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171-512: The name Slavník comes from the Proto-Slavic * slava ("glory") + * -nikъ . Generally it is considered by many scholars to be a dynasty of White Croats in early medieval Bohemia. The vast majority of what is known about the Slavnik family, is from the works by John Canaparius , Bruno of Querfurt , and Cosmas of Prague . Prince (dux) Slavník (†981), is generally considered as the founder of

342-623: A Baltic people that inhabited the region of Prussia , on the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea between the Vistula Lagoon to the west and the Curonian Lagoon to the east. As Balts, they spoke an Indo-European language of the Baltic branch now known as Old Prussian and worshipped pre-Christian deities . Their ethnonym was later adopted by predominantly Low German -speaking inhabitants of

513-615: A Prussian tribe) to the east and south-east, the Skalvians to the north, and the Lithuanians to the northeast. The smallest social unit in Baltic lands was the laūks , a word attested in Old Prussian as "field", which were small family oriented settlements, households and the surrounding fields, only separated from one another by uninhabited areas of forest, swamp and marsh. The word appears as

684-408: A big city where ruler S.mūt-swyt resides, located below the mountains (probably Carpathians) on river Rūtā (most probably Prut ), which springs from the mountains and is on the frontier between Pechenegs (ten days), Hungarians (two days), and Kievan Rus'. In the chronicles of the time word šahr meant "country, state, city" – thus Hurdāb represented Croatia. It was a common practice to call

855-702: A commerce and trade centers. Galicia was an important geographical location because it connected via an overland route city of Kiev in the East with Kraków , Buda , Prague and other cities in the West, as well as northwest to the Baltic Sea , southwest to the Pannonian Basin and southeast to the Black Sea . Along these routes they founded the settlements of Halych , Zvenyhorod , Terebovlia , Przemyśl (possibly founded by Lendians ), and Uzhhorod among many others, of which

1026-508: A direct link between Eastern and Southern Slavs". Other scholars considered it to be from around Bohemia and Silesia-Lesser Poland along a Western route through the Moravian Gate , but that is disputable because there is no historical source and was never proved that the Croats lived there in the 7th or even 9-10th century. There exist several hypotheses on the date and historical context of

1197-541: A division of the Croatian tribal alliance in the 7th century, but other scholars disagree with the identification of Vistulans and Lendians with the Croats. Croats seemingly were not recorded by the Bavarian Geographer (9th century), however, some scholars assumed that the unknown Sittici ("a region with many peoples and heavily fortified cities") and Stadici ("an infinite population with 516 gords"), located on

1368-482: A dozen or so laukses. Because the Baltic tribes inhabiting Prussia never formed a common political and territorial organisation, they had no reason to adopt a common ethnic or national name. Instead they used the name of the region from which they came – Galindians , Sambians , Bartians , Nadruvians , Natangians , Scalovians , Sudovians , etc. It is not known when and how the first general names came into being. This lack of unity weakened them severely, similar to

1539-672: A geographical basis. These were: The Voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan (in Anglo-Saxon ) ( English translation ) describes a ninth century voyage by traveller and trader Wulfstan of Hedeby to the land of the Old Prussians. He observed their funeral customs. Characterized as a humble people, who dressed plainly, the Old Prussians were distinguished for their valor and great bodily strength . They generally rejected luxury, yet were very hospitable, and enjoyed celebrating and drinking excessively, usually mead . Wulfstan of Hedeby , who visited

1710-551: A group of Early Slavic tribes that lived between East Slavic and West Slavic tribes in the historical region of Galicia north of the Carpathian Mountains (in modern Western Ukraine and Southeastern-Southern Poland ), and in Northeastern Bohemia . Debates continue over the origin of the Croats and related topics. Their ethnonym is usually considered to be of Iranian origin, and historians regard them one of

1881-572: A household was the buttataws (literally, the house father , from buttan , meaning home , and taws , meaning father ). Larger political and territorial organisations, called terrula in Latin (a small land), existed in the early 13th century in the territories which later comprised Prussia, Latvia and Lithuania and centred on strongholds or hill forts. Such a political territorial unit covered up to 300 km (120 sq mi) and could have up to 2,000 inhabitants. They were known as pulka , comprising

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2052-405: A lack of confirmation about their original location and context, all subsequent questions on their age, the chronology of the objects, an exact definition of their function, their provenance, pointing to which cultural influence have not been addressed until the late 19th century. A majority of past and present researchers agree the babas were created between the 8th and 13th centuries as a "result of

2223-421: A long cultural process among the population of early Iron Age area of the south-eastern Baltic coast, which was affected by both the early traditions of the local craft and inspirations from countries already under Christian influence." Because they did not know God, therefore, in their error, they worshipped every creature as divine, namely the sun, moon and stars, thunder, birds, even four-legged animals, even

2394-631: A major rebellion in 1286, were defeated by the Teutonic Knights. In 1283, according to the chronicler of the Teutonic Knights, Peter of Dusburg, the conquest of the Prussians ended and the war with the Lithuanians began. In 1243, papal legate William of Modena divided Prussia into four bishoprics – Culm , Pomesania , Ermland , and Samland – under the Bishopric of Riga . Prussians were baptised at

2565-443: A male head of the family and centred on strongholds or hill forts. The supreme power resided in general gatherings of all adult males, who discussed important matters concerning the community and elected the leader and chief; the leader was responsible for the supervision of the everyday matters, while the chief (the rikīs ) was in charge of the road and watchtower building, and border defense, undertaken by Vidivarii . The head of

2736-642: A minority with significant cultural influence or as a majority who outnumbered the Slavs. However, archaeological and anthropological data indicate that Slavs/Croats were not in small numbers, probably migrated and settled in several waves, contacts with natives were more prominent in Western and almost non-existent in Pannonian part of Croatia, and that the first Slavs/Croats settled near old-Roman sites in North Dalmatia in

2907-440: A noble woman characterized by modesty and compassion, came from a noble Slavic family, "worthy of his royal blood". As such, they were appreciated by both nobles and common people. Slavník had at least 6 sons, among whom two – Vojtěch (Adalbert) and the illegitimate Radim (Gaudentius) – later became saints. Slavnik's duchy tried to keep its quasi-independence by maintaining friendly relationships with its neighbours, such as with

3078-549: A possible connection with the medieval descriptions of a temple dedicated to the deity Khors . Until 2008 near Stilsko have been found more than 50 settlements of open type dated between 8th–10th century, as well around 200 burial mounds. The proto-state of Great Croatia had strong polis -like states. Stilsko, Plisnesk, Halych, Revno, Terebovlia and Przemyśl are argued to have been large "tribal" capitals in 9–10th century. According to archaeological material, Plisnesk, Stilsko and many other settlements and pagan shrines by

3249-409: A reflection of this process in the broader Slavic sphere" (among East Slavs and central region of West Slavs). As assimilated with the remaining Roman population who withdrew to the coastal mountains, cities and islands, the size and influence of the autochthonous population on the modern Croatian ethnogenesis is disputed depending on the interpretation of the archaeological data, considering them as

3420-712: A route between Busani and Unlizi , were part of the Carpathian Croats tribal association, or that the Croats were part of these unknown tribal designations in Prykarpattia . In the list of Bavarian Geographer, this region would have largest number of cities and people, which does correspond to the population density and number of settlements since medieval times. Others saw Lendizi (98), Vuislane , Sleenzane (50), Fraganeo (40; Prague ), Lupiglaa (30 gords), Opolini (20), and Golensizi (5) as possible tribes of Croats. More detailed information

3591-559: A segment in Baltic settlement names, especially in Curonian , and is found in Old Prussian placenames such as in Stablack , from stabs (stone) + laūks (field, thus stone field ). The plural is not attested in Old Prussian, but the Lithuanian plural of laukas ("field") is laukai . A laūks was also formed by a group of farms, that shared economic interests and a desire for safety, ruled by

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3762-464: A soul and an afterlife, and practiced ancestor worship . Some authors, by contrast, have argued for a well developed, sophisticated Old Prussian polytheism with a clearly defined pantheon of gods. The highest priest Kriwe-Kriwajto was to be in permanent connection with the spirits of the dead ancestors. He lived in a sacred grove, the Romove , a place off limit for anyone but elite clergy. Each district

