The Goths were influential in shaping Europe in the early Middle Ages. They were one of the main causes of the collapse of the Western Empire. Traces of their presence can also be found in Poland, the most famous of them are cemeteries and stone circles, compared (a bit exaggerated) to Stonehenge. Who were they? Where did they come from and did they leave behind anything more than megaliths and cemeteries? Here is an attempt to answer these questions.
Before I look at the presence of Goths in today's Poland, I would like to outline their history and directions of expansion. This is one of the most powerful elements of the period of the great migration of peoples. They wandered most of our continent, and clashed with the Roman Empire. Most scholars cite them as one of the main causes of the fall of the Western Empire.
Historians and archaeologists disagree as to the exact place of origin of the Goths. It can be said that they originally inhabited the south of the Scandinavian Peninsula, called by the Gothic chronicler Jordanes Scandza. Although a lot depends on the interpretation of the sources. It is not known whether their native land was the island of Gotland or the Götaland region, or perhaps another place. They came to us from the northwest, across the Baltic Sea, around the 1st century AD. The Vistula Pomerania is probably the Gothiscanda described by Jordanes. Other researchers point to the mouth of the Oder or even the Elbe. According to the chronicler, the legendary King Berig was to land in one of these places. His successors led the people farther south.
The archaeological certificate confirms the emergence of a new culture in Pomerania and Mazovia in the 1st century AD. In literature, it is called the Wielbark culture. The range of this culture extends from Gdańsk, through the Chełmno Land, the Kashubian and Krajeńskie Lakelands, and even the area of northeastern Wielkopolska. Further it stretches to the south-east (Mazowsze, Podlasie, Polesie, Wołyń). In the 2nd century CE, The Wielbark culture began to displace the Przeworsk culture, attributed to the Vandals. In the 3rd-5th centuries the Cherniakhiv Culture, similar to the Wielbark, begins to spread over the Black Sea. Archaeologists explain this as a reflection of the movement of the Goths through the area of today's Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania towards the Black Sea area. It is then that the first clashes with the Byzantine troops take place. At that time, there was a division into Eastern Goths (Ostrogoths) and Western Goths (Visigoths).
The Visigoths attacked the Roman borders from the Balkans. As early as in the third century, they threatened Italy for the first time. Defeated within a few years, they were imprisoned in Dacia, from where they began to be displaced by the Huns. With the help of Rome, they moved to the southern bank of the Danube (Herwig Wolfram indicates that as early as in the 3rd century they could have been associated with Rome on the basis of a federation). However, they were not treated well here, which resulted in a rebellion. In the Battle of Adrianople (378). The Romans suffered a terrible defeat. Emperor Valens was also killed. After another several decade of peace, a new war broke out. The Visigothic king, Alaric I, led his people to Rome and conquered the Eternal City (AD 410). The Visigoths sacked Italy and traveled further west, establishing a kingdom in Toulouse. Then, driven by the Franks from Gaul, they settled in Spain. Meanwhile, after the fall of the Western Empire, Odoacer was defeated by the eastern Visigoth cousins - the Ostrogoths. The Ostrogothic state of Theodoric in Italy, founded later (at the turn of the 5th / 6th centuries), was one of the most powerful countries of the early Middle Ages.
The further history of the Goths is already related to medieval Europe and I will not deal with them here. An interesting fact may be the cluster of Gothic settlements and cemeteries, called the Masłomęcka group, located in the Hrubieszowska Valley. It testifies to the presence of a community related to the creators of Wielbark and Cherniakhiv cultures in south-eastern Poland. This community had many Gothic features.
Tomasz Gralak, comparing the artifacts found in the graves of the Przeworsk culture (associated with the Vandals or Slavs) and the Wielbark culture, pointed out that in the case of the latter, we find much fewer weapons and iron products. However, the main artifacts are ornaments made of non-ferrous metals. The ornaments were so sophisticated that at a certain stage in the development of culture one can even speak of the Wielbark Baroque. The restriction of access to weapons, and at the same time the development of ornamentation and the rich equipment of women's graves testify to the uniqueness of the Wielbark culture at that time. Based on Roman records from the 1st and 2nd centuries, it can be concluded that indeed women had a high position in this community. Which the Romans did not like anyway. Representatives of the Przeworsk culture, adjacent to Wielbark from the south, had a more patriarchal society, but at the same time simpler and more egalitarian. A large number of burial mounds, surrounded by flat burials, testifies to the high hierarchy of the Wielbark culture society. This is confirmed by the Roman texts on the Goths compared to other Germanic tribes.
