses, as though they had been bridged to make them solid and passable. Furthermore, you might have seen an area stretching the distance of a three days’ horse-ride completely strewn with human bodies. So extensive were the traces of carnage. When the fighting had been protracted for seven days, King Hun fell. His brother of the same name saw that the Huns’ line had given way and lost no time before surrendering with his company. In that war a hundred and seventy kings, either from the Huns or who had served with them, capitulated to the Danish monarch. These Erik had specified in his earlier account of the standards, when he was enumerating the host of Huns in answer to Frothi’s questions.

8. (sometimes chapter 7. 13) Summoning these kings to a meeting Frothi imposed on them a prescription to live under one and the same law. He made Olimar regent of Holmgård, Ønef of Kønugård, assigned Saxony to Hun, his captive, and Orkney to Revil. A man named Dimar was put in charge of the provinces of the Hälsings, the Jarnbers, the Jämts, and both of the Lapp peoples; the rule of Estland was bequeathed to Dag. On each of them he laid fixed obligations of tribute, demanding allegiance as a condition of his liberality. Frothi’s domains now embraced Ruthenia to the east and were bounded by the River Rhine in the west.

Chapter 9

1. Meanwhile certain slanderers brought to Høgni a trumped-up charge that Hithin had dishonoured his daughter before the espousal ceremony by enticing her to fornication, an act which in those days held among all nations to be monstrous. Høgni lent credulous ears to the lying tale and, as Hithin was collecting the royal taxes among the Wends, attacked him with his fleet; when they came to grips Høgni was defeated and made for Jutland. So the peace which Frothi had established was shaken by a domestic feud; they were the first men in his own country who spurned the king’s law. Frothi therefore sent officers to summon them both to him and enquired painstakingly into the reason for their quarrel. When he had leamt this, he pronounced judgement according to the terms of the law he had passed. However, seeing that even this would not reconcile them as long as the father obstinately demanded back his daughter, he decreed that the dispute should be settled by a sword fight. It seemed the only way of bringing their strife to an end. After they had commenced battle, Hithin was wounded by an exceptionally violent blow; he was losing the blood and strength from his body when he found unexpected mercy from his opponent. Although Høgni had the opportunity for a quick kill, pity for Hithin’s fine appearance and youthfulness compelled him to calm his ferocity. He held back his sword, loth to destroy a youngster shuddering with his last gasps. At one time a man blushed to take the life of one who was immature or feeble. So consciously did the brave champions of ancient days retain all the instincts of shame. His friends saw to it that Hithin, preserved by his foe’s clemency, was carried back to the ships. Seven years later they fell to battle again on the island of Hiddensee and slashed each other to death. It would have been more auspicious [meaning ‘wiser’] for Høgni had he exercised cruelty instead of kindness on the one occasion when he overcame Hithin. According to popular belief Hild yearned so ardently for her husband that she conjured up the spirits of the dead men at night so that they could renew their fighting.

Book VI

Chapter 1

1. After Frothi had expired, the Danes wrongly believed that Frithlef, who was being brought up in Ruthenia, had died; the kingdom now seemed crippled for want of an heir and it looked impossible for it to continue under the royal line; they therefore decided that the man most suitable to take up the sceptre would be someone who could attach to Frothi’s new burial mound an elegy of praise glorifying him, one which would leave a handsome testimony of the departed king’s fame for later generations. Hiarni, a bard expert in Danish poetry, was moved by the magnificence of the prize to adorn the man’s brilliance with a distinguished verbal memorial and invented verses in his rude vernacular. I have expressed the general sense of its four lines in this translation:

Because they wished to extend Frothi’s life, the Danes long carried his remains through their countryside. This great prince’s body, now buried under turf, is covered by bare earth beneath the lucent sky.

Chapter 2

1. At the same time Erik, who held the governorship of Sweden, died of an illness. His son Halfdan took over his father’s powers, but was alarmed by frequent clashes with twelve brothers who originated in Norway, for he had no means of punishing their violence; he therefore took refuge with Frithlef, who was still living in Ruthenia, hoping to derive some assistance from that quarter. Approaching with a suppliant’s countenance, he brought to him the sad tale of his injuries and complained of how he had been pounded and shattered by a foreign foe. Through this petitioner Frithlef heard the news of his father’s death, and accompanying him with armed reinforcements made for Norway.

