Vandals

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"Vandal" and "Vandali" redirect here. For other uses, see Vandal (disambiguation).
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The Vandals were an East Germanic tribe, 'Germanic' as defined by Tacitus, that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Vandals may have given their name to the region of Andalusia, which according to one of several theories of its etymology was originally Vandalusia (which would be the source of Al-Andalus — the Arabic name of Iberian Peninsula), in the south of present day Spain, where they temporarily settled before pushing on to Africa.

The Goth Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths and regent of the Visigoths, was allied by marriage with the Vandals, as well as with the Burgundians and the Franks under Clovis I.

The Vandals' 'traditional' reputation: a colored steel engraving of the Sack of Rome (455) by Heinrich Leutemann (1824–1904), c 1860–80
The Vandals' 'traditional' reputation: a colored steel engraving of the Sack of Rome (455) by Heinrich Leutemann (1824–1904), c 1860–80

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[edit] Origins

Some archaeologists and historians identify the Vandals with the Przeworsk culture, but autochtonic/allochtonic controversy surrounds potential connections between the Vandals and another, possibly Germanic or pra-Slovoian tribe, the Lugii (Lygier, Lugier or Lygians). Some academics believe that either Lugii was an earlier name of the Vandals, or the Vandals were part of the Lugian federation.

The Przeworsk culture (green) in the first half of the 3rd century. The map shows the extent of the Wielbark culture (Goths) in red, a Baltic culture (probably the Aesti) in yellow, and the Debczyn Culture, pink. The Roman Empire is in purple.
The Przeworsk culture (green) in the first half of the 3rd century. The map shows the extent of the Wielbark culture (Goths) in red, a Baltic culture (probably the Aesti) in yellow, and the Debczyn Culture, pink. The Roman Empire is in purple.

Similarities of names have suggested homelands for the Vandals in Norway (Hallingdal), Sweden (Vendel), or Denmark (Vendsyssel). The Vandals are assumed to have crossed the Baltic into what is today Poland somewhere in the 2nd century BC, and to have settled in Silesia from around 120 BC. Tacitus recorded their presence between the Oder and Vistula rivers in Germania (AD 98); his identification was corroborated by later historians: according to Jordanes, they and the Rugians were displaced by the arrival of the Goths. This tradition supports the identification of the Vandals with the Przeworsk culture, since the Gothic Wielbark culture seems to have replaced a branch of that culture.

Also in England an iron age hillfort at Wandlebury, in Cambridgeshire, was believed by Gervase of Tilbury to be the site of a battle between local Christians and a fierce barbarian tribe called the Wandali.[1]

Medieval authors used the ethnonym "Vandals" applying it consistently to Slavic peoples: Wends, Losatians or Poles.[2][3][4]

  • In 796, in the Annales Alamanici, we can find an excerpt saying, "Pipinus ... perrexit in regionem Wandalorum, et ipsi Wandali venerunt obvium" ("Pepin went to the region of the Vandals, and the Vandals themselves came out to meet him").
  • In Annales Sangallenses, the same raid (however, put in 795) is summarised in one short message, "Wandali conquisiti sunt" ("The Vandals are sought out").
  • In Gesta Hammabur-gensis ecclesiae pontificum by Adam of Brema : Sclavania igitur, amplissima Germaniae provintia, a Winulis incolitur, qui olim dicti 'sum Wandali; decies maior esse fertur nostra Saxonia, presertim si Boemiam et eos, qui trans Oddaram sunt, Polanos, quaia nec habitu nec lingua discrepant, in partem adiecreris Sclavaniae

[edit] History

Simplified map of the various incursions into the Roman Empire, showing the Vandals migrations from Germany through Dacia, Gaul, Iberia, and into North Africa, and the eventual sack of Rome in 455 CE.
Simplified map of the various incursions into the Roman Empire, showing the Vandals migrations from Germany through Dacia, Gaul, Iberia, and into North Africa, and the eventual sack of Rome in 455 CE.

The Vandals were divided in two tribal groups, the Silingi and the Hasdingi. At the time of the War of the Marcomanni (166–180) the Silingi lived in an area recorded for one[6] century as Magna Germania, now Silesia. In the 2nd century, the Hasdingi, led by the kings Raus and Rapt (or Rhaus and Raptus)[citation needed] moved south, and first attacked the Romans in the lower Danube area. In about 271 the Roman Emperor Aurelian was obliged to protect the middle course of the Danube against them. They made peace and settled in western Dacia and Panonia.

