Lech (; died 805) was a Bohemian tribal ruler, one of the earliest named rulers in

early Slavic 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 ...

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

. The first reference to him is in the 805 entry of

Annales Regni Francorum The ''Royal Frankish Annals'' (Latin: ''Annales regni Francorum''), also called the ''Annales Laurissenses maiores'' ('Greater Lorsch Annals'), are a series of annals composed in Latin in Carolingian Francia, recording year-by-year the state of ...

when

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...

, son of

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...

, was sent to Bohemia to pacify the Slavs and according to the chronicle "laid waste to the country and killed their leader named Lecho". It is doubtful that Lecho ruled the whole territory now known as Bohemia. It probably consisted of more or less independent tribes, perhaps with some vassalage relationships with the emerging

Great Moravia Great Moravia (; , ''Meghálī Moravía''; ; ; , ), or simply Moravia, was the first major state that was predominantly West Slavic to emerge in the area of Central Europe, possibly including territories which are today part of the Czech Repub ...

. The creation of

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

Bohemian state probably occurred no sooner than at the end of the 9th century under Bořivoj,

Spytihněv Spytihněv is a municipality and village in Zlín District in the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 1,600 inhabitants. Spytihněv lies approximately south-west of Zlín and south-east of Prague. History The first written mention ...

or perhaps even later dukes of the Přemyslid dynasty. The name Lech is also attributed in some early Slavic foundation myths to the legendary founder of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Gerard Labuda Gerard Labuda (; 28 December 1916 – 1 October 2010) was a Polish historian whose main fields of interest were the Middle Ages and the Western Slavs. He was born in Kashubia. He lived and died in Poznań, Poland. Life Labuda was born in N ...

, ''Organizacje państwowe Słowian zachodnich w okresie kształtowania się państwa polskiego (od VI do połowy X wieku)'', nPoczątki Państwa Polskiego. Księga Tysiąclecia, t. 1, Poznań 1962, s. 49; H. Łowmiański, Początki Polski, t. 4, Warszawa 1970, s. 399

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It is sometimes disputed that ''lech'' is rather a title, equivalent to

voivoda Voivode ( ), also spelled voivod, voievod or voevod and also known as vaivode ( ), voivoda, vojvoda, vaivada or wojewoda, is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe in use since the Early Mid ...

, rather than a name. His name is sometimes written as Lecho or Becho.

References

805 deaths 9th-century monarchs in Europe Monarchs of Bohemia Year of birth unknown Duchy of Bohemia 9th-century people from Bohemia Slavic warriors Nobility from Bohemia Czech nobility {{Europe-royal-stub

See also

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References