Chapter 5

2. It is definitely recorded that he [Starkath son of Storværk] came from the region which borders eastern Sweden, that which now contains the wide-flung dwellings of the Estlanders and other numerous savage hordes. But a preposterous common conjecture has invented details about his origin which are unreasonable and downright incredible. Some folk tell how he was born of giants and revealed his monster kind by an extraordinary number of hands; they assert that the god Thor broke the sinews which joined four of these freakish extensions of overproductive Nature and tore them off, plucking away the unnatural bunches of fingers from the body proper; with only two arms left, his frame, which before had run to a gargantuan enormity and been shaped with a grotesque crowd of limbs, was afterwards corrected according to a better model and contained within the more limited dimensions of men.

9. When they had devastated whole provinces, their lust for domination also made them invade Ruthenia; the natives had little confidence in their fortifications and arms as means of stopping the enemy’s inroads and so they started to cast unusually sharp nails in their path; if they could not check their onset in battle, they would impede their advance by quietly causing the ground to damage their feet, since they shrank from resistance in the open field. Yet even this kind of obstacle did not help rid them of their foes. For the Danes were cunning enough to foil the Ruthenians‘ endeavours. They at once fitted wooden clogs on their feet and trod on the spikes without injury. Those pieces of iron were each arranged with four prongs, so fashioned that on whatever side they happened to land they immediately stood balanced on three feet. Striking into pathless glades where the forests grew thickest, they rooted out Flokk, the Ruthenian leader, from the mountain retreat into which he had crept. From this stronghold they claimed so much booty that every single man regained his ship laden with gold and silver.

14. Later Starkath together with Vin, chief of the Wends, was assigned to curb a revolt in the East. Taking on the combined armies of the Kurlanders, Samlanders, Semgalli, and finally all the peoples of the East, he won glorious victories on many fronts. A notorious desperado in Ruthenia called Visin had built his hideout on a cliff known as Anafial, from which he inflicted all kinds of outrage on regions far and near. He could blunt the edge of any weapon merely by gazing on it. With no fear of being wounded he combined his strength with so much insolence that he would even seize the wives of eminent men and drag them to be raped before their husbands’ eyes. Roused by reports of this wickedness Starkath journeyed to Ruthenia to exterminate the villain. Since there was nothing which Starkath thought it difficult to subdue, he challenged Visin to single combat, counteracted the help of his magic, and dispatched him. To prevent his sword being visible to the magician he wrapped it in a very fine skin, so that neither the power of Visin‘s sorcery nor his great strength could stop him yielding to Starkath.

15. Afterwards at Byzantium, relying on his stamina, he [Starkath] wrestled with and overthrew a supposedly invincible giant, Tanna, and compelled him to seek unknown lands by branding him an outlaw. As no cruelty of fate had hitherto managed to cheat this mighty man [Starkath] of his conquests, he entered Polish territory and there fought in a duel and defeated a champion called by our people Vaske, a name familiar to the Teutons under the different spelling of Wilzce.

#streberfail

PublishedOctober 17, 2018 Post authortorino

A reader had sent me a copy of the Barbarian Tsunami booklet regarding “migrations” in Poland. I haven’t had a chance to go through this in detail but a cursory glance at some of the nonsense described therein is not encouraging. Aside from the poor translation of the Polish, the writing is that of ideologically-constrained dilettantes.

Basically, the theme is that during the Communist times, the political mantra was that Poland had been occupied from times immemorial by Slavs and the organizers of this project resented that. Now, that Poland is democratic, the organizers are free to spread their own theories which – they claim – are based on facts. Those theories suggest the presence of Germanic tribes in Poland and that the Slavs came from somewhere else. These new theories are also based on facts and are politically unbiased because we live in a world where we have democracy and truth, politics does not exist and truth can finally emerge from its hibernation… yadda yadda yadda.

