Historical View of the Languages and Literature of the Slavic Nations Part 21

[Footnote 71: _Najdawniejsze pomniki praw Slowianskich_, Warsaw 1838.]

[Footnote 72: Muczkowski's valuable History of the University of Cracow has been mentioned above, p. 232.]

[Footnote 73: _Starozytnosci historyczne Polskie_, Cracow 1840.]

[Footnote 74: _Starozytnosci Gallicyiskie_, Cracow 1841.]

[Footnote 75: _Rzut okana zrodta Archaeologii Krajowej_, Wilna 1842.]

[Footnote 76: Published at the same time in French: _Meduilles de Pologne etc._, Posen 1838; a splendid work.]

[Footnote 77: _Kodex diplomatyczny Polski_, Warsaw 1847.]

[Footnote 78: This is the appellation of the Lutherans in Poland.]

[Footnote 79: Historical Sketch of the rise, progress, and decline of the Reformation in Poland, and of the influence which the Scriptural doctrines have exercised on that country in literary, moral, and political respects. By Count Valerian Krasinski. Vol. I. Lond. 1838.]

[Footnote 80: _Wiadamosci o Syberyi przcz J.K._ 1838.]

[Footnote 81: _O Literaturze Polskiey w wieku dziewietnastym_, Warsaw 1830; published a few days before the outbreak of the Revolution.]

[Footnote 82: _Wizerunki Duszy narodowej_, Paris 1847.]

[Footnote 83: _Wieczory pielgrzyma_, Paris 1837.]

[Footnote 84: This work appeared at the same time in German, accompanied with a preface by the author, written expressly for the German edition. The German t.i.tle is _Vorlesungen uber Slavische Literatur und Zustande in den Jahren_ 1840-1844. 4 vols. Leipzig 1843-44.]

[Footnote 85: _Marya_, first published at Warsaw 1825; after wards in several different editions, among which may be mentioned here one prepared by Bielowski, Lemb. 1838; and one by Brockhaus and Avenarius, Leipz. and Paris 1844. A beautiful German translation appeared in the same year at Leipzig: _Maria_, aus dem Polnischen des A. Malczeski von K.R. Vogel.]

[Footnote 86: _Powiesci Kosackie_, Par. 1837. A German translation by Minsberg, Glogau 1838.]

[Footnote 87: Paris 1838; a German translation, Leipz. 1841.]

[Footnote 88: The two latter appeared at Paris in 1838 and 1841, and were translated into French and German.]

[Footnote 89: See above, p. 290.]

[Footnote 90: "Die Weltgeschichte ist das Weltgericht."]

[Footnote 91: _Nieboska Komedya_, Paris 1835; ed. 2, 1837; Germ. _Die ungottliche Komodie,_ aus dem Polnischen von K. Batornicki, Leipz.

1841.--_Irydion_, Par. 1836. This latter has been twice translated into German, Leipz. 1839, and Berlin 1846.]

[Footnote 92: _Starozytney wiessci z XI go XVI go i XVII go wieko_.

The author had published a similar work before. Polish proverbs have also been collected by Knapski and Rysinski.]

[Footnote 93: _Zarysy domowe_, Warsaw 1841; and _Niewasty Polskie_, Wars. 1844.]

[Footnote 94: _Klechdy, Starozytnye powviesci i podania ludu Polskigo i Rusi_, Warsaw 1837.]

[Footnote 95: _Piesni ludu bielachrobatow, Mazurow i Rusiz nad Buga_, Lemb 1838.]

[Footnote 96: _Duma, Dumka_, means _thought_, and is the name of the elegaic, mostly historical, ballads of the Malo-Russian people.]

[Footnote 97: See more on this subject in Part IV.]

[Footnote 98: The t.i.tle is _Spiewy historyczne Cesarstwa Rossyiskiego_, i.e. Historical songs of the Russian emperors.]

[Footnote 99: The English reader will find further information on Polish literature in Bowring's Introduction to his Polish Anthology, Lond. 1827; in Ljach Szyrma's Letters on Poland, published in London; and in an article on Polish Literature in the Foreign Quarterly Review, Vol. XXV. No. 49. These are the only sources in the English language with which we are acquainted.

In grammatical and lexical works the Polish language is very rich; but the interest which the English have recently shown for the fate of the Poles seems not to extend to their language. The following are the princ.i.p.al works.

