The earliest mentions of Polish rules speak of various names but the name Poles or Poland does not at first appear.
Widukind of Corvey
Instead we read, for example, about:
“Misca (or Missacam) regem, cuius potestatis erant Sclaui, qui dicuntur Licicaviki, duabus vicibus superavit, fratremque ipsius interfecit, predam magnam ab eo extorsit.”
(Roughly: [Wichmann the Younger] twice defeated MIeszko [in 963/?/965] who was the leader of Slavs named Licikaviki, killed his brother and forced him to pay great tribute/took great bounty [or, if you prefer, “extorted”]).
This is from Widukind of Corvey‘s Rerum gestarum Saxonicarum sive annalium libri tres (On the Deeds of the Saxons in (or aka) Three Books of Annals) Book 3 chapter 66 (Gero propter iuramentum dimisit Wichmannum) (below is the text of the 1532 first print Basel edition):
This book was written sometime between 967-968 then apparently continued until 973. The above reference is to Wichmann’s working with the Veleti/Lutici against Poland’ s Mieszko I. We already mentioned this source in discussing Mieszko’s name and note here yet again that he is the leader of Slavs called Licikaviki. Interestingly, the very next chapter (discussing the margrave Gero) discusses Slavs called Lusiki as you can see above. We reproduce that here in slightly more clear format:
“Eo quoque tempore Gero preses Sclavos qui dicuntur Lusiki (Quomodo Gero Lusiki vicit) potentissime vicit et ad ultimam servi tutem coegit, non sine sui tamen gravi vulnere nepotisque optimi viri casu, caeterorum quoque quam plurimorum nobilium virorum.”
The Lusiki are, clearly, Lusatians, i.e., today’s Sorbs. Could Licikaviki be a misspelling of the same? Unlikely, as one is attacked by Wichmann, the other by Gero.
[Incidentally, the Lusatians are different from the Lutici/Veleti. The former were and are living in Southeast Germany around Cottbus/Chociebuz). The latter were a tribal federation in Northeast Germany. These two were two of three large Slavic confederations West of the Oder River – the third one being the Northwest Obodrites].
Gerhard from Augsburg
Another source of information, however meager, is Vita sancta Uodalrici (The Life of Saint Ulrich) by Gerhard from Augsburg written sometime in 983-993.
So first we have a reference to Mieszko as follows (from the 1595 print edition):
He then writes under the year 992:
“Obiit Misica dux Vandalorum“
(There died Mieszko duke of the Vandals).
Clearly, people in the West were not entirely clear as to who the Slavs were.
John Canaparius
The first time the name Poland appears is in the 997 Life of the Martyr Saint Voytech (Adalbert of Prague) (Sancti Adalberti Pragensis episcopi et martyris vita prior). Saint Voytech (Adalbert) was sent by Boleslaw the Brave to convert the Prussians. Unfortunately, the Prussians did not want to be converted resulting in an early state of Sainthood for Voytech. His half-brother Radim (Gaudentius) (who became the first Archbishop of Gniezno) survived the trip and told the story (later immortalized also in the famous Gniezno Doors) to the Abbot of the Benedictine monastery of Sts. Boniface and Alexius in Rome. That Abbot, John Canaparius, then penned the book Life of the Marty Saint Woytech. In any event, it is in that opus that the name Poland/Polish first comes up.
Specifically, we read there that a Czech magnate Soběslav Slavníkovec left on a campaign together with his buddy “bolizlavo (Boleslaw) palanioru(m) duce” (i.e., duke of the Polans or Polanian duke). The below is from the Guelferbytano codex:
Other manuscripts of the same have the following versions: poloniorum, bolaniorum, polaniorum, polonorum and a corrected pulaniorum. Similarly, Boleslaw is featured as: bolezawo, bolezlao, boleslauo, bolisclauum and boleslao.[1]
But where does the name come from? That is a topic for next time.
[1] Incidentally, the same document also contains the first mention of (medieval) Prussians and of the city of Gdansk. The scrivener had some trouble with writing the latter (see too notes below in the lower left hand corner:
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What about brothers leading armies together? Does that ever happen, especially for one’s benefit and not the others? (Alarm bell goes off here.) Where has that happened before? (besides Genghis) O.K. Boleslaw and Zbigniew against Sieciech, but that’s inward, not outward, and it was really, really messy. Let’s untie that illogical knot, and much may be revealed about prior conditions. Siemomysl may have been trying to capitalize on Poznan’s death and lack of heir, or whatever the opportunity was, but brothers against outsiders? So……not normal.
Gniezno seems a political emblem, not a “nest” that would come with lots of ingrained, historical interests, and historical claims for importantcy, as far as rightful leadership. Noteworthy no? Usually there is always a crowd of bitching grumblers just beneath the surface of traditional landscapes, so I think the Kiev translation “feels” cleaner. A coup, and a new regime, not an internal ascendency.
Maybe we should ask Askold and Dir about that?
Thanks. Perhaps, but asking them will be hard what with their chopped off heads – by Rurik and his folks no les, if memory serves
That’s my point. Askold and Dir are to Kiev as Popiel is to pre-Piast “Poland”. Except Popiel was probably starved to death in a dungeon, and when the guards finally looked in again to see if he had died or not yet, all they found were his gnawed bones, thus giving rise to the legend of being eaten by mice. He was probably just eaten by maggots and the mice, or rats were just after the salt and calcium of his bones long after the rest of him had flown away as flies. Anyways, Askold and Dir got couped. So did Popiel. Who did Popiel usurp on his way up? No one seems to know. Who did Askold and Dir usurp? Sounds like whoever was leading the Polyanes, and probably while they were away paying tribute to the Khazars, or fighting for them somewhere else. Still though, this idea recorded by Thietmar of Mieszko’s brother being killed seems like a big detail that I’ve not read anything penetrating about. And since we have so little about pre-Piast Poland in writing, it seems a very interesting loose end.
The problem with Popiel is that there are several different versions of this legend whereby someone gets eaten by mice – usually some bishop and most of them come from the Palatinate in Germany and (arguably) predate the Popiel legend. Incidentally, one of our ongoing projects has been to present a translation of these various legends as shown in the original docs – to come.
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