Czcibor (; died after 972), a member of the

Piast dynasty The House of Piast was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. The first documented List of Polish monarchs, Polish monarch was Duke Mieszko I of Poland, Mieszko I (–992). The Poland during the Piast dynasty, Piasts' royal rule in Pol ...

, was a Polan prince, son of Duke Siemomysł and younger brother of the first Christian ruler,

Mieszko I of Poland Mieszko I (; – 25 May 992) was Duchy of Poland (966–1025), Duke of Poland from 960 until his death in 992 and the founder of the first unified History of Poland, Polish state, the Civitas Schinesghe. A member of the Piast dynasty, he was t ...

Life

According to E. Rymar (2005), Czcibor may have been a governor of the

Pomerania Pomerania ( ; ; ; ) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The central and eastern part belongs to the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, West Pomeranian, Pomeranian Voivod ...

n lands after Mieszko I's conquest of that West Slavic tribes territory from around 967 AD. In medieval sources, he is mentioned but once in the chronicles by

Thietmar of Merseburg Thietmar (also Dietmar or Dithmar; 25 July 9751 December 1018), Prince-Bishop of Merseburg from 1009 until his death in 1018, was an important chronicler recording the reigns of German kings and Holy Roman Emperors of the Ottonian (Saxon) dynas ...

, in relationship with Poland's victorious

Battle of Cedynia In the Battle of Cedynia or Zehden, an army of Mieszko I of Poland defeated forces of Hodo or Odo I, Margrave of the Saxon Ostmark, Odo I of Lusatia on 24 June 972, near the Oder river. Whether or not the battle actually took place near the mode ...

against the forces of the

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

margrave Odo I (''Hodo'') in 972 AD. He is thought to have been either the commander or one of the principal Polish leaders, along with his brother Mieszko, and Thietmar is the source of his presence at the battle. Czibor's presence at Cedynia might have been based not only on his status as war leader and brother of the Polish ruler, but also by his position as 'governor' of conquered/annexed Pomerania. His date of birth and death are unknown, his family: mother, wife or wives (he was most likely a

pagan Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...

until 966 AD), and children are also unknown. In view of his name, his mother may have been of Sorbian (

Lusatia Lusatia (; ; ; ; ; ), otherwise known as Sorbia, is a region in Central Europe, formerly entirely in Germany and today territorially split between Germany and modern-day Poland. Lusatia stretches from the Bóbr and Kwisa rivers in the eas ...

n) origin.

Popular culture

Czcibor is known in the Polish popular culture, through books of Józef Ignacy Kraszewski, Zbigniew Nienacki and Paweł Jasienica, and was one of the principal characters in a 1974 Polish feature film '' Gniazdo'' directed by Jan Rybkowski. In 1977 Polish

comics a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...

book artist

Grzegorz Rosiński Grzegorz Rosiński (Polish: ; born 3 August 1941) is a Polish comic book artist, illustrator and painter. He is best known for providing the artwork for the series '' Thorgal''. His other notable work includes art drawn in the '' Hans'' and '' C ...

drew a story, based on Moczulski's storyline, where Czcibor appeared along with his brother Mieszko, this 8 full-panel long story appeared in a Polish comics monthly magazine ''Relax'', volume 4. There are streets named after him in some Polish cities and towns, e.g.

Łobez Łobez (; ) is a town on the river Rega (river), Rega in northwestern Poland, within the West Pomeranian Voivodeship. It is the capital of Łobez County, and has a population of 10,066 (2019). The name The name Łobez comes from the Old Polis ...

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

Szczecin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Poland-Germany border, German border, it is a major port, seaport, the la ...

. At the site where, according to the research of archaeologist Władysław Filipowiak, the Battle of Cedynia most likely was fought, a hill is named ''Góra Czcibora'' ("Czcibor's Mountain"). A monument commemorating the victory was erected there in 1972, with a dedication in Polish and

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

, both mentioning Prince Czcibor.

Sources

* ''Kronika Thietmara'' (translation by Marian Z. Jedlicki), Towarzystwo Autorów i Wydawców Prac Naukowych UNIVERSITAS, Kraków, Poland, 2005; , pp. 32–33 * Jasiński, Kazimierz, ''Rodowód pierwszych Piastów'', Wydawnictwo Poznańskiego Towarzystwa Przyjaciół Nauk, Poznań, Poland, 2004; , p.71 * Paweł Jasienica, ''Polska Piastów'', Panstwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, Warsaw, Poland, 1985; , p. 44 *

References

{{reflist Piast dynasty Year of birth uncertain Year of death uncertain 10th-century Polish people History of Pomerania