Lech and Czech

Lech, Czech and Rus' (, ) refers to a founding legend of three Slavic brothers who founded three Slavic peoples: the Poles (or Lechites), the Czechs, and the Rus'. The three legendary brothers appear together in the '' Wielkopolska Chronicle'', compiled in the early 14th century. The legend states that the brothers, on a hunting trip, followed different prey and thus travelled (and settled) in different directions: Lech in the northwest, Czech in the west, and Rus' in the northeast. There are multiple versions of the legend, including several regional variants throughout West Slavic, and to lesser extent, other Slavic countries that mention only one or two brothers. The three also figure into the origin myth of South Slavic peoples in some legends. Their stories are often, to some extent as well, used as a myth to understand the eventual foundation of the Polish, Czech and East Slavic states ( Kievan Rus'), in accordance with the legend.

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 Říp Mountain rising up from the Bohemian hilly countryside, while Lech traveled north. Lech, while hunting, followed his arrow and suddenly found himself face-to-face with a fierce, white eagle guarding its nest from intruders. Seeing the eagle against the red of the setting sun, Lech took this as a good omen and decided to settle there. He named his settlement Gniezno ( Polish ''gniazdo'' – 'nest') in commemoration and adopted the White Eagle as his coat-of-arms. The white eagle remains a symbol of Poland to this day, and the colors of the eagle and the setting sun are depicted in Poland's coat of arms, as well as its flag, with a white stripe on top for the eagle, and a red stripe on the bottom for the sunset.

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.

Czech version

A variant of this legend, involving only two brothers (and three sisters), is also known in the Czech Republic. As in the Polish version, Čech is identified as the founder of the Czech nation (''Češi'' pl.) and Lech as the founder of the Polish nation. Zdeněk Nejedlý argued that Cosmas of Prague's '' Chronica Boemorum'' (12th century) described Čech's arrival from Northeastern Bohemia once called White Croatia. The older chronicles from 14th century (such as those of Dalimil, Wenceslaus Hajek and Přibík Pulkava z Radenína) do not specify the location of Čech and Lech's homeland ''Charvaty'', but in the Alois Jirásek retelling of '' Staré pověsti české (Old Bohemian Legends)'' from 1894 it is more closely determined; ''Za Tatrami, v rovinách při řece Visle rozkládala se od nepaměti charvátská země, část prvotní veliké vlasti slovanské'' (Behind the Tatra Mountains, in the plains of the river Vistula, stretched from immemorial time Charvátská country (probably meaning so-called Great or 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). In the same century, Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor in 1347 claimed "seniority of Croatian" language over Bohemian language, while Jan of Holešov in 1397 wrote "it should be known, first, that we, Bohemians, by origin and language initially descend from the Croats, as our chronicles relate and testify, and therefore our Bohemian language by its origin is the Croatian language". Dušan Třeštík saw parallels of number seven and else in the Croatian ''origo gentis'' of five brothers and two sisters from the 30th chapter of ''De Administrando Imperio'' by Constantine VII (10th century).

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. 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.

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.

Croatian version

A similar legend with partly changed names (Čeh, Leh, Meh and sister Vilina), was also registered in folk tales in Croatia in the Kajkavian dialect of Krapina in Zagorje (northern Croatia). Sakač, S. K. (1940).
Krapina-Kijev-Ararat, Priča o troje braće i jednoj sestri
'. Obnovljeni Život 21/3-4: 129–149, Zagreb However, some believe it isn't of ancient origin but rather it was introduced among commoners by literary people since 16th century. Hajek was the first to mention Krapina as place of origin of Leh meanwhile Čeh ruled over Psar near stream/river Krupa, while Klemens Janicki wrote that Lech emigrated from island Hvar in Dalmatia. Already since 16th century Vinko Pribojević, Faust Vrančić

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases