(Cambridge Concise Histories) Jerzy Lukowski, Hubert Zawadzki - A Concise History of Poland-Cambridge University Press (2006)

We appreciate that our approach to such sensitivities will satisfy few who have any emotional involvement in or even substantial knowledge of eastern Europe’s past. There are too many of these pasts to be quietly reconciled. We have therefore eschewed consistency in the naming of parts: we are conscious that this will only lead to historical absurdities; we have sometimes avoided the issue altogether. We have used terminology which seems right for the period. Thus, in chapter 2, Vilnius appears as Vilnius; as Wilno in chapters 3, 4 and 5; as both Wilno and Vilnius in chapter 6; ‘Thorn’ and ‘Danzig’ in the early modern period are labels meant to reflect the Germanic character of their elites, integral components of the late Jagiellonian state and Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. English is insufficiently acquainted with east European toponymy to permit the consistent use of anglicized, and therefore neutral(P), descriptors such as Warsaw or Kiev. Even where such descriptors exist, current usage tends to the adoption of Polish forms (Krakow, rather than Cracow; even British football commentators have been known to struggle with Lodz, rather than Lodz). We are only too happy to encourage this development. We have listed some alternative versions in the index. Readers should feel at liberty to argue among themselves as to what form we should really have used. At a hopefully less contentious level, we have chosen to retain some established anglicizations of Polish proper names (thus, John Casimir, as opposed to Jan Kazimierz); and drop other anglicizations in favour of the Polish (Boleslaw, Wladvslaw or Stanislaw, rather than Boleslas, Ladislas, or Stanislaus/Stanley). Once again, we have been guided by our own instincts rather than any spurious consistency, though we accept that what feels right to us will not seem so to others.

This is primarily a political history. It is here that we feel the need for a coherent narrative to be most pressing. This has meant some regrettable sacrifices: economic and social developments receive comparatively limited attention, particularly in the first three chapters. The Jews, so important in Poland’s past life, receive far too little acknowledgement. To do them justice, and the many others who have received altogether too short shrift in these pages, would mean abandoning all hope of conciseness. For those who want their histories sprawling and expansive, we cannot do other than point them in the direction of Norman Davies’ God’s playground: a history of Poland (2 volumes, Oxford, Clarendon, 1981 and 2005).

Numerous persons have helped and encouraged us, not least by pointing out our shortcomings. Our thanks for their advice and apologies for not always having followed it to Danuta Mani-kowska, Robert Frost, Robert Swanson, Chris Wickham, Jūratė Kiaupiėnė, Michael Laird and Richard Fiofton. Graeme Murdock has provided pleasurably clear illumination of the darker crevasses of late medieval and early modern Hungarian and Balkan politics. Will Zawadzki and Anna Zawadzki have helped with the search for illustrations in the second half of the book. Will has also provided invaluable advice on the design of the maps, while Meg Zawadzki has removed some stylistic infelicities from the text. Our mistakes remain ours alone. We both owe a particular debt of gratitude to William Davies at Cambridge University Press: he has been a model of forbearance, patience, understanding and allround helpfulness.

A NOTE ON POLISH PRONUNCIATION

The pronunciation of Slavonic languages, not least Polish, can be something of a problem for the uninitiated. The following can only be a very simplistic guide; it is not meant for philological or phonetic perfectionists.

ą	similar to the French ‘on’ if crossed with the ‘o’ in ‘dome
?	similar to the French ‘on’, if crossed with the ‘e’ in ‘get’
o	u, as in ‘shook’
У	i, as in ‘bit’
ei	short ‘chee’, as in ‘chit’
si	short ‘she’, as in ‘ship’
Č, c	‘ch’, as in ‘chop’
cz	as the above, but harsher
c	‘ts’ as in ‘pots’, except in the combinations ‘ci’ and ‘cz’
T,1	‘w’ as in ‘wet’
h	slighty softened ‘n’ - as in Spanish ‘n’
Š, š	‘sh’ as in ‘shut’
sz	as the above, but harsher
rz, Z,;	' as the above, but with a ‘z’ sound (zh as in ‘Zhukov’)
w	‘v’ as in vile
z i	pronounced as first two letters of French ‘gite’
Ž,ž	pronounced as first letter of French ‘gite’

CHRONOLOGY

Christianization of territories under the rule of duke

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