Niklot

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Niklot (* 1100, † August 1160 at the Burg Werle ) was a Slavic prince who in the 12th century on the territory of today's Mecklenburg-Vorpommern on the pagan tribes of Abodrites , Kessin and Circipania prevailed.

At the beginning of the 12th century, the Abodrite Empire had reached its greatest extent. The area of ​​influence of the Abodritic velvet ruler extended from Wagrien to the Oder and the Havel and Spree . But with the death of the Naconid velvet ruler Heinrich in 1127, the Abodritic Empire began to disintegrate. Two years later, only the old sub-tribal areas remained. Niklot ruled over Abodrites, Kessiner and Zirzipans, Pribislaw over Wagrier and Polaben . Both were under the sovereignty of Lothar of Supplinburg . As a token of their submission, they paid him tribute . With the death of Lothar in 1137, Niklot obtained monarchical sovereignty over the Abodrite land. Count Adolf II , who was employed in northern Albania , therefore felt compelled to seek the friendship of his powerful neighbor. In the course of the Slavic Crusade in 1147, Niklot lost his independence and fell into tributary dependency again, this time from Henry the Lion . As his vassal he put down a revolt of the Kessiner and Zirzipans in 1151. Niklot's maritime supremacy in the southern Baltic region initially remained unaffected. Only the coronation of Waldemar I changed the political situation there. As an imperial vassal, Waldemar I asked Emperor Friedrich I to end the Wendish raids on the Danish coasts. Niklot's refusal prompted Heinrich the Lion to embark on two campaigns, during which Niklot fell in front of Werle Castle in 1160.

Until the end of the 20th century, Niklot was regarded as a symbol of an ethnically and religiously motivated, but hopeless defensive struggle of the pagan Abodrites against the Christian Saxons, whose adherence to the pagan faith thwarted the possibility of Abodritic state and nation building. A source-based review of the research results came to the conclusion that Christian proselytizing to a significant extent or Saxon settlement intentions up to Niklot's death in the Abodritenland are just as inconclusive as fighting motivated by territorial claims. By fulfilling his vassal duties, Niklot met the requirements set by the Saxon side. The campaigns of 1158 and 1160 were not wars of conquest of Henry the Lion, but punitive expeditions by the liege lord against the faithless vassal.

Origin and family

The origin of Niklot is unknown. Neither Helmold von Bosau nor Saxo Grammaticus report on his parentage. Nevertheless, there was no shortage of serious attempts at explanation: a distant descendant of the Abodritic velvet ruler Kruto , son of the Cessine prince Dumar or the unnamed leader of the Abodrites in the battle of Schmilau . Ultimately, however, none of these people can be proven by sources as the ancestor of Niklot. The Chronicle of Slavs by Helmold von Bosau indicates that Niklot belonged to a new dynasty of the Abodritic sub-tribe. With the death of Gottschalk and the flight of his son Heinrich in 1066, this sub-tribe lost its old ruling house of the Naconids . Although Niklot did not belong to the Naconids, his rule over the sub-tribe of the Abodrites remained unchallenged. This indicates a strong inheritance legitimation in this area. Helmold then referred to him in 1129 as the great one of the Abodrite land. In contrast, he does not seem to have held any traditional rulership rights over the sub-tribes of the Kessiner and Zirzipans , as they rebelled against Niklot's rule in 1150. Likewise, Niklot's origin from Polabia or Wagria is unlikely , as Niklot never made any claim to these sub-tribal areas.

Niklot is considered to be the progenitor of the dukes and grand dukes of Mecklenburg . He had a brother Lubemar and three sons Prislav , Wertislaw and Pribislaw , not to be confused with the tribal prince of the same name of the Wagrier and Polabians , Pribislaw von Alt-Lübeck .

Niklot and Pribislaw

Niklot and Pribislaw von Alt-Lübeck appear for the first time in connection with the battles for the Abodritic Empire. In 1129, after the death of the Abodritic velvet ruler Heinrich, the German King Lothar von Supplinburg attempted again to bring the Abodritic Empire under a single rule. For this purpose, however, he did not enfeoff Heinrich's nephew Pribislaw with the Abodritic Empire, but instead appointed his protégé Knud Lavard as Abodritic velvet ruler against payment of a large sum of money. Knud, a member of the Danish royal family, had inheritance legitimation due to his relationship with Heinrich. Nevertheless, he had to enforce his claim to rule by military means against Niklot and Pribislaw. For this purpose he gathered an army of Holsten, invaded Wagrien and "killed everything that opposed him." Whether Niklot and Pribislaw fought together against Knud remains unclear. Both ended up in captivity and were taken to Schleswig . From there they were only released again after they had paid a ransom, held hostages and recognized the rule of Knud Lavard as the sovereign of the Abodrites. Like his predecessor Heinrich, Knud Lavard only seems to have managed Wagrien and Polabia directly. Because his presence is only documented for Neumünster and Lübeck . Accordingly, Niklot would then have ruled the eastern sub-tribal areas alone and paid tribute to the velvet ruler.

