[gothic-l] Re: Sarmatians and Goths in Poland

[hakan36 at SPRAY.SE]

--- In gothic-l at y..., dirk at s... wrote:
> --- In gothic-l at y..., Xoxana at w... wrote:
> >  
> >             I learned today of a new indigenist 
> > distortion of history I had never heard of before. During the 
18th 
> and
> > 19th centuries, many Polish nobles entered a romantic cult called
> > "Sarmatism." They thought they were the descendents of ancient 
> warriors
> > from the steppes called Sarmatians. 
> >             I knew that the nobility of Poland
> > were descended from Goths or vikings, so what about the myth? 
> 
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I am quite sure that also the proposition that the Polish nobility 
is 
> decended from Goths or Vikings is unfounded. These kind of myths 
have 
> been invented in the past to give themselves a higher status 
through 
> greater antiquitiy of their origins. Especially in Poland, where at 
> times up to one third of the population claimed noble decend 
including 
> many very poor peasants, the emergence of such myths is quite 
> understandable as a way to make up for inferior self-esteem.
> 
> 
> (snip)
> 
>     Sarmatians had invaded Poland nearly
> > 2,000 years ago. But then they were conquered by the Goths. The 
> Goths
> > adopted some of the customs of the Sarmatians, and foreigners 
often 
> had
> > difficulty telling them apart. 
> > The Sarmatians, also known as Alans, were very blond and warlike, 
> just
> > like the Goths. So the Polish nobililty were descended from blond
> > warriors without any doubt. 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This obsession with blond and warlike ancestors has of course other 
> much more sinister parallels as well. Also, I know that the Alans 
were 
> reportedly fair haired and tall - on the other hand as an Iranian 
> people I find this somewhat difficult to believe.
> 
> 
> >It seems that everybody (except northwest
> >                 Europeans) wants to invent a glorious history for 
> >themselves. 
> 
> 
> Well the British higher nobility once claimed to be decendents of 
the 
> lost tribe of Israel!
> 

Hi!
Once I read a book, a novel, in Poland a well-known book from 
nationalromantic period in the beginning of the 20th c, by Henryk 
Sienkiewicz. It´s called "Potop" or the "flood" in english. It´s 
about the 1650ies in Poland and the nationalistic nobelmens effort to 
push out a invading army from a well-known nordic country. There in a 
bysentence you are allowed to follow the swordfencing nobelman 
Michael Volodjovsky´s thoughts. And the story goes approximately like 
this:"and as a nobelman from the slachta(nobility-class), he not only 
had to learn the art of sword-fencing, but must also learn latin and 
gothic. But he wasn´t very interested in books". In books and films, 
especially the nobility is often depicted as being blond. 

I wonder if it was a myth during the nationalromantic period or did 
the polish noblemen in general, until the 17th c also speak gothic. 
And if they did that, why did they do that?


Håkan Liljeberg
 


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