History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 12 — John Shaqi
History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 12Carlyle, Thomas
History
History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 12
Carlyle, Thomas
Frederick II, King of Prussia, 1712-1786; Prussia (Germany) -- History -- Frederick II, 1740-1786; Social problems
Who first lived in Schlesien, or lived long since in it, there is no use
in asking, nor in telling if one knew. "The QUADI and the Lygii," says
Dryasdust, in a groping manner: Quadi and consorts, in the fifth or
sixth Century, continues he with more confidence, shifted Rome-ward,
following the general track of contemporaneous mankind; weak remnant of
Quadi was thereupon overpowered by Slavic populations, and their Country
became Polish, which the eastern rim of it still essentially is. That
was the end of the Quadi in those parts, says History. But they cannot
speak nor appeal for themselves; History has them much at discretion.
Rude burial urns, with a handful of ashes in them, have been dug up in
different places; these are all the Archives and Histories the Quadi now
have. It appears their name signifies WICKED. They are those poor Quadi
(WICKED PEOPLE) who always go along with the Marcomanni (MARCHMEN), in
the bead-roll Histories one reads; and I almost guess they must have
been of the same stock: "Wickeds and Borderers;" considered, on both
sides of the Border, to belong to the Dangerous Classes in those times.
Two things are certain: First, QUAD and its derivatives have, to
this day, in the speech of rustic Germans, something of that
meaning,--"nefarious," at least "injurious," "hateful, and to be
avoided:" for example, QUADdel, "a nettle-burn;" QUETSchen, "to smash"
(say, your thumb while hammering); &c. &c. And then a second thing:
The Polish equivalent word is ZLE (Busching says ZLEXI); hence ZLEzien,
SCHLEsien, meaning merely BADland, QUADland, what we might called
DAMAGitia, or Country where you get into Trouble. That is the etymology,
or what passes for such. As to the History of Schlesien, hitherwards
of these burial urns dug up in different places, I notice, as not yet
entirely buriable, Three Epochs.
FIRST EPOCH; CHRISTIANITY: A.D. 966. Introduction of Christianity;
to the length of founding a Bishopric that year, so hopeful were the
aspects; "Bishopric of Schmoger" (SchMAGram, dim little Village still
discoverable on the Polish frontier, not far from the Town of Namslau);
Bishopric which, after one removal farther inward, got across the
Oder, to "WRUTISLAV," which me now call Breslau; and sticks there, as
Bishopric of Breslau, to this day. Year 966: it was in Adalbert, our
Prussian Saint and Missionary's younger time. Preaching, by zealous
Polacks, must have been going on, while Adalbert, Bright in Nobleness,
was studying at Magdeburg, and ripening for high things in the general
estimation. This was a new gift from the Polacks, this of Christianity;
an infinitely more important one than that nickname of "ZLEZIEN," or
"DAMAGitia," stuck upon the poor Country, had been.
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