Suevi in Asia

PublishedMay 8, 2018 Post authortorino

Although the Stevenson translation of Ptolemy is quite horrible, it does manage to preserve an interesting question raised by the Geography. In chanter 14 of Book 6, Ptolemy says regarding Scythia:

“After this bend of the Imaus mountains toward the north. Those who inhabit Scythia toward the north along the Terra Incognita are called Alani-Scythae, Suobeni [actually, Souobenoi/Sovobenoi] and Alanorsi. The part which is below these is held by the Satiani, the Massaei, and the Syebi… below the [Mologeni], up to the Rhymmicos mountains are the Samnitae; below the Massaei and the Alani mountains are the Zaratae and the Sasones…”

Earlier we read the following description of the mountains of Scythia:

“Next to these [Tapuri] mountains are those which are in the Imaus region, also the Syebi mountains…”

Putting aside the putative Saxons (interesting in and of itself), we have the Syebi with Syebi mountains. This can’t help but remind of Pliny’s mount Sevo (Book 4).

“In their country is an immense mountain called Sevo, not less than those of the Riphæan range, and which forms an immense gulf along the shore as far as the Promontory of the Cimbri. This gulf, which has the name of the ‘Codanian,’ is filled with islands; the most famous among which is Scandinavia, of a magnitude as yet unascertained.”

Malta’s Slavs

PublishedMay 6, 2018 Post authortorino

I don’t usually do reprints but here is an interesting 2014 article from the Times of Malta about potential Suavic presence on the island. Given that Evagrius’ Life of Saint Pancratius of Taormina was written between 695 and 710 and refers to Slavic villages on Sicily, the presence of Slavs on Malta in the 11th century – over 300 years later should not be that surprising. Still, it is an interesting report/conjecture so here you go:

“The Maltese may also have a drop or two of Slavic blood coursing through our veins, according to an eminent American medievalist from the University of California.

The presence of Slav or other white slaves was documented in the name Ta’ Skorba, which is derived from saqaliba/slaves.

Delivering a lecture in fluent Maltese, Michael Cooperson, a professor of Arabic and a translator of Arabic literature, argued that the much-debated identity of the slaves in 11th century Malta – from whom the present Maltese population is supposedly descended from – was Slavic.

The longest discussion of Malta in those times is in a 15th century book by the North African geographer al-Himyari. In 1995, the book was translated by Manwel Mifsud and written about by Joseph Brincat.

Prof. Cooperson explained that al-Himyari wrote that Malta was attacked by Arabs in the ninth century and then left deserted.

‘This means that the Christian continuity back to St Paul was broken. Then, says al-Himyari, the Arabs came back in the mid-11th century and resettled the island.’

Malta was then attacked by the Byzantines. Reportedly, the Muslims and their slaves (referred to as għabid) fought them off.

Modern scholars have been pounding away at the slaves: were they Christians who survived the first attack?

A number of scholars have concluded that the slaves were not Christian.

Godfrey Wettinger had observed that għabid were normally understood to be black mercenaries. However this interpretation would involve having to account for the eventual complete disappearance of a sizeable black population.

Prof. Wettinger also proposed that the Maltese slaves could have been .the Saqaliba or Slav or other white slaves..

Ggeographer al-Bakri who also gave a shorter but older description of Malta than that of al-Himyari used the word għabid to refer to Slavs.

‘If we assume that the Maltese slaves were Slavs as well, we would be solving the problem raised by Prof. Wettinger, i.e. ‘to account for the eventual complete disappearance of a sizeable Negro population’.

More details in Times of Malta and the e-paper on timesofmalta.com Premium.

Here is the professor’s comment:

Slavic origins

I am grateful for the attention Times of Malta gave to my recent talk but the shortened, non-subscription version of the article available online has created some misunderstandings.

My talk was about the medieval Arab geographer al-Himyari, who reports that 11th-century Malta was inhabited by Muslims and their slaves (għabid). Some scholars think these slaves are the ancestors of the present-day Maltese people. I doubt this is entirely true but the question does not interest me.

My purpose in the paper was to find out what al-Himyari meant by the word għabid. I was trying to solve a textual problem, not a genetic one.

What I found was that another Arabic geographer describes a similar group of slaves as saqalibah. In the Middle Ages, this term was linked to Slavs but also to northern and eastern Europeans in general.

Regarding Malta, this discovery means that 11th century slaves may have been saqalibah too. This possibility seems consistent with the results of genetic analysis. The Muslim societies of the medieval Mediterranean, including those of Sicily and Southern Italy, also included slaves of European origin.

Some commentators tried to approach the problem linguistically. But similarities between Maltese and Arabic (for example) do not necessarily tell us anything about where their speakers come from. Historical linguistics actually works the other way around.

If we find a Catalan word in Maltese, we can assume that at some point speakers of Maltese came into contact with speakers of Catalan. But we cannot assume anything about the ancestry of either group.