3933-427: A surface of 250 ha, including a fortress of 15 ha, defensive line of 10 km, located on river Kolodnitsa (used for navigation of ships as was connected to most important river in the region, Dniester ) between current village Stilsko and Lviv . In the vicinity of Stilsko were also found some of the only examples of a pre-Christian period cult building among Slavs, for one of which Korčinskij assumed

4104-430: A surface of 450 ha, including a fortress with a pagan center, surrounded by seven long and complex lines of protection, several smaller settlements in the near vicinity, more than 142 burial mounds with both cremation and inhumation partly belonging to warriors and else, located near village Pidhirtsi and since 2015 regionally protected as a Historic and Cultural Reserve " Ancient Plisnesk "; and Stilsko with

4275-425: A whole region and country by the capital or well-known city, as well a city by the tribal name, especially if was on the periphery where the first contacts of merchants and researchers took place. Although it is generally accepted that Swntblk refers to Svatopluk I (870–894), it was puzzling that the country in which he lived and ruled over was called by the sources as Croatia. George Vernadsky also considered that

4446-491: A year later, Soběslav was killed by Bohemians defending a bridge near Prague, shielding the retreat of Polish forces from Prague in 1004. According to the Czech archaeologist E. Šimek (1930), who researched the note by Cosmas of Prague, the center of the Slavnik's principality was Libice , a castrum located at the confluence of the rivers Cidlina and Elbe , and fort Stara Kouřim . It included castrum Litomyšl , and their border in

4617-629: Is accurate for the continent. Some scholars correct the north-east position of Dalamensan to north-west. Sysele are the Siusler-Susłowie, one of the Sorbian tribes. The location of Croats is usually interpreted to be East of Czechia around river Eastern Neisse or Upper Vistula in Poland, or possibly around Elbe in Czechia. Their location does not necessarily mean their whole territory, it could enter it from

4788-491: Is also mentioned by Otto II (979), and pago Croudi by Otto III . According to Czech and Polish chronicles, the legendary Lech and Czech came from (White) Croatia. The Chronicle of Dalimil (14th century) recounts " V srbském jazyku jest země, jiežto Charvaty jest imě; v téj zemi bieše Lech, jemužto jmě bieše Čech ". Alois Jirásek recounted as " Za Tatrami, v rovinách při řece Visle rozkládala se od nepaměti charvátská země, část prvotní veliké vlasti slovanské " (Behind

4959-544: Is found in the Bavarian Geographer . In Tacitus' Germania , the Lugii Buri are mentioned living within the eastern range of the Germans. Lugi may descend from Pokorny's *leug- (2), "black, swamp" (Page 686), while Buri is perhaps the root on which the toponym "Prussia" is based. The name of Pameddi , the ( Pomesania ) tribe, is derived from the words pa ("by" or "near") and median ("forest"), which can be traced to

5130-408: Is given by Arabian historians and explorers. Ahmad ibn Rustah from the beginning of the 10th century recounts that the land of Pechenegs is ten days away from the Slavs and that the city in which lives Swntblk is called ʒ-r-wāb ( Džervab > Hrwat ), where every month Slavs do three-day long trade fair. Swntblk is called "king of kings", has riding horses, sturdy armor, eats mare's milk, and

5301-440: Is historiographically and archaeologically unproven and could only have been in Prykarpattia ( Western Ukraine ). They probably formed around late 4th and first half of the 5th century. It is considered that they probably were one of oldest and largest Slavic tribal formations until 6th century. Some argue that the large Proto-Slavic tribe or tribal alliance, separated somewhere between 7th and 10th century. The activity of

Slavník dynasty - Misplaced Pages Continue

5472-454: Is more important than Subanj (considered Slavic title župan ), who is his deputy. In work by Abu Saʿīd Gardēzī (11th century) the city is also mentioned as ʒ(h)-rāwat , or Džarvat , and as Hadrat by Sharaf al-Zaman al-Marwazi (11th century). In the same way, 10th century Arab historian Al-Masudi in his work The Meadows of Gold mentioned Harwātin or Khurwātīn between Moravians, Chezchs and Saxons . Abraham ben Jacob in

5643-524: Is not always accepted. Although the early medieval Croatian tribes in the scholarship are often called as White Croats, there's a scholarly dispute whether it is a correct term as some scholars differentiate the tribes according to separate regions and that the term implies only the medieval Croats who lived in Central Europe. Some scholars etymologically, and archaeologically due to burial mounds, drew parallels between Carpathian Croats and Slavs with

5814-429: Is not of Slavic origin, but a borrowing from Iranian languages . According to the most plausible theory by Max Vasmer , it derives from *(fšu-)haurvatā- (cattle guardian), more correctly Proto-Ossetian / Alanian * xurvæt- or * xurvāt- , in the meaning of "one who guards" ("guardian, protector"). It is considered that the ethnonym is first attested in anthroponyms Horoúathos, Horoáthos, and Horóathos on

5985-599: Is notable that in both chapters they are noted to be "unbaptized" pagans , a description only additionally used for the Moravians and White Serbs . Such an information probably came from an Eastern source because particular religious affiliation was of interest to the Khazars as well as to Arabian historians and explorers who carefully recorded them. Francis Dvornik doubted the claim about paganism of Croats because were part of already Christianized realms. Some scholars believe that

6156-556: Is recorded Chruazzis (1012), by Henry III as Churbate (1055), by Henry IV as Grawat (also Curewate , 1086). This settlement today is Korbetha on river Saale , near Weißenfels . In the 10th–12th centuries Croatian name can be often found in the territory of March and Duchy of Carinthia, as well March and Duchy of Styria. In 954, Otto I in his charter mentions župa Croat – " hobas duas proorietatis nostrae in loco Zuric as in pago Crouuati et in ministerio Hartuuigi ", and again in 961 pago Crauuati . The pago Chruuat

6327-476: Is related to the thesis by Bogo Grafenauer about the double migration of South Slavs, that both migrations in DAI are not part of the same story and event. Although it is possible that some Croatian tribes were present among Slavs in the first Slavic-Avar wave in the 6th century, it is argued that the Croatian migration (from Zakarpattia ), seen as of a separate warrior elite group which started anti-Avar rebellions, in

6498-575: The Archbishopric of Magdeburg , while Germans and Dutch settlers colonized the lands of the native Prussians; Poles and Lithuanians also settled in southern and eastern Prussia, respectively. Significant pockets of Old Prussians were left in a matrix of Germans throughout Prussia and in what is now the Kaliningrad Oblast . The monks and scholars of the Teutonic Order took an interest in

6669-447: The Bavarian Geographer in the ninth century. More extensive mention of the Old Prussians in historical sources is in connection with Adalbert of Prague , who was sent by Bolesław I of Poland . Adalbert was slain in 997 during a missionary effort to Christianize the Prussians. As soon as the first Polish dukes had been established with Mieszko I in 966, they undertook a number of conquests and crusades not only against Prussians and

6840-604: The Bulgars . As the Avars were enemies of the Byzantine Empire the involvement of Emperor Heraclius on the side of Croats, and organizing relations with "barbarians" from Roman cities perspective and tradition, cannot be entirely excluded. According to other theorization the migration of the Croats in the 7th century was the second and final Slavic migratory wave to the Balkans . It

7011-582: The Břevnov Monastery , as he was from another principality's noble family, he did not have enough authority and support by Boleslaus II in the Diocese, and in late 994 offered his episcopal see to Strachkvas , Boleslaus II's brother, who nevertheless refused it. In 995 Adalbert again temporarily left for Rome. In these conflicts lies the answer of their downfall. Slavniks did not help Boleslaus II, they were either neutral or allied with Bolesław I of Poland. This

Slavník dynasty - Misplaced Pages Continue

7182-607: The Carpi , who previously lived in the territory of Carpathian Mountains, but such theory was never taken seriously. Another more common theorization is related to the first Iranian tribes who lived on the shores of the Sea of Azov, Scythians , who arrived there c. 7th century BCE. Around the 6th century BCE, the Sarmatians began their migration westwards, gradually subordinating the Scythians by

7353-746: The Frank-Avar war , but it does not have enough evidence and arguments, it's not supported in written sources, and is not usually accepted by mainstream scholarship. In the territory of present-day Croatia, it is considered as archaeologically certain that by the last-third of the 7th century disappear Roman late antiquity and Germanic cultural traces in most part of the region and that there's no obvious continuity between native settlements and cemeteries with newly arrived population and paganism. The data shows sudden change of native lifestyle, defensive use and desolation of villa rustica and other smaller cities, destruction of churches and else dated at