After Knud Lavard's murder in 1131, Lothar von Supplinburg seems to have come to terms with Niklot and Pribislaw as tributary vassals and rulers over the Abodritic sub-tribes. Because for the year 1131 both have been handed down as Abodritic princes. After that they had divided the Abodritic Empire among themselves. Pribislaw ruled the Wagrier and Polabians, while Niklot ruled the Abodrite tribe. Regardless of these sources, it is predominantly assumed that Niklot's sphere of influence also included the settlement areas of the Kessiner and Zirzipans further to the east. As a justification, reference is made to the constitutional conditions under the abodritic velvet ruler Heinrich. This only administered Wagrien and Polabia itself. The eastern sub-tribes, however, were under their own princes who paid tribute to Heinrich. Accordingly, Kessiner and Zirzipanen Niklot had to pay tribute after Heinrich's death. This assumption was finally questioned after a renewed evaluation of the sources. A tribute reign of Niklot over Kessiner and Zirzipanen did not exist until 1148. There is only agreement to the extent that the supremacy of the German King Lothar von Supplinburg was recognized by both Pribislaw and Niklot. After the assassination of Knud Lavard by the Danish heir to the throne Magnus , Lothar von Supplinburg went to the Danewerk with a large army to demand retribution from the Danes for the death of his liegeon. In this context, he also subjugated the rebellious Abodrites who had apparently stopped paying tribute after the death of Knud Lavard.

With the death of Lothar von Supplinburg in 1137, Niklot slipped from the German tributary rule. Pribislaw also tried to use the power struggles in Saxony to free himself from tribute rule. To do this, he attacked the Siegesburg near Bad Segeberg in 1137 , but was unable to take it. After a devastating defeat in the winter campaign of 1138/39 against the Saxon count Heinrich von Badewide , Pribislaw's territory began to dissolve. While he no longer played a role politically, Niklot ruled like a king in the Abodritean land.

Niklot and Adolf II.

From 1143 Niklot and Adolf II were linked by a friendship and assistance pact. Adolf II, who came from Westphalia , was appointed Count of Stormarn, Holstein and Slavic Wagria in 1142 by Heinrich the Lion in neighboring northern Albingia. In Holstein and Stormarn, the alien Adolf II was faced with a hostile to hostile native nobility. In Wagria he had to reckon with revolts by the forcibly subjugated Slavs. In addition, it was necessary to rebuild Wagrien, which had been devastated by the Holsten, since the count was only able to collect significant taxes here without the restrictive competition from the Holsteiner population. For this purpose he recruited Westphalian, Frisian and Dutch farmers with great financial commitment and settled them in the Slavic areas. To secure his position of power and the settlement policy, a peace agreement with the neighboring Wendenfürst was just as essential as for a successful dispute with the rebellious Holsten. Adolf II therefore sent messengers to Niklot, secured his friendship and gave gifts to the Abodritic greats. Niklot promised to warn of the Wagrier uprisings. Due to his knowledge of the Slavic language, Count Adolf II was able to negotiate directly with Niklot. Helmold von Bosau reports that Niklot and Adolf II later met regularly in Lübeck and Travemünde to discuss political matters. Niklot, for his part, was under the impression of Pribislav's defeat in 1138/1139 when the agreement was concluded. A mutual non-interference pact with the Saxon count guaranteed Niklot the inviolability of his own territory and thus both the continuation of his own rule and the economic, cultural and religious identity of the tribe.

On the eve of the Wendenkreuzzug , Niklot asked Count Adolf II to broker peace negotiations with the Saxon princes , citing the alliance (“ fedus ”) and friendship (“ amicicia ”) . The slogan "baptism or death" issued threatened the Abodrites in their cultural and political independence. Adolf II found it impossible to fulfill this request. On the one hand, he owed his liege, Heinrich the Lion, loyalty, and on the other hand, the request he had brought to start negotiations with the pagan prince of the Wenden would have been a grave insult to the Guelph, as it meant nothing more than an invitation to break the oath. In this situation, Niklot's freedom of political decision-making may also have been restricted by domestic political opponents. Ultimately, the only consensus that remained in the corset of political constraints, according to Helmold, was Niklot's personal promise to warn the count against his own attack or a rising of the Slavs in Wagrien.