In the case of Malta, 11th century slaves may have come from different places. If their only common language was the Arabic of their masters, their own languages would have disappeared very quickly. Possibly for this reason, the only trace of the saqalibah in modern Maltese is the name Ta’ Skorba or Sqalba. If saqaliba did exist in Malta, they doubtless contributed something to the gene pool. But this does not mean “the Maltese may have descended from Slavs”.

I too noticed the parallel with the Eurovision song contest and the Polish entry ‘We are Slavic’. Although that performance deserves further study, I can assure everyone that it did not influence my conclusions.”

Here is a follow up article

Academics at odds over Slav slaves theory

The presence of “Saqaliba or Slav or other white slaves” was documented in the nameTa’Skorba, which is derived from sqalba (slaves).

Defining the identity of 11th century slaves in Malta as Slavic may solve the problem of accounting for the eventual complete disappearance of a sizeable black population but raises another issue, according to historian Godfrey Wettinger.

‘I am now faced with the problem of explaining the innumerable blacks that were wiped out by Count Roger II in 1127.’

Prof. Wettinger was reacting to the conclusions drawn by eminent American medievalist Michael Cooperson who argued that the much-debated identity of the slaves in 11th century Malta – from whom the present Maltese population is supposedly descended from – was Slavic.

A 15th century book by the North African geographer al-Himyari recounts that Malta was attacked by Arabs in the ninth century and then left deserted. The Arabs returned in the mid-11th century and resettled on the island, together with their slaves.

‘I now have the problem of explaining the innumerable blacks wiped out in 1127. ‘

Malta was then attacked by the Byzantines. Reportedly, the Muslims made a pact with their slaves that they would repay them with freedom and riches if they joined them in repelling the Byzantines.

Al-Himyari refers to the slaves as għabid, a word that was normally understood to be black mercenaries. However, Prof. Cooperson pointed out that the geographer al-Bakri, writing before al-Himyari, described a certain group of għabid as saqaliba (Slavs). Therefore, he concluded, the għabid of 11th century Malta might have been saqaliba too, as opposed to Africans.

Prof. Cooperson also stressed that Arabic speakers used the term saqaliba to refer to many different European peoples and not necessarily those whom we today call Slavs. Prof. Wettinger had observed that if one assumed that there were a substantial number of African slaves, ‘that interpretation would involve having to account for the eventual complete disappearance of a sizeable Negro population’.

‘I do not agree with the idea that the għabid in al-Himyari must be Slavs,’ he told Times of Malta.

This interpretation, he continued, did not account for the “innumerable black slaves” that were wiped out by Count Roger II in 1127, as per the poem in 12th century Greek, which was recently translated into English by three Maltese academics.

‘In later times, Slav people undoubtedly reached Malta, Gozo and Sicily in smallish numbers through commercial contact in the port of Ragusa or Dubrovnik or elsewhere on the Dalmatian coastline.’

Prof. Cooperson used Ta’ Skorba, derived from sqalba, as an example that the Slavic presence was documented in Malta. Prof. Wettinger adds more names to the list.

‘There are also the surnames Schiavone and Zarb, which are derived from slaves and Serbs. But, then again, there is also Nigret and Ngieret, which mean ‘black’. However, he fully agreed with Prof. Cooperson that the slaves were Muslims.’

Historian Charles Dalli remarked that a new reading of a known source, though less exciting than the discovery of a new one, was always interesting to consider. It has long been known, he noted, that the term saqaliba referred to slaves of eastern European origin.

The only thing we knew concretely, however, was that the slaves in Malta were għabid and that, in a central Mediterranean context, this seemed to refer to slave soldiers, possibly of African origin in view of the usage of the term għabid in similar contexts.

‘Is it possible that there were a number of people of eastern European origin among them?’

‘Yes, of course, it is always a possibility that there were saqaliba among the għabid of Malta but there is no independent evidence to support this. That all the għabid on Malta were really saqaliba seems even less likely.’

‘In his entry on Malta, al-Himyari uses għabid and not saqaliba; the theory as reported claims that al-Himyari was writing għabid while really referring to saqaliba.’

‘This reading does not seem to consider the fact that al-Himyari does employ the word saqaliba to mean saqaliba elsewhere in the same work.’

Positivism

Published Post authortorino

The fathers of Polish independence pre-their hipster mustaches

The biggest problem with history teaching in any state is that it is tied to the history of a state. This should not be surprising as each state bureaucracy, particularly ones with little or no ethnic legitimacy, tries to justify its existence. However, in a nation-state such an approach is completely unnecessary. Thus, for example, if you look at the “History of Poland” the very topic is ridiculous. What is Poland? It is either an administrative governance unit – currently part of a so-called European Union (itself an administrative unit tied only to a specific geography) – or it is a nation-state.

In the former case, it is unnecessary – certainly few people would have created a governance unit along the border lines picked for current Polish boundaries (the product of Yalta and the Soviets). That area can certainly be (and has been) sliced up in many different ways – some of them making infinitely more sense than the current set up (for example, why not a country that runs all along the Norther European plain from Holland to Belarus but leaves out the mountains of southern Germany and the Polish Carpathians?).