According to Jordanes' History of the Goths discovered around 1850 by Theodore Mommsen, the Hasdingi came into conflict with the Goths around the time of Constantine the Great. At the time, the Vandals were living in lands later inhabited by the Gepids, where they were surrounded "on the east [by] the Goths, on the west [by] the Marcomanni, on the north [by] the Hermanduri and on the south [by] the Hister (Danube)." The Vandals were attacked by the Gothic king Geberic, and their king Visimar was killed. The Vandals then migrated to Pannonia, where after Constantine the Great (about 330) granted them lands on the right bank of the Danube, they lived for the next sixty years.

In 400 or 401, possibly because of attacks or coordination with the Huns, the Vandals along with their allies (the Sarmatian Alans and Germanic Suebians) invaded westward, into Roman teritory, under king Godigisel. Some of the Silingi joined them later. Around this time, the Hasdingi had already been Christianized. Through the Emperor Valens (364–78) the Vandals accepted, much like the Goths earlier, Arianism, a belief that was in opposition to that of Nicene orthodoxy of the Roman Empire, yet there were also some scattered orthodox Vandals, among whom was general Stilicho, the minister of the Emperor Honorius.

[edit] Gaul

In 406 the Vandals advanced from Pannonia travelling west along the Danube without much difficulty, but when they reached the Rhine, they met resistance from the Franks, who populated and controlled Romanized regions in northern Gaul. Twenty thousand Vandals, including Godigisel himself, died in the resulting battle, but then with the help of the Alans they managed to defeat the Franks, and on December 31, 406 the changing climate had an unexpected effect. For the first time, the Rhine froze over, allowing the Vandals to cross and invade Gaul, which they devastated terribly. Under Godigisel's son Gunderic, the Vandals plundered their way westward and southward through Aquitaine.

[edit] Iberia

On October 13, 409 they crossed the Pyrenees into the Iberian peninsula. There they 'received land' from the Romans, as foederati, in Gallaecia (Northwest) and Hispania Baetica (South), while the Alans got lands in Lusitania (West) and the region around Carthago Nova. The Suebi also controlled part of Gallaecia. The Visigoths, who invaded Iberia before receiving lands in Septimania (Southern France), crushed the Alans in 426, killing the western Alan king Attaces. The remainder of his people subsequently appealed to the Vandal king Gunderic to accept the Alan crown. Later Vandal kings in North Africa styled themselves Rex Wandalorum et Alanorum ("King of the Vandals and Alans").

[edit] Africa

From 427 their king was Geiseric (Genseric, Gaiseric), Gunderic's half brother, arguably the greatest Vandal king, who started building a Vandal fleet, to plunder the Mediterranean.

In 429, Political maneuvering in Rome was to change the landscape forever. Rome was ruled by the boy emperor, Valentinian III (who rose to power at the age of 8), and his mother Galla Placidia, however, the Roman General Flavius Aëtius, in vying for power, convinced Galla Placidia that her General Bonifice, was plotting to kill her and her son to claim the throne for himself. As proof, he implored her to write him a letter asking him to come to Rome and she would see that Bonifice would refuse. At the same time Aëtius, sent Bonifice a letter stating that he should disregard letters from Rome asking him to return for they were plotting to kill him. When Bonifice saw the letter from Rome, and believed there was a plot to kill him, he enlisted the help of the Vandal King Gaiseric. He promised the Vandals land in North Africa in exchange for their help. However, once it was known that the whole thing was a plot, and Bonifice was once again in Romes Favour, it was too late to turn back the horde.

Gaiseric crossed the Strait of Gibraltar with the entire tribe of 80,000 and moved east, pillaging and looting as they drove more and more refugees toward the walled city of Hippo Regius. Gaiseric realized that they wouldn't be able to take the city in a direct assault, so began a months long siege on the walls of Hippo Regius. Inside St. Augustine and his priests prayed for relief from the Arian invaders, knowing full well that the fall of the city would spell conversion or death for many Catholics. On August 28th, 430AD, St. Augustine died 3 months into the siege of the city, perhaps from hunger or stress, as the wheat fields outside the city lay dormant and unharvested due to the invaders. After 14 months, hunger and the inevitable diseases were ravaging both the city inhabitants and the Vandals outside the city walls.

Peace was made between the Romans who in 435 granted them some territory in Northern Africa, but it was broken by Gaiseric, who in 439 made Carthage his capital. The Vandals took and plundered the city without a fight, entering the city while most of the inhabitants were attending the races at the hippodrome. Gaiseric then built the Kingdom of the Vandals and Alans into a powerful state with the capital at Saldae; he conquered Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica and the Balearic Islands.

