Lechites

Lechites, or Lekhites, (Polish: Lechici) is a name given to certain West Slavic peoples, including the ancestors of modern Poles and the historical Pomeranians and Polabians, speakers of the Lechitic languages.

When Mieszko I inherited the ducal throne from his father he 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: Poland. His son, Bolesław the Brave founded the bishoprics at Wrocław, Kołobrzeg, and Cracow, 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 Boleslaw became the first King of Poland in 1025.

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, the endangered Pomeranian language and the dead Polabian; 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.

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