Distribution of Croatian and Dulebes ethnonyms in the Middle Ages

The Dulebes, Dulebs, Dudlebi or Dulibyh () were one of the

tribal The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

unions of

Early Slavs The early Slavs were speakers of Indo-European languages, Indo-European dialects who lived during the Migration Period and the Early Middle Ages (approximately from the 5th to the 10th centuries AD) in Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Ea ...

between the 6th and the 10th centuries. According to medieval sources they lived in Western

Volhynia Volhynia or Volynia ( ; see #Names and etymology, below) is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe, between southeastern Poland, southwestern Belarus, and northwestern Ukraine. The borders of the region are not clearly defined, but in ...

, as well as southern parts of the

Duchy of Bohemia The Duchy of Bohemia, also later referred to in English as the Czech Duchy, (Old Czech: ) was a monarchy and a Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, principality of the Holy Roman Empire in Central Europe during the Early Middle Ages, Early and High M ...

and the

Middle Danube The Danube ( ; see also other names) is the second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest south into the Black Sea. A large and historically important riv ...

between

Lake Balaton Lake Balaton () is a freshwater rift lake in the Transdanubian region of Hungary. It is the List of largest lakes of Europe, largest lake in Central Europe, and one of the region's foremost tourist destinations. The Zala River provides the larges ...

and the

Mur River The Mur () or Mura (; ; ; Prekmurje Slovene: ''Müra''Novak, Vilko. 2006. ''Slovar stare knjižne prekmurščine''. Ljubljana: ZRC SAZU, pp. 262, 269. or ''Möra'') is a river in Central Europe rising in the Hohe Tauern national park of ...

(a tributary of the

Drava The Drava or Drave (, ; ; ; ; ), historically known as the Dravis or Dravus, is a river in southern Central Europe.

) in the

Principality of Hungary The Grand Principality of Hungary or Duchy of Hungary (: "Hungarian Grand Principality", ) was the earliest documented Hungarian state in the Carpathian Basin, established in 895 or 896, following the 9th century Magyar invasion of the Carpath ...

, probably implying migrations from a single region.

Etymology

The etymological origin of their ethnonym is uncertain.

Jan Długosz Jan Długosz (; 1 December 1415 – 19 May 1480), also known in Latin as Johannes Longinus, was a Polish priest, chronicler, diplomat, soldier, and secretary to Bishop Zbigniew Oleśnicki of Kraków. He is considered Poland's first histo ...

argued it derives from the name of their supposed progenitor, Duleba. Others, such as Oleg Trubachyov consider that the ethnonym existed before the

Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages (historiography), Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th to the 10th century. They marked the start o ...

because it derives from

West Germanic languages The West Germanic languages constitute the largest of the three branches of the Germanic languages, Germanic family of languages (the others being the North Germanic languages, North Germanic and the extinct East Germanic languages, East Germ ...

; ''*dudlebi'' from ''*daud-laiba-'' in the meaning of "inheritance of the deceased", which would fit "with the early historical process of development of the lands by the Slavs abandoned at one time by the

Germanic tribes The Germanic peoples were tribal groups who lived in Northern Europe in Classical antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. In modern scholarship, they typically include not only the Roman-era ''Germani'' who lived in both ''Germania'' and parts ...

". Initially, the Proto-Slavic tribe possibly was part of

Przeworsk culture The Przeworsk culture () was an Iron Age material culture in the region of what is now Poland, that dates from the 3rd century BC to the 5th century AD. It takes its name from the town Przeworsk, near the village where the first artifacts we ...

near Old Western Germanic area, but later belonged to the Prague-Korchak culture. It would be "only Slavic ethnonym with a Germanic etymology".

History

The ''

Primary Chronicle The ''Primary Chronicle'', shortened from the common ''Russian Primary Chronicle'' (, commonly transcribed ''Povest' vremennykh let'' (PVL), ), is a Rus' chronicle, chronicle of Kievan Rus' from about 850 to 1110. It is believed to have been or ...

'' describes them as a tribe that formerly lived along the

Bug river The Bug or Western Bug is a major river in Central Europe that flows through Belarus (border), Poland, and Ukraine, with a total length of .Volhynians now are found", in

what is today Western

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. According to the chronicle, the ''Dulebi'' suffered greatly from the invasion of the

Pannonian Avars The Pannonian Avars ( ) were an alliance of several groups of Eurasian nomads of various origins. The peoples were also known as the Obri in the chronicles of the Rus' people, Rus, the Abaroi or Varchonitai (), or Pseudo-Avars in Byzantine Empi ...

in the late 6th or early 7th century:

"They made war upon the Slavs, and harassed the Dulebians, who were themselves Slavs. They even did violence to the Dulebian women. When an Avar made a journey, he did not cause either a horse or a steer to be harnessed, but gave command instead that three or four or five women should be yoked to his cart and be made to draw him. Even thus they harassed the Dulebians. The Avars were large of stature and proud of spirit, and God destroyed them."

Some scholars relate them to Antes, having seen a connection between the demise of the Antes by the Avars and the oppression of the Dulebes by the same Avars and the tradition recorded by

Al-Masudi al-Masʿūdī (full name , ), –956, was a historian, geographer and traveler. He is sometimes referred to as the "Herodotus of the Arabs". A polymath and prolific author of over twenty works on theology, history (Islamic and universal), geo ...

and Abraham ben Jacob that in ancient times the ''Walitābā'' (which some read as ''Walīnānā'' and identified with the Volhynians) were "the original, pure-blooded Saqaliba, the most highly honoured", who dominated the rest of the Slavic tribes, but whose "original organization was destroyed" and "the people divided into factions, each of them ruled by their own king", due to "dissent", as implying the existence of a Slavic federation which perished after the attack of the Avars. Some consider that because of the oppression mentioned in the ''Primary Chronicle'', some of them resettled along the Upper

Vltava The Vltava ( , ; ) is the longest river in the Czech Republic, a left tributary of the Elbe River. It runs southeast along the Bohemian Forest and then north across Bohemia, through Český Krumlov, České Budějovice, and Prague. It is com ...