Differences between the Arian faith adhered to by the Vandals and Rome's Catholics or Donatists was a constant source of tension in their African state. Most Vandal kings, except Hilderic, persecuted Catholics to a greater or lesser extent. Members of the clergy were exiled, monasteries were dissolved, and general pressure was used on non-conforming Catholics. Although Catholicism was rarely officially forbidden (the last months of Huneric's reign being an exception), they were forbidden from making converts among the Vandals, and life was generally difficult for the Catholic clergy, who were denied bishoprics.

[edit] Sack of Rome

Main article: Sack of Rome (455)

During the next thirty-five years, with a large fleet, Geiseric looted the coasts of the Eastern and Western Empires. After Attila the Hun's death, however, the Romans could afford to turn their attention back to the Vandals, who were in control of some of the richest lands of their former empire. In an effort to bring the Vandals into the fold of the Empire, Valentinian III offered his daughter's hand in marriage to Geiseric's son. Before this "Treaty" could be carried out, however, politics again played a crucial part in the blunders of Rome. Petronius Maximus, the usurper, killed Valentinian III in an effort to control the Empire. Diplomacy between the two factions broke down, and in 455 with a letter from the Empress Licinia Eudoxia, begging Geiseric's son to rescue her, the Vandals took Rome, along with the Empress Licinia Eudoxia and her daughters Eudocia and Placidia.

The chronicler Prosper of Aquitaine[7] offers the only fifth-century report that on 2 June 455, pope Leo the Great received Geiseric and implored him to abstain from murder and destruction by fire, and to be satisfied with pillage. Whether the pope's influence saved Rome is, however, questioned; moreover, the Vandals had only booty in mind, nor was the plundering as extreme as later tradition and the expression "vandalism" would imply.

They departed with countless valuables, including:

[edit] Temporary consolidation

From 462, the Vandal kingdom included North Africa and the islands of the Mediterranean, including Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica and the Balearic Islands. However, like the other Germanic kingdoms on Roman soil, the African kingdom of the Vandals soon began to decay from the lack of religious and racial unity between the two populations.

In 468 they destroyed an enormous Byzantine fleet sent against them. Following up the attack, the Vandals tried to invade the Peloponnese but were driven back by the Maniots at Kenipolis with heavy losses.[8] In retaliation, the Vandals took 500 hostages at Zakynthos, hacked them to pieces and threw the pieces overboard on the way to Carthage.[8]

The Arian Vandals treated the Catholics more harshly than other German peoples. Catholic bishops were punished by Geiseric with deposition, exile, or death, and laymen were excluded from office and frequently suffered confiscation of their property. It is said of Geiseric himself that he was originally a Catholic and had changed to Arianism about 428; this, however, is probably an invention. He protected his Catholic subjects when his relations with Rome and Constantinople were friendly, as during the years 454–57, when the Catholic community at Carthage, being without a head, elected Deogratias bishop. The same was also the case during the years 476–77 when Bishop Victor of Cartenna sent him, during a period of peace, a sharp refutation of Arianism and suffered no punishment.

[edit] Decline

Geiseric, one of the most powerful personalities of the 'era of the Migrations', had been the power of the seas. He died at a great age on 25 January, 477 A.D. According to the law of succession which he had promulgated, not the son but the oldest male member of the royal house was to succeed to the throne (law of seniority). He was succeeded by his son Huneric (Hunerich, 477–484), who at first protected the Catholics, owing to his fear of Constantinople. But from 482 Huneric's reign was mostly notable for its religious persecutions of the Manichaeans and Catholics in the most terrible manner.

Gunthamund (484 – 496), his cousin and successor, sought internal peace with the Catholics and protected them once more. Externally, the Vandal power had been declining since Geiseric's death, and Gunthamund lost large parts of Sicily to the Ostrogoths and had to withstand increasing pressure from the autochthonous Moors.

While Thrasamund (496–523), owing to his religious fanaticism, was hostile to Catholics, he contented himself with bloodless persecutions.