I will have more to say about that but here are some pearls of fancy that were made up by the drafters of this silliness. (Note that these guys are much more cavalier in identifying every object they find with a very specific ethnic group than any archeologist in the West would dare now do):

“A much less known fact and one that we find very exciting is that the peoples involved the most in the upheaval – Goths, Vandals, Herules, Gepids and Burgundians – had issued from the lands between the Odra and the Vistula.”

Not one shred of evidence about any of this – at least as regards Vandals, Herules or Gepids. By the fourth century, all these people are recorded in Ukraine – not Poland. With the possible exception of some portion of the Goths who likely landed from Scandinavia somewhere around Gdansk (or just maintained an emporium there?) and, if you believe Ptolemy, Burgundians, none of these peoples can be placed in Poland.

“Among the best known materials are those discovered within the complex of settlements at Gąski-Wierzbiczany in Kuiavia, a central place of the Vandals. Some of these are discussed below by Marcin Rudnicki.”

I am curious how these guys know that these were “Vandal” sites (and central sites no less!). I mean, they could just as easily have been Japanese or Aztec “sites”.

“The same year, the Vandals settled in southern and central Poland, and on the upper Tisa River, the Alans and Suebians living on the middle Danube, burst into Gaul, which they cruelly plundered for a full three years and then moved to Spain.”

This run-on sentence is pure bullshit. First of all there is no evidence of any tribes that could be called Vandals anywhere in Poland with the – possible – exception of very southern Poland. The only, and indeed, the first, place that any Vandals are actually recorded is the Tisa. I understand the reference to the “upper” as trying to “move” the Vandals closer to Poland.

Secondly, there is zero evidence from whence the Vandals, Alans and Suevi that entered Gall came from other than, presumably, somewhere east of the Rhine (since they had to cross it).

Third, we don’t even know who exactly crossed the Rhine but it seems it was a hell of a lot of different peoples. Jerome gives the following list:

“Quadi, Vandals, Sarmatians, Alans, Gepids, Herules, Saxons, Burgundians, Alemanni and the armies of the Pannonians”

Fourth, putting aside that the above list does not actually list any Suebi, if we were to include Suebi, we probably should write (like the ancient writers) Suevi and not Suebi (like the ossified 19th century Prussian historians).

Fifth, “cruelly plundered” seems like a bit of rhetoric better fitting a Christian or Roman eyewitness of the events rather than a detached scientist.

“Having issued from the lands in the Odra and the Vistula drainage basin the Germanic Goths, Vandals, Gepides, Herules and Burgundians would go on play an important part in the emergence of a new, medieval Europe. It would be incorrect to say that the Migration Period brought destruction only; it was also the beginning of a new order on our continent.”

“Having issued from the writer’s feverish imagination” would have been better said.

“The Przeworsk culture people were mostly Vandals, but presumably included some Lugians, a group which a few centuries earlier had established a powerful organised society which contributed to the emergence of the Przeworsk culture.”

This is an almost verbatim plagiarism of Herwig Wolfram’s failed attempt to reconcile the fact that Poland was, in fact, occupied by the Lougi/Legii with his enormous desire to place the Vandals there instead. Wolfram’s attempt was pulled out of his ass. Now it looks like we have someone trying to make a carbon copy of that watery turd.

“There is evidence from archaeology as well on the presence in the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland (Polish Jura) in late 4th and early 5th century of the Vandals (the Przeworsk culture people) but also, of Gothic immigrants from the territory of present-day Ukraine.”

Again, how is Przeworsk “Vandalic”? I’d really like to know. Artifacts? Even assuming these artifacts were Scandinavian in (ethnic) origin, it’s a far cry to suggest that they must have been Vandalic given that Vandals are not recorded in Poland… But, if, as I suspect, the idea is to inculcate Poles with the notion that they are immigrants in their own homeland, then why not skip the Vandalic middleman and go straight to the heart of the matter? After all there are tons of Arab dirhams found all over Poland. Why not declare that this is evidence of massive Arab presence in Poland in the middle ages? (rab > rob > worker?)

