Well over a thousand years ago, three legendary brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus, leaders of their Slavic tribes were wandering in Central Europe looking for a place for permanent settlement. For many years they had been content in their villages, but the families grew larger and they needed more room to live.

The brothers decided to travel in different directions to search for new homes. Lech, Czech, and Rus traveled with their troops for many days. They rode their horses over mountains and rivers, through forests and wild country. There were no people to be found anywhere, not a town or tiny village. On the crest of a mountain top, they separated, each going in a different direction. Czech went to the left who became the founder of the nation and state of the Czechs; Rus went to the east and became the founder of the nation and state of the Ruthenians and Lech travelled further north, down the mountain and across vast plains.

One day Lech saw a splendid sight. He and his troops had come to a place where a meadow surrounded a small lake. They stopped at the edge of the meadow as a great eagle flew over their heads. It flew around in great swooping circles, and then perched on its nest, in a large oak tree. Lech stared in awe at the beautiful sight. As the eagle spread its wings and soared into the heavens again, a ray of sunshine from the red setting sun fell on the eagle’s wings, so they appeared tipped with gold, the rest of the bird was pure white.

“Here is where we will stay!” declared Lech. “Here is our new home, and we will call this place GNIEZNO … (the eagle’s nest).

He and his people built many houses and it became the center of his territory. They called themselves Polonians, which means “People of the Field”. They made a banner with a white eagle on a red field and flew it over the town of Gniezno, which became the first historical capital of Poland.

Thus, this is how the beautiful Country of Poland began . . . and the Windsor White Eagles came to be !