We continue a string of posts about various Slavic tribes, which are mentioned in our animated fantasy comic book series about the customs and beliefs of the ancient Slavic people.
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One of the main mysteries is related to the Bavarian Geographer’s list of tribes (created in the first half of the 9th century), which does not mention the Polanie, who eventually created the Piast state, but instead lists a large tribe Goplanie (Glopeani) with more than 400 “civitates”, who for unknown reasons disappeared into obscurity. There thus arises a question if the Polanie and Goplanie may be two names (an earlier/later ones) referring to one people, and if so, what factors then caused the change of the name? When did it happen? If, however, these were two different entities, then the what was the fate of the Goplanie who in the 9th century had the greatest number of strongholds and what were the circumstances of the appearance (where from?) of the Polanie in history? After many years of research there are still no data allowing to locate these people precisely (traditionally it is considered that their centers were Gniezno city and Lake Gopło). Was this name invented to denote Mieszko’s state? If so, why was it the same as the one used in the same period but in reference to one of the tribes in the Kievan Rus?
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To be continued…