7524-660: The Franks and Turks and Pechenegs . Nor do they have either sagēnai or kondourai or merchant ships, because they live far away from sea; it takes 30 days of travel from the place where they live to the sea. The sea to which they come down to after 30 days, is that which is called dark ". According to the 31st chapter, the Pechenegs were Eastern neighbors of the White Croats, those living around Upper Dniester in Western Ukraine, in

7695-598: The Harus (original form Hrws , some read Hrwts ; Hros , Hrus ) at the Sea of Azov , near the mythical Amazons , mentioned by Zacharias Rhetor in 550 AD. The Hros some relate to the ethnonym of the Rus' people . The distribution of the Croatian ethnonym in the form of toponyms in later centuries is considered to be hardly accidental because it is related with Slavic migrations to Central and South Europe . The epithet "white" for

7866-520: The Kaliningrad Oblast in Russia and the southern Klaipėda Region in Lithuania . The territory was also inhabited by Scalovians , a tribe related to the Prussians, Curonians and Eastern Balts. "Prussians" is an exonym for these peoples, i.e., they did not refer to themselves with this word. The words "Prussians/Prussia" may originate from toponymy , as the word Prūsas (a Prussian) can be derived from

8037-663: The Pannonian Avars plundered the Roman provinces, but when settled they revolted against the Avars and soon started accepting Christianity during the time of Porga ( fl. c.  7th century ), the first known archon of the Duchy of Croatia . Other Croats who stayed in their Carpathian homeland continued to practise paganism and formed a tribal proto-state with the polis -like gords of Plisnesk , Stilsko, Revno, Halych , Terebovlia (among other) in Western Ukraine, which lasted until

8208-769: The Prague-Korchak culture dated to the end of 6th and beginning of the 7th century were followed by more numerous second group of Slavs (Antes) of the Prague-Penkovka culture with artifacts of Martinovka culture from Ukraine (found in Dalmatian and Pannonian part of Croatia), while the "Old Croatian" archaeological findings from the 8th–9th century indicate social-political stabilization and stratification. Another group of historians and archaeologists, like L. Margetić , A. Milošević, M. Ančić and V. Sokol argued late 8th-early 9th century migration of Croats as Frankish vassals during

8379-675: The Proto-Indo-European adjective *médʰyos 'middle'. Nadruvia may be a compound of the words na ("by" or "on") and drawē ("wood"). The name of the Bartians , a Prussian tribe, and the name of the Bārta river in Latvia are possibly cognates . In the second century AD, the geographer Claudius Ptolemy listed some Borusci living in European Sarmatia (in his Eighth Map of Europe ), which

8550-616: The Radimichians , and the Croats lived at peace ". In 904–907, " Leaving Igor (914–945) in Kiev , Oleg (879–912) attacked the Greeks. He took with him a multitude of Varangians , Slavs, Chuds , Krivichians , Merians, Polyanians , Severians , Derevlians , Radimichians, Croats, Dulebians , and Tivercians , who are pagans. All these tribes are known as Great Scythia by the Greeks. With this entire force, Oleg sallied forth by horse and by ship, and

8721-621: The Sirgune River and the Prussians suffered a decisive defeat. The Prussians took the Christian bishop and imprisoned him for several years. Numerous knights from throughout Catholic Europe joined in the Prussian Crusades , which lasted sixty years. Many of the native Prussians from Sudovia who survived were resettled in Samland ; Sudauer Winkel was named after them. Frequent revolts , including

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8892-559: The Tatra Mountains , in the plains of the river Vistula , stretched from immemorial time Charvátská country ( White Croatia ), the initial part of the great Slavic homeland), and V té charvátské zemi bytovala četná plemena, příbuzná jazykem, mravy, způsobem života (In Charvátská existed numerous tribes, related by language, manners, and way of life). Dušan Třeštík noted that the chronicle tells Czech came with six brothers from Croatia which once again indicates seven chiefs/tribes like in

9063-487: The "Old Croat" archaeological period is dated between 7th and early 9th century, and were found archaeological parallels in Southeastern (Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania) and Central-Eastern (Slovakia, Czechia, Eastern Austria, Poland and Ukraine) countries. Zdenko Vinski and V. V. Sedov argued that the rare findings of objects and ceramics of the first group of Slavs (Sclaveni) of

9234-576: The "dark sea" is a reference to the Baltic Sea , however, more probable is a reference to the Black Sea because in DAI there's no reference to the Baltic Sea, the chapter has information usually found in 10th century Arabian sources like of Al-Masudi , the Black Sea was of more interest to the Eastern merchants and Byzantine Empire, and its Persian name "Dark Sea" ( axšaēna- ) was already well known. Alfred

9405-474: The 14th century. UNESCO in its inclusion of Wooden tserkvas of the Carpathian region in Poland and Ukraine also mentions two large gords at the villages of Pidhoroddya and Lykovyshche near Rohatyn dated between 6th and 8th century and identified with the White Croats. To the Croats are attributed two Gords of unusually big dimensions and each of them could inhabit tens of thousands of people – Plisnesk with

9576-566: The 2nd-century BCE. During this period there was substantial cultural and linguistic contact between the Early Slavs and Iranians , and in this environment were formed the Antes . Antes were Slavic people who lived in that area and to the West between Dniester and Dnieper from the 4th until the 7th century. Some think that the Croats were part of the Antes tribal polity who migrated to Galicia in

9747-463: The 3rd–4th century, under pressure by invading Huns and Goths . Others related them to the early Sclaveni or saw them as a mixture of both Antes and Sclaveni. Some argue that they lived in the Carpathians until the Antes were attacked by the Pannonian Avars in 560, and the polity was finally destroyed in 602 by the same Avars. The early Croats' migration to Dalmatia , with Pannonian Avars in

9918-523: The 6th and 7th century. Their exact place of migration to the Balkans is uncertain, but it is generally argued to be from the region of Galicia (Western Ukraine and Southeastern-Southern Poland) along an Eastern route through the Pannonian Basin and alongside Eastern Carpathians according to historical-archaeological and linguistical data about the main movement of the Avars and Slavs, and that "served as

10089-455: The 6th century or during the reign of Heraclius (610–641), some see as a possible continuation of the previous conflict and contacts between the Antes and Avars. In a similar fashion, regardless of Iranian or Slavic etymology of their name, Henryk Łowmiański argued that the tribe was formed by the end of the 3rd and not later than the 5th century in Lesser Poland , during the peak of the Huns and their leader Attila , but such localization

10260-441: The 7th-8th century, in which Horiv is mentioned as Horean . Paščenko related his name, beside to the Croatian ethnonym, to solar deity Khors . Near Kiev there's a stream where previously existed large homonymous village Horvatka or Hrovatka (destroyed in the time of Joseph Stalin ), which flows into Stuhna River . In the vicinity are parts of the Serpent's Wall . Some scholars consider that Croats could have been mentioned in

10431-401: The Archdeacon, they were called Goths , but also Slavs, depending on the names brought by those who came from Polish and Bohemian lands. Some scholars consider Lingones to be a distortion of the name for the Polish tribe of Lendians . The reliability to the claim adds the recorded oral tradition of Michael of Zahumlje from DAI that his family originates from the unbaptized inhabitants of

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10602-431: The Avars is argued to have resulted with assumed breaking of the tribal group into Carpathian (Prykarpattia and Zakarpattia in Western Ukraine), Western or White (the Upper Vistula river in Lesser Poland , Silesia , Prešov Region in Eastern Slovakia, and Northeastern Czech Republic ), and Southern (in the Balkans). It is considered that the Croatian tribes from Prykarpattia and Zakarpattia in Ukraine were related to

10773-421: The Baltic Sea coast and east of the Vistula estuary. It has been suggested that the name Aesti could be etymologically related to the modern toponym Estonia . On the other hand, the Old Prussian and modern Lithuanian names for localities, such as the Vistula Lagoon , Aīstinmari and Aistmarės , respectively, also appear to derive from Aesti and mari (" lagoon " or "fresh-water bay"), which suggests that

10944-485: The Bohemian location and existence of the Croats is very disputable, and those sources mentioning Croats and Croatia at the Carpathian Mountains never mention them around river Elbe in Bohemia. Thietmar of Merseburg recorded in 981 toponym Chrvuati vicus (also later recorded in 11th–14th century), which is present-day Großkorbetha , between Halle and Merseburg in Saxony-Anhalt , Germany. The Chruuati (901) and Chruuati (981) near Halle. In charter by Henry II

