It is an interesting fact that there are so many mentions of Polish Deities throughout the 15th century. I discussed some of these potential mentions here but there are many more. They appear in many sermons and this makes sense as the 1300s and 1400s were when the “Baptism” of Poland was really taking place as the church organization expanded (after years of wars and the resulting poor penetration) into the countryside. Homegrown priests began to actively preach in many villages that had previously heard little of the Gospel.  A the beginning of the 15th century Lucas of Great Kozmin was one of thfe first preachers to take notice of the beliefs of the people in his sermons. Towards the end of the 1400s when Długosz wrote his chronicle he was basing his description of the Polish Pantheon on edicts from various synods and the knowledge collected and sermons written by a umber of priests some of whom were his contemporaries and friends.

There were many such preachers who dared to mention the Names of pagan Deities. To the shame of Polish medievalists and anthropologists and religious studies student, the writings of these churchmen remain mostly unexplored.

Outside of Lucas and Długosz, few have been even noticed. In fact, the only article focused on the issue that discusses some of these other sermons, even if briefly, is Krzysztof Bracha‘s “Tria ydola Polonorum for the Green Holidays in Church Critique of the Late Middle Ages” (Tria ydola Polonorum na Zielone Świątki w krytyce kaznodziejskiej późnego średniowiecza) in “Pagan Holies – Christian Holies. The Continuation of Cultic Sites in Early Medieval Central Europe” (Sacrum pogańskie – sacrum chrześcijańskie. Kontynuacja miejsc kultu we wczesnośredniowiecznej Europie Środkowej) from 2010, edited by Krzysztof Bracha and Czesław Hadamik (this is a collection of talks presented in 2007 at a conference at Holy Cross Abbey on Holy Cross Mountain aka Bald Mountain).

In that article Bracha puts together a narrative about three principal Polish Gods using the sources we already discussed but also a few lesser known ones. One of those had been identified earlier by Agnieszka Jabłonka and two by Elżbieta Belcarzowa. However, other than noticing them these authors did not explore them further (Jabłonka was focused on the sermon and Belcarzowa was just collecting Polish glosses in Latin language sermons; neither was focused on the topic of late medieval paganism).

I thought we should include each of them here. Bracha also noticed the fact that Belcarzowa found two other examples in two separate sermons by Jan of Dąbrówka (Jan z Dąbrówki). Those mentions are included here as well.

Regarding the “tres” this too is uncertain. Długosz gives more Names. Even the below manuscripts, assuming the Names refer all to different Deities, mention Yleli/Leli, in addition to Jasza/Jesza, Łado/Łada, Nya.

Note too the mention of “Blada” below. We may be dealing with some “pale” Deity as per this writer (or perhaps with a reference to Bleda the Hun) or it could just be an error. It is interesting  though that all the above Deities may have a lunar connection (covering different phases of the perhaps). Another curious thing is that, in Latin, blada refers to “corn,” “cereal,” “grains” (zboże).

A separate topic for discussion is the fact that some of these Names may be Hungarian or at least Pannonian. Thus, Yassa appears similar to the name of the Sarmatian Jaziges. It is also the case that the Jasz people settled in Hungary in the 13th century and may have influenced Polish paganism somehow. On the other hand, the name Jesza is similar to Jesse the name of the “first Christian” (from the Hungarian Chronicle of the 12th century). Now, that is really a reference to Géza I but the Hungarian connection persists with imre Pozsonyi  being referred to as Jesza Poszony (a manager of Poland national team and later of FC Barcelona). Interestingly too, we have an intriguing potential correspondence between Ylely and the Hungarian lélek meaning “soul” (from the Proto-Finno-Ugric *lewle meaning “breath” or “soul” (also lélegzet or lehelet meaning respiration/breath) – an interesting potential overlap with the Polish Żywie or “life” and, potentially, a cognate of Dzidzileyla, Dzidzilejla, Dzidzilela or Didis Lela – the Polish Venus).  Lél or Lehel was a Hungarian chieftain whose (alleged) horn is now located in  “Lehel’s Horn” on display at Jászberény.  Of course, lelek is also the Polish name for the European nighjar – a bird who curiously was thought to suck on goat’s milk (suggesting that Lel & Polel were the children of (?) Dzidzilela)…

Finally, the Hungarian word for God is Isten, which is, of course, very similar to istny, istotny, istota, the Latvian Usins and, likewise, Eostre (not to mention the Anatolian Istanu though also similar to the Egyptian baboon creature Astennu which was a baboon form of Thoth the Moon Deity) but we, as is often the case here, digress.