Against this background it is difficult to understand Niklot's motives for the subsequent attack on Lübeck and the devastation of Wagrien. Because although he had not renounced his alliance with Count Adolf II, he invaded Wagrien on June 26, 1147, destroyed the trading center in Lübeck, which had been newly built by Count Adolf II, with the exception of the remote castle, and destroyed the colonists' villages. The Holsten settlements, which were also newly established in Wagrain, remained unmolested. True to his promise, he warned Count Adolf II, and when he received news that he was gathering troops, Niklot departed with rich booty and prisoners. From a military point of view, this raid was completely pointless. It neither weakened the crusaders nor did the Lübeck merchant settlement have any strategic importance. The attack was therefore extremely unsuitable as a preventive strike. In addition, it was this raid that prompted the crusaders to split up their army, whose western army group was later to march into the Abodritean land. Helmold reports rumors that the established Holstein nobility incited Niklot to attack the colonists out of hatred of the foreign settlers. This remark was understood to mean that Niklot wanted to restore the original conditions and exterminate the foreign immigrants, with the tolerance of the Holsten, out of disappointment at the failure of his policy of peaceful coexistence between Wagriern and colonists. Possibly the raid served only to accumulate financial means for a war chest in order to ensure the loyalty of one's own followers in the face of the impending battle and to buy the military support of the Ruan fleet, whose deployment two months later was to force the Danish crusaders to withdraw . The only thing that seems certain is that the attack was not motivated by religion.

Niklot and Henry the Lion

Niklot and Heinrich the Lion met each other as enemy military leaders during the Slavic Crusade. Even if the Slavic Crusade was a failure as a means of Christianizing the Abodrites, it had drastic political consequences for Niklot. The independent prince of the Abodrite land became a vassal of Henry the Lion in 1147. Niklot was an obedient follower of the Guelph for over a decade. It was only Henry's interference in the Abodritic-Danish War that led to Niklot's rebellion against the Duke of Saxony in 1158 and ultimately made the vassal an outlaw.

Prince

Sketch of the location and structure of Dobin Castle

As prince of the Abodrites, Niklot led the tribe's contingent in the war. Accordingly, even before the attack on Wagrien, he had initiated preparations for a defense of the country against the crusader army. The Wendenfürst was aware that the Abodrites would be hopelessly inferior to the crusaders in an open field battle and therefore sought his salvation in the inhospitable terrain of the country. The population withdrew to the vast primeval and swamp forests or hid in the inaccessible moors and swamps. Niklot holed up with his followers and the surrounding residents in Dobin Castle . This lay on a marshy land bridge between the northeastern tip of the Schwerin lake and the Döpe and was difficult to storm, but could be supplied via the lake.

The crusaders first crossed the Elbe at the Ertheneburg and moved to Ratzeburg via Pötrau . Before Dobin they received reinforcement from two Danish detachments under their rival leaders Sven Grate and Knut V. , who had landed with their ships in the Wismar Bay. The Saxons and Danes besieged the Slavs in Dobin by taking up positions opposite one another at the northern and southern ends of the land bridge, separated by the ramparts on the land bridge, which could not be bypassed because of the two lakes. If the Abodrites failed, the Danes suffered considerable losses, without the Saxons being able to come to their aid because of the specific local conditions. After the Ranian fleet, which came in to support the Abodrites, attacked the poorly guarded Danes' ships, the Danes withdrew. Meanwhile, Henry the Lion's followers led the siege only half-heartedly. Heinrich, who claimed an ancestral claim to sole supremacy over the Abodrites, had no interest in storming the castle. The violent capture of the fortress could have led to the death of the Abodritic elites and thus to the complete abolition of the Abodritic order. Since the other secular and ecclesiastical dignitaries of the crusade army, who were not bound by Heinrich, also made claims to rule over the Abodrites, the question of a reorganization of the rule would have become inevitable. Worn down by the inactivity of Henry's troops, the other dignitaries agreed to the demolition after three months of unsuccessful siege. Then Heinrich let Count Adolf II begin negotiations with the besieged Abodrites. Another explanation for the noticeable reluctance of the Saxons is Joachim Ehlers . For him, it is not primarily Henry the Lion's power-political considerations that are decisive for the sparing of Niklot, but rather his friendly relations with Adolf II.

Niklot's consideration for the withdrawal seems to have consisted primarily of recognizing the supremacy of Henry the Lion in the future. In addition, he had to consent to the release of the Danish prisoners and to a mass baptism which served to release the crusaders from their vows of “baptism or death”. The sources do not record where the baptized people came from and whether Niklot was among them. Nevertheless, there are increasing voices that assume that Niklot will be baptized.

vassal

As a vassal, Niklot owed the Duke of Saxony tribute, help with weapons and a court trip to the provincial parishes of Henry the Lion. Even if these were the usual duties of the feudal lord to his liege lord, Niklot's dependence was not based on the compensatory rules of the German feudal law , but on submission to martial law.

