Jerzy Gassowski

Department of Archaeology and Anthropology.

Pultusk Academy of Humanities. Poland.

THE EARLY SLAVS - NATION OR RELIGION?

Any discussion of early medieval Europe encounters a strange phenomenon, the

sudden appearance and subsequent rapid demographic settlement and cultural devel-
opment of the Slavs.1 Two themes have absorbed most scholarly interest: the time of
emergence of this nation, and the location of the geographic "cradle" from whence they
came. Researchers of early Slavonic culture and ethnicity are divided into two main
schools, the autochthonic and the allochthonic. The autochthones hold that the genesis of
the Slavs can be traced back to the middle Bronze Age, to a region between the Oder and
the Dniepr. The general changes accompanying the breakdown of the antique world
freed a new creative strength in this ethnic group, and opened the way for their wide-
spread expansion. The allochthones, on the other hand, maintain that the Slavs migrated
into Central Europe from the east, no earlier than the late fifth century A.D.
Both schools show serious weak points in their arguments. The autochthones, relying
largely upon archaeological but also upon written evidence, cannot explain the drastic
change in material culture among the autochthonic Slavs at the dawn of the medieval
period. This question is crucial, since cultural continuity remains the basic argument for
the antiquity of Slavic settlement in Central Europe. The allochthonic school faces even
more difficult questions. How can the archaeological evidence for a general cultural
change be reconciled with the opinion of most linguists, that the Slavic language was
born in Central Europe - a fact which supports the autochthones? How could a new
nation, migrating from somewhere in the western Ukraine, people and settle over half of
Europe in a historically short time?
Despite these differing views of their genesis, the Slavs have been, since their ap-
pearance, a significant nation, occupying large areas of the European continent. But was
the sudden emergence of a new nation only a Slavic occurrence? The Germans emerged
from a historical "nowhere" around the second century B.C., from that time on playing a
significant role in Europe's destiny. Earlier, in the seventh - sixth centuries B.C., the
Celts coalesced out of the nameless chaos of Europe's barbarian peoples, and created
clear cultural and ethnic order over large parts of non-Mediterranean Europe.
The emergence of all of these groups was similar, marked by both military expansion
and a distinguishing culture. The appearance of the Slavs was thus nothing really new or
surprising in the long history of Europe; they were simply the newest significant nation
on the continent. The difference is that the Celts were born within the circle of a rich
Hallstatt culture, centered upon the Northern Alps, while the Germans inherited a great
deal from the Celts. In this respect, the seemingly spontaneous genesis of the Slavs
presents more mysteries.
Archaeologists have noted the fact that in no new-emerging archaeological culture
can the "cradle", or beginning point, be distinguished. The phase in which such a culture
becomes distinguishable is when it is already in a stage of expansion and development. If
we assume that there are three phases in any existence - birth, maturity and agony - we
can observe only the second and third. The first is never visible for researchers and
remains a domain of guesswork and uncertainty.
Nevertheless, if we wish to search for the earliest traces of a Slavic archaeological
culture, we must proceed to the areas around the Dniepr in what is now the Ukraine, a
region of forests and steppes. That is where, after the downfall of a multi-ethnic tribal
federation created by the Goths, a small archaeological culture, called Penkovka or
Kolocin, appears; its western branch is called the Prague Culture. This culture becomes

