Popiel
Encyclopedia
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
") tribe of Goplans and Polans, the last member of the pre-Piast dynasty
Piast dynasty
The Piast dynasty was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. It began with the semi-legendary Piast Kołodziej . The first historical ruler was Duke Mieszko I . The Piasts' royal rule in Poland ended in 1370 with the death of king Casimir the Great...
, the Popielids
Popielids
Popielids was a legendary ruling dynasty of either the Polans, Goplans or both tribes. They were to rule the lands of Poland prior to the start of the Piast dynasty....
. According to the chroniclers Gallus Anonymus
Gallus Anonymus
Gallus Anonymus is the name traditionally given to the anonymous author of Gesta principum Polonorum , composed in Latin about 1115....
, Jan Długosz and Marcin Kromer
Marcin Kromer
Marcin Kromer or Martin Cromer was Prince-Bishop of Warmia , a cartographer, diplomat and historian in Poland and later in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth...
, as a consequence of bad rule he was deposed, besieged by his subjects, and eaten alive by mice
MICE
-Fiction:*Mice , alien species in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy*The Mice -Acronyms:* "Meetings, Incentives, Conferencing, Exhibitions", facilities terminology for events...
in a tower in Kruszwica
Kruszwica
Kruszwica is a town in central Poland and is situated in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship , previously in Bydgoszcz Voivodeship .It has a population of 9,412 people .-History:...
.
As the legend goes, Prince Popiel was a cruel and corrupt ruler who cared only for wine, women, and song. He was greatly influenced by his wife, a beautiful, but power-hungry German princess. Due to Popiel's misrule and his failure to defend the land from marauding Vikings, his twelve uncles conspired to depose him; however, at his wife's instigation, he had them all poisoned during a feast (she might have done it herself). Instead of cremating their bodies, as was the custom, he had them cast into Lake Gopło.
When the commoners saw what Popiel and his wife had done, they rebelled against their rulers. The princely couple took refuge in a tower near the lake. As the story goes, a throng of mice and rats (which had been feeding on the unburnt bodies of Popiel's uncles) rushed into the tower, chewed through the walls, and devoured Popiel and his wife alive. Prince Popiel was succeeded by Piast Kolodziej and Siemowit
Siemowit
Siemowit was, according to the chronicles of Gallus Anonymus, the son of Piast the Wheelwright and Rzepicha. He was considered one of the four legendary Piast princes, but is now considered as a ruler who existed as a historical person....
.
On the shore of Lake Gopło stands a medieval tower, nicknamed the Mouse Tower; however, it cannot be the site of the events described in the legend as it was erected some 500 years thereafter.
See also
- Mouse TowerMouse TowerThe Mouse Tower is a stone tower on a small island in the Rhine, outside Bingen am Rhein, Germany. The Romans were the first to build a structure on this site. It later became part of Franconia, and it fell and had to be rebuilt many times....
- legend about the cruelty of Hatto II (Archbishop of Mainz). - An Ancient Tale (novel)An Ancient Tale (novel)An Ancient Tale. Novel in Polish history - historical novel by popular in 19th century Polish writer Józef Ignacy Kraszewski published in 1876 in Warsaw...
- novel by Polish writer Kraszewski