Note 99 — Chapter VI · THE AREA OF POLISH SPEECH

Southern Poland was overrun by Mongolians during their third invasion of Europe. The Asiatics were attacked near Szydlow on March 18, 1241, by an army of Polish noblemen recruited from Sandomir and Cracow. The defeat of the Christians enabled the invaders to plunder the latter city, besides opening the way for incursions farther north in the course of which they penetrated into Silesia by way of Ratibor and marched toward Breslau. Near Liegnitz an army of 30,000 Europeans was defeated on April 9th of the same year. These disasters were invariably followed by a westerly spread of the Tatar scourge. Traces of its passage can still be detected among the Poles.