One thing about that paragraph does deserve some attention. The author suggests a (presumably return in his telling) migration of Goths to Poland from Ukraine. It would behoove scientists to look at the question (particularly given the centum character of Tocharian and recent R1b finds among Sarmatians) of whether the Goths and other Scandinavians may indeed have come – relatively late – from the Pontic Steppe.

“Recent finds from western Lesser Poland suggest the arrival in late 4th and early 5th century to this region also of a group of Goths from the territory of present-day Ukraine. Finds displaying Hunnic traits, like burials excavated at Jakuszowice and Przemęczany, show that in the early Migration Period the western region of Lesser Poland was under the control of the nomads and their allies. Presumably, this situation was accepted by groups of Vandals still living there.”

Again, no Vandals. But if there had been Vandals there, then, yeah, I am sure they would have “accepted this situation.” Assuming they desired to continue living there (or just living). The author seems almost apologetic in explainng why and how his übermensch Vandals “accepted” the overlordship of “nomads and their allies.”

“Echoes of these events are to be found in the written record. The bulk of the population of the Przeworsk culture may safely be identified with the Vandals.”

Whenever I see phrases such as “there is no doubt” or “may safely be assumed” I get this gnawing feeling that nothing could be further from the truth. But, hey, maybe it’s just paranoia…

“Presumably, the Vandals who remained in their homeland in Poland, are those immortalised by Procopius of Caesarea. He noted that in 439–477, the reign of king Geiseric, the Vandals in Africa received an embassy of their compatriots still residing in their ancestral abodes come to sure that the former had no intention of returning North. In this context highly intriguing are some references which recur in the early medieval written record. In his hagiography of Saint Ulrich written in 983–993, Gerhard of Augsburg repeatedly refers to Mieszko I as the duke of the Vandals (dux Wandalorum, Misico nomine). What could be the source of this piece of intelligence recorded in the late 10th century? Could it be that the descendants of the Vandals had actually survived in central Poland, or – as some historians claim – had the provost of the Augsburg Cathedral simply misspelt the German name Wenden (Slavs)? For an answer to this and many other questions we have to look to the future.”

As I’ve written before… assuming that such an embassy did in fact take place and Procopius did actually find out about it, the “ancestral abodes” of the Vandals would much more likely have been in places such as:

Spain
France
Romania/Hungary (even Czechia)

All places in which Vandals had been living for over 2 centuries before. But, if we must look further in time and, if in fact there was such a thing as Vandals back then, then I would look in Scandinavia – not Poland.

As regards the fact that half a millennium later Gerhard of Augsburg thought Poles were Vandals (and others thought they were Goths or Sarmatians or Illyrians), well, I would refer these fine archeologists to Roland Steinacher’s Phd thesis or his little write up Wenden, Slawen, Vandalen. Eine frühmittelalterliche pseudologische Gleichsetzung und ihr Nachleben ~~bis ins 18.~~ bis ins 21. Jahrhundert.

In any event, it seems to me that the Vandals may well have been named after the Wends whose territories – likely in East Germany – they may have occupied.

Certain Portions of the Chronicle of Adémar of Chabannes – The γ Version

PublishedOctober 14, 2018 Post authortorino

The Chronicle of Adémar de Chabannes (the legendary, chronicler, musical composer and literary forger extraordinaire) has been well known for years (as Chronicon Aquitanicum et Francicum or Historia Francorum). It contains a number of mentions of Suavic rulers that originated mostly in other sources. In other words they are not particularly original and do not possess new information (for example, Thrasco and other Suav rulers are mentioned but the sources of Ademar’s here are likely the various Frankish or abbey annals). However, the third book of the Chronicle is mostly original. Moreover, one redaction of the Chronicle contains an interesting passage in that book that is not found in other versions.

A portion of this passage deals with the activities of Saint Adalbert (Wojciech) and Saint Bruno among the peoples of Prussia, Poland, Russia and Hungary containing some religious motifs albeit only in generalities. This portion probably ones from some Life of Saint Adalbert. Another portion,however, delivers an entirely new and original piece of information – it deals with the opening of the tomb of Charlemagne by Otto III. Ademar writes that upon opening the tomb Charlemagne’s body was discovered sitting untouched by age on a golden throne. That throne Otto sent to Boleslav the Great of Poland in exchange for the body parts of Saint Adalbert [Wojciech] who had been recently killed by the Prussians. (However, it is not entirely clear from this fragment that, as some people maintain, Boleslav had actually been present at Aachen).