Preservation of independence

With the fulfillment of his vassal duties, Niklot preserved his domestic political independence. He paid the tribute to be paid for this very likely annually in marks of silver . A first weapon aid is documented for the year 1151 in the area of ​​the Kessiner and Zirzipanen which has been under Heinrich's suzerainty since 1148. There the Wendenfürst had to look after the interests of the Saxon Duke by demanding the tributes claimed by the Guelph and transferring them to the Saxon court. When Kessiner and Zirzipanen refused to pay the stifling taxes in 1150, Niklot sought military support for a punitive expedition at the court in Lüneburg in 1151 . During the Duke's absence, the regent Clementia von Zähringen provided Niklot with Count Adolf II with a considerable number of 2,000 fighters by medieval standards. The superior strength of the united army of Holsteiners and Abodrites was no match for the Kessiner and Zirzipans. They paid the arrears tribute and persuaded the allies to withdraw by paying another exceptionally large sum of money.

Otherwise, the economic, social and cultural-religious life in Niklot's territory followed its own traditions. Isolated Christian missionary attempts by the later Bishop Berno began in the summer of 1156 at the earliest. Although Helmold had the Abodrite prince reject the acceptance of the Christian faith for himself and his people as early as January 1156, when Niklot replied to Heinrich the lion on his admonition: "Be the God, he who is in heaven is your God and you our God, so we are satisfied. Adore them, we will adore you. ”But a Christian mission cannot be proven until 1156. It would also have been detrimental to the duke's fiscal interests. The latter was able to arbitrarily set the taxes on the Abodrites, while fixed rules applied to the collection of taxes from Christian subjects. In recent research, the statement is therefore interpreted more as a criticism of Niklot against the ruthless economic exploitation of the Abodrite land by Henry the Lion than as a blasphemy directed against the missionary work of his people.

In the southwestern Baltic region, Niklot also had freedom of movement in foreign policy. The Abodrites had started colonizing the islands of Lolland and Falster . From the Wismar Bay , Niklot's navy undertook raids on the Danish coasts and levied sea tariffs. For Niklot, this kind of income generation had become an economic necessity in order to satisfy Henry the Lion's demands for tribute. At the markets of the fortresses Mecklenburg and Dobin, the ship's crews sold captured Danes by the hundreds into slavery. The Danish historiographer Saxo Grammaticus complained that the island of Funen was almost depopulated. The Danish throne disputes , which had been going on since 1146 , had made the Viking fleet meaningless, so that the Danes had nothing to match the Wendish warships with.

Limitation of autonomy

In July 1158 Henry the Lion asked Niklot to stop the naval war against the Danes. Waldemar I emerged victorious from the Danish disputes for the throne in 1157. In the summer of 1158 he sent negotiators who offered Emperor Barbarossa at the Reichstag in Augsburg the recognition of his sovereignty by their king if the empire supported the Danes against the Wendenfürst. Frederick I agreed with Heinrich the Lion that he should put a stop to his vassal Niklot as an expression of imperial orderly power. Niklot had to refuse the request outright. The cessation of the naval war against the Danes would not only have resulted in the loss of the last freedom of movement in foreign policy and serious financial losses, but Waldemar I, as the son of Knud Lavard, was also able to assert hereditary claims to power over the Abodrite land. He had flanked this claim with the marriage of his sister Katharina Knudsdotter and Niklot's renegade son Prislav. Prislav's sons would have had an inheritance-based claim to the Abodritic velvet rule, a right that Niklot and his descendants did not have.

The open disobedience of his vassal caused the Duke of Saxony to act immediately. In autumn 1158 he went with an army to the Abodritenland, took Niklot prisoner and imprisoned him in Lüneburg. Attempts by Niklot's sons Wartislaw and Pribislaw to resolve the conflict between Heinrich and Niklot through negotiation initially failed. According to Helmold, "neither money nor good words" moved Heinrich to release him. Only after the Niklotsons had laid the border towns of Gadebusch and Wittenburg, which belonged to the neighboring county of Ratzeburg , to rubble and ashes, did the Welf return to the negotiating table. Niklot cost dearly his release. Heinrich negotiated lands in Terra Bresen from him, which he then used to furnish the diocese of Ratzeburg .

