Domen

Silesia is home to some of the oldest examples of literature and written culture in Polish language:

DISCLAIMER: The point of this text is not to justify the expulsion of Germans after 1945, which was a great tragedy, a war crime, and I do not deny this fact. The sole purpose of this list is to show the history of Silesia as it was, with particular attention payed to the importance of Silesia in the historical process of development of Polish culture and language, because this is the main theme of this text (if you want, feel free to write something similar about the importance of Silesia in the process of development of German or Czech culture).

1) The Book of Henryków - written in the monastery in Henryków (established by duke Henryk Brodaty in 1227), written in years 1269 - 1310, contains the first known nowadays text written in Polish language (in jottings from 1270). This text is a statement spoke by an ethnic Czech man Bogwał to his ethnic Polish wife, daughter of a local seminary student.

2) Another important cultural center of early literature written in Polish language in Silesia was the scriptorium in Kłodzko, where the first part of Florian's Psalter (Psalms 1 - 101) was rewritten in Polish language during the last years of the 14th century.

3) First known Polish-language version of famous Marian hymn - Salve Regina (Hail Holy Queen) - was written (translated to Polish) in Silesia in the 16th century.

4) Silesian synodal resolutions from year 1257 required the knowledge of Polish language from all members of priesthood and clergy in Silesia. In other words - if a person did not speak Polish, then such person could not become a priest or a clergyman in Silesia.

5) Numerous religious and secular texts, poems, prayers, etc. were written in Polish language in Medieval Silesia, as well as Polish-language glosses to Latin manuscripts.

6) The oldest known text ever printed in Polish language comes from Silesia - it was printed in Wroclaw in year 1475 in the printery of local cathedral canon and printer Kaspar Elyan.

7) Jan Stanko - famous 15th century professor of the Cracow University - was born in Silesia, in the city of Wroclaw. He is an author of the first known Polish-language natural sciences dictionary, which was written in year 1472. In his dictionary, Jan Stanko included around 20,000 Latin language scientific terms, 2,000 Polish language scientific terms describing fauna and flora, as well as 800 German language scientific. Among sources used by Jan Stanko when he was compiling his dictionary, were Czech language so called rostlinarze which included many terms from sciences of medicine and herbalism.

8) Despite gradual interruption of political ties of Silesia with the rest of Poland in the 14th century, cultural ties were not interrupted and remained intact throughout the Renaissance period. Printers who were born in Silesia and later settled and worked in Kraków (capital city of Poland) - such as Jan Haller, Hieronim Wietor, Florian Ungler and M. Szarffenberger - were meritorious people when it comes to the history of development of Polish language. They improved Medieval spelling of Polish written language and reformed the principles of ortography, creating the basics of modern Polish ortography. Large part of Early Renaissance writing works in Polish language, were written and printed in Silesia.

9) Another visible sign of continually strong cultural ties between Silesia and the rest of Poland (despite the interruption of political ties) is the fact that in period 1400 - 1525 students from Silesia were around 14% of all graduates on the Cracow University (around 3500 out of 25356) and many professors of this University were from Silesia - for example already mentioned Jan Stanko from Wroclaw, author of first dictionary of natural sciences written in Polish language, which was published in 1472.

10) In the late 16th and the 17th centuries (1550 - 1700), Wrocław (Breslau) was already heavily Germanized, but ethnic Poles were still a very large percent of population of this city. Polish language literature continued to be created in Wrocław. At that time those were mostly utilitarian and popular texts, but not only them - also literature and poetry, modelled mostly on language style of authors from the Kingdom of Poland - such as for example Mikołaj Rey and Jan Kochanowski. Example of Polish language poetry in Wrocław (Breslau) is a poem "Ofiicina ferraria" written by Walenty Roździeński. Title of this poem is in Latin, but text is in Polish. This poem describes the life and work of steelmakers and miners.

An excerpt of "Ofiicina ferraria":

"W lichych domkach mieszkamy, bo nigdy o pyszne
Budowanie nie dbamy, ani o rozkoszne
Leganie. Mur jest z węgla – nasza pościel – suchy,
W którym leżąc nie szkodzą nam pchły ani muchy."