Carolus drawn by Chabbanese Adémar himself (under Carolus’ butt, the seat in question)

Interestingly, we now know that this version of the Chronicle was an autograph of Adémar’s. For a description of the issues and controversies surrounding this edition of the Chronicle, you can see an article by Dariusz Andrzej Sikorski from 2002 “The Chronicle of Adémar de Chabannes: A Recovered Source for the Earliest History of Poland” (Kronika Ademara z Chabannes – odzyskane źródło dla najwcześniejszych dziejów Polski – in Polish). This was a review of the then new Pascale Bourgain edition of the Chronicle (oddly, Sikorski or his editor did not realize that Bourgain is a woman). Another Polish article on this is Miłosz Sosnowski’s “Boleslav Chrobry and Charlemagne: Legitimization Between Cult and Imitation.” The “γ” refers to the text that was labeled by Bourgain as such. Note, however, that the Latin text below follows the MGH edition. Note that the person to first bring the attention of Polish historians (in 1902) to this underappreciated fragment was Stanislaw Kętrzyński, the son of none other than the multi-talented Wojciech Kętrzyński (on his theories, see here, here, here, here, here and here).

Book III, Chapter 31
English Version

At this time with Otto II dead, his son Otto, third in act and name, gained the imperial power. Who interested in philosophy and thinking about the riches of Christ, that he might render a double talent before the tribunal of the Judge, he sought to convert by the will of God the peoples in the surrounding areas given over to idols to the worship of God.

In truth, it was two reverend bishops, namely the holy Adalbert archbishop of the city of Prague which lies in the province of Bohemia and also the holy Bruno the bishop of the city of Querfurt which lies in the province of Bavaria, a relative of the same Emperor. The holy Adalbert was of small stature [while] the reverend Bruno was tall.

And whenever Saint Adalbert was in the imperial palace, he would leave alone in the middle of the night for the forest and carried wood on his own shoulders, walking on bare feet, delivering it, none knew, to the poorhouse.* He then prepared the sale of this timber himself. And after many days the Emperor found about this [and said]: “A bishop such as you are should follow this up by teaching to the peoples of the Slavs.”

* compare this with John Capgrave’s fragment on Saint Wenceslas: “propriis humerus ligna deferens, ante fires viduarum et pauperum clam depnebat…”

The bishop kissed the emperor’s feet and quickly agreed [to the emperor’s joking suggestion] to undertake this [mission]; lest the emperor could talk him out of it. And at the bishop’s request in his city of Prague a replacement archbishop was ordained, whom the bishop had selected, and the emperor gladly assented to this. Having made all the necessary preparations, he departed barefooted to the province of the Poles, where no one had heard the name of Christ and began to preach the Gospel.

Bishop Bruno followed his example and requested that the emperor appoint a bishop, by the name of Odalric, for his [Bruno’s] seat whom he had chosen. When this was done he humbly departed for the country of Hungary, that is called White Hungary to differentiate it from that other Black Hungary, by reason of the fact that its population has a brownish color like the Ethiopians.

Lastly, Saint Adalbert converted to the faith of Christ those four provinces that had been of old held [in the grasp] of paganism, that is Poland, Slavania, Waredonia* [and] Cracow. And after he built a foundation of faith, he went for the province of the Pincenatori** to speak to them of the Lord. That people worshipped many fierce idols, [and] after eight days he had come to them and had began to proclaim Christ to them, [but] on the ninth day they found him to have fallen into prayers, piercing him with missiles even of iron, they made a martyr for Christ. Then he [?] cut off the head, submerged the body in a great lake but the head they tossed to the field for the wild beasts. The angel of the Lord accepted the head but the body he set upon the other shore; there he remained immobile and intact and uncorrupted, until such time as a merchant boat passed by his location. And they took the holy treasury [of his body] and delivered it to Slavania. And then the King of Slavania by the name of Boteslav, whom Saint Adalbert had baptized, was given these great gifts and accepted them with honor and built a monastery in his [Adalbert’s] great name and many miracles began to occur through this martyr of Christ. But Saint Adalbert was martyred on the 24th day of April, that is on the ninth day before the Calends of May.