But in the latter case the history of Poland is only relevant as a history of Poles. Poland existed in many different shapes and forms and sometimes did not exist at all. The Poland of the Commonwealth time was both a powerhouse and a disease in political form that effectively enslaved the vast majority of its population and that, unsurprisingly, found its doom, falling a victim to democracy understood by its elites (such understanding coming with the generous intellectual underpinning delivered by its neighbors) as a sordid anarchy.

Instead, what matters to the consciousness of its people are the family ties among them – and the history of that family – not the existence, misexistence or nonexistence of a political bureaucracy. The history of the state Poland should, therefore, be a secondary topic in history teaching in Polish schools – an appendage of the teaching about the Polish nation.

One might even argue that the existence of a state makes for a competitor (and a jealously monopolistic one at that) in the area of history writing to the local sages and teachers. For example, in the Soviet Union, history was just Marxist nonsense spewed forth to justify the existence of an oppressive and misshapen political unit whereas the teaching of, say, Lithuanian, history was forbidden.

Šafarik

The state also makes its people lethargic in that they might be inclined to feel that they can outsource history writing to the state’s bureaucracy. But a lack of a state can have a powerful motivational effect. It should be of little surprise that some of the greatest Slavists – Šafarik, Kętrzyński, the Bogusławskis wrote during times when neither Czechia nor Slovakia nor Poland existed and when their existence was nowhere in sight. Look also at the Sorbs who haven’t had freedom since the middle of the 10th century and yet, to this day, they persist. Don’t get me wrong the nation-state is an important product of the existence of each underlying nation – but it should never be forgotten that the state is a product of that specific nation and should not be an end of itself – otherwise the bureaucrats take over the story.

Kętrzyński

In the Polish case, Suavs existed long before the name Poland appeared on any maps and such Suavic Poles persisted despite the appearance, disappearance and reappearance of a Polish state. Poland, therefore, is, in reality, not a state but a people. The same can be said of Czechia, Slovenia, Lithuania and, of course, many others. And if all such people are to find a good and prosperous future, the teaching of history in each such state should be a teaching of a story about a people and their ties – whether that is done by the state or by others.

For Answers, Just Follow Their Gods

PublishedMay 3, 2018 Post authortorino

Quo Vadis Caesar?

This is what Caesar says of Gallic religion

“The whole nation of the Gauls is greatly devoted to ritual observances, and for that reason those who are smitten with the more grievous maladies and who are engaged in the perils of battle either sacrifice human victims or vow to do so, employing the Druids as ministers for such sacrifices. They believe, in effect, that, unless for a man’s life a man’s life be paid, the majesty of the immortal gods may not be appeased; and in public, as in private, life they observe an ordinance of sacrifices of the same kind. Others use figures of immense size, whose limbs, woven out of twigs, they fill with living men and set on fire, and the men perish in a sheet of flame. They believe that the execution of those who have been caught in the act of theft or robbery or some crime is more pleasing to the immortal gods; but when the supply of such fails they resort to the execution even of the innocent. Among the gods, they most worship Mercury. There are numerous images of him; they declare him the inventor of all arts, the guide for every road and journey, and they deem him to have the greatest influence for all money-making and traffic. After him they set Apollo, Mars, Jupiter, and Minerva. Of these deities they have almost the same idea as all other nations: Apollo drives away diseases, Minerva supplies the first principles of arts and crafts, Jupiter holds the empire of heaven, Mars controls wars. To Mars, when they have determined on a decisive battle, they dedicate as a rule whatever spoil they may take. After a victory they sacrifice such living things as they have taken, and all the other effects they gather into one place. In many states heaps of such objects are to be seen piled up in hallowed spots, and it has and often happened that a man, in defiance of religious scruple, has dared to conceal such spoils in his house or to remove them from their place, and the most grievous punishment, with torture, is ordained for such an offence. The Gauls affirm that they are all descended from a common Father, Dis, and say that this is the tradition of the Druids. For that reason they determine all periods of time by the number, not of days, but of nights, and in their observance of birthdays and the beginnings of months and years day follows night. In the other ordinances of life the main difference between them and the rest of mankind is that they do not allow their own sons to approach them openly until they have grown to an age when they can bear the burden of military service, and they count it a disgrace for a son who is still in his boy to take his place publicly in the presence of his father. The men, after making due reckoning, take from their own goods a sum of money equal to the dowry they have received from their wives and place it with the dowry. Of each such sum account is kept between them and the profits saved; whichever of the two survives receives the portion of both together with the profits of past years. Men have the power of life and death over their wives, as over their children; and when the father of a house, who is of distinguished birth, has died, his relatives assemble, and if there be anything suspicious about his death they make inquisition of his wives as they would of slaves, and if discovery is made they put them to death with fire and all manner of excruciating tortures. Their funerals, considering the civilization of Gaul, are magnificent and expensive. They cast into the fire everything, even living creatures, which they believe to have been dear to the departed during life, and but a short time before the present age, only a generation since, slaves and dependents known to have been beloved by their lords used to be burnt with them at the conclusion of the funeral formalities.”