Translation to English:

"We live in filmsy houses, because about luxurious
constructions we don't care, neither do we
lounge about. Wall is made of carbon - our bedding - dry,
While lying in which neither fleas nor flies harm us."

11) Many of Protestants in Wroclaw (Breslau) in the 16th century, were Polish-language speakers. In a source dated 1529 there is information, that in the Church of St. Mary Magdalene - which was a Protestant church - there were Polish language sermons.

12) Also Evangelic pastors became "fencers of Polish language" in the 17th century. One of them was Adam Gdacjusz from Kluczbork (1615 - 1688), better known as "Silesian Rey" (from Mikołaj Rey - a famous Polish poet and prose writer of the Renaissance). Adam Gdacjusz was an author of Polish language postils (comments to the Holy Bible) and sermons, whose language style was modelled on language style of Polish Renaissance authors.

13) Apart from artistic texts and Protestant and Catholic religious texts in Polish language, also so called obiecadlniki, as well as dictionaries in Polish language, were being published especially in this part of Silesia, in which the Reformation put down its roots solidly (Kluczbork – Byczyna – Wołczyn – Oleśnica – Namysłów – Międzybórz – Brzeg region).

14) In cultural life of Silesia in the early 19th century (early 1800s) very important was the development of press - newspapers became common in Silesia under Prussian rules. Before times of Otto von Bismarck, Polish language in Silesia was not discriminated and also newspapers in Polish language were being regularly edited. However, at that time ethnic Polish-language speakers and were majority of the society only in Upper Silesia and in Cieszyn Silesia (Teschener Schlesien - here Czech-language speakers were nearly as numerous as Poles), while Lower Silesia was mostly German-speaking.

15) Examples of Polish-language literature in Silesia in the 2nd half of the 19th century (after 1850) were for example works of such Silesian authors like Józef Lompa, Karol Miarka (for example: "Górka Klemensowa", "Petronela, pustelnica na Górze św. Anny", "Walmani") as well as poets - such as Konstantyn Damrot ("Wianek z Górnego śląska", "Z niwy śląskiej") or priest Norbert Bończyk ("Stary kościół miechowski").

Domen

German settlers coming to Silesia since the second half of the 13th century, called the native Slavic population of this land "Wasserpolen", and in further centuries this name was also extended into slavic speech of inhabitants of Silesia: "Wasserpolnisch Michsprache". A German geographical description of Silesia from year 1689 notes - for example - that between Oława and Kąty Wrocławskie "sehr polnisch redet". In Kąty Wrocławskie (Kanth) in year 1641 almost half of all artisans / craftsmen belonged to a separate, "Polish artisan guild". One of first decrees of Frederick the Great from year 1764 was directed against the Polish language - by this decree German language was introduced as official language and by the same decree from 1764 it was forbidden to employ in schools teachers who did not use German language. Restrictions for Polish language in schools and offices were introduced.

Initially, Germanization affected the area of Lower Silesia - especially all large cities located in that area. The city of Wroclaw (Breslau) thanks to German settlement became a bilingual city. Gradually Polish language was being replaced by German language in Wroclaw, but nevertheless for a very long time the right bank side of Wroclaw, located on the eastern side of the Oder River, was being called by Germans "Polnische seite". Even a document from as late as 1789 says that population living in the suburbs of Wroclaw was still using Polish language.

In the 19th century Jerzy Samuel Bandtkie wrote:

"The capital city of Silesia has many Polish-speaking inhabitants, because already 1,5 miles from Wroclaw there are entire Polish-speaking villages, and just 2 or 3 miles from Wroclaw there are entire parishes with majority of Polish-speaking populations, located at the Oder River."

In a brochure from 1791, an ethnic German pastor from Breslau - J. W. Pohleg - wrote:

(Source: J. W. Pohleg, "Der Oberschlesier verteidigt gegen seine Widersacher", published in 1791):


"(...) What is the native language here in Silesia? Because rather not German? Basing on the names of cities and villages in a particular land, we can establish without any doubts, what was the most common language in this land when those cities and villages were built. What do words such as Glogau, Bunzlau, Wohlau, Jauer, Breslau, Brieg mean in German language? Nothing. On the other hand, in Polish language all these words have their meaning! Isn't the conclusion, that when those cities were built, Polish was the regional language in Silesia, true? Isn't this thus true, that accusing a Lower Silesian of speaking German language is more justified than accusing an Upper Silesian of speaking Polish language?* There is so much ignorance shown by your agitators**, who complain so loudly. The thing which they criticize,*** is rather worth praising. Honestly, how pitiful is a nation, which is jeering at people due to their mother tongue - people who are not at fault for using it - and the ones who are mocking, have not enough virtues to judge others genuinely and earnestly. (...)"