* Wenedonia?
** Prussians?

However, Saint Bruno converted to the Faith the province of Hungary and another that is called Russia. He converted the King of Hungary who is called Gouz* and he changed his name in the baptism and [Bruno] called him Stephen, [he] whom the Emperor Otto received in baptism at the birth of the martyr Stephen and [whose] kingdom he [Otto] allowed him freely to possess, giving him permission to carry the sacred lance everywhere, as it is the custom of the emperor to do so, and the remains of the key of the Lord and the spear of Saint Maurice to replace his own spear. And the above-mentioned king ordered Saint Bruno to baptize his own son, giving him the same name [that is] Stephen.

* Géza
** Stephen I, Géza’s son

And to his son Stephen, the emperor Otto gave away in marriage the sister of Henry, the subsequent emperor….*

[skipping some portions of the narrative about Hungarians – the complete Latin version is below]

* Gisela of Bavaria, the sister of Henry II, future emperor

In those days, the emperor Otto [III] was told in a dream to raise the remains of Charlemagne which were buried at Aachen. But as age erases memory, so was it not known exactly where he had been laid to rest. Yet after a three day fast the emperor had a vision as to where the body was and so it was found sitting on a golden throne in an arched-ceilinged cave under the basilica of the Holy Mary wearing a golden crown set with precious stones and wielding a sword of the purest gold and his body was preserved and unrotten. It was raised and shown to the masses. And one of the canons of that place, Adalbert, though a man sporting a great and tall frame, was shown to have an insufficient brow for having tried to fit on Charlemagne’s crown, it proved to be too wide for the circumference of his head. And comparing his shin too to the shins of the king, he proved the shorter, and also was his shin [by reason of this arrogant deed] broken through Heavenly Might. Going on to live yet forty years he remained nevertheless a cripple forever. And the rediscovered body of Charlemagne was laid to rest on the right side of the basilica right behind the altar of Saint John the Baptist. And there was built over it a wondrous golden crypt which begun at once to glimmer with many portends and miracles. Yet he [Charlemagne] has no holy day of his own, [he is] just [remembered during] the commonly celebrated All Saints Day. His golden throne, the emperor Otto [III] earmarked for king Botislav in exchange for the relics of the holy martyr Adalbert [Wojciech]. And the king Botislav accepted the gift and [in exchange] sent the emperor the martyr’s shoulder and the emperor received it happily and to honor the holy martyr Adalbert he built in Aachen an extraordinary basilica and set in it a convent of [female] servants of the Lord. He also built another monastery in Rome to honor the same martyr.

Latin Version

Ea tempestate Hotone secundo mortuo, Hoto filius eius, tercius actu et nomine, imperio potitus est. Qui philosophiae intentus, et lucra Christi cogitans, ut ante tribunal Iudicis duplicatum redderet talentum, Dei voluntate populos in circuitum ydolis deditos ad Dei cultum convertere studuit.*

* [compare this to the version found in other editions of the Chronicle: Ea tempestate Hotone secundo mortuo, Hoto filius eius, tercius actu et nomine, imperio potitus est. Qui philosophiae intentus, et lucra Christi cogitans, ut ante tribunal Iudicis duplicatum redderet talentum, Dei voluntate populos Ungriae una cum rege eorum ad fidem Christi convertere meruit…]

Etenim erant ei duo episcopi reverentissimi, sanctus videlicet Adalbertus archiepiscopus de civitate Pragra, que est in provincia Bevehem, sanctus etiam Brunus episcopus de civitate Osburg, quę est in provintia Baioarie, consanguineus ejusdem imperatoris. Nam sanctus Adalbertus parvus statura, sanctus Brunus procero corpore erant.

