Coastal lands of the Baltics - Politics and religion at the end of the first millenium

By Rudolf Langmann

During the great migrations in Europe in the 5th and 6th centuries that had seen the death throes of the Roman empire, many aboriginal people were driven from their lands to be displaced by other tribes and other races. People of Germanic origin were flooding into Italy, France and the Iberian peninsula, the Kelts were driven out of France and out of continental Europe, other races were more or less annihilated, and from the east and the southeast Slavonic people invaded the Baltic coast lands of today's northern Germany, Poland and all the way to the Gulf of Finland. Kingdoms were lost and new kingdoms born.

Three hundred years had passed and the newcomers had settled down, still keeping busy at hacking down the immense oak forests and tilling the new-won soil. Small fishing hamlets and trading posts had sprung up along the coastline and on the navigable rivers, usually fortified by a ruler's magnificent residence and surrounded by a wooden stockade, and sometimes an earthen hill and a moat. In the south of Europe Christianity had become the established religion, but in the north a pantheon of gods ranging from the old Germanic deities inhabiting Valhalla to the more individualistic and localized Slavic godheads held sway. Tribal leaders were born and died, most often violently, and tribal priests stood forward and rapidly disappeared as politics and religion were closely intertwined. The Nakonides are some of the first rulers we hear of in what is today known as the German lands (provinces) of Holstein and Mecklenburg-Pommern. They were of the Abodrite (Obotrite) confederation.

The Nakonides

There is some uncertainty as to the title of these rulers: Were they kings? dukes? or perhaps tribal chiefs? Several sources refer to the Nakonides as 'Samtherrscher' (co-rulers). In some Latin texts they are mentioned as 'regulus' (minor kings), in others as 'dux' (dukes), and in yet others as 'tyrannus' (absolute rulers). The Slav title 'knes' (kings) is also found in the old annals.

The Nakonide people were a sub-tribe under the Abodriten. Other sub-tribes were the Wagriens in Stargard-Oldenburg, the Polaben in Liubice (Alt-Luebeck) and Ratzeburg, the Linonen in Lenzen on the Elbe river and the Warnower at Warnemunde. All these tribes had each their own chief, but it seems that Nakon was the first of these rulers who won the respect of all the Abodrites in that he dared go up against the powerful neighbors, the Saxons.

In order to understand the political situation it should be mentioned that the Abodrites had joined forces with Carolus Magnus in his long-lasting and bloody campaign against the Saxons (772 to 804) and had taken part in the decisive battle at Bornhoeved near Neuminster in 798. As a border line between the conquered Saxony (Holstein and Stormarn) and the Abodriten lands Charlemagne established the so-called 'Limes Saxoniae' which consisted not of a fortified wall but rather of an imaginary line drawn through a series of forests, moors, following the river Trave and a network of other small streams. With the Liutizen to the northwest and the Wilzen and the Pomeranen to the east the Abodrites joined forces in a lasting confederation fraught with inter-tribal rivalry.

There was a general movement by the Nakonides to end this rivalry in order to stand stronger against their neighbors and it was considered that a conversion to Christianity as had by that time taken place in Denmark was the only chance against the Saxons. The tithes and higher taxes imposed by the Christian church was a definite drawback and so was the veneration of the old tribal gods such as Prove in Wagrien, Radegast in Mecklenburg and the four-faced Swientywit with the Ranen on the island of Ruegen. To give up the old religion amounted to a loss of identity and it was not an easy task for the leaders to convince the Abodrite people to abandon their long-established beliefs and adopt a foreign-created religion to replace them; indeed it was not until 1169 with Danish king Valdemar's conquest of the last Wendish stronghold at Arkona on Ruegen that Christianity was finally forced upon the last of the Slavs.

Svantevit, the all-seeing god with a face looking in every geographical direction, is hauled out of the temple in Arkona under the supervision of King Valdemar and Bishop Absalon. While the residents of Arkona wept, the Danes said the statue provided for good firewood in their military camp.