11115-425: The Brave conquered some " Hunnos seu Hungaros, Cravatios et Mardos, gentem validam, suo mancipavit imperio ". The occurrence of the Croatian name together with the Hungarians and Pechenegs and not Moravians and Bohemians, and the fact during the period of Bolesław I the Brave the Polish realm expanded to the territory later-known as Western and Eastern Galicia, indicates that the mentioned Croats most probably lived on

11286-404: The Byzantines did not differentiate Slavic "bělъ-" (white) from "velъ-" (big, great), and because of common Greek betacism , the "Belohrobatoi" should be read as "Velohrobatoi" ("Velohrovatoi"; "Great/Old Croats" not "White Croats"). The possible confusion could have happened if the original Slavic form "velo-" was transcribed to Greek alphabet and then erroneously translated, but such a conclusion

11457-404: The Croatian origo gentis legend from the 30th chapter of De Administrando Imperio . It is considered that the chronicle refers to the Carpathian Croatia. One of the legendary figures Kyi, Shchek and Khoryv who founded Kiev , brother Khoryv or Horiv, and its oronym Khorevytsia, is often related to the Croatian ethnonym. This legend, recorded by Nestor, has similar Armenian transcript from

11628-570: The Croatian War, the Pechenegs arrived on the opposite side of the Dnieper ". Since then those Croats became part of Kievan Rus and are not mentioned anymore in that territory. It seems that Croatian tribes who lived in the area of Bukovina and Galicia got conquered because had too many large tribal capitals with local lords who probably didn't act in a centralized and nationalized manner (polycentric proto-state ), were pressured by Bohemian, Polish and Hungarian principalities, while were attacked by Kievan Rus' because inhibited Rus' free access to

11799-453: The Croatian realm with the Duchy of Bohemia, arguably also on Vistula. According to 10th century First Old Slavonic Legend about Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia , after his murder in 929 or 935 which ordered his brother Boleslaus I , their mother Drahomíra fled in exile to Xorvaty . This is the first local account of the Croatian name in Slavic language. While some considered that those Croats lived near Prague, others noted that in

11970-470: The Croatian tribes from Poland-Bohemia. However, the same ethnic name does not necessarily mean all the tribes had the same ancestry, as well the dating and supposed existence, separation and location of different tribal groups is a matter of much debate due to lack of evidence, historical sources and their interpretation. There is a dispute among Slavic scholars as to whether the Croats were of Irani- Alanic , East Slavic, or West Slavic origin. Whether

12141-449: The Croats and their homeland is usually related to the use of colors for cardinal directions among Eurasian people. That is, it meant "Western Croats", or "Northern Croats", in comparison to Eastern Carpathian lands where they lived before. The epithet "great" ( megali ) probably was not just an association with size as could signify an "old, ancient" or "former" homeland, for the White Croats and Croats when they were new arrivals in

12312-692: The Croats implying they must have lived much further to the East. They could have been the neighbors of the Franks as early as 846 or 869 when Duchy of Bohemia was under the control of Eastern Francia. Otto I ruled the Moravians only from 950, and the White Croats were also part of the Moravian state, at least from 929. György Györffy argued that the White Croats were allies of the Hungarians (Turks), but "neither in 929 nor in 950 could be Bohemia described as being in good relations with Hungary", as part of White Croatia

12483-466: The Croats in historical sources and legends, and had their own origo gentis . In the late-6th and early-7th centuries, some of the Croats migrated from their homeland, White or Great Croatia in the Carpathians, to the Roman province of Dalmatia (in present-day Croatia along the Adriatic Sea ), becoming ancestors of the modern South Slavic Croats . They probably were among the Slavs who with

12654-558: The Croats mainly or exclusively arrived with the Avars in the first massive wave from the Eastern Carpathians. Whatever the case, the Croats had to be strong and well-organized enough to get a new homeland by war and victory over Avars. On the basis of archaeological data between the late 6th and early 9th century and emergence of cremation burials, it is considered that the dating of Slavic/Croat migration and settlement in Croatia to

12825-588: The Croats were mostly related to the Korchak and Luka-Raikovets cultures identified with the Sclaveni (while their connection to the Antes and to the Penkovka culture remains a matter of dispute). Their area is characterized by use of stone defenses, tiled tombs (and kurgan -like tombs), stone ovens, and many large, fortified settlements and cult buildings. They practiced Slavic paganism . Foreign medieval authors documented

12996-534: The Croats who now live in the regions of Dalmatia are descended from the unbaptized Croats, also called the "white", who live beyond Turkey and next to Francia, and they border the Slavs, the unbaptized Serbs ... These same Croats arrived as refugees to the emperor of the Romaioi Heraclius before the Serbs came as refugees to the same Emperor Heraclius, at that time when the Avars had fought and expelled from those parts

13167-523: The Croats. Compared to other East Slavic tribes, the area of the Croats stands out because of very present tiled tombs, and in the 11th and 13th century their appearance in Western Dnieper region is attributed to the Croats, and sometimes also Tivertsi, and Ulichs. In the territory of Czech Republic, a significant number of graves with kurgans dated 8th–10th century have been found around the Elbe river where

13338-626: The Czech Slavs. Many scholars consider that the Slavník dynasty (and possibly related Bohemian duke Witizla from 895 ), who competed with the Přemyslid dynasty for control over Bohemia and eventually succumbed to them, was of White Croat origin. After the massacre of the Slavníks in 995 and unification of Bohemia, the Croats aren't mentioned anymore in that territory. However, Łowmiański considered that

13509-752: The Dalamensan are the Horithi, and to the north of the Dalamensan are the Surpe , and to the west of them are the Sysele. To the north of the Horithi is Mægtha-land , and north of the Mægtha-land are the Sermende even to the Rhipæan mountains ". According to Richard Ekblom, Gerard Labuda , and Łowmiański the issue with positioning in the work is present for Scandinavia while the data

13680-614: The Duchy of Prussia and unofficially in the Polish province of Royal Prussia , while Catholicism survived in the Prince-Bishopric of Warmia , the territory of secular rule comprising a third of the then Diocese of Warmia . With Protestantism came the use of the vernacular in church services instead of Latin , so Albert had the Catechisms translated into Old Prussian. Because of the conquest of

13851-565: The Early Middle Ages. The dispute on affiliation with West and East Slavs is also disputed on linguistic grounds because the Croats are linguistically closer to East Slavs. Nestor the Chronicler in his Primary Chronicle (12th century), which information and convoluted viewpoint were often compiled and influenced by use of various sources of different origin, mentions the White Croats, calling them Horvate Belii or Hrovate Belii ,

14022-811: The East went as far as castrum Kłodzko on the Nisa river in now South-Western Poland. In the North their land went as far Charvatce , probably previous or newly founded settlement by the White Croats. In the West their territory stretched along the rivers Jizera , and further in the South-West along Vltava and in the short part Mže . The territory included settlements Netolice , Doudleby and Chýnov . White Croats The White Croats ( Croatian : Bijeli Hrvati ; Polish : Biali Chorwaci ; Slovak : Bieli Chorváti ; Ukrainian : Білі хорвати , romanized :  Bili khorvaty ), also known simply as Croats , were

14193-703: The Great in his Geography of Europe (888–893) relying on Orosius , recorded that, " These Moravians have, to the west of them, the Thuringians, and Bohemians, and part of the Bavarians ... to the east of the country Moravia, is country of the Wisle, and to the east of them are the Dacians , who were formerly Goths . To the north-east of the Moravians are the Dalamensan , and to the east of

14364-503: The Iron Age (5th century BC – 1st century AD), the western Baltic kurgan and barrow culture was widespread among the Old Prussians. It was then that cremation in urns appeared. Grave mounds were raised over stone cells for up to 30 urns, or stone boxes for the urns were buried in Bronze Age style barrows. During the early phase of imperial Rome, shallow graves appeared in which the corpse

14535-558: The Just invaded Prussia, this time along the river Drewenz ( Drwęca ). He forced some of the Prussian tribes to pay tribute and then withdrew. Several attacks by Konrad of Masovia in the early 13th century were also successfully repelled by the Prussians. In 1209 Pope Innocent III commissioned the Cistercian monk Christian of Oliva with the conversion of the pagan Prussians. In 1215, Christian

