View source for Popiel

{{short description|Legendary Polish ruler}}
{{other uses}}
[[Image:Popiel2.jpg|thumb|Prince Popiel]]
[[Image:PL Kruszwica Mysia Wieza.JPG|thumb|The Mouse Tower in Kruszwica, constructed in 1350, incorrectly associated with Popiel]]

'''Prince Popiel ІІ''' (or Duke Popiel) was a legendary 9th-century ruler of two proto-[[Poland|Polish]] tribes, the [[Goplanie|Goplans]] and [[Polans (western)|West Polans]]. He was the last member of the [[Popielids]], a mythical dynasty before the [[Piast dynasty|Piasts]]. According to the chroniclers [[Gallus Anonymus]], [[Jan Długosz]], and [[Marcin Kromer]], as a consequence of his bad rule he was deposed, besieged by his subjects, and eaten alive by [[mice]] in a tower in [[Kruszwica]].

As the legend goes, Prince Popiel was a cruel and corrupt ruler who cared only for wine, women, and song. He was greatly influenced by his wife, a beautiful but power-hungry German princess.<ref>Popiel's wife is sometimes called Ryksa (''Hilderyka'', or ''Brunhilda''); however, her name was never specified by medieval chroniclers (see: [https://books.google.com/books?id=o_cKAAAAIAAJ&dq=zona+Popiela&pg=PA141 ''Historya narodu polskiego''], Volumes 3–4. By [[Adam Naruszewicz]], 1836. Chapter "Podług rękopisma Puławskiego")</ref> Because of Popiel's misrule and his failure to defend the land from marauding [[Vikings]], his twelve uncles conspired to depose him; however, at his wife's instigation, he had them all poisoned during a feast (some believe that she committed the act herself). Instead of cremating their bodies as was the custom, he had the corpses cast into [[Gopło|Lake Gopło]].

When the commoners saw what Popiel and his wife had done, they rebelled. The couple took refuge in a tower near the lake. As the story goes, a throng of mice and rats (which had been feeding on the unburnt bodies of Popiel's uncles) rushed into the tower, chewed through the walls, and devoured Popiel and his wife alive. Prince Popiel was succeeded by [[Piast the Wheelwright]] and [[Siemowit]].

On the shore of [[Gopło|Lake Gopło]] stands a medieval tower, nicknamed the Mouse Tower; however, it bears no relation to the site of the events described in the legend as it was erected some 500 years thereafter.

== See also ==
* [[Mouse Tower]] – a similar legend about the cruelty and demise of [[Hatto II]] (Archbishop of [[Mainz]]).
* ''[[An Ancient Tale (novel)|An Ancient Tale]]'' – novel by Polish writer [[Józef Ignacy Kraszewski|Józef Kraszewski]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://poland-tourism.pl/r.asp?gc=PL04&tf=PL&ld=EN The Pomeranian and Kujawy Province]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060504094528/http://www.polishfilms.org/PFF_2003/Stara_Basn_Eng.htm ''The Old Tale: When the Sun Was God''] (Polish film about Prince Popiel.)
*[http://krolpopiel.tripod.com/english/ksiaze.htm Popiel] (Website summarizing information from medieval chronicles.)

{{Slavic mythology}}
{{Polish legendary rulers}}
{{Monarchs of Poland}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Legendary Polish monarchs]]
[[Category:9th-century Slavs]]
[[Category:Deaths due to animal attacks]]
[[Category:Rodent attacks]]
[[Category:Slavic warriors]]
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{{Europe-royal-stub}}
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