Et quandocumque sanctus Adalbertus in aula imperatoris interesset, nocte intempesta solus ad silvam abiens, ligna propriis humeris, pedibus nudis, deferebat, nemine sciente, ad hospitium suum. Que ligna vendens victum preparabat sibi. Quod cum post multos imperator comperiens dies, cum pro sancto duceret, die quadam solito locutus cum eo, dixit jocando: “Talis episcopus, sicut vos estis, debuisset pergere ad predicandum Sclavorum gentes”.

Mox episcopus pedes imperatoris deosculans, ait, se hoc incipere; nec postea imperator eum avertere potuit ab hac intentione; et rogante ipso episcopo, ordinatus est pro eo in urbe Pragin archiepiscopus, quem elegerat ipse, et libenter imperator assensit. Et preparatis omnibus necessariis, pedibus nudis abiit in Pollianam provinciam, ubi nemo Christi nomen audierat, et praedicare coepit euangelium.

Quod exemplum eius secutus Brunus episcopus, petiit imperatorem, ut pro eo iuberet consecrare in sede sua episcopum, quem elegerat, nomine Odolricum. Quo facto, et ipse humiliter abiit in provinciam Ungriam, quae dicitur Alba Ungria ad differentiam alteri Ungrie Nigre, pro eo quod populus est colore fusco velut Etiopes.

Sanctus denique Adalbertus convertit ad fidem Christi quattuor istas provincias, quae antiquo paganorum errore detinebantur, scilicet Pollianam, Sclavaniam, Waredoniam, Cracoviam. Quas postquam fundavit in fide, abiit in provintiam Pincenatorum, ut eis praedicaret Dominum. Illa gens nimium idolis effera, post octo dies ad eos venerat et Christum eis adnunciare coeperat, nono die reperientes eum orationi incumbere, missilibus quam ferreis confodientes, Christi martirem fecerunt. Deinde secto capite, corpus eius in lacum magnum demerserunt; capud autem bestiis in campum proiecerunt. Angelus autem Domini accipiens capud, posuit iuxta cadaver in ulteriorem ripam; ibi immobile et intactum et incorruptum permansit, quousque negotiatores navigio per illum locum praeterirent. Qui auferentes sanctum thesaurum, patefeceruntque Sclavaniam. Quo comperto rex Sclavanie nomine Botesclavus, quem ipse sanctus Adalbertus baptizaverat, datis magnis muneribus, capud et cadaver excepit cum honore, et monasterium in eius nomine maximum construxit, et multa miracula fieri coeperunt per eundem Christi martirem. Passus est autem sanctus Adalbertus 24. die mensis Aprilis, id est nono Kalendas Mai.

Sanctus autem Brunus convertit ad fidem Ungriam provintiam, aliam, que vocatur Russia. Regem Ungrie baptizavit, qui vocabatur Gouz, et mutato nomine in baptismo Stephanum vocavit, quem Oto imperator in natali protomartiris Stephani a baptismate excepit, et regnum ei liberrime habere permisit, dans ei licentiam ferre lanceam sacram ubique, sicut ipsi imperatori mos est, et reliquias ex clavis Domini et lancea sancti Mauricii ei concessit in propria lancea. Rex quoque supradictus filium suum baptizare iussit sancto Bruno, imponens ei nomen sicut sibi Stephanum.

Et ipsi filio eius Stephano Oto imperator sororem Eenrici, postea imperatoris, in coniugio dedit. At vero sanctus Brunus cum ad Pincenates properavisset, et Christum praedicare cepisset illis, passus est ab eis, sicut passus fuerat sanctus Adalbertus. Nam Pincenati diabolico furore sevientes, viscera omnia ventris per exiguum foramen lateris ei extraxerunt, et fortissimum Dei martirem perfecerunt. Corpus eius Russorum gens magno precio redemit, et in Russia monasterium eius nomini construxerunt, magnisque miraculis coruscare cepit. Post paucos dies quidam Grecus episcopus in Russiam venit, et medietatem ipsius provintiae, quae adhuc idolis dedita erat, convertit, et morem Grecum in barba crescenda et ceteris exemplis eos suscipere fecit. Odolricus autem, qui sancto Bruno successerat, ad Dominum migrans, magnis virtutibus clarere meruit. Ideoque monasterium foris civitatem Osburg eius nomini construxit episcopus item Brunus, successor eius, frater Eenrici imperatoris. Eadem vero urbs apud Romanos vocabatur Valentina ab imperatoris nomine, qui eam condidit primus.