[edit] The turbulent end

Hilderic (Hilderich, 523 – 530) was the Vandal king most tolerant towards the Catholic church (which had condemned Arianism at the First Council of Nicaea in 325). He granted it religious freedom; consequently Catholic synods were once more held in North Africa. However, he had little interest in war, and left it to a family member, Hoamer. When Hoamer suffered a defeat against the Moors, the Arian faction within the royal family led a revolt, raising the banner of national Arianism, and his cousin Gelimer (530 – 533) became king. Hilderic, Hoamer and their relatives were thrown into prison. Hilderich was deposed and murdered in 533.[citation needed]

This was taken as an excuse for interference by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I, who declared war on the Vandals. The armies of the Eastern Empire were commanded by Belisarius, who, having heard that the greatest part of the Vandal fleet was fighting an uprising in Sardinia, decided to act quickly, and landed on Tunisian soil, then marched on to Carthage. In the late summer of 533, King Gelimer met Belisarius ten miles south of Carthage at the Battle of Ad Decimium; the Vandals were winning the battle until Gelimer's nephew Gibamund fell in battle. Gelimer then lost heart and fled. Belisarius quickly took Carthage while the surviving Vandals fought on.[citation needed]

On December 15, 533, Gelimer and Belisarius clashed again at Ticameron, some 20 miles from Carthage. Again, the Vandals fought well but broke, this time when Gelimer's brother Tzazo fell in battle. Belisarius quickly advanced to Hippo, second city of the Vandal Kingdom, and in 534 Gelimer surrendered to the Roman conqueror, ending the Kingdom of the Vandals. North Africa became a Roman province, from which the Vandals were expelled. Gelimer was honourably treated and received large estates in Galatia. He was also offered the rank of a patrician but had to refuse it because he was not willing to change his Arian faith.[citation needed]

[edit] List of kings

  1. Godigisel (359-407)
  2. Gunderic (407 – 428)
  3. Geiseric (428 – 477)
  4. Huneric (477 – 484)
  5. Gunthamund (484 – 496)
  6. Thrasamund (496 – 523)
  7. Hilderic (523 – 530)
  8. Gelimer (530 – 534)

[edit] Vandalic language

Main article: Vandalic language

Very little is known about the Vandalic language which was of the East Germanic linguistic branch, closely related to Gothic (known from Ulfilas's Bible translation), both completely extinct.

[edit] References to the Vandals

  • "Vandalism" is from the French vandalisme, which originated during the French revolution. The verb vandalize is first recorded in 1800. The term "vandalism" has come to mean senseless destruction as a result of the Vandals' sack of Rome under King Geiseric in 455. Historians agree that the Vandals were no more destructive than other invaders of ancient times. During the Enlightenment, Rome was idealized, so the Goths and Vandals were disparaged. John Dryden writes: Till Goths, and Vandals, a rude Northern race, Did all the matchless Monuments deface (1694). The word "goth" has gained architectural and other associations since Dryden's time, but "vandal" has not.
  • The name Andalusia (Spain's southernmost region) is possibly derived from the ethnic name "Vandal", (Vandalusia).
  • Robin Hemley's short story, The Liberation of Rome[9] depicts a conversation between a professor of Roman History and a hostile student of "over half" Vandal ancestry.
  • Stephen Lawhead's book, Pendragon, which recasts the medieval King Arthur fable in 5th-6th Century Celtic Britain, finds the Vandals invading Britain, having just been expelled from Carthage.
  • The University of Idaho athletic teams are known as the Vandals.
  • A skit performed by Monty Python's Flying Circus referenced the Vandals on April 20, 1969.
  • A skit in the popular television series Saturday Night Live featured Steve Martin as a Roman general and depicted Vandals "TP'ing" the Roman camp and ordering pizzas in the general's name.
  • In an Elftor comic entitled Elftor vs the Goths, the little elf Elftor goes to a park to confront what he believes to be members of the Goth subculture who turn out to be actual Goths. After his defeat at their hands, he is called upon to confront some Vandals in the park but declines.

[edit] See also

[edit] Further reading

[edit] References

Wendland

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Throughout history, there has been different usage of the term (ON.) Wendland, Vendland, Ventheland or (Lat.) Vandalia. The Latinized form is usually associated with the germanic tribe Vandals, although Wendland or Vandalia is the land inhabited by the Wends (today considered to be a Slavic people). The most common interpretations:

  1. The region inhabited by West Slavic groups, corresponding to North-Eastern Germany.
  2. The region Lüchow-Dannenberg including the former micronation de:Republik_Freies_Wendland.
  3. According to the Finnish historian Matti Klinge, an earlier name for Finland, especially Finland Proper. This theory has few supporters, and is based on an interpretation of old maps, some of which place Wendland in the far north or European Russia, and term Gulf of Finland as 'Mare Vendicus'.