14706-685: The Northeastern frontier of the Prague diocese lived " Psouane, Chrouati et altera Chrowati, Zlasane... ". It is very rare that on a small territory lived two tribes of the same name, possibly indicating that the Crouati were probably settled East of Zlicans and West of Moravians having a territory around the Elbe river, while the other Chrowati were present in Silesia or along the Upper Vistula in Poland because

14877-583: The Northwest with Lendians and West with Vistulans. The analysis of housing types, and especially oven cookers in Western Ukraine which "were made out of stone (the Middle and the Upper Dniester areas), or clay (mud and butte types, Volynia)", differentiates main tribal alliances of Croats and Volhynians, but also from Tiversti and Drevlians. The craniometric studies of medieval burial grounds and modern population in

15048-629: The Old English and Nordic epic poems, like the verse in the Old English poem Widsith (10th century), which is similar to the one in Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks (13th century), where prior the battle between Goths and Huns, Heidrek died in Harvaða fjöllum (Carpathian Mountains ) which is sometimes translated as "beneath the mountains of Harvathi", considered somewhere beneath Carpathian Mountains near river Dnieper. Lewicki argued that Anglo-Saxons , as in

15219-483: The Otto's efforts ( Congress of Gniezno ) around St. Adalbert's canonization, and the installation of Adalbert's brother Radim Gaudentius as the first archbishop of Gniezno Cathedral . According to Canaprius and Bruno of Querfurt, Slavnik was a noble ruler, and although he ruled over a vast territory and had plenty of gold and silver and minions, he was a humble man, generous towards to the poor people. His wife Střezislava ,

15390-686: The Popes, but also under the control of the empire, took control of much of the Baltic, establishing their own monastic state in Prussia. In 1230, following the Golden Bull of Rimini , Grand Master Hermann von Salza and Duke Konrad I of Masovia launched the Prussian Crusade , a joint invasion of Prussia to Christianise the Baltic Old Prussians. The Order then created the independent Monastic State of

15561-565: The Prussians. In 1224, Emperor Frederick II proclaimed that he himself and the Empire took the population of Prussia and the neighboring provinces under their direct protection; the inhabitants were declared to be Reichsfreie , to be subordinated directly to the Church and the Empire only, and exempted from service to and the jurisdiction of other dukes. The Teutonic Order , officially subject directly to

15732-864: The Prut River and ending in Khotyn on the Dniester River, northern border the watershed of the Western Bug and Dniester River, and western border in Western Carpathian ridges at Wisłoka the right tributary of Upper Vistula in Southeastern Poland. In the Eastern Bukovina region bordered with Tiversti, in Eastern Podolia with Ulichs, to the North along Upper Bug River with Dulebes-Buzhans-Volhynians, to

15903-437: The Roman province of Dalmatia . In semantical comparison, as the color "white" besides the meaning "Western" of something/someone could also mean "younger" (later also associated with "unbaptized" ), the association with "great" is contradictory. The ethnonym with the epithet was also questioned lexically and grammatically by linguists like Petar Skok , Stanisław Rospond , Jerzy Nalepa and Heinrich Kunstmann, who argued that

16074-672: The Romani... Now, by the command of the Emperor Heraclius, these same Croats fought and expelled the Avars from those parts, and, by mandate of Heraclius the emperor they settled down in that same country of the Avars, where they now dwell. These same Croats had the father of Porga for their archon at that time... (It should be known) that ancient Croatia, also called "white", is still unbaptized to this day, as are also its neighboring Serbs. They muster fewer horsemen as well as fewer foot than baptized Croatia, because they are constantly plundered by

16245-504: The Slavs is criticized for being unnatural and improbable with current argumentation. Since the 10th century both Roman and Slavic tradition tried to explain their distant history and depict others (barbarians) or themselves (Slavs) in more positive or negative light. Such theorizations are based on literal interpretation of anachronistic and semi-historical narrative from passages in DAI , and according to more critical historiographical, archaeological and linguistic data and interpretations,

16416-628: The Teutonic Knights and received help from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during the 13th century in their quest to free themselves of the military order. In 1525 Grand Master Albert of Brandenburg-Ansbach secularized the Order's Prussian territories into the Protestant Duchy of Prussia , a vassal of the crown of Poland. During the Reformation , Lutheranism spread throughout the territories, officially in

16587-504: The Teutonic Knights in the conquered territory and subsequently conquered Courland, Livonia, and Estonia. The Dukes of Poland accused the Order of holding lands illegally. During an attack on Prussia in 1233, over 21,000 crusaders took part, of which the burggrave of Magdeburg brought 5,000 warriors, Duke Henry of Silesia 3,000, Duke Konrad of Masovia 4,000, Duke Casimir of Kuyavia 2,000, Duke Wladyslaw of Greater Poland 2,200 and Dukes of Pomerania 5,000 warriors. The main battle took place at

16758-475: The Turks. From the Croats who came to Dalmatia, a part split off and took rule of Illyricum and Pannonia . They too had an independent archon, who would maintain friendly contact, though through envoys only, with the archon of Croatia... From that time they remained independent and autonomous, and they requested holy baptism from Rome, and bishops were sent and baptized them in the time of their Archon Porinos ". In

16929-486: The Vistula valley trade route, and did not want to submit to Kievan centralism and accept Christianity. After the attack on Croats and Polish marches, Rurikids expanded their realm on the Croatian territory which would be known as Principality of Peremyshl , Terebovlia , Zvenyhorod and eventually Principality of Halych . It is considered that Croatian nobility probably survived and retained local influence, becoming

17100-640: The White Croats, the Serbs, and the Carinthians . For when the Vlakhs (Romans) attacked the Danubian Slavs, settled among them, and did them violence, the latter came and made their homes by the Vistula , and were then called Lyakhs . Of these same Lyakhs some were called Polyanians , some Lutichians , some Mazovians , and still others Pomorians ". Most what is known about the early history of White Croats comes from

17271-510: The account can be interpreted as a date when the Croats revolted against the Avars after the Croatian migration and settlement in Dalmatia in the late 6th and early 7th century. It is considered that the uprising happened after failed Siege of Constantinople (626) , or during the Slavic uprising led by Samo against the Avars in 632, or around 635–641 when the Avars were defeated by Kubrat of

17442-505: The account from DAI about the splitting off a part of the Dalmatian Croats who took rule of Pannonia was related to the political rule rather than ethnic origin), and Carpathian Croats sites in Western Ukraine were also close to medieval Croats which "testify for their common origin". According to Sedov, all early mentions of Croatian ethnonym are in the areas where ceramics of Prague-Penkovka culture were found. It originated in

17613-465: The archaeological data, and 11th century revival of some capitals as East Slavic principalities ( Peremyshl , Terebovlia , Zvenyhorod and Halych ), show a high economic, demographic, military defense, administrative and political organization in the territory of White Croats. Excavations of many Slavic kurgan tombs in the Carpathian Mountains in the 1930s and 1960s were also attributed to

17784-449: The area around the lagoon had links with the Aesti . The original settlers tended to name their assets after surrounding localities (streams, lakes, seas, forests, etc.). The clan or tribal entity into which their descendants later were organized continued to use the names. This source is perhaps the one used in the very name of Prusa (Prussia), for which an earlier Latin-language word Bruzi

17955-426: The area between Dniester and Dnieper , and later expanded to the West and South, and its bearers were the Antes tribes. A. V. Majorov and others criticized Sedov's consideration, who almost exclusively related the Croats with Penkovka culture and the Antes, because the territory the Croats inhabited in the middle and upper Dniester and the upper Vistula was part of Prague-Korchak culture related to Sclaveni which

18126-434: The beginning of the 7th century is generally reliable. However, it's unclear whether some regional and chronological archaeological differences between Northern, Western and Southern Croatia in the end of 6th until early 8th century are result of two separate Slavic waves (via Moravian Gate and Podunavlje), as well it is difficult, practically impossible, to differentiate Croats from other Sclaveni and Antae. Conservatively,

18297-503: The blood-related Saxon Ottonian dynasty , or with the Přemyslid dynasty or Zlicans (supposedly related to Střezislava), and with the Polish Piast dynasty . Slavnik's heir was his son Soběslav who rushed to consolidate the princedom's independence. For instance, he began to coin money in Libice, known among numismatists as the silver senars, in spite of the primacy of Prague . Prague