River in today's Southern

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

, while others were part of the Slavic settlement of the Eastern Alps near

and

Drava The Drava or Drave (, ; ; ; ; ), historically known as the Dravis or Dravus, is a river in southern Central Europe.

River in Carantania and today's southwestern

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. The place of their migration is uncertain and is argued to be from Volhynia to the West due to Avar invasion, or from the

Vistula The Vistula (; ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest in Europe, at in length. Its drainage basin, extending into three other countries apart from Poland, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra i ...

and

Oder The Oder ( ; Czech and ) is a river in Central Europe. It is Poland's second-longest river and third-longest within its borders after the Vistula and its largest tributary the Warta. The Oder rises in the Czech Republic and flows through wes ...

Rivers in all the directions because of supposed proximity with West Germanic tribes.Sedov, Valentin Vasilyevich
Происхождение и ранняя история славян
', 1979, Наука, pg. 131–132 (pdf. 138-139): Другой славянский этноним — дулебы, восходящий также к праславянской поре, территориально связан с племенной группировкой славян, представленной керамикой первой группы (рис. 25). Бесспорно, что дулебы составляли какую-то часть этой группировки; наряду с ними в ее составе были и другие праславянские племена, названия которых не дошли до нас. Разбросанность этнонимов дулебы отражает миграции выходцев из этого племени. Где находилась коренная территория дулебов, определить невозможно. Поскольку этот этноним имеет западногерманское происхождение �рубачев О. Н. Ранние славянские этнонимы — свидетели миграции славян, с. 52, 53. то, видимо, нужно допустить, что славянское племя дулебов сложилось ещё в римское время где-то по соседству с западногерманским населением. Оттуда дулебы расселились в разных направлениях. Средневековые письменные источники фиксируют дулебов на Волыни, в Чехии, на среднем Дунае, между озером Балатон и рекой Мурсой, и в Хорутании, на верхней Драве iederle L. Slovanske starozitnosti, II, s. 369, 370. In the East, in 907, a Dulebian unit took part in Oleg's

military campaign A military campaign is large-scale long-duration significant military strategy plan incorporating a series of interrelated military operations or battles forming a distinct part of a larger conflict often called a war. The term derives from th ...

against Czargrad (

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

). It appears that the Dulebi tribal union between 8th and 10th century formed or assimilated into the Volhynians,

Drevlians The Drevlians, Derevlians or Derevlianians ( or , ) were a tribe of East Slavs between the 6th and the 10th centuries, which inhabited the territories of Polesia and right-bank Ukraine, west of the Polans (eastern), eastern Polans and along the ...

, Polans, Dregoviches, and possibly Buzhans, eventually to become part of the

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus,. * was the first East Slavs, East Slavic state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical At ...

. In the West, in the mid-10th century,

mentioned them as Dūlāba and their "king" (ruler) as Wānjslāf (most probably

Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia Wenceslaus I ( ; 907 – 28 September 935), Wenceslas I or ''Václav the Good'' was the Prince (''Knyaz, kníže'') of Duchy of Bohemia, Bohemia from 921 until his death, probably in 935. According to the legend, he was assassinated by his you ...

). According to the '' Chronica Boemorum'' chronicle by Cosmas of Prague (written in 1119–1125), a fortified settlement Doudleby, which exists even today, was part of Slavník's territory in the

South Bohemian Region The South Bohemian Region () is an administrative unit (''Regions of the Czech Republic, kraj'') of the Czech Republic, located mostly in the southern part of its historical land of Bohemia, with a small part in southwestern Moravia. The western ...

. In

Pannonian Basin The Pannonian Basin, with the term Carpathian Basin being sometimes preferred in Hungarian literature, is a large sedimentary basin situated in southeastern Central Europe. After the Treaty of Trianon following World War I, the geomorpholog ...

, in the charter by

Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

of the

Carolingian Empire The Carolingian Empire (800–887) was a Franks, Frankish-dominated empire in Western and Central Europe during the Early Middle Ages. It was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty, which had ruled as List of Frankish kings, kings of the Franks since ...

, Louis II (843–876), appears Tudleipin in a list of possessions of the Salzburg archbishop Adalwin; church Dudleipin built by Duke of Lower Pannonia, Pribina (846–861), is recorded in '' Conversio Bagoariorum et Carantanorum'' (c. 870); comitatus Dudleipa is mentioned in the "Letter of King Arnulf of 891" written during the time of Otto II (973–983), the county probably located in the territory of later

Vas County Vas (, ; ; or ; ) is an administrative county (Counties of Hungary, comitatus or ''vármegye'') of Hungary. It was also one of the counties of the former Kingdom of Hungary. It is part of the Centrope Project. Geography Vas County lies in weste ...

; a locality called Dulieb in the Upper Drava region is mentioned in the Tyrolean act from 1060. Part of these toponyms most probably was located near Bad Radkersburg and in-between of it and

Leibnitz Leibnitz (; ) is a city in the Austrian States of Austria, state of Styria and on 1 Jan. 2023 had a population of 13,014. It is located to the south of the city of Graz, between the Mur (river), Mur and Sulm (Austria), Sulm rivers. The town is ...

separated by Mur river. Today exist many hydronyms and toponyms on the territory of Poland, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia which derive from ''*dudleb-''.

References

{{Slavic ethnic groups (VII-XII century) Dulebs Primary Chronicle Medieval history of Ukraine

Etymology

History

See also

References