As a side note, while the members of the Polish Catholic clergy who mentioned these Names, generally did so seemingly in the context of trying to stamp out the vestiges of the Old Faith in villages and towns, I have a gnawing feeling that the sheer number of such references may well indicate a certain patriotic desire to preserve in their homilies, that is in the only way possible, some remembrance of the old ways. Given the large quantity of medieval manuscripts now being made available online, we can hope that amateurs, though perhaps too academic researchers, will feel enabled and be encouraged to more actively pursue the quest to unearth the Suavic past.

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Sermo: De s. Stephano

Polish codex from mid-15th century
sermon author unknown – likely Polish

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“Nam demones vndique colebantur pro deo et adhuc signum est inter christianos, quia tunc mulieres canunt Alado, yesse, ylely etc., qui erant dyaboli hic, qui colebantur.”

“In fact the demons were everywhere worshipped as God and behold it is a [warning?] sign for Christians, because [when this happens] women are singing Alado, yesse, ylely etc., who had been the devils that were worshipped here.”

There is also the interesting mention of swadzba which suggests that this is a combination of swa as in “coming together” and dwa as in “two.”

This is from the Słownik staropolski (that is, the “Old Polish Dictionary” which contains most if not all of the Polish words appearing in manuscripts prior to 1500):

[Elżbieta Belcarzowa, “Polish Glosses in Medieval Latin Sermons” (Glosy polskie w łacińskich kazaniach średniowiecznych), part 4; above Bracha version slightly different from that]

About the Author: author unknown, likely Polish.

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Sermo de Sancto Adalberto

sermon written into the codex about 1460
sermon author unknown

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“Postea sanctus per Moravam convertens venit Cracoviam, post hoc ivit Gneznam et ibi duos fratres duces in fide confirmavit, quia iam fidem habuerant, sed dubiam, et ibi omnes erroneos convertit et daemonem, videlicet Niam, eiecit, cui duae partes servierunt, videlicet Cracovia et Slesia. Postea venit Sandomiriam et Mazoviam, et ibi alium demonem eieicit, vidielicet Iiassam [or Yassam]. Postea de Magna Polonia et Slesia et de provinciis circumstantibus eiecit Ladam demonem.”

“Afterwards, the Saint passed through Moravia in order to convert the land of Cracow,    and then he went to Gniezno and there confirmed in faith two brothers who were dukes and were of the faith but had fallen into doubt; and there all those that had fallen into error he converted and he cast out the demon, namely Nia, whom two lands, namely Cracow land and Silesia served. Thereafter, he went to the Sandomierz land and Mazovia and there he cast out another demon, namely Iiassa. Thereafter, he drove out the demon Lada from Great Poland and Silesia and the surrounding provinces.”

[Agnieszka Jabłonka, “The Sermon about Saint Adalbert from the Pauline [Order] manuscript from Beszowa” (Kazanie o św. Wojciechu z rękopisu paulinów w Beszowej), in “Biuletyn Biblioteki Jagiellonskiej”]

About the Author: author unknown.

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Sermo: de Sancto Adalberto

codex from second half of the 15th century
sermon by Piotr of Miłosław?

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From the sermon: Hodie mater ecclesia sancta recolect festum sancti Adalberti…et agitur dies eius festus per totum orben, multo magis hic in nostra Polonia.

“Et ego Deus tuus in persona vnus in essencia praeposuit hic nostris partibus Polonie sanctum martyrum Adalbertum patronum, vt eiceret tria demonia, videlicet Blada vnum, quod colebatur pro Deo in terra Cracoviensi et Yassa, quod colebatur Polonie et Nya tercium, quod colebatur in alijs terris Vngarie, Bohemie.”

“And I your God in one person [He?] placed here on our side the presence of the patron of Poland, the martyr Saint Adalbert [Vojtěch/Wojciech] to drive out three demons, namely one Blada, who was worshipped instead of God in the land of Cracow and Yassa, who was worshipped by the Poles and Nya the third, who was worshipped in other countries Hungary [and] Bohemia.”