18468-444: The case of Alfred the Great where called Croats Horithi , often distorted foreign Slavic names. The legendary Czech hermit from the 9th century, Svatý Ivan , is mentioned as the son of certain king Gestimul or Gostimysl, who according to the Czech chronicles descended from the Croats or Obotrites . Polish writer Kazimierz Władysław Wóycicki released work Pieśni ludu Białochrobatów, Mazurów i Rusi z nad Bugu in 1836. In 1861, in

18639-470: The case of noble and royal fugitives tried to find security as distant as possible, indicating these Croats probably were located more to the East around Vistula valley. There were also some attempts to relate with Croats an anonymous neighbor ruler ( vicinus subregulus ) who was unsuccessfully helped by Saxons and Thuringians at war against Boleslaus I, but the evidence is inconclusive. The Prague Charter from 1086 AD but with data from 973 mentions that on

18810-590: The closely related Sudovians , but against the Pomeranians and Wends as well. Beginning in 1147, the Polish duke Bolesław IV the Curly (securing the help of Ruthenian troops) tried to subdue Prussia, supposedly as punishment for the close cooperation of Prussians with Władysław II the Exile . The only source is unclear about the results of his attempts, vaguely only mentioning that the Prussians were defeated. Whatever were

18981-565: The condition of Germany during the Middle Ages . According to Jan Długosz , the Prussians, Samogitians , and Lithuanians were the same tribe. The Prussian tribal structure is well attested in the Chronicon terrae Prussiae of contemporary author Peter of Dusburg , a chronicler of the Teutonic Order . The work is dated to 1326. He lists eleven lands and ten tribes, which were named on

19152-462: The context of the Reformation . Cassiodorus ' Variae , published in 537, contains a letter written by Cassiodorus in the name of Theodoric the Great , addressed to the Aesti : It is gratifying to us to know that you have heard of our fame, and have sent ambassadors who have passed through so many strange nations to seek our friendship. We have received the amber which you have sent us. You say that you gather this lightest of all substances from

19323-790: The core of the Galician nobility , who continued to control routes, trade with salt and livestock among others, but also with internal nationalization oppose Kiev. To the upper accounts by the historians were related the Vladimir the Great's conquest of the Cherven Cities in 981, and Annales Hildesheimenses note that Vladimir threatened to attack the Duke of Poland, Bolesław I the Brave (992 to 1025), in 992. Polish chronicler Wincenty Kadłubek in his Chronica Polonorum (12–13th century) recounted that Bolesław I

19494-404: The details on the king's custom of life is evidence of Alanic and Eurasian nomadic origin of the ruling caste among those Slavs. Most probable reason for the use of the Croatian name in the East among Arabs is due to trade routes which led to and passed through the lands of Buzhans , Lendians and Vistulans connecting the city of Kraków with the city of Prague, implying they were partly dependent to

19665-419: The diocese expanded up to Kraków and rivers Bug and Styr . The Eastern part of the diocese territory was part of the Moravian expansion in the 9th and Bohemian expansion in the 10th century. Some scholars located these Czech Croats within the territory of present-day Chrudim , Hradec Králové , Libice and Kłodzko . Vach argued that they had the most developed techniques of building fortifications among

19836-566: The direction of the east, as Alfred evidently did not know well Slavic borders to the East. According Łowmiański, with the fact that the Frankish chronicles do not mention Croats, while Silesian Croats are a historiographical construction without evidence in historical sources, it indicates that the Croats lived around river Vistula in southern Poland exactly south of Mazovia. In southern and southeastern Poland are usually placed tribes of Vistulans and Lendians, which Łowmiański and Tadeusz Lehr-Spławiński considered as tribes of Croats after happened

20007-483: The dynasty, as there is no certain older relevant personality (possibly duke Witizla from 895). He therefore also gave the name to the whole family. According to Bruno of Querfurt, Slavník was the grandson of the Saxon duke Henry I , by maternal line most probably of an unknown Slavic woman, with whom Otto I had an illegitimate son William . This connection explains the friendly relationship between Slavnik's son Vojtěch, Saint Adalbert of Prague , with Otto III , and

20178-416: The early Croats were Slavs who had taken a name of Iranian origin, or whether they were ruled by a Sarmatian elite and were Slavicized Sarmatians, cannot be resolved, but is considered that they arrived as Slavic people when entered the Balkans. The possibility of Irani-Sarmatian elements among, or influences upon, early Croatian ethnogenesis cannot be entirely excluded, but most probably was negligible by

20349-401: The eastern Balts, was much larger than in historical times. The archaeological documentation and associated finds confirm uninterrupted presence from the Iron Age (fifth century BC) to the successive conquest by Slavic tribes, beginning in the Migration Period . Permanent recorded Baltic history begins in the 10th century with the failed Christianisation by Adalbert of Prague (997 AD),

20520-438: The end of 6th until mid-7th century. What differentiated Croats from other contemporary Slavs was that Croats or partly brought or very early accepted the practice of inhumation from Roman-Christian natives (possibly gradually accepting Christianity already by 8th century ). Besides cremation and skeletal cemeteries, the Slavs in eighth and ninth century North Dalmatia also buried their skeletal remains in tumulus which "could be

20691-435: The end of the 10th and beginning of the 11th century temporary ceased to exist with the extensive layers of fire traces interpreted as evidence of the "Croatian War" by the Vladimir the Great in the end of the 10th century. It had a devastating effect on the administrative division and population of Eastern Galicia (Great Croatia), ultimately stopping their process of becoming a single unified and centralized state. However,

20862-425: The ethnic name of White Croats was possibly preserved in parts of Western Ukraine and Southern Poland until the 19th and early-20th centuries. Historians see the northern White Croats as having become assimilated into the Ukrainian , Polish , and Czech nationalities, and as having been precursors of the Rusyns . It is generally believed that the Croatian ethnonym – Hrvat , Horvat and Harvat – etymologically

21033-422: The ethno-tribal affiliation and territorial borders of the Carpathian region from 6th until 10th century, the tribal territory of the Croats ("Great Croatia") is unanimously considered by Ukrainian archaeologists to have included Prykarpattia and Zakarpattia (almost all lands of historical region of Galicia), with eastern border the Upper Dniester basin, south-eastern the Khotyn upland beginning near Chernivtsi on

21204-432: The first conquest attempts at the expense of the Old Prussians by the duchy of the Polans under Mieszko I and the Duchy of Greater Poland under his son Bolesław , as a number of border areas were eventually lost. Around the year 1,000 AD, the Kashubians and Pomeranians lived to the west of the Old Prussians, the Poles to the south, the Sudovians (sometimes considered a separate people, other times regarded as

21375-412: The following two centuries. The Old Prussian language , documented only in a limited way, was effectively extinct by the 18th century. The original territory of the Old Prussians prior to the first clashes with the Polans consisted of central and southern West and East Prussia , equivalent to parts of the modern areas of the Pomeranian Voivodeship and Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in Poland ,

21546-437: The historical sources, but it was not uncommon for Slavic tribes to get their tribal names from anthroponyms of their forefathers and chiefs of the tribe, like in the case of Czechs , Dulebes , Radimichs , and Vyatichi . Any mention of the Croats before the 9th century is uncertain, and there were several loose attempts at tracing; Struhates , Auhates , and Krobyzoi by Herodotus , Horites by Orosius in 418 AD, and

21717-414: The husband's table. Commercial marriage was widespread and after the husband's death, the widow fell to the son, like other inheritance. Polygyny, up to three wives, was widespread. Adultery was a serious crime, punishable with death. After the submission, commercial marriage and polygyny were forbidden. According to archaeological evidence, pre-Christian burial customs changed over the centuries. During

21888-428: The language spoken by the Prussians and tried to record it. In addition, missionaries needed to communicate with the Prussians in order to convert them. Records of the Old Prussian language therefore survive; along with little-known Galindian and better-known Sudovian , these records are all that remain of the West Baltic language group. As might be expected, it is a very archaic Baltic language. Old Prussians resisted

22059-884: The last was ruled by a mythical ruler Laborec . With such position, they had in control part of the Eastern European Amber Road . Archaeological excavations held between 1981 and 1995 which researched Early Middle Age Gords in Prykarpattia and Western Podolia dated between 9th–11th century found that fortified Gords with a range of 0.2 ha made 65%, those of 2 ha 20%, and more than 2 ha 15% in that region. There were more than 35 Gords, including big Gords like Plisnesk , Stilsko, Terebovlia, Halych, Przemyśl, Revno, Krylos , Lviv ( Chernecha Hora Street  [ uk ] -Voznesensk Street in Lychakivskyi District ), Lukovyshche, Rokitne II in Roztochya region, Podillya, Zhydachiv , Kotorin complex, Klyuchi, Stuponica, Pidhorodyshche, Hanachivka, Solonsko, Mali Hrybovychi, Stradch, Dobrostany among others. Only 12 of them survived until

