The Northern Crusade

Bythe beginning of the 12th century the pagan Slavs living along the western Baltic were a vigorous and thriving people, with a social order similar to the merchant principalities of East­ern Europe.

It was an event in Asia Minor which would give a new im­petus to the Germanic drive to the east. In response to the Moslem capture of Edessa, Pope Eugenius III called for a Second Crusade preached and popularized by Bernard the Abbot of Clairvaux. Addressing sessions of the Reichstag in Frankfurt and Speyer during the winter of 1146, Bernard found little support for an anti-Muslim campaign, but a ready interest in a campaign against the pagan Baltic Slavs. In response on 13 April 1147 Pope Eugenius III issued a Bulla entitled “Divina Dispensationef which granted dispensation of sin for a north­ern crusade, “until with the help of God either their religion or their nation be exterminated,” one of the earliest calls for a geno­cide in Europe.⁶² The Bishop of Cracow’s request to extend the Second Crusade against the Greek Orthodox “schismatics” of Rus, however, was rejected for the time being.

The prospect of a northern crusade was met with great enthusiasm, and only Adolf of Shauenburg the Count of Hol­stein refused to have anything to do with it, probably recalling his reversals in 1143 when he attempted to conquer territory in eastern Holstein. Hearing of the dark clouds gathering in the west, Prince Niclot of the Abodrites decided to stage pre­emptive strikes along his western frontier, to blunt the Cru­saders’ first strike. A fortress was erected at a strategic location at Dobin, and assembling his boats at the mouth of the Trave River, Niclot attacked and destroyed the Saxon Baltic fleet that had gathered at Lubeck. Foreign colonies particularly those of the Frisians were attacked and destroyed, with all men killed and women and children taken into captivity as slaves. The Count of Holstein’s refusal to join the Crusade was acknowl­edged by the Slavs, and all Saxon settlements beyond the Trave River were spared, as were those between the Schwale and Agrimesov rivers, and the Ploner-See.

Bythe late summer of 1147 the assembled Crusader armies were ready to strike. An imposing force consisting of two Danish fleets and two German armies attacked the Abodrites and the Liutici from the west, one at Dobin and the other at Demmin. Prince Niclot, however, had made his preparations well. Dobin was besieged by Henry the Lion and Archbishop Adalbert but without much success. The Danish flotillas were attacked by the Rujani fleet and scattered with heavy losses, while the dis­embarked Danish army was forced to withdraw after suffering heavy casualties during a sortie by the defenders.

The second Crusader army continued on to Demmin but was diverted by the Counts Conrad and Albert the Bear east­wards towards Stettin (Szczecin), on the Odra River. The siege of the city, however, was soon over, ending in what can be de­scribed as a comedy of errors. Surrounding Stettin, the Cru­saders began planting large crosses outside of the walls and ask­ing God’s help. To their great surprise, they also began to see crosses appearing on the walls of the city itself! In their eager­ness for conquest the Crusaders had not bothered to confirm the religious status of Stettin, which had long been under the influence of Polish Catholic Christianity. An embassy from Stet­tin soon confirmed they were indeed attacking a Catholic city. Albert the Bear next turned his attention to the south against the Hevellian strongholds of Brennabor, Spandov and Kop- penick. In 1134 he had been given the so-called Nordmark in Abodrite and Hevellian territory by the Emperor to conquer, and at the beginning of the Crusade Albert assembled a large force of German, Danish, Flemish, French and Polish troops, and with the Crusade motto “death or conversion” began to push south, capturing Brennabor. It was not his to hold for long, since in 1154 the Saxons and their allies were attacked and ex­pelled by Abodrite and Polish troops led by Prince Pribislavs nephew, Jaxa of Kopenick. Albert the Bear counterattacked, and it took three years of bitter fighting before he finally took possession of the area, the first permanent “Saxon” conquest of pagan Slavic territory with Brennabar or Branderburg as it be­came known, as capital city.

The first round of fighting left the Slavs most of their ter­ritory, but as dependents of Christianity and for the next ten years the Saxon Duke Henry and the Abodrite Princes Niclot and Pribislav kept the peace, although they had to consent to pay elevated tithes and taxes. Helmold, an eyewitness who ac­companied his Bishop Gerold to meet Prince Pribislav of Liibeck in January 1156 to verify church attendance, encourage Christianity, and destroy any sacred pagan oak groves (“di- brovas”) which they would come across. In reply to the Bishops public exhortation to adopt Christianity, Helmold noted the prince s answer and anti-Christian attitude:

In order that you may understand our affliction hear patiently my words... your princes rage against us with such severity that, be­cause of the taxes and most burdensome services death is better for us than life. Behold, this year we, the inhabitants of this tiny place, have paid the duke in all a thousand marks (of silver), so many hundred(s) besides, to the count, and yet we are not through.... Or what fault is it of ours if, driven from our father- land, we have troubled the sea and got our livelihood by plunder of the Danes or the merchants who fare the sea? Will not this be the fault of the princes who are hounding us?

The message was also intended for the ears of King Valde­mar of Denmark, who was seeking Saxon help against the Slavic Viking-Iike raids. The predictable answer given by Bishop Gerold was to hark back to baptism: “That our princes have [used] your people ill is not to be wondered at, for they do not think that they do much wrong to...