GRAMMARS: in German, Krumholz _Polnische Grammatik_, Breslau 1797, 6th edit. _Auszug aus Kopczynski's Grammatik_, von Polsfuss, Breslau 1794, Mrongovius _Poln. Sprachlehre_, Konigsb 1794, and in several altered editions, under different t.i.tles; last edition Danzig 1836. Szumski's _Poln. Gramm._ Posen 1830. Vater's _Grammatik der Poln. Sprache_, Halle 1807. Bantkie _Poln. Grammatik_ attached to his Dictionary, Breslau 1808-1824. Szrzeniawa _Wortforschungslehre der polnischen Sprache,_ Lemberg and Lemgo 1842-43. Poplinski _Polnische Grammatik_, Lissa 1836; last edition 1840. Stostakowskiego _Polska Gramm_.

Trzemeszne 1846. Schieweck _Grammatik der. Polnischen Sprache,_ Fraustadt and Neustadt 1847. In French, Kopczynski _Essai d'une grammaire Polonaise_, Wars. 1807. Trambczynski _Grammatique raisonnee de la langue Polonaise_, new edit. Warsaw 1793.

DICTIONARIES, in German and French. The most useful are, Mrongovius _Handworterbuch der Poln. Sprachte_, latest edit. Danz. 1823. Troc _Franz-poln.-deutsches Worterbuch_ in several editions from 1742 to 1821. J.V. Bantkie _Taschenworterbuch der Poln. Sprache_, (German and French,) Breslau and Wars. in several editions from 1805 to 1819.

Slownik _Francusko-Polski, Dictionaire Polonais Francais,_ Berlin and Leipzig 1839-45. _Dict. Polonais-Francais,_ 2 vols. 18mo. Paris 1844.

J.A.E. Schmidt, _Nouveau Dictionaire portatif Francais et Polonais_, Zerbst 1817. _Polnisch-Deutsches Taschenworterbuch,_ von Jordan, Leipzig 1845.--Standard works for the language are the etymological dictionaries: G.S. Bantkie _Slownik dokladny iez. pol. i. niem_.

Breslau 1806, and Linde's _Slownik iez. pol_. Wars. 1807-14. For other philological works, see Schaflarik's _Geschichte der Slav. Spr_. p 410.]

CHAPTER III.

LANGUAGES OF THE SORABIAN-VENDES IN LUSATIA, AND OF OTHER VENDISH TRIBES NOW EXTINCT.

The north-eastern part of Germany, as far west as the Elbe and Saale, was, from the fifth to the tenth century, almost exclusively inhabited by nations of the Slavic race. Various Teutonic tribes--among them the Burgundians, the Suevi, Heruli, and Hermunduri--had before this taken up their temporary residence along the Baltic, between the Vistula and the Elbe. In the great migration of the Asiatic-European nations, which for nearly two centuries kept in motion all Europe from the Icy Ocean to the Atlantic, and extended even to the north of Africa, the warlike German nations moved towards the south-west, and Slavic tribes traversing the Danube and Vistula, in immense mult.i.tudes, took possession of the countries which they left. Those who came over the northern Vistula, settled along the coasts of the Baltic as far west as to the Elbe and Saale, and as far south as to the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains) on the borders of Bohemia.

These Slavic tribes were called by the Germans, _Wenden_, Lat.

_Venedi_, for which we prefer in English the form of _Vendes_, rather than that of Wends. It appears indeed that this name was formerly applied by the Germans indiscriminately to all the Slavic nations with which they came in contact; for the name _Winden_, Eng. _Vindes_, which is still, as we have seen, the German appellation for the Slovenzi, or the Slavic inhabitants of Southern Germany, is evidently the same in a slightly altered form. The name of _Wenden_, Vendes, became, however, in the course of time, a specific appellation for the northern German-Slavic tribes; of which, at the present day, only a few meagre remnants are left. They were nevertheless once a powerful nation. Five independent branches must be distinguished among them.

We first name the _Obotrites_, the former inhabitants of the present duchies of Mecklenburg, and the adjacent country, west, north, and south. They were divided into the Obotrites proper, the Wagrians in Holstein, and the Polabae and Linones on the banks of the Elbe and Leine; but were united under a common chief or king. They and their eastern neighbours the Wiltzi, (Germ. _Wilzen_, Lat. _Veletabae_,) with whom they lived in perpetual warfare, were the most warlike and powerful among the Vendish tribes. The Wiltzi or Pomeranians lived interspersed with the Ka.s.subes, a Lekhish tribe, between the Oder and the Vistula, and were subjugated by the Obotrites in A.D. 782. It was however only by the utmost exertions, that these latter could maintain their own independence against their western and southern neighbours, the Germans. Conquered by Charlemagne, they regained their independence under his successors, and centuries pa.s.sed away in constant and b.l.o.o.d.y conflicts and alternate fortunes. In the middle of the twelfth century, however, they were completely subjugated by Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony and Bavaria. He laid waste their whole country, destroyed most of the people, and compelled the few remaining inhabitants and their prince, to accept Christianity from his b.l.o.o.d.y hands. In A.D. 1167 he restored to this latter, whose name was Pribislaus, a part of his kingdom, and gave his daughter Matilda in marriage to the son of Pribislaus, who, a few years later, was made a prince of the empire, and was thus gained over to the German cause.