22230-524: The least late 4th or during the 5th century in the area of the intertwining of these cultures around the Dniester basin. It is considered that the Carpathian Croats later between 7th and 10th century were part of the Luka-Raikovets culture , which developed from Prague-Korchak culture, and was characteristic for East Slavic tribes, besides Croats, including Buzhans , Drevlians , Polans , Tivertsi , Ulichs and Volhynians . According to recent archaeological research of material culture and conclusions on

22401-481: The margin of sea, and further purified by the rolling of the tides, it is at length transported to your shores to be cast upon them. We have thought it better to point this out to you, lest you should imagine that your supposed secrets have escaped our knowledge . We sent you some presents by our ambassadors, and shall be glad to receive further visits from you by the road which you have thus opened up , and to show you future favors. The Old Prussians are called Brus by

22572-409: The migration to the Adriatic Sea in the Roman province of Dalmatia , most often being related to the Pannonian Avars activity in late 6th and early 7th century. It is not clear whether some unnamed Slavs or the Croats plundered the same province and Salona together with the Avars. The migration of the Croats according to narrative in DAI is commonly dated between 622 and 627, or 622–638, but

22743-470: The name depending upon which manuscript of his is referred to: " Over a long period the Slavs settled beside the Danube , where the Hungarian and Bulgarian lands now lie. From among these Slavs, parties scattered throughout the country and were known by appropriate names, according to the places where they settled. Thus some came and settled by the river Morava , and were named Moravians , while others were called Czechs . Among these same Slavs are included

22914-429: The number of his vessels was two thousand ". The list indicates that the closest tribal neighbours were Dulebes- Volhynians , The fact no Lechitic tribe was part of Oleg's conquest it is more probable that those Croats were located on river Dniester rather than Vistula. After Vladimir the Great (980–1015) conquered several Slavic tribes and cities to the West, in 992 he " attacked the Croats. When he had returned from

23085-404: The old paganism lived on cannot be inferred from the sources. Pagan customs are said to have lasted the longest with the remote Sudauers . In the 16th century, the so-called Sudovian Book ( Sudauerbüchlein ) was created, which described a list of gods, "pagan" festivals and goat sanctification. However, researchers argue that this little book misinterpreted traditional folk customs as 'pagan' in

23256-416: The oldest Slavic tribes or tribal alliances that formed prior to the 6th century CE. They were an East Slavic tribe, but bordered both East Slavic groups ( Dulebes and their related Buzhans and Volhynians , Tivertsi , and Ulichs ) in Western Ukraine; and West Slavic tribes ( Lendians and Vistulans ) in southeastern Poland, controlling an important trade route from East to Central Europe. Archaeologically

23427-428: The other side" of Carpathian Mountains . It is considered that the described 7th century homeland and migration's starting point is anachronistic based on partly available information about contemporary 10th century White Croats, and the 6-7th century existence and location of White Croats and Croatia to the West of the Eastern Carpathians or Carpathian Mountains was never proved. It is considered that Constantine VII

23598-472: The previous 13th chapter which described the Hungarian neighbors Franks to the West, Pechenegs to the North, and Moravians to the South, it is also mentioned that "on the other side of the mountains, the Croats are neighboring the Turks", however as are mentioned Pechenegs to the North while in the 10th century the Croats are mentioned as the Southern neighbors of the Hungarians, the account is of uncertain meaning, but most probably referring to Croats living "on

23769-454: The region of Galicia show that the Ukrainian Carpathians population makes a separate anthropological zone of Ukraine, with medieval "Eastern Croats" being "morphologically and statistically different from dolichocranic and mesocephalic massive populations at the lands of the Volynians, the Tyvertsi, and the Drevlyans". It seems that the Eastern Carpathians were not yet border between East and West Slavs as Zakarpattia's archaeological material

23940-407: The region. The duchy of the Polans under Mieszko I , which was the predecessor of the Kingdom of Poland , first attempted to conquer and baptize the Baltic tribes during the 10th century, but repeatedly encountered strong resistance. Not until the 13th century were the Old Prussians subjugated and their lands conquered by the Teutonic Order . The remaining Old Prussians were assimilated during

24111-484: The results, in 1157 some Prussian troops supported the Polish army in their fight against Emperor Frederick Barbarossa . In 1166, two Polish dukes, Bolesław IV and his younger brother Henry , came into Prussia, again over the Ossa River. The prepared Prussians led the Polish army, under the leadership of Henry, into an area of marshy morass. Whoever did not drown was felled by an arrow or by throwing clubs, and nearly all Polish troops perished. From 1191 to 1193 Casimir II

24282-414: The river Vistula called as Litziki , identified with Widukind 's Licicaviki , also referring to the Lendians ( Lyakhs ). According to Tibor Živković , the area of the Vistula where the ancestors of Michael of Zahumlje originate was the place where White Croats would be expected. In the 31st chapter, "Of the Croats and of the Country They Now Dwell in" Constantine wrote: " (It should be known) that

24453-411: The rule of Svatopluk I. These facts exclude the possibility of referring to Croats in Bohemia, placing them in Lesser Poland on the territory of Lendians and Vistulans (Kraków and Cherven Cities ), or more probably the Revno complex on river Prut in Western Ukraine, and generally in Prykarpattia. Nestor described how many East Slavic tribes of " ...the Polyanians , the Derevlians , the Severians ,

24624-452: The rule of the Avars. After they had fought one another for some years, the Croats prevailed and killed some of the Avars and the remainder they compelled to be subject to them... The rest of the Croats stayed over near Francia, and are now called the Belocroats, that is, the White Croats, and have their own archon; they are subject to Otto , the great king of Francia, which is also Saxony, and are unbaptized, and intermarry and are friendly with

24795-438: The same century probably has the only Iranian form of the name which is closest to the Vasmer's reconstructed form, hajrawās or hīrwās . The Persian geography book Hudud al-'Alam (10th century), which has information from 9th century, in the area of Slavs mentioned their two capital cities, Wabnit (actually Wāntit , considered as reference to Vyatichi , or Antes ), the first city East of Slavs, and Hurdāb ( Khurdāb ),

24966-461: The second half of 7th and more prominently since early 8th century. According to anthropological craniometric studies they arrived as biological homogeneous Slavic group of people without significant similarity to Scythians-Sarmatians and Avars (see Origin hypotheses of the Croats#Anthropology ). Medieval Croatian sites in Dalmatia were more closely related to Slavic sites in distant Poland rather than in Lower Pannonia (possibly indicating that

25137-468: The second half of the 9th century and early 10th century. In that time Franks and Hungarians plundered Moravia, and White or Great Croatia was probably part of the Great Moravia . Some scholars relate Vita Methodii' s account about "the mighty prince on the Vistula" who persecuted Christians in his land, but was attacked and defeated by Svatopluk I of Moravia (870–894), possibly indicating conquest and integration of White Croatia into Great Moravia. It

25308-511: The second wave was or not equally numerous to make a significant common-linguistical influence into already present Slavs and natives, or was made of large units with significantly larger number. Leontii Voitovych instead advances the idea of two separate waves of Croats, first massive wave (587–614) from Galicia forced their way through Pannonia, Bosnia and started the conquest of Dalmatia while second wave (626–630) from West of Galicia finished it. The theory on dual division and migration of

25479-460: The shores of ocean, but how it comes thither you know not. But as an author named Cornelius (Tacitus) informs us, it is gathered in the innermost islands of the ocean, being formed originally of the juice of a tree (whence its name succinum), and gradually hardened by the heat of the sun. Thus it becomes an exuded metal, a transparent softness, sometimes blushing with the color of saffron, sometimes glowing with flame-like clearness. Then, gliding down to

25650-399: The statistical data about population in Volhynia governorship released by Mikhail Lebedkin, were counted Horvati with 17,228 people. According to United States Congress Joint Immigration Commission which ended in 1911, Polish immigrants to the United States born in around Kraków reportedly declared themselves as Bielochrovat (i.e. White Croat), which with Krakus and Crakowiak/Cracovinian

