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in blue, Bulgaria in orange, Great Moravia under Rastislav in green. The green line depicts the borders of Great Moravia after the territorial expansion under Svatopluk I (894). Note that some of the borders of Great Moravia are under debate]] The Vistulans, or VistulaniansBrzechczyn, Krzysztof (2009), Idealization XIII: Modeling in History. Amsterdam: Rodopi. .Davies, Norman (2003), God's Playground A History of Poland: Volume 1: The Origins to 1795. Oxford: Oxford University Press. .Topolski, Jerzy (1976), Methodology of History.Warsaw: PWN – Polish Scientific Publishers in Jaakko Hintikka, Synthese Library. Boston: D.Reidel Publishing Company. (), were an early medieval Lechites tribe inhabiting the western part of modern Lesser Poland."The main tribe inhabiting the reaches of the Upper Vistula and its tributaries was the Vislane (Wislanie) who, by the mid-ninth century were considered by the neighbouring Moravians as "very powerful" The expansionist policy of the Christian Moravian state led to eventual conflict with the pogan Vislane. ending in the defeat of the latter and their annexation to the Great Moravian Empire between Ad 875-879" . in: Trade and urban development in Poland: an economic geography of Cracow. Francis W. Carter. P. 46. 1994 op. cit. L. Hajdukiewicz and M. Karaś. The Jagiellonian University: Traditions, The Present, The Future. Cracow. 1978, p. 17.
'Orosius: The Anglo-Saxon version' ed. W. Bowyer and J. Nichols, 1773; p20
A verse in Old English poem Widsith (10th century):
| Wulfhere sohte ic ond Wyrmhere; ful oft þær wig ne alæg, | I visited Wulfhere and Wyrmhere; there battle often raged, |
| þonne Hræda here heardum sweordum, | when the Hræda with their sharp swords, |
| ymb Wistlawudu wergan sceoldon | in the Vistula woods/wooden hills had to defend |
| ealdne eþelstol Ætlan leodum. | their ancestral seat against Attila's host. |
It is considered that parts of the epic poem could be dated to the 6th century. The syntagma ymb Wistlawudu has seen different translations by the scholars depending on the consideration whether Wistla is a borrowing from a German, Latin, or Slavic language. As such *Wīstle could be identified with the people, while Wistlawudu interpreted as "by the Vistulan woods" or "by the Vistulan wooden hills" (Beskids and Western Carpathians). However, the Hræda which is genitive plural of *Hraede, gives further insight to the meaning and age of the poem. Although it is usually related with the Goths from the same poem ( Hred-Gotum, Hreth-Gotan, Hreidhgotar), this verse is similar to the one in Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks (13th century), where prior the battle between Goths and Huns, Heidrek died in Harvaða fjöllum (Carpathian Mountains) which is sometimes translated as "beneath the mountains of Harvathi", considered somewhere beneath Carpathian Mountains near river Dnieper.
Tadeusz Lewicki argued that Anglo-Saxons, as in the case of Alfred the Great who called Croats Horithi, often distorted foreign Slavic names and it was not uncommon for the same Slavic tribe to be known by different names, in this case, Vistulans being another name for the White Croats. Henryk Łowmiański also argued that both the Vistulans and the Lendians were tribes of White Croats, but other scholars disagree. Leontii Voitovych believed that the Vistulans were the main tribe among those Silesian and Lechitic tribes who invaded this territory, dividing the Croatian lands into Eastern and Western parts.
Based on Lubor Niederle's thesis that the Vistulans are remnants of the once strong alliance of Croatian tribes which fell apart after the migration of the Croats to the Western Balkans in the 7th century, Tadeusz Lehr-Spławiński additionally noted that the name Vistulans was only known among Western Slavs and Germans, while in the East, in Byzantine and Arabian sources, the older name of Croats was retained for the same territory. Such an interpretation of the reference to ymb Wistlawudu ("in the Vistula woods") in the Anglo-Saxon poem Widsith argues that instead of 5th century events, the poem instead intended to refer to 6th century events contemporaneous with the Lombards king Alboin , when the Pannonian Avars led by Bayan I ( Attila's people) expanded between 568 and 595 into the Pannonian Basin and extended their influence northward on the Slavs (Vistulans, Croats) in the Upper Vistula valley, seen in Avarian archaeological remains up to Gniezno in central-western Poland.
It is not known when and how the land of the Vistulans joined into the state of the Polans. Archaeological research has not found any evidence of armed conflicts between the Polans and the Vistulans. Most likely, Bolesław I the Brave, future king of Poland, was named the ruler of Kraków by his grandfather, Boleslaus I. After the death of his father Mieszko I of Poland (992), Chrobry united Kraków with Poland, with the consent of the Vistulan ruling class.
So far historians have not been able to name any Vistulan dukes, but Vita Methodii does mention a "very powerful pagan prince settled on the Vistula" who "began mocking the Christians and doing evil" because of which was contacted by Saint Methodius who said it would be better to be baptized of one's own free will than as a prisoner in foreign land.Marvin Kantor (1983). 9780930042448, University of Michigan, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures. . ISBN 9780930042448 Furthermore, little is known about their religious rituals and the date of baptism of the tribe. It was possibly around the same period, c. 874, when they were subjugated by king Svatopluk I of Moravia, and the Vistulan duke was forced to accept baptism.
Since the 8th century, the Vistulans began construction of spacious gords, whose areas frequently reached over 10 . Most gords were ring-shaped, and located on hills. Among major ones were the gords at Kraków, Stradów, Demblin, Naszczowice, Podegrodzie, Stawy, Trzcinica, Wiślica and on Bocheniec hill in Jadowniki. Most probably, the capital of the Vistulans was located in Kraków, which is confirmed by the size of the local gord, together with a fortified stronghold, located on the Wawel hill. Furthermore, the Vistulans probably built several , such as the Krakus Mound, but historians argue whether these are of earlier, Celtic origin.
In the 9th century, they created a tribal state, with probable major centers in Kraków, Wiślica, Sandomierz, and Stradów. Probably around 874 they were subjugated by king Svatopluk I of Moravia, who was a contemporary of the emperor Arnulf. After a later period of Czechs domination, the Vistulan lands became controlled by the Polans in the late tenth century, and were incorporated into Poland.
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