And this is what he says of Germanic religion

“The Germans differ much from this manner of living. They have no Druids to regulate divine worship, no zeal for sacrifices. They reckon among the gods those only whom they see and by whose offices they are openly assisted — to wit, the Sun, the Fire‑god, and the Moon; of the rest they have learnt not even by report.”

And this is what Tacitus says of Germanic religion

“In the traditional songs which form their only record of the past the Germans celebrate an earth-born god called Tuisto… Above all other gods they worship Mercury, and count it no sin, on certain feast-days, to include human victims in the sacrifices offered to him. Hercules and Mars they appease by offerings of animals, in accordance with ordinary civilized custom. Some of the Suevi sacrifice also to Isis. I do not know the origin or explanation of this foreign cult; but the goddess’s emblem, being made in the form of a light warship, itself proves that her worship came in from abroad. The Germans do not think it in keeping with the divine majesty to confine gods within walls or to portray them in the likeness of any human countenance. Their holy places are woods and groves, and they apply the names of deities to that hidden presence which is seen only by the eye of reverence.”

Here are the Million Dollar Questions

Why are Tacitus’ Germanic Gods the same as Caesar’s Gallic Gods?

What happened to Caesar’s Germanic Gods?

Why are Caesar’s (but not, generally, Tacitus’!) Germanic Gods so similar to Slavic Gods?

Thus, we have:

Sun – Chason sive Jassen who Strebowsky in his Sacra Moraviae Historia describes as “Sol Phoebus”, or Helios, who is interestingly, also identified with Apollo.

Fire – Svarożyc – little Svarog or little Sun (almost a demigod or earthly manifestation of the Sun).

Moon – księżyc simply means little ksiądz – with ksiądz originally meaning a “leader” or “ruler” (rather than the current meaning of “priest”). That leader or ruler was likely the Sun, of course, or Jassen. Interestingly, the Holy Cross sermons use the word księżyc to describe Christ (presumably because Christ was the Little God of the Greater God – Jassen).

Some people claim that Caesar was wrong and Tacitus was right. How is that again? Caesar who actually went to Gaul and crossed the Rhine was wrong but Tacitus who never visited Germany was right? Sounds like wishful thinking…

And here is the kicker:

What changed in Germany between the time of Caesar and the time of Tacitus – nearly a century and a half?

I can tell you one thing that changed: the Suevi, the Germanic tribe that Caesar fought with most directly and who, in Caesar’s time were themselves crossing onto the Gallic side of the Rhine, by the time of Tacitus had been beaten back beyond the Elbe and some even were transplanted into Pannonia – both places where years later the Carolingian Empire discovers the Slavs.

I would not be surprised if ancient Galls spoke a language that we would today call German.

Aušrinė

PublishedApril 29, 2018 Post authortorino

The Lithuanian Goddess Aušrinė was first mentioned under the name Ausca by Jan Łasicki in “Concerning the gods of Samagitians, and other Sarmatians and false Christians” or De diis Samagitarum caeterorumque Sarmatarum et falsorum Christianorum. That book was written at the end of the 16th century but first published in 1615. Łasicki says:

Ausca, dea est radiorum solis vel occumbentis, vel supra horizontem ascendentis.

According to whoever put this on Wikipedia (haven’t checked), there is a myth about Aušrinė (which was analyzed by the Lithuanian scholar Algirdas Julien Greimas in detail and) which:

“tells a story of Joseph who becomes fascinated with Aušrinė appearing in the sky and goes on a quest to find the ‘second sun.’ After much adventure, he learns that it was not the second sun, but a maiden, who lives on an island in the sea and has the same hair as the Sun. With advice from the Northern Wind, Joseph reaches the island, avoids a guardian bull, and becomes the maiden’s servant caring for her cattle. In the tale, Aušrinė appeared in three forms: as a star in the sky, as a maiden on land, and as a mare in the sea. After a few years, Joseph puts a single hair of the maiden into an empty nutshell and throws it into the sea. A ray from the sea becomes reflected into the sky as the biggest star. Greimas concludes that this tale is a double origin myth: the story describes the origin of Tarnaitis and the ascent of Aušrinė herself into the sky.”

What’s fascinating about this is that this, if true, is either the same story as that, or, at the very least is very similar to the story, of Jason and the Golden Fleece. For more on the idea of Baltic-Greek connections, you can see “The Baltic Origins of Homer’s Epic Tales.” Though some of its ideas are a bit wacky, others are interesting if you’re willing to go for the ride!

Finally, note too the Tacitan connection where in Germania we are told:

“They even believe that the female sex has a certain sanctity and prescience, and they do not despise their counsels, or make light of their answers. In [the emperor] Vespasian’s days we saw Veleda, long regarded by many as a divinity. In former times, too, they venerated Aurinia, and many other women, but not with servile flatteries, or with sham deification.”

Adelgot of Magdeburg Tries Riling up the Lords

Published Post authortorino

Here is an excerpt from a letter of archbishop Adelgot of Magdeburg written in 1108 and urging a crusade against the Polabian Slavs who were rebelling yet again at that time in Havelburg and Brandenburg. This was a propaganda piece designed to stir up the Franks and co. to attack the Slavs so much of the reporting is likely simply made up but the name of a Slavic (?) Deity that comes up appears genuine.