Breach of the peace

In the spring of 1159, the Duke of Saxony began negotiations with Niklot about a land peace . Frederick I had requested military support in the Reich from Italy, and Heinrich intended to set off south with 1200 armored riders. For the duration of his absence, armed conflicts in his area of ​​influence in general and attacks by Niklot's Wenden fleet on the Danes in particular should cease. Niklot agreed on the condition that the fighting ceased until Heinrich's return. Because after Waldemar I. had enfeoffed Niklot's renegade son Prislav as Jarl with a large part of Lolland, a cessation of the naval war endangered Niklot's rule on the islands. After Niklot had publicly sworn the land peace, Heinrich demanded the surrender of the Abodritic ships as proof of the seriousness of the holy oath. These should be delivered in Lübeck and remain there under supervision until the Duke's return. This surprising suggestion was a severe humiliation for Niklot, since the Duke considered the publicly sworn word of his vassal to be insufficient. Niklot found himself in a dilemma: if he delivered the ships, he exposed the Abodritic coast and was at the mercy of Waldemar I, who was allowed to keep his ships. If, on the other hand, he did not deliver the ships, he was immediately exposed to suspicion of the intended breach . The transfer of exclusively old and unusable ships to Lübeck would have satisfied the Duke's request, if the Abodrites had waited until the agreed period to continue the war. But Helmold reports that the Abodrites, in contrast, had continued the war earlier.

Due to the ongoing looting of the Danish coasts, Waldemar I brought a lawsuit against Niklot in 1160 with Henry the Lion. Niklot did not obey the Duke's summons to hear the lawsuit in the Barförde state parliament . According to the rules of German law, the duke then imposed eight on the absentee , but without the opportunity to break away from this within a year or day. Instead, Heinrich immediately condemned him to total peace and lawlessness and announced a punitive expedition against the peace-breaking vassal for harvest time.

Death of King Niklots in front of Werle Castle. Folio 51 in the Chronic der Sachsen by Georg Spalatin . From the workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger , Wittenberg 1530/35

Outlaw

As an outlaw, Niklot was exposed to a ruthlessly executed punitive expedition by the Duke of Saxony in the late summer of 1160. Henry the Lion, who had established a country peace far beyond his area of ​​influence legitimized under imperial law by claiming rights equal to kings, was duped by the repeated disobedience of his vassal. His reaction was accordingly. He invaded the Abodriten land with his entire army, destroyed fields and settlements "with fire and sword" and let prisoners hang, a punishment that was particularly disgraceful in the Middle Ages. Niklot's defense line, which stretched from the east bank of the Wismar Bay over the fortresses Ilow, Mecklenburg and Dobin to Lake Schwerin and from there to Schwerin Castle, had to be abandoned to avoid encirclement. Waldemar I had landed on the island of Poel from the sea and was thus moving behind the fortifications. Niklot burned down the castles and withdrew to the land of Kessin. From Werle Castle, his sons Wertislaw and Pribislaw made unsuccessful attacks against the Saxon army. When Niklot himself went out to attack a supposedly unarmed supply unit, he was ambushed in which a Saxon knight named Bernhard, probably Bernhard I of Ratzeburg , killed him. Bernhard carried out the contemporary Saxon punishment for breaking the oath on the corpse and severed the head, which was then carried impaled on a lance through the camp of the Saxons and Danes.

Aftermath

middle Ages

In the absence of Slavic written sources, only the chronicles and annals of the neighboring Danes and Saxons reported on the life of Niklot . From the Saxon side, it was above all the Bosau pastor Helmold who told of Niklot in his Chronica Slavorum , which was written between 1167/68 and 1172 . Helmold describes him as a “wild beast” and “bitter enemy of the Christians”, but also expresses the appreciation of the Saxon opponents when he describes their astonishment at the shameful end of “such an important man”. For the Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus , who justified and glorified King Waldemar I's warfare against the Slavs in his Gesta Danorum from around 1200, Niklot was "the most powerful of the Slavic princes." What importance even Henry the Lion attached to his victory over Niklot, emerges from a document dated 1162. In it he equated the success of his punitive expedition against "the faithless people of the Slavs" with the victory of the emperor over the rebellious Milanese.

Soon after his death, Niklot was forgotten by the neighboring peoples. The Saxon World Chronicle of the 13th century was only worth a marginal note. It is different in Mecklenburg. In an effort to upgrade the Mecklenburg Princely House by providing written evidence of old age and royal origin, long lines of ancestors were made in which Niklot was the link to the Nakoniden . In a commissioned work by Duke Albrecht II of Mecklenburg from around 1379, the Mecklenburg rhyming chronicle of Ernst von Kirchberg , Niklot was consistently elevated to the title of "King Nyklot". A later commissioned work by the Mecklenburg Duke Heinrich V from around 1520, the Chronicon of the Mecklenburg regents created by Nikolaus Marschalk , also titled Niklot as King. In the Schwerin illuminated manuscript from 1526, Niklot was depicted with a crowned head.

Older research

Niklot. Monumental equestrian statue by the sculptor Christian Genschow from 1855 in the front facade of the Schwerin Palace .

