ETERNAL RESTING PLACES OF THE RUTHENIANS IN THE LANDS OF THE PIASTS DURING THE END OF THE 10th – MID- 14th CENTURIES

Abstract

The article is devoted to the establishing in the lands of the Piasts of the eternal resting places of the Ruthenians, which were buried outside of their homeland in the different circumstances and in different times. The first category of mentioned persons are the representatives of the Rus’ Princely families married to the Piasts. We know exactly about only two cases, when the wife of a Polish ruler died and was buried in the lands of her husband, despite the marriages of 17 Ruthenian ladies to the Polish princes, one concubinage and one semi-dynastic marriage from the 11^th – until 14^th centuries. All other cases are either related to the death and burial outside the husband’s (already deceased) possessions, or do not contain specific information about the places of death and burial. Six cases of the death and burial of the representatives of the Rus’ Princely families in the lands of the Piasts occurred as a result of the military and political events (four cases) or with a natural retreat to enlightenment in a monastic life or spiritual rank (two cases). Unfortunately, there is no reliable data on the number of the Ruthenians killed during numerous (about 50) military campaigns in the lands of the Piasts. Three best-documented largest battles (on the Mozgawa River on September 13, 1195, near Zawichost on June 19, 1205, and near Goźlice on February 23, 1280) testify to the enormous number of the Ruthenian casualties, but in no way hint at the further fate of the bodies. We also do not know the names of those warriors, except Rakh – the son of the boyar, probably from Volhynian Volodymyr – who died in 1283 near Mazovian Sohaczew. The trips of the Ruthenian merchants were often fatal, as, for example, in 1279 near the city of Pułtusk. However, it was not possible to find more evidences of the deaths of the merchants from Rus’ in the Polish lands. Undoubtedly, the burghers from Rus’, which lived primarily in Lesser Poland and Silesia, could find their eternal rest in the city’s church and monastery cemeteries, as is reliably known in the case of two ’anonymous’ Ruthenians (a man and a woman) from the second half of the 13^th century from Wrocław. In fact, there were many more of them, but the sources do not allow us to find more. Some optimism could be guaranteed by the results of long-term Polish archaeological research. We know exactly about more than one excavation site, where the skeletons of persons affiliated with the Rus’ princely family, as well as the warriors belonging to the Rus’-Scandinavian military culture of the end of the 10^th to 11^th centuries, were discovered.

Key words: Rus’, Lands of the Piasts, Prince, matrimonial relations, Polish cities, military campaigns, battles, Ruthenian merchants, death, burial place