1 Jerzy Gassowski, The dawn of medieval European culture, in: Swiatowit 37 (Warsaw 1993) 17-36; Ka-zimierz Godlowski, Zur Frage der
Slawensitze for der grofien Slawenwanderung im 6. Jahrhundert, in: Gli Slavi occidentali e meridionali nell'alto Medioevo (Settimana di Studio
del Centro italiano di studi suU'alto me-dioevo 30, Spoleto 1983) 257-284; Joachim Herrmann, Okonomie und Gesellschaft an der Wende von
der An-tike zum Mittelalter (Sitzungsberichte der Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR 13 G, Berlin 1979); Joachim Herrmann,
Wanderungen und Landnahme im westslawischen Gebiet, in: Gli Slavi occidentali e meridionali nell'alto medioevo (Settimane di Studio del
Centro italiano di studi sull'alto medioevo 30, Spoleto 1983) 75-100; Michal Parczewski, Origins of Early Slav Culture in Poland, in: Antiquity
65 (London 1991) 675-683; Michal Parczewski, Beginnings of the Slavs' Culture, in: Origins of Central Europe, ed. Pzremyslaw Urbanczyk
(Warsaw 1997) 79-90; Walter Pohl, Die Awaren. Ein Steppenvolk in Mitteleuropa, 567-822 n. Chr. (Munchen 1981); Walter Pohl, The role of
steppe peoples in eastern and central Europe in the first miUennium A.D., in: Origins of Central Europe, ed. Pzremyslaw Urbanczyk (Warsaw
1997) 65-78.
 264 Jerzy Gassowski
visible by the end of fourth century A.D. and consolidates during the fifth century,
showing at the same time a growing tendency for expansion, especially towards the Da-
nube region. Mixed settlements of Slavs and Longobards are visible along the middle
Danube by the sixth century.
In the vast area of Central and Eastern Europe, on lands vacated by the Germans after
over four centuries of domination, a new and different Slavic culture springs into being.
It appears in significant political and cultural circumstances: under the growing pressure
of the Huns, the Germanic tribes of Goths and Vandals, unwilling to become a part of the
Hunnic Empire and avoiding military confrontation, left their homes in Eastern Europe,
seeking refuge within Roman territory. Not all tribes decided to move; some remained
and joined the Huns.
Slavic culture developed and extended itself everywhere Hun domination did,
throughout the formerly German-controlled territories of Eastern and Central Europe.
After the downfall of Attila's empire, some Germanic tribes (the Longobards and Gepids)
are again visible through archaeological finds along the middle and lower Danube,
contrasting sharply with the traces of Slavic settlement. A century later the Avars res-
urrected a part of the old Hunnic Empire in Central Europe, which strengthened and
intensified Slavic settlement there. The last vestiges of Germanic culture disappeared
from this area at the same time. From then on, we can observe the further expansion of
Slavs, through the Balkans to the Dodecanese Islands and into Asia Minor. They
colonized Central Europe to the river Elbe and beyond, the upper Danube into the eastern
Alps and the territories of Western Baits and Finns, present-day northern Russia. This
expansion is largely over by the end of the seventh century, but lasted somewhat longer
in Eastern and Northeastern Europe.
Early Slavic culture is known almost exclusively from archaeological evidence. This
culture has distinctive and specific features, among which are an extreme simplicity and
a coarse equality, much different from the aristocratic traits of migration-period
Germanic culture. What are the most striking differences? In settlement patterns no trace
of larger buildings and constructions can be found, patterns which can be the marks of
wealth and prestige. The newest radiocarbon and/or tree-ring dates reveal that none of
the so-called grods (fortified settlements) existed before the ninth century. None of the
graves from cemeteries of the sixth to ninth centuries contains grave goods richer than
the others; all of them are equally poor. Neither women nor men carry metal ornaments.
In the history of European civilization, these are drastic differences.
At the same time, the Slavs as a people should not be considered poor. Wealthy By-
zantine towns were being plundered, and rich booty brought home. The Slavic agricul-
tural economy seems to be no worse than that of the Germans and perhaps even more
efficient, as the archaeological evidence shows. In Central Europe rye, better-suited to
the climatic conditions, took the privileged place in wheat's stead; the Slavs also had
numerous herds of cattle and pigs. They were certainly neither poor nor hungry. Their
iron metallurgy continued and developed earlier experience, as did other crafts, carpentry
in particular. Our general picture of Slavic culture is one of moderate satiety and a
"programmed" coarseness. The culture was stubbornly conservative as well, allergic to
changes and to foreign influences. This conservatism is visible in many aspects of
material and spiritual culture up to at least the eleventh century; the first departures are
visible no earlier than in the ninth. The first wealthy graves and rich houses (or palaces)
of princes occur together with Christianity.
Ancient coronation traditions among the Slavic princes of the Carinthians and Czechs
had them dressed for the ceremony in the cloak of a common farmer. The origin legend
of the oldest Polish dynasty, the Piasts, claims that the first prince was a poor peasant.
We can thus presume that the equality and simplicity seen in the archaeological sources
is not the evidence of poverty, but rather a way of life derived from customary and
religious principles. We could compare it to the poverty of some monastic orders and
religious sects which, while possessing lands, goods and buildings, exhort their members
to live like mendicants.
Early Slavic culture was, in general, very homogenous over large areas of Europe. In
spite of its material coarseness and apparent poverty there must have been some kind of
attraction within it, now unknown to us; we cannot attribute its expansion only to
military activity or to supra-natural procreative rates. The first recorded Slavic words
were spoken at Attila's court, and it is plausible that Slavic became a common language
among the Avars. The Bulgars, only two centuries later, were a similar case. Whatever