The fragment’s English translation is from Giles Constable’s “Crusaders and Crusading in the Twelfth Century” (though that itself seems to have come from Vita religiosa im Mittelalter by Kaspar Elm, ‎Franz J. Felten and ‎Nikolas Jaspert). The full letter then follows in Latin. The first time this seems to have been published was in the Frenchmen’s Edmund Martène’s and Ursin Durand’s Veterum Scriptorum Monumentorum Amplissima Collectio, vol 1 (pages 625-627). The 12th century manuscript itself apparently comes from the former Benedictine abbey Grafschaft in Westphalia (a fact which was known already to Brueckner) and via the Grossherzoglisch Hessische Hofbliothek ended up at Darmstadt as HS 749.

Note that Pripegala has no known Slavic etymology/explanation (przypiekala – as in “toasted” seems ridiculous) although Brueckner thinks the name actually is Pribyhvali – merely an epithet of some other God – yet that is based solely on Miklosich and there is no reason to think that the former is really the latter. Frankly, the name sounds Baltic rather than Slavic which, again, should be something to think about. (Even the name of the Pripet river may be Baltic). Compare for example Ppegala with the Prussian Peckols who was mentioned in the Sudovian Book (pieklo meaning a place where burning takes place, that is, in the Christian sense, hell). Perhaps the northern Slavs were more Baltic than we think. Or, maybe, this is really not about Slavs after all? They are not, for example, mentioned as Slavs in the letter – rather, the bishop talks of pagans. The references to the Franks as Galls are also interesting. Note too that the dramatics of Adelgot rather than applying to specific events are merely citations to various religious texts (like the Psalms) as was typical of the writing then.

“…The most cruel heathens, men without mercy, have risen up against us and have prevailed, and glorying in the evil of their inhumanity they have profaned the churches of Christ with idolatry; they have destroyed the altars; and they do not hesitate to perpetrate upon us things that the human mind shrinks from hearing. They very often rage against our region and, sparing no one, they seize, kill, vanquish, and afflict with exquisite torments. Some they behead and sacrifice their heads to their evil gods. Of others, after their entrails have been removed, they bind together the cut-off hands and feet, and mocking our Christ they say: ‘Where is their God?’ Some who have been raised on a gibbet, in order to increase their suffering, they allow to prolong a life that is more miserable than any dearth, since while still alive they perceive their own suffering as each limb is cut off, and they are finally miserably eviscerated after the stomach is cut open. They skin many men alive, and disguised by the skin cut off from the head (!) they invade the borders of the Christians, and falsely presenting themselves as Christians they carry away plunder with impunity. Their priests, moreover, whenever they giveth themselves to revealing on the appointed days, say: ‘Our Pripegala demands heads. It is fitting to make sacrifices of this sort. Pripegala, as they say, is Priapus and the shameless Belphegor. Then, when the Christians have been beheaded before the altars of their desecration, they hold basins full of human blood and say, yelling with horrible voices: ‘Let us keep the day of joy. Christ is vanquished; our most victorious Pripegala has triumphed.’ In this way, we ceaselessly either suffer or fear afflictions, since we grieve that they always advance and have good success in all things… and in place of the horrible sound of the heathens before Pripegala a song of joy may be sung there, and in place of the sacrifice from the spilling o Christian blood…”