Wendland is mentioned c. 900, by Wulfstan of Hedeby as Weonodland:

Then, after the land of the Burgundians, we had on our left the lands that have been called from the earliest times Blekingey, and Meore, and Eowland, and Gotland, all which territory is subject to the Sweons; and Weonodland was all the way on our right, as far as Weissel-mouth.[1]

[edit] People named Wendland

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Venedes

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This article is about the Venedes (also called Veneti) of Central Europe. For other peoples called Veneti, see Veneti (disambiguation).

The Baltic Veneti (alternatively also called the Vistula Veneti) were an ancient Indo-European people living in contemporary Poland, along the rivers of Oder and the Vistula.

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[edit] Ethnic character of the Veneti

The Veneti are believed to have been originally a centum Indo-European people dwelling in the area of contemporary Poland. Their heritage is attributed to Pre-Slavic hydronyms found in the Vistula and Oder river basins. To a certain extent, these hydronyms fall within the scope of Old European hydronyms established by Hans Krahe (see Old European hydronymy).

It is not clear whether they were related to the Adriatic Veneti, a people whose language is attested in inscriptions dating from 6th to 1st centuries BC and is known to have been particularly closely related to the Italic languages (see Venetic language). Hydronyms attributed to the Vistula Veneti seem to show resemblances to those attested in the area of the Adriatic Veneti (in Northeastern Italy) as well as those attested in the Western Balkans that are attributed to Illyrians (for examples, linguistic comparisons and further reference see Gołąb 1992: 263-268), all of which may point to a possible connection between these ancient Indo-European peoples. However, some scholars prefer to consider the Vistula Veneti as a distinct group. Steinacher (2002: 32) presents the view that modern research establishes no relation of the Vistula Veneti to the Adriatic Veneti, the Veneti of Gaul, the North Balkan/Paphlagonian Enetoi (mentioned by Herodotus and Appian) or between any of these peoples.

Scholarly consensus suggests that the Pre-Slavic population of the Vistula and Oder river basins had a North-West Indo-European character with close affinities to the Italo-Celtic branch but was definitely not Germanic (Gołąb 1992: 88).

[edit] Origin of the ethnonym Veneti

According to J. Pokorny, the ethnonym Venetī (singular *Venetos) is derived from Proto Indo-European root *u̯en- 'to strive; to wish for, to love'. There seem to have been two possible accentuation patterns: Old High German Winida 'Wende' points to Pre-Germanic *Venétos, while Lat.-Germ. Venedi (as attested in Tacitus) and Old English Winedas 'Wends' call for Pre-Germanic *Venetós. Etymologically related words include Latin venus, -eris 'love, passion, grace'; Sanskrit vanas- 'lust, zest', vani- 'wish, desire'; Old Irish fine (< Proto-Celtic *venjā) 'kinship, kinfolk, alliance, tribe, family'; Old Norse vinr, Old Saxon, Old High German wini, Old Frisian, Old English wine 'Friend' (Pokorny 1959: 1146 - 1147; Steinacher 2002: 33).

[edit] Historical sources on the Veneti

As an ethnicon, Veneti begin to appear in written records in 1 century AD. They are first mentioned as Sarmatian Venedi (Latin Sarmatae Venedi) by the Roman historian Pliny the Elder in Natural History (Liber IV: 96-97) and subsequently, under the name Venedi, by Tacitus in Germania (46). When comparing the Venedi to Germani and Sarmatae, however, Tacitus associates them with the former, stating that their habits are different from those of the Sarmatae.

In 2nd century AD, Ptolemy in his work De Geographia (III 5. 21.) mentions a people called Ouenedai along the southern shores of the Baltic, which he calls the Venedic Bay. The historical document Tabula Peutingeriana, originating from the 4th century AD, separately mentions the Venedi and the Venadi Sarmatae (see Gołąb 1992: 287-291, 295-296).

In 551 AD Gothic author Jordanes in his book De origine actibusque Getarum (30-35) applied the name Venethi as a collective appellation for Slavs.

[edit] Archaeology

Polish archaeologist Jerzy Okulicz has interpreted Veneti as the possible bearers of the Pomeranian culture, an Iron Age archaeological culture in Poland. Elements of the Pomeranian culture, in particular its bell-shaped burials group, have been ascertained in the successive Przeworsk culture, as well as in the Milograd culture to the east where eventually the Zarubintsy culture arose. If correctly interpreted, these archaeological data suggest that from 3rd century BC onwards Veneti entered into an intense cultural contact with Proto-Germanic and Proto-Slavic peoples and eventually assimilated with the two groups (Okulicz 1986; Pleterski 1995).

