Lechites (Polish:Lechici,German:Lechiten),[1] also known as theLechitic tribes (Polish:Plemiona lechickie,German:Lechitische Stämme), is a name given to certainWest Slavictribes who inhabited modern-dayPoland and eastern Germany, and were speakers of theLechitic languages. Distinct from theCzech–Slovak subgroup, they are the closest ancestors of ethnicPoles and ofPomeranians,Lusatians andPolabians.[2][3]
According to Polish legend,Mieszko I inherited the ducal throne from his father who probably ruled over two-thirds of the territory inhabited by eastern Lechite tribes. He united the Lechites east of theOder (Polans,Masovians,Pomeranians,Vistulans,Silesians) into a single country ofPoland. His son,Bolesław I the Brave, founded the bishoprics atWrocław,Kołobrzeg, andKraków, and an archbishopric atGniezno. Bolesław carried out successful wars againstBohemia,Moravia,Kievan Rus' andLusatia, and forced the western Pomeranians to pay Poland a tribute. Shortly before his death Bolesław became the first King of Poland in 1025.
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TheWest Slavs included the ancestors of the peoples known later asPoles,Pomeranians,Czechs,Slovaks,Sorbs andPolabians. The northern so-called Lechitic group includes, along with Polish, endangeredPomeranian andPolabian, a dead language;Silesian, which is variously considered a Polish dialect or a language in its own right, is also part of this group. TheSorbian languages of the southern part of the Polabian area, preserved as relics today in Upper andLower Lusatia, occupy a place between the Lechitic and Czech-Slovak groups.[5]
The nameLech orLeszek, Lestko, Leszko, Lestek, and Lechosław is a very popular name in Poland. Lech was a popular male name among members ofPiast dynasty likeLestko,Leszek I the White,Leszek II the Black,Leszek, Duke of Masovia,Leszek of Racibórz. The oldest part ofGniezno, in the center ofGreat Poland, is known asWzgórze Lecha ("Lech's Hill") as well asGóra Królewska ("Royal Hill").
Lestko (also Lestek, Leszek), mentioned in theGesta principum Polonorum,[6][7][8] completed between 1112 and 1118 byGallus Anonymus, was the secondlegendary duke ofPoland and the son ofSiemowit, born ca. 870–880. TheRes gestae saxonicae sive annalium libri tres chronicle of 10th-centuryGermany, written byWidukind of Corvey, noted thatMieszko I (son ofSiemomysł and grandchild of Lestek), ruled over the tribe called theLicicaviki,[9] who lived in what is now Poland and were known as "Lestkowici" - the tribe of Lestek identified by the historians with theLendians.
Wincenty Kadłubek inChronica seu originale regum et principum Poloniae (Chronicles of the Kings and Princes of Poland), written between 1190 and 1208, used the namesLechitae (Lechites),lechiticus (lechitic) andLechia many times to describe all of medieval Poland.[10][11]Chronicle of Greater Poland 1273 describedCasimir I the Restorer as "king of Poles means Lechites".[12] Both the names "Poles" and "Lechites" were used in medieval Poland as adequate terms. "Laesir is theOld Norse term for the Ljachar, a people near theVistula in Poland".[13] Different forms of the nameLechia to designate the Polish state persist in severalEuropean languages and in some languages ofCentral Asia and theMiddle East: "Lehia" inRomanian, "Lahestân/لهستان" inPersian (and via borrowing from Persian: "Lehastan" inArmenian, and "Lehistan" in theOttoman Turkish).
In Polish literatureLech was also the name of the legendary founder of Poland. The legend describes three brothers, Lech, Čech, and Rus – who founded three Slavic nations:Poland (also known asLechia),Bohemia (Čechy, now known as theCzech Republic), andRus (Ruthenia). In this legend Lech was the founder ofGniezno.
Three brothers Lech, Czech and Rus were exploring the wilderness to find a place to settle. Suddenly they saw a hill with an old oak and an eagle on top. Lech said: this white eagle I will adopt as an emblem of my people, and around this oak I will build my stronghold, and because of the eagle nest (Polish:gniazdo) I will call it Gniezdno (modern:Gniezno). The other brothers went further on to find a place for their people. Czech went to the South (to found theCzech Lands)and Rus went to the East (to createRus').[12]
A variant of this legend, involving only two brothers Lech and Čech, was first written down byCosmas of Prague ofBohemia. The legend was described byKronika wielkopolska ("Greater Poland Chronicle"),[14] written in 1273 in Latin, andChronicle of Dalimil, written in Czech in 1314.[15]
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