Opolanie – West Slavic

West Slavic

West Slavic can refer to:* West Slavic languages* West Slavic peoples...

 tribe that lived in the region of upper Odra. Their main settlement (gród

Grod

Grod may refer to:* Caspar Maria Grod, Wilhelm Riphahn's co-worker from 1913 to 1931* Weilern Grod, a village in Brittnau, Switzerland* Grod, 520s–528 ruler after Utigur in Patria Onoguria. He was succeeded by his brother Mugel.-See also:...

) was Opole

Opole

Opole is a city in southern Poland on the Oder River . It has a population of 125,992 and is the capital of the Upper Silesia, Opole Voivodeship and, also the seat of Opole County...

. They were mentioned in the Bavarian Geographer

Bavarian Geographer

The Bavarian Geographer is a conventional name given by Jan Potocki in 1796 to the author of an anonymous medieval document Descriptio civitatum et regionum ad septentrionalem plagam Danubii ....

, under the name Opolini, as one of the seven tribes living in Silesia

Silesia

Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...

 (Silesian tribes

Silesian tribes

Silesian tribes – are the European tribes of West Slavs that lived in the territories of Silesia. The territory they lived on became part of the Great Moravia in 875 and later, in 990, first Polish state created by duke Mieszko I and then expanded by king Boleslaw I at the beginning of the 11th...

). The other six were: Dziadoszanie, Golęszyce, Ślężanie

Slezanie

Ślężanie were a tribe of West Slavs, specifically of the Lechitic , inhabiting territories of Lower Silesia, near Ślęża mountain and Ślęza river, on the both banks of the Oder, up to the area of modern city of Wrocław...

, Trzebowianie, Bobrzanie

Bobrzanie

The Bobrzanie are one of the Silesian tribes mentioned in the Prague document from the 11th century AD. The area they inhabited was located on the Bóbr river, from which they took their name.-References:**...

 and Lupiglaa (often identified with Głubczyce).

According to the Geographer Opolanie possessed twenty gróds in what was later known as Upper Silesia

Upper Silesia

Upper Silesia is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia. Since the 9th century, Upper Silesia has been part of Greater Moravia, the Duchy of Bohemia, the Piast Kingdom of Poland, again of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown and the Holy Roman Empire, as well as of...

 such as Opole and Toszek

Toszek

Toszek is a town in Poland, in Gliwice County, Silesian Voivodeship, with 4,000 inhabitants.- History :The beginning of the settlement and fortified keep is dated in the 9th and 10th centuries when the area was ruled by the Piasts, Mieszko I of Poland and later Bolesław I the Brave.The fortified...

. Presumably their place of cult was the Saint Anna mountain

Góra Swietej Anny Landscape Park

Góra Świętej Anny Landscape Park is a protected area in south-western Poland, established in 1988, covering an area of ....

. Opolanie's territories were conquered by Great Moravia

Great Moravia

Great Moravia was a Slavic state that existed in Central Europe and lasted for nearly seventy years in the 9th century whose creators were the ancestors of the Czechs and Slovaks. It was a vassal state of the Germanic Frankish kingdom and paid an annual tribute to it. There is some controversy as...

 in 875

875

Year 875 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* December 29 – Charles the Bald, king of West Francia, is crowned emperor....

 and were probably incorporated into the Přemyslid Bohemia

Bohemia

Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...

 in the first half of the 10th century.

In 990

990

Year 990 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar.- Religion :* The Pax Ecclesiae, an edict by the church in southern France attempting to outlaw acts of war against non-combatants and the clergy, is promulgated.- Births :* Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor * Edmund II of England,...

 Opolanie's territories were incorporated into the first Polish state. Due to this fact they are usually treated as part of the Polish tribes

Polish tribes

Polish tribes - a term used sometimes to describe the tribes of West Slavs that lived in the territories that became Polish from around the mid-7th century to the creation of Polish state by the Piast dynasty...

.

The name Opolanie derives from a Slavic

Slavic languages

The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...

 term opole, that meant a specific form of self-governing used among the West Slavs

West Slavs

The West Slavs are Slavic peoples speaking West Slavic languages. They include Poles , Czechs, Slovaks, Lusatian Sorbs and the historical Polabians. The northern or Lechitic group includes, along with Polish, the extinct Polabian and Pomeranian languages...

. Early medieval opole transformed into an administrative governing form used in Early Medieval Poland mainly to collect tax

Tax

To tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities...

es.