Lech, Czech, and Rus

The legend states that the brothers, on a hunting trip, followed different prey and thus travelled (and settled) in different directions: Lech in the northwest, Czech in the west, and Rus in the northeast.

[9] The older chronicles from 14th century (such as those of Dalimil, Wenceslaus Hajek and Přibík Pulkava z Radenína) do not specify the location of Čech and Lech's homeland Charvaty, but in the Alois Jirásek retelling of Staré pověsti české (Old Bohemian Legends) from 1894 it is more closely determined; Za Tatrami, v rovinách při řece Visle rozkládala se od nepaměti charvátská země, část prvotní veliké vlasti slovanské (Behind the Tatra Mountains, in the plains of the river Vistula, stretched from immemorial time Charvátská country (probably meaning so-called Great or White Croatia[10]), the initial part of the great Slavic homeland), and V té charvátské zemi bytovala četná plemena, příbuzná jazykem, mravy, způsobem života (In Charvátská existed numerous tribes, related by language, manners, and way of life).

[12] Dušan Třeštík saw parallels of number seven and else in the Croatian origo gentis of five brothers and two sisters from the 30th chapter of De Administrando Imperio by Constantine VII (10th century).

According to the Chronicle of Dalimil (1314), when Čech and his people climbed Říp Mountain, he looked upon the landscape and told his six brothers that they have reached the promised land: a country where there are enough beasts, birds, fish, and bees so that their tables will be always full, and where they could defend themselves against enemies.

[14] He settled in the area with a tribe and, according to the Přibík Pulkava version (circa 1374), his brother Lech continued his journey to the lowlands over the snowy mountains of the north, where he founded Poland.

[18] Hajek was the first to mention Krapina as place of origin of Leh meanwhile Čeh ruled over Psar near stream/river Krupa, while Klemens Janicki wrote that Lech emigrated from island Hvar in Dalmatia.

[19] Many wrote about it, including Johann Christoph Jordan who personally came to Krapina to hear it told by the local people and mentioned it in De Originibus Slavicis (1745),[16] in 1702 was held a theatre play, in 1848 the three brothers were part of the coat of arms of Varaždin county and the flag was present during the office inauguration of Josip Jelačić, the legend was in addition popularized especially by Ljudevit Gaj, while Stjepan Ortner published the legend in full form in 1899.

[citation needed] The earliest Polish mention of Lech, Čech, and Rus is found in the Chronicle of Greater Poland[21] written at the end of the 13th or the beginning of the 14th century.

[citation needed] The legend suggests a common ancestry of the Poles, Czechs and the Ruthenians (Rus'), and illustrates the fact that as early as the 13th century at least three different Slavic peoples were aware of being ethnically and linguistically interrelated.

[24] Three large oaks in the garden adjacent to the 18th-century palace in Rogalin, Greater Poland, are named after the brothers (Lech, Czech i Rus), and are several hundred years old.