This troublesome and on-going conflict between the old and the new religion can also be witnessed in the fact that many of the Abodrite rulers carried Slav as well as Saxon names, and this does not make it an easy task to interpret the old chronicles today.

An example is seen by Helmold von Bosau in the prince named Billung who is said to be the son of Nakon also known as Mstivoj and thought to be the godson of Saxon margrave and 'princeps militiae' Hermann Billung.

The drama played out between the Slavs and the neighboring Germanic people can also be evidenced in the fact that only a very few of the Nakonides died from natural courses.

Nakon

Nakon (954, to his death in 965 or 967) fought alongside his brother Stoignew against duke Hermann Billung, the margrave of Wendermark or the Billungische Mark. His rebellion was crushed by King Otto I 'the Great', the later Holy Roman emperor, in the battle at the Recknitz river in 955. Stoignew was beheaded, while Nakon accepted Christianity and was baptized.

Thirty years of peace followed, and during this period the Slavs all adopted Christianity, according to Adam von Bremen. Nakon and his descendants all named 'Heinrichs' resided in Burg Mecklenburg, but also occupied the castles at Stargard, Luebeck and Lenzen. Thus, Michaelisburg (Mecklenburg) is first mentioned by the scribe Ibrahim Ibn Jacub as Nakonsburg.

Mstivoj

Whether or not Mstivoj (965/67, to his death in 995) was the son of Nakon has not been proven. In any case, he followed the founder of the dynasty and is mentioned together with his brother Mstidrag as the leaders of the great Slav rebellion that took place between 983 and 995. Adam explains the cause of the rebellion as follows: A prince named Heinrich Billung (probably Mstivoj's baptismal name bestowed upon him by Hermann Billung who may have been his godfather) wedded the beautiful sister of bishop Wago von Oldenburg-Stargard and had with her a daughter named Hodica and a son by the name of Mstislaw. According to Adam, the son, being angry about the greed of the Saxons, turned against his father and instead joined forces with the bishop.

Helmold tells another tale: A Billung niece had been promised to Mstivoj as his wife on a journey the two men made to Italy. Upon their return Mstivoj reminded Billung of the promise, and margrave Dietrich Billung then called out 'The highly born niece of a great prince should not be given to a dog.' Angered, Mstivoj sought the help of the Liutizen and together they laid waste the northern Elb country with fire and sword.

Helmold continues his narrative by saying that the Saxons had brought this upon themselves by 'their unholy greed'.

Mstivoj's daughter Tova married the Danish king Harald 'Bluetooth'.

Mstislaw

Mstivoj's son Mstislaw (abt 996 to his death in 1018) was caught in a battle between the Liutizen of Luebeck and the newly established but rapidly growing town of Hammaburg (Hamburg) in 1018. He managed to escape with his wife and daughter-in-law to Burg Schwerin and from there to Bardowiek where he is supposed to have lived out a long life.

Udo

Udo (1018 - +1028) is mentioned by Saxo Grammaticus as Pribignew. He was baptized Udo, and probably count Luder-Udo I von Stade was his godfather. Both Adam and Helmold refer to him as a 'poor Christian' and tell how he was murdered by a Saxon in 1028 because of his evil ways. He is supposed to have been married to a Danish princess.

Gottschalk

Gottschalk (abt 1044. + June 7, 1066 in Lenzen). He went to school in Luneburg and while there learned of the murder of his father. Crossing the Elbe he gathered a band of brigands around him and once again the area was laid waste by fire and sword. But a meeting with a Saxon monk taught him of the torments and sufferings of the common people and apparently swung him over to Christianity. In 1028 he went with Canute (Knud) 'the Great' to England and served the Danish-English king so valiantly that he was awarded the hand of Sigrid, the king's daughter, in marriage.

