'' border between the
Saxons and the Lechitic
Obotrites, established about 810 in present-day
Schleswig-Holstein According to Polish legend,
Mieszko I inherited the ducal throne from his father who probably ruled over two-thirds of the territory inhabited by eastern Lechite tribes. He united the Lechites east of the
Oder (
Polans,
Masovians,
Pomeranians,
Vistulans,
Silesians) into a single country of
Poland. His son,
Bolesław I the Brave, founded the bishoprics at
Wrocław,
Kołobrzeg, and
Kraków, and an archbishopric at
Gniezno. Bolesław carried out successful wars against
Bohemia,
Moravia,
Kievan Rus' and
Lusatia, and forced the western Pomeranians to pay Poland a tribute. Shortly before his death Bolesław became the first King of Poland in 1025.
Lechitic languages The
West Slavs included the ancestors of the peoples known later as
Poles,
Pomeranians,
Czechs,
Slovaks,
Sorbs and
Polabians. The northern so-called Lechitic group includes, along with Polish, endangered
Pomeranian and
Polabian, a dead language;
Silesian, which is variously considered a Polish dialect or a language in its own right, is also part of this group. The
Sorbian languages of the southern part of the Polabian area, preserved as relics today in Upper and
Lower Lusatia, occupy a place between the Lechitic and Czech-Slovak groups. ==The name
Lech==