* He wrote this after Frederick the Great started oppressing Polish language in Silesia.

** He is writing about agitators of the Prussian king - Frederick William II.

*** And this thing is the fact that Upper Silesians spoke Polish language.

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Józef Ignacy Kraszewski during his trip to Breslau from 1869 wrote:

"(...) Germanization even until this day was not able to fully obliterate traces of old, Slavic extraction. Wroclaw is, we can already say this today, a half-polish city, because its part behind the Oder River, near Tum, even nowadays is called polish* and we can hear Polish language being spoken by inhabitants already in the suburbs of this city. (...)"

* This district of Breslau was called by Germans "Polnische seite".

And an ethnic German scholar - dr Partsch - in his book "Schlesien" from 1896 wrote:

"(...) It is hard to believe, how could such a thing happen, that on the western side of the Oder River, in the Ohlau District as well as in the vincinity of parts of the Breslau District and the Strehlen District, there could survive completely compact territories of Polish-speaking inhabitants, which includes within its boundaries many important roads and which extends in all directions from the large center of transport that the city of Breslau is. (...)"

Domen

And comparison of Polish and German language versions of a few towns in Lower Silesia (Niederschlesien):

Polish language name - German language name (old one, used until the 1800s):

Głuchołazy - Polnische Neustadt (name used at least until 1785 ---> later changed to Ziegenhals)

Syców - Polnisch Wartenberg (name used until 1888 ---> after 1888 changed to Groß Wartenberg)

Bystrzyca Dolna - Polnisch Weistricz (name used until 1898 ---> after 1898 changed to Nieder Weistritz)

All these three towns are located in Lower Silesia (Dolny Śląsk - Niederschlesien).

Domen

The first known Polish traveler - Benedykt Polak (Benedictus Polonus, who lived in years 1200 - 1280), author of De Itinere Fratrum Minorum ad Tartaros, was born either in Greater Poland or in Silesia (in the city of Wroclaw. He was an educated men, who knew many foreign languages - it is documented that he knew Latin and Ruthenian. He joined the Franciscans in 1236, but he did not spent much time inside the monastery, because he was travelling. In period 16 April 1245 - 18 November 1247 he travelled to the Mongol Empire as part of European legation sent by Pope Innocentius IV (and wrote his account from this travel - De Itinere Fratrum Minorum ad Tartaros).

Archdeacon of Wroclaw and Opole - Stefan Polak (Stephanus Polonus in Latin), who died in 1275 ( Polski S?ownik Biograficzny - Indeks nazwisk - Ornatowski.com ) - is - together with Jakub from Skaryszew, in Lesser Poland (died in 1268) - one of first known famous Polish lawyers.

Marcin Polak from Opawa (Martinus Polonus Oppaviensis in Latin) - born in Opawa, Silesia, today part of Czech Republic, in 1215, died in Bolonia in 1278 - was an Archbishop of Gniezno, a Dominican brother and a famous Medieval chronicler, author of works such as Chronicon pontificum et imperatorum, Margarita Decreti, Sermones de tempore et de sanctis and many others, as well as a co-author of Liber Pontificalis.

Erazm Ciołek - more commonly known as Witelo - was a famous Medieval physician, mathematician, philosopher, optician and creator of basics of cognitive psychology, who was born in 1230 in Lower Silesia, from a local mother of noble descent (she was a woman from a family of local Polish knighthood) and a foreign father (his father was a settler from Thuringia, most likely from the area of Zeitz - Naumburg, both of which are parts of Saxonia today). The list of his achievements is so long that I won't list them here (you can check it for example on wikipedia), but he was a true man of the Early Renaissance - he was studied in many European states and travelled around all of Europe. We don't know when exactly he died, because after 1280 there are no traces of his activity in known sources - but it is assumed, that he died in 1314 in La Vicogne, France.

