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INTRODUCTION the Poles,1 Just Like the Slavs in General, Used to Be Perceived by Western Europeans As in a Way Inferior. They We

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INTRODUCTION the Poles,1 Just Like the Slavs in General, Used to Be Perceived by Western Europeans As in a Way Inferior. They We INTRODUCTION The Poles,1 just like the Slavs in general, used to be perceived by western Europeans as in a way inferior. They were ascribed vulgarity, ridiculed for their allegedly peculiar customs, and they even happened to be seen as bar- barians.2 This phenomenon—well noticeable in the modern period—was seemingly justifiable in reality. Accounts of travellers and other texts devoted to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe confirm that the impression of their authors was gloomy and depressing. They saw a poor organization of local communities, roads in a terrible condition, extreme poverty of vil- lages and deprivation of towns, which contrasted with the opulence of manor houses belonging to magnates, whose owners were not likeable because of their attitude, often inhumane, towards their serfs. Every historian who deals with these problems will find such foreign observations largely sensible, look- ing for the reasons of this state of affairs in a specific historical process which implied individual parameters of a society and its wealth. Paradoxically, however, the origins and nature of the stereotype of a Pole— Slav—barbarian have nothing in common with any realities of the modern world. We can find some traces of the above mentioned attitude towards Central Europeans in the texts which were written on the territory of the Frankish empire and its succession states as early as from the 7th century onwards, before any real knowledge of the regions of Europe to the east of the Elbe, which were inhabited by the Slavs. Many years ago I found this problem interesting enough to deal with, so I decided to investigate it more thoroughly. Soon after that I realized that this matter, which pertains to so many centuries in his- tory, is very complex. For this reason I had to set some subject restric- tions to my study in order to maintain its in-depth character. Thus I decided to analyze this phenomenon with reference to the origins and first formative years in the history of the oldest Piast state, namely between 963 and 1034. 1 On the characteristics of this expression see chapter 1.1 of this work. 2 On the problem of perceiving the eastern part of the continent in modern history see: Larry Wolff, Inventing Eastern Europe. The Map of Civilization on the Mind of Enlightenment (Stanford, 1994); on the early Middle Ages: David Fraesdorf, Der barbarische Norden. Vor- stellungen und Fremdheitskategorien bei Rimbert, Thietmar von Merseburg, Adam von Bremen und Helmold von Bosau (Berlin, 2005). 2 introduction In geographical terms, the problem of perceiving this fresh political organ- ism on the map of the Europe of the day actually limits itself to the immedi- ate neighbours of Poland from within the circle of the already established and literate Christian civilization, thus to the observers living in Germany. They were the only ones among all Western European nationals at that time who took interest (certainly, to a much smaller degree than in the areas of the post-Carolingian civilization) in the lands situated to the east of the Elbe and ventured some opinions about them. This work could not be limited to the collection and simple examination of sources devoted to the inhabitants of Poland in the period under discussion, which is typical of traditional historical studies.3 Our references are few and far between and in principle very laconic, so not much information can be retrieved from them without an in-depth analysis. The written sources can only tell us more while put in the right cultural and historical context. It also helps when we investigate the role that selected excerpts of texts played in the structure of whole narratives. This approach enables us to recover the nuances in information inflow which are included in these reports. This study, as regards the methodology and its workshop, is based on two pillars: the one is a broad analysis of sources, the other—an investiga- tion of the political and cultural background of the references chosen for examination. The task of selecting the right scientific methods within the former of these two spheres has been recently facilitated by some studies which are very instructive in their modern critical approaches, both theoretical and practi- cal, towards mediaeval sources. Especially valuable in this respect were those studies which deepen our knowledge of the structure of a source and the convention of plots, which shaped the character of mediaeval accounts.4 Important and inspiring from 3 This sort of works have already been written. As far as Poland is concerned, one of the examples is: Andrzej F. Grabski, Polska w opiniach obcych X–XIII wieku (Warszawa, 1964); for the Slav lands: Lech A. Tyszkiewicz, Słowianie w historiografii wczesnego średniowiecza do połowy VI wieku (Wrocław, 1990); Lech A. Tyszkiewicz, Słowianie w historiografii wczes- nego średniowiecza od połowy VI do połowy VII wieku (Wrocław, 1991); even though these works are useful for collecting source information, otherwise scattered, they analyzed it only superficially. 4 In this matter relevant were works by Jacek Banaszkiewicz. This author does not write theoretical studies, thus we can only learn about his scientific method by reading his indi- vidual works, of which the most extensive is: Jacek Banaszkiewicz, Polskie dzieje bajeczne mistrza Wincentego Kadłubka (Warszawa, 1998); in general on the prospects for contempo- rary mediaeval studies: Otto G. Oexle, “ ‘Wissenschaft’ und ‘Leben’. Historische Reflexionen über Tragweite und Grenzen der modernen Wissenschaft”, Geschichte in Wissenschaft und .
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