Lech, Čech and Rus
Lech, Čech and Rus [ lɛx, tʃɛx ʊnt RUS ] are the three legendary brothers Lech , Čech and Rus , in the so-called. Wielkopolska chronicle of the Archdiocese of Gniezno-Poznan of 1295, under the King of Poland and Bohemia Wenceslas II. , As supposed ancestors of the three Slavic nations of Poland (under the name Lechland ), Bohemia (Slav. Čechy ) and the old Rus are mentioned. There is a legend about them, which, in addition to regional variants, has been handed down in two main versions.
In the park of Rogalin Castle in Greater Poland there is a Lech, Čech and Rus oak to commemorate the common origin of the three Slavic peoples . Each of the “Three Rogalin Oaks” is around 700 years old. The largest oak is Rus (9 m in diameter), the second largest oak is Čech (7 m in diameter) and the smallest is Lech (6 m in diameter).
The saga in two versions
Polish version
In the Polish version the legend of the brothers is called O Lechu, Czechu i Rusie or The legend of the white eagle . In it, the three brothers Lech , Čech and Rus are placed in the 7th century, when all Slavs between the rivers Vistula and Dnieper still lived in one country and spoke one language. With the help of their wisdom, the three brothers happily and contentedly led a family line. But the time came when the land of Slavs could no longer feed its peoples, because game was scarce in the forests and fish in the rivers. So the three brothers gathered for a meeting and decided unanimously to seek new land for their tribes.
With the holy of holies in their luggage, the three Slavic tribes set out on their way together, marching fearlessly through dense primeval forests, crossing rivers, and bypassing mountainous lands. When they reached the upper Pripet , the day of separation came: “Goodbye brothers and think of me! I wish you luck ”, said Rus, the eldest brother, said goodbye and wandered with his tribe downstream to the east into the land of the endless steppes and the extensive, fertile plains to found the Rus country. The rest migrated further west, where they reached the Slavic border on the upper Vistula and followed the river south. But near the place where Kraków is today , Lech and Čech also parted.
Čech hiked south with his tribe to the source of the Vistula, passed the Moravian Gate and did not stop until a long time later, at the top of the mountain Říp . Since then, Čech's tribe members have been Czechs and the Říp has been a sacred mountain for the Czechs, because when they arrived here, Čech, completely exhausted, showed them the wide, fertile land that is still called Čechy , the land of the Czechs.
Lech, the youngest of the three brothers, was now all alone with his tribe. "When Rus is in the east and Čech in the south, all I have left is the unsafe route north," he thought. So he and his tribe crossed the Vistula where Krakow is today, and wandered across country for days in a northward direction without knowing where to go. Alone in a foreign country he suddenly felt great fear. He thought wistfully of his brothers who, when they parted, told him not to be sad, they weren't far away. Then he reached a stream which he just followed further northwards downstream. And because the brook fed its tribe well, they followed it for days, weeks and months. At some point along the way, they learned that they had been following the river Warthe northwards and downstream all the time . They wandered and wandered, stopped and moved on. Hundreds of kilometers further. And finally they came to the north in a country with a lot of lakes and therefore left the Warta. One day Lech reached a hill and the train stopped because the people and the animals were exhausted again and needed rest. While the men set up camp and the women cooked the food, Lech looked around attentively: Here in the dense, full forests there were forest animals, in the clean rivers there were swarming with fish and the sun was reflected in the clear water surfaces of the lakes. It seemed that this country is inviting to settle down there. The evening sun was already glowing red when Lech had all the men gathered around the fire and said to them: “We wandered a long way to look for a place that could grow into our new home. Look, the area is beautiful here, and the fertile soil feeds us and our children. I would like to stay, but first I will listen to your advice. ”Silence fell by the fire. It could be seen that everyone was seriously thinking about Lech's words. Finally the oldest and most experienced man raised his voice: “Your brothers Rus and Čech have set up their new home for a long time. I think the moment has come for us. You have chosen beautiful country, Lech. Let's stay here and build a castle! "
Before construction began, however, Lech hoped for a sign from God for the place where his castle would be best placed. Then a noise broke the silence and a huge shadow shifted over the clearing. The curious people raised their heads. They saw a white eagle soaring slowly from the crown of a large oak tree to its nest, which was on the hill. And against the background of the red evening sky, the bird shone bright white. “It's a sign from God!” The people shouted in unison. “Yes, that's a good omen, because it symbolizes immortality, courage, vision and strength. And when it flies up, it looks directly into the sun, which is why it is also a symbol for the ascent into heaven and the redemption of our soul. Here on the hill we settle down, and this magnificent bird will protect us forever, ”said Lech with a smile. So it happened too. On the Lech Hill one was Slavic castle built and in memory Gniazdo called, what is the Polish word for nest is. And so the city of Gniezno - the first Polish capital - was founded. Since those legendary times, the white eagle on a red background has been the coat of arms of Poland and the city of Gniezno.