Adelgo[t]us dei gratia Magadaburgensis archiepiscopus, Albuinus Merseburgensis, Walera[m]us Nuenburgensis, Herewigus Misnensis, Hecil Havelbergensis, Harthrath Brandeburgensis [episcopi], Otto comes, Ludovicus et universi Orientalis Saxonie majores et minores Reginhardo venerabili episcopo Halberstetensi, Erkamberto Corbeiensi abbati, Heinrico Paderbrunnensi, N. Mindensi [episcopis], Friderico archiepiscopo Coloniensi, N. Aquensi, 0[tberto] Leodiensi [episcopo], G[odefrido] Lutaringorum duci, Ruotberto gloriosissimo Flandringensium comiti, Lamberto archidiacono, Buricholdo circumspectissimo preposito et Tanchrado insigni philosopho et omnibus Christi fidelibus, episcopis, abbatibus, monachis, eremitis, reclusis, prepositis, canonicis, clericis, principibus, militibus, ministerialibus, clientibus omnibusque maioribus et minoribus, dilectionem, orationem et in id ipsum salutem. Multimodis paganorum oppressionibus et calamitatibus diutissime oppressi, ad vestram suspiramus misericordiam, quatenus ecclesie matris vestre nobiscum sublevetis ruinam. Insurrexerunt in nos et prevaluerunt crudelissimi gentiles, viri absque misericordia et de inhumanitatis sue gloriantes malitia ecclesias Christi idolatría prophanaverunt, altaría demoliti sunt, et quod humana mens refugit audire, ipsi non abhorrent in nos perpetrare. In nostram regionem sepissime efferantur nullique parcentes rapiunt, cedunt, fundunt et exquisitis tormentis affligunt, quosdam decollant et capita demoniis suis immolant; de quibusdam visceribus extractis manus abscissas et pedes alligant; ubi est, inquiunt, deus eorum? Quosdam in patibulo sublatos permittunt ad maiores cruciatus omni morte miserabiliorem vitam p[ro]trahere, cum vivi aspiciant se per abscissionem singulorum membrorum mortificari et ad ultimum ceso ventro miserabiliter eviscerari; quam plures vivos excoriant, et cute capitis abstracta, hoc modo larvati in christianorum fines erumpunt et se christianos mentientes predas impune abigunt. Phanatici autem illorum, quotiens commessationibus vacare libet, ferus in dictis capita, inquiunt, vult noster P[ri]pegala; huiusmodi fieri oportet sacrificia. Pripegala, ut aiunt, Priapus est et Beelphegor impudicus. Tunc decollatis ante prophanationis sue aras christianis et horrendis vocibus ululantes, agamus, inquiunt, dies letitie! victus est Christus, vicit P[ri]pegala victoriosissimus. Huiusmodi afflictiones sine intermissione vel toleramus vel formidamus, quoniam eos semper progredi et in omnibus ingemiscimus bene prosperari. Itaque, fratres charissimi, totius Saxonie, Francie, Lutaringie, Flandrie episcopi, clerici et monachi, de bonis sumite exemplum et Gallorum imitatores in hoc etiam estote, clamate hoc in ecclesiis, sanctificate ieiunium, vocate coetum, congregate populum, annunciate hoc et auditum facite in omnibus terminis prelationis vestre! Sanctificate bellum, suscítate robustos! Surgite, principes, contra inimicos Christi, arripite clipeos, accingimini filii potentes et venite omnes viri bellatores! Infirmus dicat, quia fortis sum ego, quoniam dominus fortitudo plebis sue et protector salvationum Christi sui est. Erumpite et venite omnes amatores Christi et ecclesie et sicut Galli ad liberationem Ierusalem vos preparate! Hierusalem nostra, ab initio libera, gentilium crudelitate facta est ancilla. Huius muri propter peccata nostra corruerunt. Sed ruina hec sub manu vestra, quatenus lapides pretiosi omnes muri eius et turres Ierusalem gemmis edificentur, platee eius sternantur auro mundo, et pr[о] horrendo sonitu gentilium in conspectu P[ri]pegale cantetur in ea canticum letitie et pro immolatione de christiani sanguinis effusione carnem et sanguinem edant pauperes et saturentur, ut laudetis dominum, qui requiritis eum, vivantque in seculum seculi corda vestra, ut non deficiat de ore vestro alleluia, alleluia! Ad hoc bellum devotas offert manus cum populo suo rex Dacorum et alii principes per circuitum. Ipse etiam rex noster, huius belli auctor, cum omnibus, quos poterit adducere, promptissimus erit adiutor. Sabbato in hebdomada rogationum erit conventos noster Merseburch et ubicumque in Orientali Saxonia opportuna habemus loca. Sanctissimi patres monachi, eremite atque reclusi, optimam partem cum Maria elegistis; sed quia nunc tempus ita exigit, de contemplationis quiete cum Martha surgendum est vobis, quoniam fratribus vestris plurimum turbatis cum Martha admodum necessaria est Maria; vobis loquimur, imo in nobis Christus loquitur vobis: Surge, propera, amica, columba mea, et veni! Flores bone operationis apparuerunt in terra principum nostrorum, tempus putationis advenit idololatrie; vox turturis audita est, quoniam casta mater ecclesia ingemiscit de idololatrie spurcitiis. Nemo accendit lucernam et ponit sub modio, sed super candelabrum, ut, qui ingrediuntur, lumen videant; luceat lux vestra coram hominibus, ut videant opera vestra bona. Surge itaque, sponsa Christi, et veni! Sonet vox tua in auribus Christi fidelium, quatinus omnes ad Christi festinent bellum, Christi militibus veniant in adiutorium! Gentiles isti pessimi sunt; sed terra eorum optima carne, melle,….. farina, avibus et, si excolatur, omnium de terre ubertate proventuum [referta], ita ut nulla ei possit comparari. Sic aiunt illi, quibus nota est. Quapropter, o Saxones, Franci, Lutharingi, Flandrigene famosissimi et domitores mundi, hic poteritis et animas vestras salvifacere et, si ita placet, optimam terram ad inhabitandum acquirere. Qui Gallos ab extremo occidente progressos in brachio virtutis sue contra inimicos suos in remotissimo triumphavit oriente, ipse tribuat vobis voluntatem et potentiam hos affines et inhumanissimos gentiles subiugare et omnibus bene prosperari!

Through the Looking Glass

PublishedApril 24, 2018 Post authortorino

This is an interesting description (mostly based on Maciej of Miechow but with an addition as to current practices) by a priest (rector of the Holy Trinity Church in Vilnius), Marcin Tworzydło, from his “A Closer Look on the Reflection on Christian Services in Poland” or Okulary na zwierciadło nabożeństwa chrześciańskiego w Polszcze. (He actually used the word “glasses” or “looking glass” but a “closer look” translates better).