His descendants are the present dukes of Mecklenburg; and it is a memorable fact, that these princes are at the present day the only sovereigns in Europe of the Slavic race. German priests and German colonists introduced the German language; although we find that Bruno, the chief missionary among the Obotrites, preached before them in their own language. The Slavic dialect spoken by them expired gradually; and probably without ever having been reduced to writing, except for the sake of curiosity when very near its extinction. The only doc.u.ments of it, which have come down to us, are a few incomplete vocabularies, compiled among the Polabae and Linones, i.e. the inhabitants adjacent to the Elbe, in Slavic _Labe_, and to the Leine, in Slavic _Linac_.

Long after the whole region was perfectly Germanized, a few towns in the eastern corner of the present kingdom of Hanover, were still almost exclusively inhabited by a people of Slavic race, who in the seventeenth century, and even to the middle of the eighteenth, had preserved in some measure their language and habits. But, since the Germans were strongly prejudiced against the Vendish name,--the nations of this race, especially those in the western part of the German territories, being despised as subjugated tribes, and inferior in general knowledge and information,--they gradually renounced their national peculiarities. Towards the close of the seventeenth century, when Hennings, German pastor at Wustrow, took great pains to collect among them historical notices and a vocabulary of their language, he found the youth already ignorant of the latter, and the old people almost ashamed of knowing it, or at least afraid of being laughed at by their children. They took his inquiries, and those of other intelligent persons, in respect to their ancient language and usages, as intended to ridicule them, and denied at first any knowledge of those matters. We find, however, that preaching in the Vendish language of this region was still continued for some time later. Divine service was held in it for the last time at Wustrow, in the year 1751. According to the vocabularies which Hennings and a few others collected, their dialect, like that spoken in Lower Lusatia, was nearly related to the Polish language; partaking however in some peculiarities of the Bohemian, and not without some of its own.[1]

The second great Vendish tribe, the Wiltzi or Pomeranians (Germ.

_Wilzen_), also called Veletabae, were, as we said above, subjugated in A.D. 782 by the Obotrites; and the country between the Oder and the Vistula formed for more than a hundred and fifty years a part of the great Vendish kingdom. They regained, however, even before the final dissolution of this latter in A.D. 1026, the partial independence of their own dukes; who attached themselves to Germany, and afterwards, under the name of the dukes of Pomerania, became princes of the empire. In the year 1124 the first Pomeranians were baptized by Otho, bishop of Bamberg; and the place where this act was performed, Ottosbrunnen (Otho's Well), which five hundred years ago was encircled by four lime-trees, is still shown to the traveller. As they received religion and instruction from Germany, the influence of the German language can easily be accounted for. German colonists aided in spreading it throughout the whole country. The last person who understood the old Pomeranian language, is said to have died in the year 1404. No trace of it remains, excepting only the names of places and persons, the Slavic origin of which can be recognized throughout all north-eastern Germany by the terminations in _its, enz, ik_, or _ow_. In A.D. 1637 the line of the old Pomeranian dukes expired, and the country fell to Brandenburg, with the exception of that part which Sweden usurped at the peace of Westphalia. The island of Rugen, which till A.D. 1478 had its own native princes, belonged to this latter. It is the princ.i.p.al seat of German-Slavic antiquities. The ancient Rugians and their G.o.ds are mentioned by Tacitus, and described by Saxo Grammaticus. The old chronicles and legends, founded on still older traditions, speak of a large and flouris.h.i.+ng city named Vineta on the small island Wollin, south-east of Rugen, once the princ.i.p.al seat of the western Slavic commerce, and, as Herder calls it, the Slavic Amsterdam. This city is said by some to have been destroyed by the Danes; by others to have been ingulfed in the sea by the sinking of the ground beneath it. Modern inquirers, however, have doubted whether it ever existed; and, hard as it is to renounce the many poetical a.s.sociations attached to such a subject,--so similar to those which fill the mind in thinking of Pompeii and Herculaneum,--their objections have not yet been satisfactorily refuted.