In the 19th century Niklot was rediscovered by the Mecklenburg regional historiography, which was inspired by dynastic interests, and was celebrated as a Wendish " national hero " and as the "progenitor of our dynasty". In addition to the Mecklenburg historians, the “tragic end” of Niklot also inspired the imagination of romantically historicizing writers, battle painters and sculptors. The central pattern of interpretation of the research was initially the ancestor of the Mecklenburg ducal house, who was subject to the Christian expansionist urge of Saxons and Danes in brave resistance. Niklot, “embodying the fate of his people”, was able to be sure of the respect and compassion of the recipients in Mecklenburg . Outside Mecklenburg, on the other hand, where in-depth knowledge of Slavic history was already considered exotic, especially since German research "sometimes found it difficult to come to terms with the existence of a Slavic population on what was later to become German soil," Niklot experienced at best as a marginal figure in depictions of the person Henry the Lion. With the emergence of nationalism in Germany and the states of Eastern Europe, the religiously motivated resistance was accompanied by the interpretation pattern of an ethnic defensive struggle. Thereafter, Niklot, a pagan, but above all Slavic prince, opposed the Saxon duke's claims to rule, a German settlement and the technical, economic and cultural progress that went with it.

With the fundamental study of Wolfgang H. Fritzes on the problems of the abodritic tribal and imperial constitution, the research topic of the origin of nations in the Middle Ages , which was predominant in the middle of the 20th century, found its way into Slavic medieval studies . Fritze was able to prove that the Abodrites had developed rulership structures under their princes Gottschalk and Heinrich that corresponded to those of the Merovingian Empire and that if the progress had been undisturbed the possibility of nation building would have existed. With this realization, the judgment of historical research about the historical significance of Niclot changed: instead of the heroic defensive struggle, there was a statesmanlike and national failure. In the synthesis of the patterns of interpretation, Niklot's adherence to pagan beliefs becomes the cause of the failed Abodritic formation of states and nations and is thus responsible for the loss of the ethnic identity of the Wends. The essays of the Mecklenburg historian Nils Rühberg, published in 1995 and 1996, mark the conclusion of this development. For Rühberg Niklot is once again the "steadfast man" whose hopeless defensive struggle against Christianization and the Saxon settlement of the country contributed to cutting off the Abodrites "from the economic and cultural development of the Christian neighboring peoples".

Recent research

In 1999, the Kiel philologist Hans-Otto Gaethke came to the conclusion that, with the exception of the battles during the Slavic Crusade , there were no armed conflicts between Niklot and Heinrich between 1142 and 1158 as part of a source-based reassessment of the relationships between Niklot and Henry the Lion come to the lion. The Guelph had not intended a conquest of the Abodrite land, Niklot fulfilled the demands placed on him by the Saxon side by fulfilling his vassal duties. Christian proselytizing attempts, which Niklot could have resisted, were not detectable until 1156, after that only to a minor extent and without the support of the Saxon duke. Gaethke recognizes the reason for Henry the Lion's campaigns against Niklot in 1158 and 1160 in the vassal's open disobedience, primarily triggered by Heinrich's attempt to restrict abodritic naval rule in favor of Waldemar I, an aspect that was still completely underdeveloped in research. If Henry the Lion had still exercised mildness in 1158 on the negotiated submission of Niklot, he would have known no more mercy in 1160 and carried out a punitive expedition, but not a campaign of conquest.

swell

  • Helmoldi Presbyteri Bozoviensis : Chronica Slavorum (= Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Scriptores. Vol. 7 = Scriptores Rerum Germanicarum in Usum Scholarum separatim editi. Vol. 26). Published by the Reich Institute for Older German History. 3rd edition, edited by Bernhard Schmeidler . Hahnsche Buchhandlung, Hanover 1937 (retransmitted and explained by Heinz Stoob . (= Selected sources on German history in the Middle Ages. Freiherr-vom-Stein-Gedächtnisausgabe. Vol. 19, ISSN  0067-0650 ). Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1963 (7. Edition (unchanged from the 6th, compared to the 5th, expanded by a supplement in 2002). With a supplement by Volker Scior. Ibid. 2008, ISBN 978-3-534-21974-2 )).
  • Saxo Grammaticus : Gesta Danorum . = Danmark histories. Latinsk tekst udgivet Karsten Friis-Jensen. Dansk oversættelse ved Peter Zeeberg. Danske Sprog- og Litteraturselskab & Gads Forlag, Copenhagen 2005, ISBN 87-12-04025-8 .
  • Knýtlinga saga . The History of the Kings of Denmark. Translated by Hermann Pálsson and Paul Edwards. Odense University Press, Odense 1986, ISBN 87-7492-571-7 .