This was published in 1594 and was itself a response to a pamphlet written by a Protestant from the Czech Unity of the Brethren (a Hussite movement that turned Protestant) Simon Theophilus Turnowski:

“…For you are so blind that you cannot tell apart painting and an idol. But have you seen that the ancient Poles should ever have burned down any depiction of Christ the Lord or the Virgin Mary or any other saints? Where have you read of that? Which chronicle tells of this? I do know that they had burned down their Gods and idols: Jessa, Lada, Pochwisciel [Pochwist], Lel Polel and other devils whom, having been pagans, they earlier worshipped as Gods. It was these that Miesco ordered to be burned, drowned and destroyed ordering at the pain of death to only worship the one God in the Holy Trinity. And as a remembrance of this, there was this custom in Poland that each year at the Laetare Sunday, children, having put together such an idol, would then drown it in the river singing Lada, Leli, Leli and then quickly rush home – a custom that they sometimes still preserve. But that they should ever burn a Christian image, that has not been seen…”

Hauksbókian Geography

PublishedApril 22, 2018 Post authortorino

The Hauksbók (written, mostly by Haukr Erlendsson, between 1302 – 1310) contains an interesting geographical compendium which has in it a description of Central and Eastern Europe. The geography of this list is similar to several other descriptions of the same area found in Nordic writing.

“There is a kingdom there that is called Ruthenia. We call it Gardariki.T here are there these main cities: Muron, Rostov, Suzdal, Syrnes [Gnezdovo?], Gadar [Gorodok?], Polotsk [Pultusk?]*, Kiev. There settled first Magog, the son of Japhet, the son of Noah. Close to Gardariki are located these lands: Karelia, Reval, Tavastia/Häme, Vironia, Estonia, Livland, Kurland, Ermland/Warmia, Poland, Wendland. Wendland is westernmost Denmark.** To the east of Poland lies Reidgotaland and then Hunaland. The kingdoms of Germany are called…“

[*note: elsewhere referred to as Palteskjuborg]

[**note: the most straightforward reading here suggests that Wendland is to the West of Denmark. (Rather than this is the westernmost of the lands mentioned). This could be a reference to the Wends in what is today’s Netherlands – that is the Wiltzi.]

I þui riki er þat er Ruzcia heitir. þat kollum ver Gardariki. Þar ero þessir hofud gardar. Moramar. Rostofa. Surdalar. Holmgardr. Syrnes. Gadar. Palteskia. Koenugardr. þar bygdi fyst. Magon sonr Iafeths Noa sonar. Hia Garda riki liggia lond þessi. Kirialir. Refalir. Tafeistaland. Virland. Eistland. Lifland. Kur land. Erm land. Pulina land. Vindland. er vestast nest Danmork. En austr fra Polena er Reidgota land. oc þa Hunland. Germania riki heitir…

Note too, the reference above to Taphana which is Taprobane on Sri Lanka and notice the similarity with the goddess Taephana (Tāfanae as rendered by Tacitus).

Jason and the Scythians

PublishedApril 19, 2018 Post authortorino

An interesting mention of Jason and the Scythians comes from the 10th century Pictish Chronicle (Chronica de Origine Antiquorum Pictorum) (4126 in Paris). Although this has seemingly little to do with Slavs, given the Jason connection I feel that we ought to mention this text. Below is the beginning of the text all the way to the relevant portion. Note that much of this comes from Isidore (Book 9) as, for example, the mention of the Suevi in Germany.

Jason and the Scythians

“The Picts take their name in their own tongue from their painted bodies; this is because, using sharp iron tools and ink, they are marked by tattoos of various shapes. The Scots, who now are incorrectly called Irish, are {as it were} Sciti, because they came from the Scythian region, and had their origin there; or else they take their name from Scotta the daughter of Pharaoh the king of Egypt, who as the story goes was the queen of the Scots. It is known for a fact that the Britons arrived in Britain in the third age of the world. However the Sciti, that is, the Scots took possession of Scocia, or Ireland, in the fourth age.”

Picti propria lingua nomen habent a picto corpore; eo quod, aculeis ferreis cum atramento, variarum figurarum sti(n)gmate annotantur. Scotti qui nunc corrupte vocantur Hiberniensis quasi Sciti, quia a Scithia regione venerunt, et inde originem duxerunt; siue a Scotta filia Pharaonis regis Egypti, quae fuit ut fertur regina Scottorum. Sciendum vero est quod Britones in tertia mundi aetate ad Britanniam venerunt. Scitae autem, id est, Scotti, in quarta aetate Scociam, siue Hiberniam obtinuerunt.

“The Scythian people are born with white hair due to the continuous snow; and the colour of that same hair gives a name to the people, and hence they are called Albani: from them the Scots and Picts trace their origin. In their eyes, there is a bright, that is coloured, pupil, to such an extent that they can see better at night than by day. Moreover the Albani were neighbours to the Amazons. The Goths are thought to be named after Magog the son of Japheth, from the similarity of the final syllable; they whom the ancient Greeks called Getae, rather than Goths. They were a courageous and most powerful race, lofty, with massive bodies and striking terror with their kind of armour. About them Lucan wrote: Let the Dacian press from this side, let the Gethi attack the Spanish on that side.”