According to the Wielkopolska Chronicle , written in the 13th century, the Slavs are descendants of Jawan (son of Jafet and grandson of Noah , Genesis 10: 2). According to this, Jawan had three sons (1. Lech, the eldest son, 2. Rus and 3. Čech, the youngest son), who decided to settle in the west, north-west and east.
Czech version
The Czech version of the saga speaks only of two brothers and is best known in the Staré pověsti české ( Old Bohemian Sagas ) by Alois Jirásek . Then the two brothers Lech and Čech came to Central Europe from the east . They lived in White Croatia on the Vistula . At that time, numerous fighting took place there, so that this land became very unattractive for people who wanted to live in peace and cultivate the fields. According to other Czech versions, the real reason was that Čech was charged with murder and so he gathered his tribe and headed west at sunset. As in the Polish version, Čech is identified as the founder of the country of Čechy (Bohemia) and Lech as the founder of Lechland (Poland).
According to the Dalimil Chronicle (1314), Čech had to climb Mount Říp to look at the landscape and see the vast country with forests, meadows and rivers. He preached to his tribe how beautiful it was. Then the people shouted with one voice: “Let's name this country after Čech!” In agreement with the will of the tribe, Čech knelt, kissed the earth and blessed this country. He settled this area with his tribe, and according to the Přibík-Pulkava version (around 1374), Lech later went with his tribe over the mountains of the north into the plains to build his own Slavic rampart . It was tough saying goodbye to Lech, but he wasn't going far away. The most extensive is the description by Václav Hájek z Libočan (1530s), which gives a number of details, including the exact date of Čech's arrival on Mount Říp, the year 644. He also raises two dukes and claims that they too already owned their own castle in their homeland.
Croatian variations
In addition to the Polish and Czech versions of the saga, there is a comparable saga with partly exchanged names in the folk tales of two separate regions in Croatia : in the Kajkavian dialect of Krapina (northern Croatia) and in the Čakavian dialect of the fishing village Poljica on the Adriatic coast (central Dalmatia ) . The Croatian variant of the legend was described in detail in 1940 and analyzed by S. Sakač.
Name variants of Lech and Čech
Lech is often referred to in historical sources as Lechus , Lachus , Lestus and Leszek . Both Lech and its diminutive Leszek are still popular first names in Poland today.
Čech is often called Latin Bohemus in historical sources , because Christianity called the country of the Czechs - derived from the native inhabitants of the country, the Celtic tribe Boii - in Latin as Boiohaemum . The later German name Bohemia is derived from this.
Historical core of the legend
Among the historical sources, the Bohemian Chronicle of Cosmas of Prague is the first document that mentions Čech as Bohemus since 1125 . In the Bohemian Chronicles, however, only him and Lech are spoken of.
Lech, Čech and Rus are mentioned in historical sources for the first time in 1295 in the Wielkopolska Chronicle :
- Among these Pannonians, Pan, the prince of the Pannonians, were born three brothers, whose firstborn was called Lech, the second Rus, and the third Czech. And these three [received] the three kingdoms of the Lechites [Poles], the Ruthenians and the Bohemians [Czechs]….
The legend assumes the general kinship of the Poles , Czechs , Ruthenians , Ukrainians , Russians and Belarusians and illustrates the fact that in the 13th century at least three different Slavic peoples knew that they were ethnically and linguistically interrelated and each other actually derive from a common trunk.
