West Slavs

West Slavic
Západní Slované (cz.)
Západní Slovania (sk.)
Słowianie zachodni (pl.)
Zôpôdni Słowiónie (csb.)
Pódwjacorne Słowjany (dsb.)
Zapadni Słowjenjo (hsb.)

West Slavs (light green) on the map of Europe.
Total population
>82 million
Regions with significant populations

Majority: Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia

Officially recognized minority: Austria, Belarus, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Serbia, Ukraine, Romania. Some small communities in France, UK, Ireland, BeNeLux, Portugal, Italy, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Malta, Lebanon, Israel, UAE and in the Northern Europe. Biggest majority in Russia.
Languages
West Slavic languages:
Czech, Kashubian, Lower Sorbian, Polish, Slovak, Upper Sorbian
Religion
Catholic Church, Non-Religious Minorities
Related ethnic groups
Other Slavs, Balts
Reconstruction of the Slavic temple in Groß Raden

The West Slavs are Slavic peoples speaking West Slavic languages. These are the current Slovaks, Czechs, Kashubians, Poles and Sorbs. The northern or Lechitic group includes, along with Polish, the Kashubian and extinct Polabian and Pomeranian languages. The languages of Upper and Lower Lusatia have features in common with both the Lechitic and the Czecho-Slovak group.[1]

Culturally, West Slavs developed along the lines of other Western European nations due to affiliation with the Roman Empire and Western Christianity.[2] Thus, they experienced a cultural split with the other Slavic groups: while the East Slavs and most South Slavs converted to Orthodox Christianity, thus being culturally influenced by the Byzantine Empire, the West Slavs along with the westernmost South Slavs (Slovenes and Croats) converted to Roman Catholicism, thus coming under the cultural influence of the Latin Church.

History

Bishop Absalon topples the god Svantevit at Arkona

In the Middle Ages the name "Wends" (derived from Roman-era Veneti) was applied to Western Slavic peoples. Mieszko I, the first historical ruler of Poland, also appeared as "Dagome, King of the Wends".

The early Slavic expansion began in the 5th century, and by the 6th century, the groups that would become the West, East and South Slavic groups had probably become geographically separated. The first independent West Slavic states originate beginning in the 7th century, with the Empire of Samo (623–658), the Principality of Moravia (8th century–833), the Principality of Nitra (8th century–833) and Great Moravia (833–c. 907). The Sorbs and other Polabian Slavs like Obodrites and Veleti came under the domination of the Holy Roman Empire after the Wendish Crusade[3] in the Middle Ages and had been strongly Germanized by Germans at the end of the 19th century. The Polabian language survived until the beginning of the 19th century in what is now the German state of Lower Saxony.[4] At this time only 60,000 Sorbs have survived, living predominantly in Lusatia, a region in modern Germany in the states of Brandenburg and Saxony.[5]

The central Polish tribe of the Polans created their own state in the 10th century under the Polish duke Mieszko I. For many centuries Poland has had close ties with its western neighbors, with the Polish ruler Bolesław I the Brave declared by Holy Roman Emperor Otto III as Frater et Cooperator Imperii ("Brother and Partner in the Empire").[6]

The precursors of the Czechs (i.e. Bohemians) migrated into Bohemia in the late 6th century and had established various fiefdoms by the 10th century when their rulers eventually became vassals (1002) of the Holy Roman Emperors. Kingdom of Bohemia stayed part of that Empire between 1002–1419 and 1526–1918. Predecessors of Slovaks came under Hungarian domination after 907 (doom of the Great Moravia) – together with other Slavic groups as Croats, Slovenians, Dalmatians and Rusyns. Both the Czechs and the Slovaks were under rule of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526 to 1804; then in the Austrian Empire and between 1867–1918 part of Austria-Hungary.

West Slavic groups

West Slavic languages

Historical West Slavic groups

West Slav tribes in 9th/10th century

West Slavs from the Bavarian Geographer

In 845 the Bavarian Geographer made a list of West Slavic tribes who lived in the areas of modern day Poland, Czech Republic, Germany and Denmark:

Pos. Latin name in 845 English name no. of gords
1 Nortabtrezi North Obotrites 53
2 Uuilci
Veleti/Wilzi 95
7 Hehfeldi
Hevellians 8
14 Osterabtrezi
East Obotrites 100
15 Miloxi
67
17 Thadesi
200
18 Glopeani
Goplans 400
33 Lendizi Lendians 98
34 Thafnezi
257
36 Prissani
Pyritzans 70
37 Uelunzani
Wolinians 70
38 Bruzi
Old Prussians
48 Uuislane
Vistulans
49 Sleenzane
Ślężanie 15
50 Lunsizi
Sorbs 30
52 Milzane
Milceni 30
56 Lupiglaa
30
57 Opolini
Opolanie 20
58 Golensizi
Golensizi 5
53 Besunzane
Bezunczans 2
51 Diadesisi
Dziadoszyce 20
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See also

References

  1. ↑ Bohemia and Poland. Chapter 20.pp 512-513. [in:] Timothy Reuter. The New Cambridge Medieval History: c. 900-c.1024. 2000
  2. ↑ Slav - Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
  3. ↑ Christiansen, Erik (1997). The Northern Crusades. London: Penguin Books. p. 287. ISBN 0-14-026653-4.
  4. ↑ Polabian language
  5. ↑ Die Sorben in Deutschland, M.Schiemann, Stiftung für das sorbische Volk, Görlitz 1997
  6. ↑ Rez. MA: M. Borgolte (Hg.): Polen und Deutschland vor 1000 Jahren - H-Soz-u-Kult / Rezensionen / Bücher
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Jerzy Strzelczyk. Bohemia and Poland: two examples of successful western Slavonic state-formation. In: Timothy Reuter ed. The New Cambridge Medieval History: c. 900-c. 1024. Cambridge University Press. 1995. p. 514.
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