literature

Web links

Commons : Niklot  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Niklot  - sources and full texts

Remarks

  1. ↑ Also Niclot, Latin Niclotus (from Helmold) or Nucletus (from Saxo Grammaticus), Danish. Mjúklátr.
  2. ^ Wilhelm Gottlieb Beyer: King Kruto and his family. A historical study of the ancestry of the grand-ducal-Meklenburg dynasty. In: Yearbooks of the Association for Meklenburg History and Archeology. Vol. 13, 1848, ISSN  0259-7772 , pp. 3-55, here p. 18, online .
  3. ^ Friedrich Wigger : Family tables of the Grand Ducal House of Meklenburg. In: Yearbooks of the Association for Meklenburg History and Archeology. Vol. 50, 1885, pp. 111-326, here p. 133, online .
  4. ↑ Wolfgang H. Fritze : Problems of the abodritic tribal and imperial constitution and its development from a tribal state to a ruling state. In: Herbert Ludat (ed.): Settlement and constitution of the Slavs between the Elbe, Saale and Oder. W. Schmitz, Gießen 1960, pp. 141-219, here p. 172; following him Nils Rühberg: Niklot and the Obodritic independence struggle against the Saxon duchy. In: Mecklenburgische Jahrbücher. Vol. 111, 1996, pp. 5-20, here p. 6 f.
  5. ↑ To this Helge bei der Wieden : The beginnings of the House of Mecklenburg - wish and reality. In: Yearbook for the history of Central and Eastern Germany . Vol. 53, 2007, pp. 1-20, here p. 8.
  6. ↑ Evamaria Engel : The military-political conquest. In: Joachim Herrmann (Ed.): The Slavs in Germany. History and culture of the Slavic tribes west of Oder and Neisse from the 6th to 12th centuries. A manual (= publications of the Central Institute for Ancient History and Archeology of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR . Vol. 14). Revision. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1985, pp. 379–404, here p. 382: “a tribal prince who climbed up among the Abodrites”; Wolfgang H. Fritze: Problems of the abodritic tribal and imperial constitution and its development from a tribal state to a ruling state. In: Herbert Ludat (ed.): Settlement and constitution of the Slavs between the Elbe, Saale and Oder. W. Schmitz, Gießen 1960, pp. 141-219, here p. 172.
  7. ↑ Helmold I, 22 and 23.
  8. ↑ Wolfgang H. Fritze: Problems of the abodritic tribal and imperial constitution and its development from a tribal state to a ruling state. In: Herbert Ludat (ed.): Settlement and constitution of the Slavs between the Elbe, Saale and Oder. W. Schmitz, Gießen 1960, pp. 141-219, here p. 179 f. on the importance of inheritance legitimation for the Abodrites.
  9. ↑ Helmold I, 49: maior terrae Obodritorum .
  10. ^ Helmold I, 71: Kycini et Circipani paulatim rebellare ceperint.
  11. ^ Nils Rühberg: Niklot and the Obodritische independence struggle against the Saxon duchy. In: Mecklenburgische Jahrbücher. Vol. 111, 1996, pp. 5-20, here p. 9 f. considers at least traditional claims to power to be possible.
  12. ↑ Helge bei der Wieden: The Beginnings of the House of Mecklenburg - Desire and Reality. In: Yearbook for the history of Central and Eastern Germany. Vol. 53, 2007, pp. 1-20, here p. 8.
  13. ↑ Mentioned in Helmold I, 93: Lubemarum quendam veteranum, fratrem Nicloti.
  14. ↑ Helmold I, 49: fratruelem Heinrici Pribizlaum et maiorem terrae Obotritorum Niclotum.
  15. ↑ Walther Lammers : The high Middle Ages up to the Battle of Bornhöved (= History of Schleswig-Holstein. Vol. 4, Part 1). Wachholtz, Neumünster 1981, ISBN 3-529-02404-X , p. 242 describes Pribislaw's overriding as “noticeable”.
  16. ↑ Heinrich and Knud had a common grandfather with Sven Estridsson .
  17. ↑ Helmold I, 49: occidens et sternens omnes sibi adversantes .
  18. ^ Richard Wagner : The time of change (= Mecklenburg history in individual representations. Issue 2, ZDB -ID 982989-1 ). Süsserott, Berlin 1899, p. 141.
  19. ^ Helmold I, 49: Sepius et in terram Wagirorum deversans Falderensi hospico usus est. and Veniens quoque Lubeke.
  20. ↑ Elżbieta Foster, Cornelia Willich: Place names and settlement development. Northern Mecklenburg in the Early and High Middle Ages (= research on the history and culture of Eastern Central Europe. Vol. 31). Steiner, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-515-08938-8 , p. 25.