As to the exact place where Erazm Ciołek was born - it is not certain, but some of options are Legnica, Wrocław or Borów.

One page from Witelo's Perspectiva (Optics):



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Silesia was the region where Chronica principium Poloniae (Chronicle of Polish dukes) was written in years 1382 – 1386.

This chronicle from 1382 - 1386 was written by Piotr from Byczyna (German: Pitschen) and he wrote it in Brzeg (German: Brieg).

It is describing mostly history of Polish duchies in the region of Silesia until year 1370.

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At the turns of the 13th and the 14th centuries (late 1200s or early 1300s) an unknown author from Silesia wrote a chronicle which was a summation of Historia Polonica written by Wincenty Kadłubek, but was expanded by more information about the history of the province of Silesia when compared to Kadłubek's Historia Polonica chronicle. Copies of this chronicle were rewritten in the 14th century and in the 16th century.

michael mills

That would imply that there was already a non-Polish-speaking population in Silesia in 1257, and that the Polish ruling class was trying to prevent members of that population from gaining positions of influences.

A bit like the later attempts of the Prussian Government to force the population to speak German.

Three of these men born in Silesia have German names. Presumably they were members of the ethnic German part of the population of Silesia, and they migrated to the Polish capital to work there, like Veit Stoss who came from Nuremberg.

Comparable to the Poles who emigrated to Germany in the 19th Century.

Domen

Indeed, first confirmed examples of immigrants from Germany settling in Silesia are from early 1200s - ca. 50 years before this. Initially, most of immigrants were settling in forested and sparsely populated westernmost and most south-western parts of Silesia. Those were borderland areas of Silesia (and entire Poland) and were forested and sparsely populated before the settlers came (like most borderlands in Medieval Europe).

Haller is not a surname of Polish origin, but it does not indicate being ethnic German - it comes from "de Hallenburg" Coat of Arms:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanis%..._de_Hallenburg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3zef_Haller

http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haller_..._szlachecki%29

"de Hallenburg" Coat of Arms (also known as simply "Haller" Coat of Arms):



It is known that many families of Slavic (in this case Polish) knighthood / nobility adopted Coats of Arms from Western Europe.

It should be noted that feudalism - as well as chivalric knightly culture - was something which came to Slavic lands from the West.

michael mills

There is no dispute that Silesia was originally inhabited by Slavs and was part of the polish state.

But it cannot be said that it was "stolen" by Germany. If anybody "stole" it, it was the Kings of Bohemia.

The partial ethno-linguistic germanisation of Silesia was not a result of conquest by German princes, but rather of peaceful immigration by ethnic Germans into a territory ruled by non-Germans, first by Polish rulers, then by Bohemians.

Domen

PS:

It does not indicate being ethnic German, but the family indeed had German roots according to Polish wikipedia.

Printer Jan Haller (1467 - 1525), who came to Kraków in 1482, is the first known member of this family:

(wikipedia does not say whether he was already Polonized or still ethnic German):

[ame="http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallerowie"]Hallerowie ? Wikipedia, wolna encyklopedia[/ame]


Anyway, this family at some point became Polonized. Perhaps the most famous member of this family in history is Józef Haller:

Józef Haller - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Domen

I never said it was stolen from Poland by Germany.

I said that it was stolen from Poland (and from the Piast dynasty) by Bohemian Kings.

Some small northern parts of Silesia were also taken from Poland by Brandenburg.

Indeed. Silesia gradually found itself under political dependence from Kings of Bohemia during the 1300s.

But as I show in this thread, the end of political ties with the rest of Poland, was not yet the end of cultural ties with Poland.

Indeed, most of immigration from Germany to Silesia was a peaceful process during the Middle Ages.

It was even encouraged by Polish dukes of this land - starting from Henryk I Brodaty:

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_I_the_Bearded"]Henry I the Bearded - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

bodhi

Everybody knows Silesia has a Polish and German history. Instead of just pointing to the Polish part you could highlight that it was a shared history and culture. Today we should focus on what we have in common not what divides us.