[edit] Relation between Veneti and Slavs

The Veneti were geographically and temporaly contiguous to the Proto-Germanic and Proto-Slavic peoples and were eventually assimilated by both groups, perhaps even more decisively by Proto-Slavs who later settled in the territory which erstwhile belonged to the Veneti. The Germanic peoples subsequently transferred the ethnonym Veneti to their new easterly neighbours, the Slavs. This tradition survived in German language where Slavs living in closest proximity to Germany were originally called Wenden or Winden (see Wends), while the people of the Austrian federal lands Styria and Carinthia referred to their Slavic neighbours as Windische. It should be emphasised, though, that Slavic peoples never used the ethnonym Veneti for themselves but were called thus only by the neighbouring Germanic peoples. Such transfers of ethnonyms from one group to another are not unusual and have occurred frequently in history. An analogous example is the name Böhmer, formerly applied by Germans to the Czechs, which originally was the name of a Celtic tribe Boii who dwelt in Bohemia before the Serbs (before they moved south) and later the Czechs. Similarly, the name of the Celtic Volcae (Proto-Germanic *Walhoz) was adopted as the collective name for the Celtic peoples and later for the Romance peoples (Schenker 1996: 3-4; Steinacher 2002: 28-29).

Aside from the already mentioned non-Slavic character of the Vistula and Oder river basin hydronymy, there are a number of further linguistic arguments attesting to the fact that Veneti were originally a different people from the Slavs. Considering that ancient sources locate the Veneti along the Baltic sea, linguist Alexander M. Schenker underlines that the vocabulary of the Slavic languages shows no evidence that the early Slavs were exposed to the sea. Proto-Slavic had no maritime terminology and even lacked a word for amber which was the most important item of export from the shores of the Baltic to the Mediterranean. In view of this, the very fact that Ptolemy refers to the Baltic as the Venedic Bay appears to rule out a possible identification of the Veneti of his times with the Slavs (Schenker 1996: 3-5). Schenker's conclusion is supported by the fact that to the east of the Ouenedai, Ptolemy mentions two further tribes called Stauanoi and Souobenoi, both of which have been interpreted as possibly the oldest historcial attestations of Slavs (Gołąb 1992: 291).

Linguists agree in the opinion that Slavic languages evolved in close proximity with the Baltic languages, or, for that matter, originally formed a linguistic union with the Baltic languages, having later separated from the latter. The earliest origins of Slavs seem to lie in the area between the Middle Dniepr and the Bug rivers, where the most archaic Slavic hydronyms have been established (Gołąb 1992: 300). The mentioned area roughly corresponds with the Zarubintsy archeological culture which has been interpreted as the most likely locus of the ethnogenesis of Slavs.

According to Polish archaeologist Michał Parczewski, Slavs began to settle in southeastern Poland at no earlier than late 5th century AD, the Prague culture being their recognizable expression (Parczewski 1993).

In linguistic terms, there is evidence that during the course of its evolution Proto-Slavic adopted some lexical elements from a foreign, centum-type Indo-European language. As these lexical elements have correspondences in North-West Indo-European dialects, it has been proposed that contacts of Proto-Slavs with the Veneti may have been the source for these borrowings (Gołąb 1992: 175; for detailed examples see p. 79-86).

[edit] Identifications of Veneti as Slavs

The Germanic tradition of designating the Slavs with the name of Wenden/Winden and Jordanes' appellation of Slavs by the name Venethi in 551 led some medieval chronists and historians to identify the ancient Veneti mentioned by Pliny, Tacitus and Ptolemy as Slavs. In addition, phonetic similarity and geographic proximity of the ethnicons Veneti and Vandali inspired a similar erroneous belief that the Germanic people of Vandals were Slavs as well (Steinacher 2004; see also Origins of Vandals). Such conceptions persisted into 16th century and resurfaced in 19th century where they provided the basis for interpretations of the history and origins of Slavs (Steinacher 2002: 31-35). Modern history has rejected such interpretations and clearly distinguishes two matters: one is the existence of several different ancient peoples by the name of Veneti, and the other one is the fact that Germanic peoples adopted that ethnonym for their easterly neighbours, the Slavs.

In 1980s some Slovene individuals proposed a theory according to which the Veneti were Proto-Slavs and bearers of the Lusatian culture along the Amber Path who conquered and settled the region between the Baltic sea and Adriatic Sea. This theory has been rejected by several Slovenian and other scholars as untenable (Skrbiš 2002).

