ABSTRACT
While this chapter will take into consideration the state formation in Croatia, Bohemia, Poland, Rus’ and Hungary, it appears at a first glimpse that there are few things that those polities have in common. Croatia was situated near the Byzantine coastal cities in the mountainous areas of the western Balkans, with access to the Adriatic Sea. By contrast, Piast Poland had no Roman legacy whatsoever and, stretched over the large plains, had to struggle in order to obtain access to the Baltic Sea. Bohemia may have been well protected behind mountains, but the same high elevation also cut the country off from important trade routes. The emerging principality of Rus’ was built upon Viking-Age trade, and most, if not all, of its central places were connected primarily by waterways (rivers) to territories farther south. While Hungary was initially ruled by nomadic Magyars, who spoke a Finno-Ugrian language, but shared the kingdom with a large Slavic-speaking population, in Rus’, the majority of Slavic speakers met with an active minority of Scandinavians. By contrast, in both Bohemia and Poland, the populations spoke primarily Slavic languages and the impact of the Vikings and other ethnic groups was limited, although it should not be underestimated. 1 Differences may also be detected in terms of religion, with Rus’ receiving Christianity from Byzantium, and the other polities from Rome.