Fighting broke out again in 1158, when Duke Henry sent an expedition against the Abodrites, but to little avail, although King Valdemar s two sea expeditions in 1159 against the Rujani fared better. It was becoming clear that neither the Germans nor the Danes could defeat the Slavs on their own, and in 1160 a Danish and German army invaded the Slav lands. Prince Niclot burned his strongholds of Ilov, Velkigrad (Mecklenburg), Schwerin and Dobin and locked himself in the more secure fortress of Werla on the Warnov River, from where he began to launch strikes against the Saxons and the Danes. On one of the sorties, however, Niclot was killed when he was surrounded by a squadron of knights who had hidden their armor under exte­rior clothing to hide their identity. Not realizing who they were he charged singlehandedly, striking a knight with his lance, which simply glanced off the hidden armor. His sons Pribislav and Vratislav resisted for a while but to no avail, and soon gave themselves up in return for their retaining princely possession of Wirla and the surrounding territory. The remaining land of the Abodrites, which had been devastated by Henry s army, was divided amongst those of his knights who had shown notable service. The same taxes were now imposed on the conquered Slavs as were paid by the Pomeranians and the Poles—three measures of wheat and twelve pieces of currency for every plough. Albert the Bear also became master of the Hevellian lands (“Eastern Slavia”), and by 1164 all Slavlands with the ex­ception of the Rujana Island were subdued, or so it seemed.

The peace was to last for only a year, when Pribislav, who had refused to give himself up, struck back. Gathering a force of warriors he attacked Velkigrad (Mecklenburg), which had been occupied by Flemish troops. The garrison was offered safe conduct if they would surrender, and when they refused the Slavs launched an attack on the city walls.

The situation had become critical, forcing Duke Henry to react quickly. Dispatching his best knights to guard Schwerin, he ordered Count Adolph to proceed with his Holsatian Saxons to reinforce Ilov. In the meantime together with Albert the Bear, Duke Henry began to assemble a large army to march on Pri- bislav, and KingValdmar of Denmark dispatched a fleet to attack the Slavs by sea. As the Christian force arrived at Malchov, Pribislav s brother Vratislav, who was a hostage, was hanged in full view since Pribislav had failed to keep the peace. Now Henry learned that Pribislavwas reinforced by the Christian Pomeran­ian dukes Kazamir and Boguslav. Still outnumbered, they offered Count Adolph 3,000 silver marks for a peaceful settle­ment, and when the offer was refused the Slav force attacked at daybreak. Overcoming the front ranks of the Holsatian and Ditmarshian Saxons, the Slavs penetrated their lines and began to destroy a large part of the Saxon force. Both Counts Adolph and Reinhold were killed and the captured Saxon camp stripped of the much needed equipment and supplies.⁶⁴ By the time Duke Henry arrived with reinforcements, Pribislav s men had set fire to Demmin and retreated eastwards into Pomeranian country. They were followed by the combined German and Danish armies and unable to hold any Pomeranian territory Duke Henry and King Valdemar returned to the (occupied) Abotrite country. This allowed Pribislav and the Pomeranian dukes to rebuild Demmin and continued to harass the Saxons and Danes, but Slav resistance was a spent force. Many of their best men had fallen in battle, and those who remained were un­able to resist the greater power of the enemy. All, however, was not lost. While at the peak of his power Duke Henry faced a re­bellion by prominent German princes of the land and of the Church. He realized he needed the support of Pribislav,

whom, as was said before, he had after many battles expelled from the province. And he restored to Pribislav all the heritage of his father; namely, the land OftheAbodrites, except Schwerin and its appurtenances. Pribislav swore to the duke and his friends in pledges of his fidelity, not to be violated thereafter by the storms of war, that he would stand at his command and would watch the eyes of his friends, never giving them the slightest of­fense.

In 1171 Pribislav was reinstated in his father s principality as Prince of Mecklenburg, Kessin and Rostock.

The policy towards the Slavs had changed following the great uprising of 1164. Both Henry and Valdemar of Denmark realized that expelling Slavs from their lands was not only not possible but also counter-productive, since their military prowess could be put to use. An opportunity came in 1169 when King Valdemar of Denmark gathered “a great army and many ships” to invade the Rujani islanders, and was joined by Pribislav s Abodrites, and the Pomeranians Iedbyprinces Kaza- mir and Bugislav. The Rujaniwere invaded and defeated, and the ancient statue of the god Sventowit, worshipped by all Baltic Slavs was tied by the neck and dragged in the dust before all the assembled Slav warriors. King Valdemar then ordered the statue to be hacked to pieces and burned and the way of life of the Rujani, the last pagan Baltic Slavs, vanished forever. There would be no more sacrifices of Christians to the gods, or pagan naval raids on Christian communities. Helmold the priest, how­ever, could pay tribute to their communal social order, which was not always matched by the Christians:

Although the hatred of the Christian name and the tinder of su­perstition abides more fiercely among the Rani than among the other Slavs, they are distinguished by many natural gifts. For there prevails among them an abundance of hospitality, and they show due honor to their parents. There is not a needy person or a beggar to be found in their midst at any time. As soon as infir­mity or age has made any of them frail or decrepit, he is commit­ted to the charge of his heir to be cared for with the utmost kind­ness.... The land of the Rugiani, furthermore, is rich in crops, fish and game. The principal stronghold of the land is called Arkona.”⁶⁵

The Rujani islanders were the last to be conquered and converted to Catholicism and, except for Pribislav s possessions, most of the southern Baltic coast fell under the kings of Denmark and the Holy Roman Empire, as concluded by Hel­mold:

... (after) the Slavs have been everywhere crushed and driven out... (and) as the Slavs gradually decreased in number he (Al­bert the Bear) brought large numbers of Hollanders, Zeelanders and Flemings and had them live in the strongholds and villages of the Slavs.... Germans came from their lands to dwell in the spacious country, rich in grain, smiling in the fullness of pasture land, abundant in fish and flesh and all good things.⁶⁶