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • Gołąb, Zbigniew (1992). The Origins of the Slavs: A Linguist's view. Columbus: Slavica Publishers, 1992. ISBN 0-89357-231-4.
  • Krahe, Hans (1957): Vorgeschichtliche Sprachbeziehungen von den baltischen Ostseeländern bis zu den Gebieten um den Nordteil der Adria. Mainz: Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, 1957.
  • Krahe, Hans (1954): Sprache und Vorzeit: Europäische Vorgeschichte nach dem Zeugnis der Sprache. Heidelberg: Quelle & Meyer, 1954.
  • Okulicz, Jerzy (1986). Einige Aspekte der Ethnogenese der Balten und Slawen im Lichte archäologischer und sprachwissenschaftlicher Forschungen. Quaestiones medii aevi, Vol. 3, p. 7-34.
  • Pokorny, Julius (1959). Indogermanisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch. Bern, München : Francke, 1959.
  • Parczewski, Michał (1993). Die Anfänge der frühslawischen Kultur in Polen. Wien: Österreichische Gesellschaft für Ur- und Frühgeschichte, 1993. Veröffentlichungen der österreichischen Gesellschaft für Ur- und Frühgeschichte; Bd. 17.
  • Pleterski, Andrej (1995). Model etnogeneze Slovanov na osnovi nekaterih novejših raziskav / A model of an Ethnogenesis of Slavs based on Some Recent Research. Zgodovinski časopis = Historical Review 49, No. 4, 1995, p. 537-556. ISSN 0350-5774. English summary: (COBISS)
  • Schenker, Alexander M. (1996). The Dawn of Slavic: an Introduction to Slavic Philology. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996. ISBN 0-300-05846-2.
  • Skrbiš, Zlatko (2002). The Emotional Historiography of Venetologists: Slovene Diaspora, Memory and Nationalism. Focaal: European Journal of Anthropology 39, 2002, p. 41-56. [1]
  • Steinacher, Roland (2002). Studien zur vandalischen Geschichte. Die Gleichsetzung der Ethnonyme Wenden, Slawen und Vandalen vom Mittelalter bis ins 18. Jahrhundert(doctoral thesis). Wien, 2002.
  • Steinacher, Roland (2004). Wenden, Slawen, Vandalen. Eine frühmittelalterliche pseudologische Gleichsetzung und ihr Nachleben bis ins 18. Jahrhundert. In: W. Pohl (Hrsg.): Auf der Suche nach den Ursprüngen. Von der Bedeutung des frühen Mittelalters (Forschungen zur Geschichte des Mittelalters 8), Wien 2004, p. 329-353.

[edit] Further bibliography

  • William Bell (1850) in Notes Alfred's Orosius wrote about similarity of names Cwenas, Cwen, Gwent, Cwent, Gwyndyd, Gwenedd, Gynneth, Gwynne, Gwent, Went, Ven, Veneta, Veneti, Vindelicia, Venedicus, Vends, Windisch, Wendish, Wendic, Wends, Ouen, Owen, Ouenetoi, Ouenedai, Quenland.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venedes"

Kashubians

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Kashubians
Kaszëbi
Kashubian flag
Total population
50,000 to 200,000
Regions with significant populations
Flag of Poland Poland
Languages
Polish, Kashubian
Religions
Catholicism
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Kashubians (Kashubian: Kaszëbi; Polish: Kaszubi; German: Kaschuben), also called Kassubians or Cassubians, are a West Slavic ethnic group of north-central Poland.

The Kashubian unofficial capital is Kartuzy (Kartuzë). Among larger cities, Gdynia (Gdiniô) contains the largest proportion of people declaring Kashubian origin. The traditional occupations of the Kashubians were agriculture and fishing; today the two are joined by the service and hospitality industry, and agrotourism.

The main organization that maintains the Kashubian identity is the Kashubian-Pomeranian Association. The recently formed "Odroda" is also dedicated to the renewal of Kashubian culture.

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[edit] Population

Kashubian regional costume
Kashubian regional costume

The total number of Kashubians varies depending on one's definition. A common estimate is that over 300,000 people in Poland are of the Kashubian ethnicity. The most extreme estimates are as low as 50,000 or as high as 500,000

In the Polish census of 2002, only 5,100 people declared Kashubian ethnicity, although 51,000 declared Kashubian as their native language. Most Kashubians declare Polish nationality and Kashubian ethnicity, and are considered both Polish and Kashubian. However, on the 2002 census there was no option to declare one nationality and a different ethnicity, or more than one nationality. Some claim that the census was misleading and inaccurate, or even falsified.[citation needed]

[edit] History

Kashubian ethnic territory at the end of the twentieth century.
Kashubian ethnic territory at the end of the twentieth century.