Ratibor (+ 1043) another descendant of Mstivoj was killed by the Danes in 1043. He was 'a Christian and a mighty ruler of the barbarians', says Adam. He also had eight sons who all were slain by the Danes as they tried to help their father.

In 1043 Gottschalk and Sigrid went back to the Slav provinces and started a program of re-Christening the people who in the meantime had returned to their old religion, and in this effort he was helped by archbishop Adalbert von Bremen-Hamburg, A revolt was organized by Gottschalk's brother-in-law Blusso and ended with the murder of Gottschalk in castle Lenzen. Blusso and Kruto (a non-Nakonide) jointly seized power and held it from 1066 to 1093. Kruto, the son of a Dane called Grim, is said to have been an opportunistic heathen. 'The daughter of king of the Danes (Sigrid) and her ladies were found hiding in the Abodriten-fort Mecklenburg and chased away naked.' (Adam). Heinrich, the son of Gottschalk and Sigrid, managed to flee and seek refuge in Denmark.

Budivoj

Gottschalk's older son, from an earlier marriage, was Budivoj (1066, +1075) He went to serve with the dukes of Saxony, and from there he made attempts at recapturing the glory and the power which had been his father's. He only managed to secure a small part of the territory and was tricked by Kruto into an ambush and then slain. He had a son named Pribislaw who was renowned for his hospitality and accepted the baptism.

Heinrich

Heinrich, also known as Heinrich von Alt-Lubeck (1066-Jun.7,1127), was the younger son of Gottschalk and the avenger of his father by killing treacherous Kruto. Married to Kruto's widow Slavina he had four sons. Valdemar (+1123) and Mstivoj (+1127) died before their father. War broke out between Knut and Sventipolk and the land was divided between them. Knut was killed in Luetjenburg in 1128 and Sventipolk took over the whole country. From Bremen preachers were sent to Lubeck to help with the Christian conversion, but they were attacked by the privateer Ranen from Ruegen and had to flee to Neumuenster. In the very same year Sventipolk was killed and his son Swineke was slain the following year near Ertheneburg. 'So the rule of Heinrich's family over the Slavs came to an end with the deaths of his sons and relatives.' (Helmold). With Heinrich ended the last chance the Elb Slavs had for achieving political autonomy.

Knud Lavard

Knud (1096-Jan.7, 1131) In 1128 Danish crown prince and earl of Schleswig, prince of the Vends, Knud Lavard, a non-Nakonide, bought the enfeoffment to Mecklenburg from emperor Lothar but he was only three years later murdered by his cousin Magnus Nielsen and thus never became king.

Niklot

In 1132, Niklot, another non-Nakonide, became the ruler in the remaining part of the territory. He fell in a war against the Saxons and the Danes in 1160. His son Pribislaw held on to Mecklenburg as an enfeoffment granted by Heinrich 'der Loewe', and his descendants remained dukes - and later grand dukes of Mecklenburg until the end of the First World War in 1918.

Sources:

¥ Thietmar von Merseburg: Chronik. Neu Ÿbertragen und erlŠutert von Werner Trillmich. Darmstadt (Wissenschaftl. Buchges.), 1974 ISBN 3-534-00173-7

¥ Helmold von Bosau: Slawenchronik. Neu Ÿbertragen und erlŠutert von Heinz Stoob. Darmstadt (Wissenschaftl. Buchges.), 1980 ISBN 3-534-00175-3

¥ Adam von Bremen: Bischofsgeschichte der Hamburger Kirche. In: Quellen des 9. Und 11. Jahrhunderts zur Geschichte der Hamburger Kirche und des Reiches. Neu Ÿbertragen von Werner Trillmich. Darmstadt (Wiss. Buchges.), 1978 ISBN 3-534-00602-X

¥ Saxo Grammaticus: Danmarks Riges Kr¿nike.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakoniden Kategorien: Mittelalter | 10. Jahrhundert | 11. Jahrhundert | Schleswig-Holsteinische Geschichte.