Gentes Scitiae albo crine nascuntur ab assiduis nivibus; et ipsius capilli color genti nomen dedit, et inde dicuntur Albani: de quibus originem duxerunt Scoti et Picti. Horum glauca oculis, id est, picta inest pupilla, adeo ut nocte plusquam die cernant. Albani autem vicini Amazonibus fuerunt. Gothi a Magog filio Japheth nominati putantur, de similitudine ultimae sillabae; quos veteres Graeci magis Gethas, quam Gothos, vocaverunt. Gens fortis et potentissima, corporum mole ardua, armorum genere terribilis. De quibus Lucanus, Hinc Dacus premat, inde Gethi (in)occurrant Hiberis.

“The Dacians however were offspring of the Goths: and it is thought they are called Dacians or perhaps Dagians, because they were created from the stock of the Goths: he wrote about them: You will go north all the way to the Dacians.”

Daci autem Gottorum soboles fuerunt: et dictos putant Dacos quasi Dagos, quia de Gottorum stirpe creati sunt: de quibus ille, Ibis arctos procul usque Dacos.

“The Scythians and Goths derive their origin from Magog. Scythia, and also Gothia, is said to be named from that same Magog son of Japheth: its land was once vast; for it stretched from India in the East, to the North, through the marshlands of Meotidas, between the Danube and the Ocean, as far as the borders of Germany. Afterwards it became smaller from the part of the East where the Siricus Ocean starts, as far as the Caspian Sea, which is to the West. From thence on the South there was removed a region right up to the Caucasian Range; which Hircania lies beneath in the West: it had at the same time many tribes, who, because of the infertility of the land, wandered far afield, of whom some cultivated the land; while others lived unnaturally and as savages, on the flesh and blood of humans.”

Scithae et Gothi a Magog originem traxerunt. Scithia, quoque et Gothia, ab eodem Magog filio Japhet fertur congnominata: cujus terra olim ingens fuit; nam ab oriente Indie, a septentrione, per paludes Meotidas, inter Danubium et oceanum, usque ad Germaniae fines porrigebatur. Postea minor effecta est a dextra orientis parte qua(i) oceanus Sericus (co)tenditur, usque ad mare Caspium, quod est ad occasum. De hinc a meridie usque ad Caucasi jugum deducta est; cui subjacet Hircania ab occasu: habens pariter gentes multas, propter terrarum infecunditatem, late vagantes, ex quibus quaedam agros incolunt; quaedam portent(u)osae ac truces, carnibus humanis, et eorum sanguine, vivunt.

“Many regions of Scythia are opulent, many are however uninhabitable. For while in most places gold and gems are abundant; but because of the frightfulness of the griffins people rarely go there. However this is source of the very best emeralds. Scythia also has Cyaneus stones, and the purest of crystals. There are also great rivers, the Oscorim, Phasis, and Araxes. Lower Scythia is the first region of Europe, which stretches from the marshes of Meotidis beginning between the Danube and the Northern Ocean, as far as Germany: this land is generally said to be barbaric, on account of the savage tribes inhabiting it. The first part of it is Alania, which extends to the Meotidas marshes. After that comes Dacia, where there is also Gothia. Then Germany, where the Suevi inhabit a very large region. In some regions of Asiatic Scythia there are people who believe they are descendants of Jason: they are born with white hair due to the continuous snow. This is enough about these things.”

Scithiae plures terrae sunt locupletes, inhabitabiles tamen(tum) plures. Nam(que) dum in plerisque locis auro et gemmis affluant; griphorum immanitate accessus hominum rarus est. Smaragdis autem optimis haec patria est. Cianeus quoque lapis, et cristallus purissimus Scithiae est. Habent et flumina magna, Oscorim, Phasiden, et Araxen. Prima Europae regio Scithia inferior(um), quae a(e) Meotidis paludibus incipiens inter Danubium et oceanum septentrionalem, usque ad Germaniam porrigitur: quae terra generaliter propter barbaras gentes quibus inhabitatur(a) barbarica dicitur. Hujus pars prima Alania est, quae ad Meotidas paludes pertingit. Post hanc Dacia, ubi et Gothia. Deinde Germania, ubi plurimam partem Suevi incoluerunt. In partes Asiaticae Scithiae (sunt) gentes quae posteros se Jasonis credunt: albo crine nascuntur ab assiduis nivibus. De his ista sufficiunt.

Regensburg Slavs

PublishedApril 18, 2018 Post authortorino

The Benedictine Prüfening Abbey (Kloster Prüfening) near Regensburg was established in 1119 by Otto of Bamberg. Its papers have been published as Monumenta Prifligensia in the Monumenta Boica. Here is one example of Slavic place names from the abbey’s Codex Traditionum:

Thus, you have:

Vronowe
Hembur
Stadala
Grula
Swecenberg
Koserokesruith
Gembach