Stone circles are one of the most famous remains of the presence of Goths in Poland. The most famous ones are located in Kashubia - in Węsiory, Leśno, and Odry. But we can also find monuments of this type to the west, incl. south of Pławno in the Drawski poviat.
This is an important hallmark of the Goths, which can also be observed in South Scandinavia. The stones were arranged in stone circles with a stele in the middle, the stone cores of Gothic mounds and the kurgan stelae are also characteristic. Stones and steles placed 2.5-3 m apart were also surrounded by burial mounds. Smaller graves are also marked with single steles.
We know that the circles, the ones with the stele in the middle, were an important place in the life of the Gothic community. Most probably rallies and other meetings of the inhabitants of the local settlement took place within them.
Stone circles of Goths in Pomerania is called the Polish Stonehenge, this name is used especially for circles in Kashubia. None of them are as extensive or as great as the famous megalithic site in England. However, they are an important testimony to the way of life, beliefs and funeral rites of the Goths. The bodies of the deceased were most often incinerated, although there are cases of skeletal burials. Coffins made of a hollow tree trunk are characteristic for the Wielbark culture.
Personally, I think that the matter cannot be settled, because Germans and Slavs are divided according to the language used. The conducted genetic and archaeological research can only show the continuity between the communities of the period of Roman influence and medieval Poland. It is certain that the Goths came to our territory from Scandinavia, and their culture (Wielbark) clearly differed from the Przeworsk and Baltic cultures bordering on it. We know there are some similarities between the Slavic and Gothic languages. However, it has not been decided how many of them are borrowings.
It is obvious, however, that the Goths, staying three hundred, and in some places even five hundred years in Poland and Ukraine, left their genes behind.
I wrote in another article about the most popular theories about the origin of the Piast dynasty. They are credited with, among others, 0in descent from the Goths.
There is no doubt that the Goths left some genes in today's Poland. Especially in Kashubia and northern Greater Poland, where we have genetic evidence that visitors from the north mixed with local women. The evidence comes from the 1st-3rd century AD, so long before the appearance of the first Polans and their leaders. The only confirmed DNA analysis of the Piasts so far comes from the 16th-century prince of Mazovia. The study shows that he belonged to the R1b haplogroup, very common in Western European men, but not specific to the Goths. (a very interesting analysis of the genetic history of the Scandinavians - see Imreh A., 2017) In short - it is impossible to determine whether the Piasts were descended from the Goths, although it is not excluded. We are left with speculation. What is certain is that the Goths left their mark on these lands, as well as on southern and south-western Europe. The presence of this fascinating culture in Poland deserves an even more detailed discussion of the topic. Perhaps I can do it in future articles.
Bibliography:
- Tomasz Gralak, Reasons and Forms of Diversification of the Przeworsk and Wielbark Cultures, in: The Rhythm of Cultural Changes in Prehistory and the Middle Ages, Biskupin-Wrocław 2012
- Herwig Wolfram, Historia Goths, Bellona 2003
- Andrzej Kasprzak, A burial mound with stone circles in Pławno, poviat drawski - preliminary research results, in: Orbis Barbarorum. Monumenta Archaeologica Barbarica, Series Gemina, Volume VI, Warsaw-Schlezwig 2017
- Wojciech Kempa, Goths of the Nest, Siemianowice Śląskie 2009
- Andrzej Kokowski, Grupa masłomęcka: from research on the changes in Goth culture in the younger Roman period, Lublin 1995
- Jerzy Strzelczyk, Goci - reality and legend, PIW 1984
- Alex Imreh, I1a + R1b = Goths / I1a3, Vikings / I1a1, in: https://aleximreh.wordpress.com/2017/02/08/goth-dna/, accessed: 02/14/2022
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