Die provincia Nice – ein slawischer Kleingau an der Neiße

Abstract

As Thietmar of Merseburg reports in his well-known chronicle, King Henry II set up a camp iuxta Sprewam flivium in the provincia Nice during his campaign against Bolesław Chrobry of Poland in the year 1005. Up to now, historians and onomasticians have not agreed on where to locate Nice. Some see it as a Slavic settlement area around the town of Forst on the Neisse river; others, however, equate the provincia Nice with the pagus Selpoli, a Slavic tribal area on the Lubst river (Polish Lubsza) a right tributary of the lower Neisse river. A thorough analysis of the historical, onomastical und archaeological facts leads to the conclusion that in the region around Forst, especially in the south, a small Slavic settlement area extended along the left bank of the Neisse river. This is also indicated by the fact that there is a concentration not only of older Slavic place name types, but also of surnames typical only for this region. Although they developed in later times, they are a sign of an older settlement community. Moreover, archaeological finds from the middle and late Slavic periods point to a settlement region which is clearly confined by areas lacking any finds at all.