kind of attractions were presented by Slavic civilization, they did not belong to the
sphere of the real world. We should look for them in the circle of religious beliefs, cus-
toms or social structures, or in all of them together.
We are still, however, faced with an unanswered question: what was the initial im-
pulse that created the Slavic nation and culture? We know that the historical scenery of
the time was some of the most volcanic in European history. For the first time, Asia had
penetrated deep into the heart of Europe. The Slavs first appear in the archaeological and
written record at a time of Hunnic domination, within a territory subjugated by them.
Later, between the sixth and eighth centuries, the connection of Slavs with the political
power of nomads is evident. But their civilization has nothing to do with nomadic
tradition, being as they were settled agriculturalists.
When we seek an analogy for the emergence of similarly huge political and cultural
systems, we can find no better illustration from written sources than the creation of Islam
and the Arabic Empire (the Omayyad Caliphate). One of the politically-dispersed Arabic
tribes, partially dependent upon Byzantium, partially upon Persia, and partially
independent, created a simple and compact religion, which at the same time was a social
and legal system. In the short time between 622 and 750 A.D., the bearers of that system
took over an immense territory reaching from Spain to western India. Fanatic warriors
were the first force actively imposing the new religion, but it was soon accepted by most
of the conquered people either as a religion or as a convenient, religiously tolerant social
system. Arabs were the ethnic and often religious minority in their Islamic Empire. To
create a harmonious administration they tolerated different religions (except, of course,
their own heresies) and respected foreign customs, but their language - as the language of
their Holy Book - became one of the important languages of the world. When, after 750
A.D., the new Abbasid dynasty permitted non-Arabic Islamic nobles access to high
offices and honors, Islamic culture remained a stable one for centuries.2
The Huns, like most nomadic peoples, were tolerant in matters of religion and cus-
tom. They created a Euro-Asiatic Empire in which they were a minority. That means
they must have permitted representatives among newly-subjugated peoples, even former
enemies, to occupy positions of high military and civic responsibility. The rich grave of a
Hunnic nobleman in Jakuszewice, near Krakow, contains a golden bow and is likely to
contain such a local aristocrat, serving new lords. Hunnic success thus was presumably
based - as in the case of the Arabs - not only on their military force, but upon the
attractive opportunities they offered those who voluntarily joined them as well.
The case of the Avars seems to be different. They created a large territory, covering
most of Central Europe, in the hope of repeating the Hunnic example. The effect was
poorer in scale and in results. Significant was their relation to their most populous sub-
jugated nation, to the Slavs. Both the Frankish chronicles and the oldest Slavic traditions
record the harm and humiliation inflicted upon the Slavs by the Avars. We can deduce
that the Avars kept their privileged status through a social and political separation of the
Slavs, as Arabs did to their non-Arabic subjects during the first stage of the Caliphate.
When Judgment Day came, in the form of war with Charlemagne and his sons, the Avars
paid for their arrogance; abandoned by their Slavic allies, they were annihilated.3
The comparison between Slavs/Slavic culture and Arabs/Islam is quite interesting,
due to the similarities between the period and the scale of the movements, even if we
must admit that there are too many unknowns in early Slavic history to make such a
comparison adequate. However, it is remarkable that the emergence of the Slavs is so
similar to the birth of a major religion, even if so much of the attractiveness of Slavic
culture remains hidden from us. For centuries, it appears to us that everyday Slavic life
was guided by the rigorous rules of a religion, full of self-restrictions. But as the at-
tractiveness of this culture was immaterial, we must also admit that the provocative
question posed by the title of this paper cannot yet be answered. It can, however, guide
us to a new line of scholarly research, never before the subject of scholarly investigation.
_____________________________
Jerzy Gassowski, The dawn of medieval European culture, in: Swiatowit 37 (Warsaw 1993) 17-36; Ka-zimierz Godlowski,
Zur Frage der Slawensitze for der grofien Slawenwanderung im 6. Jahrhundert, in: Gli Slavi occidentali e meridionali
nell'alto Medioevo (Settimana di Studio del Centro italiano di studi sul'alto medioevo 30, Spoleto 1983) 257-284; Joachim
Herrmann, Okonomie und Gesellschaft an der Wende von der An-tike zum Mittelalter (Sitzungsberichte der Akademie der
Wissenschaften der DDR 13 G, Berlin 1979); Joachim Herrmann, Wanderungen und Landnahme im westslawischen Gebiet,
in: Gli Slavi occidentali e meridionali nell'alto medioevo (Settimane di Studio del Centro italiano di studi sull'alto medioevo
30, Spoleto 1983) 75-100; Michal Parczewski, Origins of Early Slav Culture in Poland, in: Antiquity 65 (London 1991) 675-
683; Michal Parczewski, Beginnings of the Slavs' Culture, in: Origins of Central Europe, ed. Przemyslaw Urbanczyk
(Warsaw 1997) 79-90; Walter Pohl, Die Awaren. Ein Steppenvolk in Mitteleuropa, 567-822 n. Chr. (Munchen 1981); Walter
Pohl, The role of steppe peoples in eastern and central Europe in the first millennium A.D., in: Origins of Central Europe, ed.
Przemyslaw Urbanczyk (Warsaw 1997) 65-78.
 264 Jerzy Gassowski
2
Marshall G. S. Hodges, The Venture of Islam: Conscience and History in a World Civilisation (Chicago 1974);
Jean Savauget, Introduction to the History of Muslim East (Berkeley 1965).
3
Pohl, Die Awaren. o.c.
Published: /in:/ Integration und Herrschaft. Ethnische Identitaeten und soziale
Organisation in Fruemittelalter” ed. W. Pohl & M. Diesenberger. Wien 2002. pp, 269-
272