Kashubians are the direct descendants of an early Slavic tribe of Pomeranians who took their name from the land in which settled, Pomerania (from Polish Pomorze, "the land along the sea"). It is believed that the ancestors of Kashubians came into the region between the Odra and Vistula Rivers during the Migration Period. The oldest known mention of the name dates from the 13th century (a seal of Duke Barnim I of Pomerania), when they ruled areas around Szczecin (Kashubian: Szczecëno).

Another early mention of the Kashubians from the 13th century saw the Dukes of Pomerania including "Duke of Kashubia" in their titles. From the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, after the Thirty Years' War, parts of West Pomerania fell under Swedish rule, and the Swedish kings titled themselves "Dukes of Kashubia" from 1648 to the 1720s.

The Landtag parliament of the Kingdom of Prussia in Königsberg changed the official church language from Polish to German in 1843, but this decision was soon repealed, and beginning in 1852 Kashubian was taught at the Gymnasium (high school) of Wejherowo. In the 1830s, several hundred Kashubians emigrated to Upper Canada and created the settlement of Wilno, in Renfrew County, Ontario, which still exists today. In the 1870s a fishing village was established in Jones Island in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, by Kashubian and German immigrants. The two groups did not hold deeds to the land, however, and the government of Milwaukee evicted them as squatters in the 1940s, with the area soon after turned into industrial park.

Many Pomeranians in the former Duchy of Pomerania, most of them Lutheran Protestants (including the Slovincians), were Germanised between the 14th and 19th centuries in the wake of the Prussian political program of Germanisation. Some communities in Pomerelia (Eastern Pomerania) have survived and today regard themselves as Kashubians in modern Poland, although others were expelled by Poland's Communist government as "Germans" after World War II. Most Kashubians in Eastern Pomerania, unlike Slovincians and Pomeranian Slavic Wends, remain Roman Catholic.

Flag
Flag
Coat of Arms
Coat of Arms

[edit] Kashubian language

Main article: Kashubian language

About 50,000 Kashubians speak Kashubian, a West Slavic language belonging to the Lechitic group of languages in northern Poland. Many Polish linguists formerly considered Kashubian to be a Polish dialect, though most now believe it is a separate Slavic language.

There are other traditional Slavic ethnic groups inhabiting Pomerania, such as the Kociewiacy, Borowiacy, Krajniacy and others. These dialects tend to fall between Kashubian and the Polish dialects of Greater Poland and Mazovia. This might indicate that they are not only descendants of ancient Pomeranians, but also of settlers who arrived to Pomerania from Greater Poland and Masovia in the Middle Ages. However, this is only one possible explanation.

The earliest surviving example of written Kashubian is Martin Luther's 1643 Protestant catechism (with new editions in 1752 and 1828). Scientific interest in the Kashubian language was sparked by Mrongovius (publications in 1823, 1828) and the Russian linguist Hilferding (1859, 1862), later followed by Biskupski (1883, 1891), Bronisch (1896, 1898), Mikkola (1897), Nitsch (1903). Important works are S. Ramult's, Słownik jezyka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego, 1893, and F. Lorentz, Slovinzische Grammatik, 1903, Slovinzische Texte, 1905, and Slovinzisches Wörterbuch, 1908.

The first activist of the Kashubian/East Pomeranian national movement was Florian Ceynowa. Among his accomplishments, he documented the Kashubian alphabet and grammar by 1879 and published a collection of ethnographic-historic stories of the life of the Kashubians (Skórb kaszébsko-slovjnckjé mòvé, 1866-1868). Another early writer in Kashubian was Hieronim Derdowski. The Young Kashubian movement followed, led by author Aleksander Majkowski, who wrote for the paper "Zrzësz Kaszëbskô" as part of the "Zrzëszincë" group. The group would contribute significantly to the development of the Kashubian literary language.

[edit] Today

In 2005, Kashubian was for the first time made an official subject on the Polish matura exam (roughly equivalent to the English A-Level and French Baccalaureat). Despite an initial uptake of only 23 students,[citation needed] this development was seen as an important step in the official recognition and establishment of the language.

Today, in some towns and villages in northern Poland Kashubian is the second language spoken after Polish, and it is taught in regional schools.

Kashubian presently enjoys legal protection in Poland as an official minority language.

Kashubian Landscape Park, View from Tamowa Mountain, near Kartuzy and Lakes Kłodno, Białe, and Rekowo.
Kashubian Landscape Park, View from Tamowa Mountain, near Kartuzy and Lakes Kłodno, Białe, and Rekowo.

[edit] Notable Kashubians

[edit] See also

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[edit] External links