25821-432: The term for a body of water, an understandable convention in a coastal region dotted with thousands of lakes, streams and swamps ( Masuria ). To the south, the terrain runs into the vast wetlands of the Pripet Marshes at the headwaters of the Dnieper River , which has been an effective natural barrier throughout the millennia. Writing in 98 CE, Roman historian Tacitus described the pagan Aesti who lived somewhere by

25992-411: The territory of Carpathians. In the Hebrew book Josippon (10th century) are listed four Slavic ethnic names from Venice to Saxony ; Mwr.wh (Moravians), Krw.tj (Croats), Swrbjn ( Sorbs ), Lwcnj (Lučané or Lusatians), and also an East-West trade route Lwwmn (Lendians), Kr. Kr (Krakow), and Bzjm/Bwjmjn (Bohemians). Since the Croats are placed between Moravians and Serbs it identified

26163-448: The toad. They also had forests, fields and bodies of water, which they held so sacred that they neither chopped wood nor dared to cultivate fields or fish in them. Baltic paganism has been described as a form of polydoxy , a belief in the sacredness of all natural forces and phenomena, not personified but possessing their own spirits and magical powers. They thought the world inhabited by a limitless number of spirits and demons, believed in

26334-427: The trading town of Truso at the Vistula Lagoon , observed that wealthy people drank fermented mare's milk kumis instead of mead . According to Adam of Bremen, the Sambians are said to have consumed horse blood as well as horse milk. He also mentions that horse meat was eaten. Women held no powerful positions among the Old Prussians and, according to Peter von Dusburg, were treated like servants, forbidden to share

26505-419: The two Tanais Tablets , found in the Greek colony of Tanais at the shores of Sea of Azov in the late 2nd and early 3rd century AD, at the time when the colony was surrounded by Iranian speaking Sarmatians . However, acceptance of any non-Slavic etymology is problematic because it implies an ethnogenesis relationship with the specific ethnic group. There is no mention of an Iranian tribe named as Horoat in

26676-423: The two dynasties is also demonstrated by the Přemyslid rulers' refusal to ransom Saint Adalbert's body from the Prussians who murdered him, so it was purchased by Bolesław I, and was quickly canonized by the common effort with Otto III. Soon after, a temporary anarchy escalated in Bohemia, as two weak dukes Boleslaus III and Vladivoj followed, leading to the Bolesław I's temporary control of Prague. Eventually,

26847-428: The very end of the 10th century. They were pressured and influenced by more centralized polities: Great Moravia , the Duchy of Bohemia , the Duchy of Poland , Kievan Rus' and the Principality of Hungary . After their defeat by Kievan Rus', on their territory were organized East Slavic principalities of Peremyshl , Terebovlia , Zvenyhorod and finally the Principality of Halych . According to some modern sources,

27018-487: The work by the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII , De Administrando Imperio (10th century). In the 30th chapter, "The Story of the Province of Dalmatia" Constantine wrote: " The Croats at that time were dwelling beyond Bagibareia , where the Belocroats are now. From them split off a family, namely of five brothers, Kloukas and Lobelos and Kosentzis and Mouchlo and Chrobatos, and two sisters, Touga and Bouga, who came with their folk to Dalmatia and found this land under

27189-408: Was "names applying to subdivisions of the Poles". The Northern Croats contributed and assimilated into Czech, Polish and Ukrainian ethnos. They are considered as the predecessors of the Rusyns , specifically Dolinyans, Boykos , Hutsuls , and Lemkos . Early Slavs , especially Sclaveni and Antae , including the White Croats, invaded and settled the Southeastern Europe since

27360-492: Was Prague-Korchak and Luka-Raikovets culture of East Slavs, only later with some West Slavic influence. The areal of Croats in the 9th-10th century is considered to have been in the valley of Laborec , Uzh , Borzhava and was densely populated. The border with the Slovaks to the West was between rivers Laborec and Ondava . By the 7th century the Croats started to establish Horods ( Gord ), and at least since 8th century fortified them with stone defensive works, which became

27531-630: Was a direct challenge to Boleslaus II; he could not afford any mighty rivals and was determined to add the Slavnik lands to his dukedom. In early September of 995, while Soběslav was at war against Lusatian tribes as Boleslaw's and Otto III's ally, Boleslaus II with confederates (the Vršovci ) stormed Libice on September 28, and massacred all of the family, although he originally promised a truce to Soběslav's brothers until his return. Only three Slavnik family members survived, because they were not present at Libice at that time: Soběslav, Adalbert and Radim (Gaudentius). Soběslav temporarily lived in Poland and

27702-498: Was buried in tree coffins. Cremation with urns spread from the third century onwards. Except for the Samians and Sudauers, where shallow grave fields existed until Christianization, cremation pits without urns increasingly became the only form of burials among the Prussians. However, different forms of burial could occur side by side at the same time. The Stone babas , found all over Old Prussia, have for centuries caused considerable speculation and dissent among scholars. Beginning with

27873-585: Was characteristic for the tumulus -type (burial mounds, barrows, kurgan ) burial which was also found in the upper Elbe territory where presumably lived the Czech Croats. Their association with Antes, mainly promoted in Sedov's work, is in contradiction with scientific knowledge about historical, archaeological, political and ethnic evidence of the migration period. Western Ukraine was a contact area between these two cultures in an ethnoculturally diverse environment, and they possibly were representatives of both these archaeological cultures and formed before them at

28044-413: Was comforted by Bolesław I. The ruler also stood out as an intermediary for Adalbert toward Boleslaus II, appealing for Adalbert's return, but the nobility and the people did not accept Adalbert, as they were afraid of his possible vengeful intentions. In 996, when Strachkvas Přemyslid was going to assume the office of a bishop in Prague, he suddenly died during the ceremony. The strength of the conflict of

28215-426: Was headed by its Kriwe , who also served as lawgiver and judge. The Kriwe-Kriwajto's next in rank, the Siggonen were expected to maintain the healthy spiritual connection with natural sacred sites, like springs and trees. The Wurskaiten – priests of lower rank – were supposed to superintend rites and ceremonies. With the submission to the Teutonic Order in 1231, the Old Prussians were Christianised . How long

28386-525: Was in the realm of Bohemia, and friendly relations between Bohemia and Magyars were established after 955. White Croats since 906 until 955, or since 955, were in friendly and matrimonial relations with the Árpád dynasty . A similar story to the 30th chapter is mentioned in the work by Thomas the Archdeacon , Historia Salonitana (13th century), where he recounts how seven or eight tribes of nobles, who he called Lingones , arrived from Poland and settled in Croatia under Totila 's leadership. According to

28557-401: Was installed as the first bishop of Prussia. The Duchy of Masovia, and especially the region of Culmerland , become the object of constant Prussian counter-raids. In response, Konrad I of Masovia called on the Pope for aid several times, and founded a military order (the Order of Dobrzyń ) before calling on the Teutonic Order . The results were edicts calling for Northern Crusades against

28728-445: Was referring to the 10th century Duchy of Bohemia which controlled parts of Southern Poland and Western Ukraine. From the 30th chapter can be observed that the Croats lived "beyond Bavaria" in the sense East of it, in Bohemia and Lesser Poland, because the original source of information was of Western Roman origin. White Croatia in the 7th century could not border Francia, and Frankish sources do not mention and know anything about

28899-429: Was separated from Germania by the Vistula Flumen . His map is very confusing in that region, but the Borusci seem further east than the Prussians, which would have been under the Gythones ( Goths ) at the mouth of the Vistula. The Aesti recorded by Tacitus , were 450 years later recorded by Jordanes as part of the Gothic Empire. The original Old Prussian settlement area in the western Baltics, as well as that of

29070-414: Was the capital of the Duchy of Bohemia , ruled by Boleslaus II , and the Diocese of Prague was founded there in 973. However, after Adalbert was appointed the head of the Diocese in 982, a conflict escalated between Boleslaus II of Bohemia and Poland 's Duke Bolesław I Chrobry in 985, and in 989 Adalbert left the Diocese, only to return in 991 or 992 when a truce was signed. Although he managed to found

29241-503: Was the presumed territory by the White Croats and Zlicans, as well among Dulebes in the South, and Moravians in the East. The graves with kurgans in northeastern Czechia and lower Silesia, where are usually located the White Croats, can also indicate a Lechite-Croatian contact zone with Upper Lusatia , and these burial customs are main difference between White Croatian and White Serbian territory sites. Old Prussians Old Prussians , Baltic Prussians or simply Prussians were

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