The third separate branch of the Vendish stem were the Ukrians, or Border-Vendes, Germ. _Ukern,_ from _Ukraina_, border. They lived in the territory which afterwards became the margravate of Brandenburg, and were divided into several tribes, as the Hevelli on the banks of the Havel, the Retarians, etc. Their situation was such, that constant conflicts between them and the guardians or watch of the German frontiers, the Saxon margraves on the other side of the Elbe, were unavoidable. These served gradually to extend the German _marches_ or frontiers further and further, until in the year 1134 Albert the Bear, count of Ascania, finally conquered the Vendes. The Slavic inhabitants of this region were cruelly and completely destroyed; the country was repeopled by German and Dutch colonists, and given as a fief by the emperor to Albert the Bear, the first margrave of Brandenburg.

Brandenburg was the German form for _Brannibor_, the most considerable of the Vendish cities, after which the country was called. The names of places, many of them altered in a similar manner, are indeed the only weak traces of the Vendish language once spoken in this part of Germany. No tribe of the Vendes seems to have been so completely extinguished; the present inhabitants of Brandenburg being of as pure a German origin, as those of any other part of Germany.

The descendants of only two Vendish tribes have preserved their language; and even these, from powerful nations spread over the surface of at least 4800 geographical square miles, have shrunk into the comparatively small number of scarcely two hundred thousand individuals, now inhabitants of Upper and Lower Lusatia. Nearly all of them are peasants; for the higher cla.s.ses, even if Slavic blood perhaps runs in their veins, are completely Germanized. These tribes are the Sorabians, Lat. _Sorabae_, Germ. _Sorben_, in Lusatia, divided into two different branches. They call themselves to this very day _Servians_, or rather (as also their brethren on the Danube) _Serbs_; their language, the _Serbish_ language. Although in fact two distinct tribes, and speaking different dialects, yet their early history cannot well be separated. After the dissolution of the great kingdom of Thuringia by the Francs and Saxons in the year 1528, the Sorabians, or Sorbae, took possession of the countries left by the Hermunduri, viz. the territory between the Harz mountains, the Saale, and the Erzgebirge, and extended their dominion in a northern direction to the seats of their brethren, the Ukrians, and towards the east as far as to the region in which their near relations, the Lekhes. about the same time had settled. They made slaves of the few German inhabitants whom they found scattered through this country; and according to their industrious habits, began immediately after their arrival to cultivate the soil, to build cities, and to trade in the productions of the country. Although not strictly a warlike people, they were able for several centuries to defend their frontiers against the frequent attacks of their German neighbours on the other side of the Saale, and to give them trouble in return. But they yielded before the arms of Charlemagne; and after a short interval of renewed independence, they were completely subjugated and made tributary by Henry I. Their country, according to the German custom, was divided into _marches_, and populated with German settlers. These latter more especially occupied the towns, and built villages among the woods and mountains; whilst the Vendes, chiefly addicted to agriculture, continued to occupy the plains. But even on the plains, there soon arose the castles of German knights, their masters and oppressors; and the Vendish population was by degrees reduced to the miserable condition of serfs.

In the year 968, the first attempt was made to convert them to Christianity, partly by the sword of the conqueror, partly by the instruction of Christian missionaries. But more than one century pa.s.sed away, before the Christian religion was fully introduced among them. Benno, bishop of Meissen, who died in A.D. 1106, at the age of ninety-six, acquired by his activity in the work of converting the Vendes, the name of the apostle of the Slavi. The obstinate resistance with which the Christian religion had been rejected by them, can easily be explained by the unjudicious, nay flagitious way, in which it was presented to them by the Germans; who came among them, the sword in one hand and the cross in the other; and exacted moreover from them the sacrifice of their language, their customs, their whole nationality in exchange. The naturally childlike and submissive disposition of the Slavi rendered them in all other regions, as we have seen, willing to receive the Christian doctrines, more especially when their superiors themselves acted as their apostles, as was in some measure the case with the Russian Vladimir, Jagello in Lithuania, etc.[2] But the mode described above, which was adopted by the German heroes, not only among the Vendes, but also some centuries later among the old Borussians, could not but rouse all their feelings of pride and nationality to a decided resistance. Even when the Germans refrained from force, their means of conversion were equally opposed to the spirit of Christianity. Bishop Otho of Bamberg, for instance, was accustomed, when on his missionary travels, to have fifty or more wagons in his train loaded with cloth, victuals, and other supplies, in order to reward on the spot those who submitted to baptism.[3]