The Bug river lands as remembered by Polish and Ruthenian chroniclers from the 12–13th centuries

The article deals with the issue of the Polish-Ruthenian part of the Bug river in the Middle Ages and is an attempt to explain how the area was perceived by inhabitants of the two neighboring countries.

Antipositivist Breakthrough and Structuralism in Aleksander Gieysztor’s Mitologia Słowian [Mythology of the Slavs]

The first part of the article is devoted to a discussion of Aleksander Gieysztor’s research on the religion and mythology of the Slavs. It discusses the sources of his inspiration (among others the works of Georges Dumézil on the original beliefs and mythology of the Indo-European peoples, the Romans and the Germans; the Parisian ‘Annales’ school) and the achieved results, e.g., the reconstruction of the pantheon of the original Slavic deities. In the second part of the paper, the author reinterprets Gallus Anonymous’ account of the founding of the Piast dynasty.

Biographies of Polish rulers of the Piast dynasty: the historian’s handling of propaganda, myths, popularisation and academic facts

For centuries, biographies have invariably been an essential part of historiography. Every epoch, sometimes even every generation, has written its own ‘lives of famous men’, less frequently ‘women’. Among the numerous biographies, a prominent place is held by those relating to the Middle Ages. Among these, the lives of rulers come to the fore, where the ruler (prince, king, emperor) was among the key models. As for the title of this text, the first part of which is selfexplanatory, its subject includes broadly defined historical biographies concerning Polish rulers of the Piast dynasty. The subject therefore encompasses monographs, articles and entries in various lexicographical publications. The other part of the title is less obvious and requires some clarification as to what is meant by propaganda, myths, popularisation and academic facts. Despite various limitations, biographies are worth the effort, but princes like Mieszko Bolesławowic and Bezprym do not necessarily require biographies. In their case, all that is left is to show the broad background of the era, in which the ruler gets lost. In both cases, the source base is extremely fragile: barely a single reference (mainly Gallus Anonymous, infallible in such situations), insufficient to assemble a biography. It should be stressed that generally, there are few biographies of women: Piast dynasty women and wives of Piasts: Rycheza, Grzymisława, Kinga, Hedwig of Silesia and Elisabeth of Poland, Queen of Hungary have been covered.