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Lech’s Supposed Origins in Croatia: Regarding the Identification of the Rivers Huy and Krupa in the Works of Jan Długosz and Maciej of Miechów

The present article is a fresh attempt at locating ‘Psary’ castle — the ‘ancestral home’ of Prince Lech that has been mentioned in numerous legends about the origins of the Poles — through a reinvestigation of the geographical information provided by two chroniclers: Jan Długosz and Maciej of Miechów. After analysing extant medieval sources from the historical lands of Croatia, as well as Croatian historiography, it is possible to dismiss the identification of ‘Psary’ castle with either Krapina or Pharos (Starigrad on the island of Hvar). Both chroniclers ( Jan Długosz and Maciej of Miechów) clearly stated that the legendary stronghold of ‘Psary’ castle was situated on the border of Croatia and Slavonia. While Krapina was located on the border of medieval Slavonia and Steierrmark, Pharos was situated on the Adriatic island of Hvar in medieval Dalmatia, a considerable distance away from the then border of Croatia or Slavonia. The author would like to offer a new interpretation of the geographical information given by these two renaissance authors. Namely, Długosz’s river ‘Huy’ can be identified as the present-day River Una, and Miechów’s River ‘Krupa’ as the Krušnica stream in the vicinity of contemporary Bosanska Krupa. Finally, the author accepts the premise present in Croatian historiography, in accordance with which ‘Psary’ was the stronghold of Minor Pset (Lesser Pest), the political and economic centre of the medieval Croatian county of Pset, however he dismisses as unlikely the idea that Minor Pset (‘Psary’) was one and the same with the late medieval castle of Krupa, which was an assumption accepted by most Croatian historians. Following an analysis of Miechów’s sources, medieval Croatian records and current Croatian historiography, the author argues that they point to two locations situated in close proximity to each other. The first of these was the medieval castle of Krupa, which dates to the beginning of fourteenth century, while the other, the castle of Minor Pset (‘Psary’), is older and was located most probably on Pušačko Hill (Pušačko brdo), near the late medieval castle of Krupa.

Lech ; Croatia ; Psary ; Krupa ; the River Una ; legendary origins of the Poles ; origo gentis ; Renaissance historiography ; historical geography

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