Lendians (also: Lendzaninoi, Lz’njn, Lachy, Landzaneh and Lendizi) is a West Slavic Lechitic tribe that lived in the border region of modern Ukraine and Poland.
We are starting a string of posts about different Slavic tribes, which are to be mentioned in our animated fantasy comic book series about the customs and beliefs of the ancient Slavic people.
Lędzanie is one of the most mysterious Slavic tribes due to the small amount of historical information. Their reliable localization and identification are still a subject of debate between scholars.
Lędzanie (Λενζανηνοι / Λενζενίνοι) are mentioned in the treatise of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (Κωνσταντίνος Ζ ‘ο Πορφυρογέννητος, 945-959) «De administrando imperio» (Πρὸςτὸν ἴδιον υἱὸν Ρωμανόν, 948-952) among the Eastern Slavic ethno-political unions (Σκλαβηνίας / Sclavenias). Lędzanie supplied logboats (Monoxylon / Μονόξυλον) to Kievan Rus, which were then used in the campaigns against the Byzantine Empire.
This reference gave researchers reasons to believe that the Lędzanie’s lands also included the area in the upper reaches of the Dniester, San, Western Bug and Styr rivers. The latter, being a tributary of the Pripyat river, gave direct access to the Dnieper and Kievan Rus, with whom Lędzanie had economic and political ties.
The “Bavarian geographer” («Descriptio civitatum et regionum ad septentrionalem plagam Danubii») says that Lędzanie (Lendizi) had 98 settlements.
To be continued…