The narrative coincides with the localization of the homeland of the Slavs of Central and Eastern Europe. According to widespread practice in antiquity and the Middle Ages, the legend gives an etymology of popular names through personification: Lechland or Lechia - as a name for Poland, Čechy - the Czech word for Bohemia (at that time also included Moravia and Silesia) and Rus - the name for the Kievan Rus as a forerunner of today's Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.
The Polish Renaissance writer Jan Kochanowski did not mention Rus as a third brother in his work on the origin of the Slavs and rejected the story altogether: “No historian who has dealt with the Slavs [...] mentions any of the two Slavic leaders Lech and Čech ". He suspects that Čechy and Lachy are the original names of the two nations, although he does not rule out the possibility that there might have been a great leader by the name of Lech, whose name was exchanged for the original and later forgotten by the Poles.
literature
- Stanisław Dzięcioł (Illustr.) U. Katarzyna Malkowska (Author): Lech, Czech i Rus , paperback, Astra 2013
- Adam Fałowski u. Bogdan Sendero: Biesiada słowiańska , Universitas, Kraków 1992, p. 40
- Alois Jirásek : Bohemia's old sagas (Staré pověsti české), trans. into German, Vitalis, Prague 2006, ISBN 978-3-89919-082-3 .
- Krapina-Kijev-Ararat: Priča o troje braće i jednoj sestri . Život 21/3: 129-149, Zagreb
- Jan Kochanowski : Proza polska , Universitas, Kraków 2004, pp. 19–21
- Brygida pumpkin ówna: Studia nad Kroniką wielkopolską , Poznańskie Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Nauk, Poznań 1952
- Jerzy Strzelczyk: Mity, podania i wierzenia dawnych Słowian , Poznań: Rebis, 2007, pp. 176–177. ISBN 978-83-7301-973-7
- Kazimierz Tymieniecki u. Czesław Łuczak (Ed.): Europa, Słowiańszczyzna , Polska. 1970. p. 296
Web links
- O Lechu, Czechu i Rusie to read in a slideshow for children (Polish)
- O Lechu, Czechu i Rusie on Legendy polskie
- The Rogalin oaks , radio RMF article from August 21, 2011, Marta Grzywacz (author)
Individual evidence
- ^ "Wielkopolska Chronicle" has not survived in the original, but as a copy from the end of the 14th century. The early medieval monarchy: ideal and religious foundations by Franz-Reiner Erkens, p. 393.
- ↑ Lech, Czech i Rus - Three Rogalin oaks
- ↑ Krapina-Kijev-Ararat, Priča o troje braće i jednoj sestri . Život 21/3: 129-149, Zagreb
- ^ Reges Et Principes Regni Poloniae, Adrian Kochan Wolski; Riksarkivet E 8603; BUV 18.24.1.17 Archived copy ( memento of the original from January 22, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Quote: LECHUS adest, a quo deducta colonia nostra est.
- ^ Andreas Osiander, Before the state: systemic political change in the West from the Greeks to the French Revolution , p. 241, Oxford University Press (2008), ISBN 0-19-829451-4
- ↑ In the Latin original: “Ex hiis itaque Pannoniis tres fratres filii Pan principis Pannoniorum nati fuere quorum primogenitus Lech, old Rus, tercius Czech nomine habuerunt. Et hii tres hec tria regna Lechitarum, Ruthenorum et Czechorum qui et Bohemi…. “From: Chronica Poloniae Maioris. Kronika Wielkopolska. Edited by Brygida Pumpkin. Warsaw 1970, p. 4 f. Quoted from SC Rowell: The Central European Kingdoms. In: Rosamond McKitterick , David Abulafia : The New Cambridge Medieval History. Vol. 5: C.1198-C.1300. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1999, ISBN 0-521-36289-X , pp. 754–778, here p. 754, note 1. See also the digitized version of a medieval manuscript: Cronica magna Lechitarum et Polonorum. Polish National Library, call number: Rps 3001 III, p. 3 (1st half of the 15th century).
- ^ Jan Kochanowski: Proza polska. Universitas, Krakau 2004, pp. 19-21 (Polish).
