Lech, Czech, and Rus'
Lech, Czech and Rus (Czech pronunciation:
Polish version
In the Polish version of the legend, three brothers went hunting together but each of them followed a different prey and eventually they all traveled in different directions. Rus' went to the east, Čech headed to the west to settle on the
According to Wielkopolska Chronicle (13th century), Slavs are descendants of Pan, a Pannonian prince. He had three sons – Lech (the youngest), Rus', and Čech (the oldest), who decided to settle north, east, and west, respectively.[2][3][4][5][6][7]
Czech version
A variant of this legend, involving only two brothers (and three sisters), is also known in the
However, numerous battles had made the country very unfavorable for the people, who were accustomed to living in peace, cultivate the land and grow grain. According to other versions, the reason was that Čech had been accused of murder. They gathered their people and set off towards the sunset. According to the Chronicle of Dalimil (1314), when Čech and his people climbed Říp Mountain, he looked upon the landscape and told his six brothers that they have reached the promised land: a country where there are enough of beasts, birds, fish, and bees so that their tables will be always full, and where they could defend themselves against enemies.[13] He settled in the area with a tribe and, according to the Přibík Pulkava version (circa 1374), his brother Lech continued his journey to the lowlands over the snowy mountains of the north, where he founded Poland.[14]
Wenceslaus Hajek's version from 1541 adds many (probably fanciful) details not found in other sources. According to Hájek, the brothers were dukes who had already owned castles in their homeland before their arrival in the region and dates their arrival to the year 644.[13]
Croatian version
A similar legend with partly changed names (Čeh, Leh, Meh and sister Vilina), was also registered in folk tales in
Debate
In the Bohemian chronicles, Čech appears on his own or only with Lech. Čech is first mentioned in Latin as Bohemus in the
The legend suggests a common ancestry of the Poles, Czechs and the Ruthenians (Rus'), and illustrates the fact that as early as the 13th century at least three different Slavic peoples were aware of being ethnically and linguistically interrelated. The legends also agree on the location of the homeland of the Early Slavic peoples in Eastern Europe. This area overlapped the region presumed by mainstream scholarship to be the Proto-Indo-European homeland in the general region of the Pontic–Caspian steppe.[21] In the framework of the Kurgan hypothesis, "the Indo-Europeans who remained after the migrations became speakers of Balto-Slavic".[22]
The most well-known version of the legend is seen to be somewhat Polonocentric, as it mentions a national symbol (the white eagle) only for Lech and the Polish nation, while relegating the two other brothers Czech and Rus' to secondary characters. Furthermore, this particular version does not address the origin of the South Slavic peoples.[citation needed]
The legend also attempts to explain the etymology of the
Legacy
Oaks of Rogalin
Three large
See also
- Kyi, Shchek and Khoryv, three brothers who are the legendary founders of Kyiv
- Jonakr's sons
- Romulus and Remus, two brothers in the founding myth of Rome
- List of national founders
References
- ISBN 5-85803-063-7.
- ^ Czesław Łuczak, Kazimierz Tymieniecki, Europa, Słowiańszczyzna, Polska. 1970. p. 296.
- ^ Brygida Kurbisówna, Studia nad Kroniką wielkopolską, Poznańskie Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Nauk, Poznań 1952.
- ^ Adam Fałowski, Bogdan Sendero, Biesiada słowiańska, Universitas, Kraków 1992, p. 40.
- ^ Kultura polski średniowiecznej XIV-XV w. pod red. B. Geremka, Wydawnictwo Naukowe Semper, Warszawa 1997, p. 651.
- ISBN 978-83-242-1275-0.
- ^ Kronika Dalimila [in:] LitDok Europa Środkowo-Wschodnia, Herder-Institut, Marburg.
- ^ Sanchuk, G. E. (1962). Козьма Пражский. "Чешская хроника" [Kozma of Prague. "Czech Chronicle"] (in Russian). Издательство АН СССР. p. 247.
- ISBN 9780814317488.
- ISBN 9788088061144. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
- ISBN 9781501757921.
- ^ Alimov, Denis Jevgenjevič (2015). "Hrvati, kult Peruna i slavenski gentilizam (Komentari na hipotezu Ante Miloševića o identitetu Porina i Peruna)" [Croats, the cult of Perun and Slavic "gentilism". (A Comment on the hypothesis of Ante Miloševic about the identity of Porin and Perun)]. Starohrvatska Prosvjeta (in Croatian). III (42): 153.
- ^ a b "Praotec Čech". hora-rip.cz. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
- ^ Přibík Pulkava
- ^ a b Sakač, S. K. (1940). Krapina-Kijev-Ararat, Priča o troje braće i jednoj sestri. Obnovljeni Život 21/3-4: 129–149, Zagreb
- ^ Dugački, Vlatka (2009). "Historiografija o Česima u Hrvatskoj" [Historiography about Czechs in Croatia]. Historijski zbornik (in Croatian). 62 (1): 233–250.
- ^ a b Jurić, Šime (1962). "Hvar - kolijevka poljskog naroda!" [Hvar - cradle of Polish nation!]. Prilozi povijesti otoka Hvara (in Croatian). II (1): 4–8.
- ^ a b Repar, Kristina (2017). "Hrvatske varijante legende o Čehu, Lehu i Mehu" [Croatian variations of the legend about Czech, Leh and Meh]. Bašćina (Zagreb): Glasilo Društva prijatelja glagoljice (in Croatian). 18 (18): 120–124.
- ^ Cekol, Sandra (29 April 2004). "Čeh, Leh i Meh". Vijenac (in Croatian) (265).
- ^ "Fix hiis itaque Pannoniis tres fratres filii Pan principis Pannoniorum nati fuere quorum primogenitus Lech, alter Rus', tercius Czech nomine habuerunt. Et hii tres hec tria regna Lechitarum, Ruthenorum, et Czechorum quit et Bohemi [...] Germo est quaddam instrumentum in quo duo boves simul iuncti trahendo aratrum seu plaustrum incedunt, sic et Theutunici cum slavis regna contigua habentes simul ..." Translation: Among the Pannonians, therefore, three brothers were born to Pan, prince of the Pannonians. The first was named Lech, the second Rus' and the third Czech. These three held the three kingdoms of the Lechites [Poles], Ruthenians and Czechs (or Bohemians) […] Germo is a type of vehicle in which two oxen are yoked together to draw a plough or pull a cart, and so the Germans and the Slavs, having common borders, pull together; there is no people in the world so familiar and friendly to one another as the Slavs and Germans. [in:] Chronica Poloniae Maioris. Kronika Wielkopolska. ed. and commentary by Brygida Kürbis. Warszawa 1970
- ISBN 978-0-691-05887-0.
- ^ F. Kortlandt, The spread of the Indo-Europeans Archived 8 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine, p.4
- ^ Jan Kochanowski, Proza polska, Universitas, Kraków 2004, pp. 19–21 (in Polish)
- ISBN 0-198-66255-6.
- ^ "Dęby rogalińskie", Catalog of protected objects (retrieved 7 October 2016)