Quibus diebus Oto imperator per somnum monitus est, ut levaret corpus Caroli Magni imperatoris, quod Aquis humatus erat, sed vetustate obliterante, ignorabatur locus certus, ubi quiescebat. Et peracto triduano ieiunio, inventus est eo loco, quem per visum cognoverat imperator, sedens in aurea cathedra, intra arcuatam speluncam infra basilicam Marie, coronatus corona ex auro et gemmis, tenens sceptrum et ensem ex auro purissimo, et ipsum corpus incorruptum inventum est. Quod levatum populis demonstratum est. Quidam vero canonicorum eiusdem loci Adalbertus, cum enormi et procero corpore esset, coronam Caroli quasi pro mensura capiti suo circumponens, inventus est strictiori vertice, coronam amplitudine sua vincentem circulum capitis. Crus proprium etiam ad cruris mensuram regis dimetiens, inventus est brevior, et ipsum eius crus protinus divina virtute confractum est. Qui supervivens annis 40, semper debilis permansit. Corpus vero Caroli conditum in dextro membro basilicae ipsius retro altare sancti Iohannis baptistae, et cripta aurea super illud mirifica est fabricata, multisque signis et miraculis clarescere coepit. Non tamen sollempnitas de ipso agitur, nisi communi more anniversarium defunctorum. Solium eius aureum imperator Oto direxit regi Botisclavo pro reliquiis sancti Adalberti martiris. Rex autem Botisclavus, accepto dono, misit imperatori brachium de corpore eiusdem sancti, et imperator gaudens illut excepit, et in honore sancti Adalberti martiris basilicam Aquisgrani construxit mirificam, et ancillarum Dei congregationem ibi disposuit. Aliud quoque monasterium Romae construxit in honore ipsius martiris.

Rankings

PublishedOctober 1, 2018 Post authortorino

Thought it would be fun to rank some of the Polish rulers up until the time prior to the creation of the Jagiellonian monstrosity. So here it goes – the are all Piasts and only those who realistically held or were hoping to hold most of Poland. I did not mention some others that lasted too short. I did not mention those that are considered legendary (possible but we know little of them outside of Gallus Anonymous). Władysław I Herman did not make the top 10 (or, put differently, he was the worst of all these lot):

Władysław I the Short (6th Polish King)
- plus – brought together most of the country; got himself crowned king
- minus – none
Bolesław I the Great (1st Polish king)
- plus – kicked ass – established western Polish frontier on Souava (Saale) west of the Elbe; temporarily broke the Varangian hold on Kiev; got himself crowned king
- minus – overstretched his realm; did not provide a solid foundation post-demise
Mieszko II (2nd Polish King)
- plus – made peace with the Veleti; gave all to preserve father’s kingdom
- minus – well, the whole country kind of fell apart
Bolesław II the Bold (3rd Polish King)
- plus – tried to kick ass; tried to control the magnates and church hierarchy
- minus – picked too many fights
Mieszko I
- plus – built and formalized the state; was wise enough not too piss off too many people
- minus – failed to win over other Suavic tribes; remained subservient to the Frankish kingdom
Casimir I the Restorer
- plus – managed to restore the state
- minus – everything else
Przemysł II (4th Polish King)
- plus – won the Polish crown after over two centuries; helped Władysław I the Short
- minus – managed to be knocked off way too early
Casimir III (7th Polish King)
- plus – built out state infrastructure
- minus – gave up on Silesia, expanded eastwards creating a weird country shape with an Orthodox population, spent too much time partying instead of planning for succession
Bolesław III Wrymouth
- plus – tried to kick ass as if he were Bolesław I the Great
- minus – kicked ass more like Bolesław II the Bold; altogether too much ass kicking without cementing the country; most importantly, his lesson from his war against his brother Zbigniew was all wrong and resulted in the partition of the country
Zbigniew
- plus – fought with Bolesław III Wrymouth against their father’s lackeys
- minus – lost to Bolesław III Wrymouth so never got the chance to do more