  21. ↑ Helmold I, 52: Pribizlaus atque Niclotus, bipartito scilicet principatu, uno scilicet Wairensium atque Polaborum, altero Obotritorum provinciam gubernante.
  22. ^ Manfred Hamann: Mecklenburg history. From the beginnings to the rural union of 1523 (= Central German Research. Vol. 51). Revised on the basis of Hans Witte. Böhlau, Cologne et al. 1968, p. 70; Nils Rühberg: Niklot and the Obodritian struggle for independence against the Saxon duchy. In: Mecklenburgische Jahrbücher. Vol. 111, 1996, pp. 5-20, here p. 7; Fred Ruchhöft: From the Slavic tribal area to the German bailiwick. The development of the territories in Ostholstein, Lauenburg, Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania in the Middle Ages (= archeology and history in the Baltic Sea area. Vol. 4). Leidorf, Rahden (Westfalen) 2008, ISBN 978-3-89646-464-4 , p. 163: from 1129; Jan-Christoph Herrmann: The Wendenkreuzzug von 1147. Lang, Frankfurt am Main et al. 2011, ISBN 978-3-631-60926-2 , p. 128.
  23. ↑ Hans-Otto Gaethke: Duke Heinrich the Lion and the Slavs northeast of the lower Elbe. 1999, p. 141.
  24. ↑ Annalista Saxo 1131: Simili modo super Slauos rebellantes irruit eosque subiugavit. ; Hans-Otto Gaethke: Duke Heinrich the Lion and the Slavs northeast of the lower Elbe. 1999, p. 48.
  25. ↑ Hans-Otto Gaethke: Duke Heinrich the Lion and the Slavs northeast of the lower Elbe. 1999, p. 113.
  26. ↑ Joachim Ehlers : Heinrich the lion. Biography. Siedler, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-88680-787-1 , p. 73.
  27. ↑ Helmold I, 56.
  28. ↑ Karl Jordan : Heinrich the Lion. A biography (= dtv 4601 dtv science ). 4th edition. Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-423-04601-5 , p. 18.
  29. ↑ Joachim Ehlers: Heinrich the lion. Biography. Siedler, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-88680-787-1 , p. 63.
  30. ↑ Joachim Ehlers: Heinrich the lion. Biography. Siedler, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-88680-787-1 , p. 64, assumes on the basis of onomastic studies that the settlements of the colonists and the indigenous Slavs existed side by side without any expulsions.
  31. ↑ Hans-Otto Gaethke: Duke Heinrich the Lion and the Slavs northeast of the lower Elbe. 1999, p. 80; Karl Jordan: Henry the Lion. A biography (= dtv 4601 dtv science ). 4th edition. Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-423-04601-5 , p. 31.
  32. ↑ Helmold I, 57.
  33. ↑ Helmold I, 62.
  34. ^ Helmold I, 71 for the time after 1150.
  35. ^ Nils Rühberg: Niklot and the Obodritische independence struggle against the Saxon duchy. In: Mecklenburgische Jahrbücher. Vol. 111, 1996, pp. 5-20, here p. 9.
  36. ↑ Helmold I, 62 reports of negotiations by envoys.
  37. ↑ This allegedly used slogan was a simplified short version of the crusade preached by Bernhard von Clairvaux.
  38. ↑ Walther Lammers: The high Middle Ages up to the Battle of Bornhöved (= History of Schleswig-Holstein. Vol. 4, Part 1). Wachholtz, Neumünster 1981, ISBN 3-529-02404-X , p. 323 also sees Niklot in a domestic political predicament. Similar to Nils Rühberg: Niklot and the Obodritian struggle for independence against the Saxon duchy. In: Mecklenburgische Jahrbücher. Vol. 111, 1996, pp. 5–20, here p. 19, which regards Niklot's political leeway as limited by the nobility and priesthood; also in the opinion of Manfred Hamann: Mecklenburg history. From the beginnings to the rural union of 1523 (= Central German Research. Vol. 51). Revised on the basis of Hans Witte. Böhlau, Cologne et al. 1968, p. 81, Niklot's freedom of choice is restricted by the opposing will of the Abodritic greats.
  39. ↑ Helmold I, 63; on this in detail Walther Lammers: The High Middle Ages up to the Battle of Bornhöved (= History of Schleswig-Holstein. Vol. 4, Part 1). Wachholtz, Neumünster 1981, ISBN 3-529-02404-X , p. 323 f.
  40. ↑ Helmold I, 64.
  41. ↑ Hans-Otto Gaethke: Duke Heinrich the Lion and the Slavs northeast of the lower Elbe. 1999, p. 91.
  42. ↑ Karl Jordan: Heinrich the Lion. A biography (= dtv 4601 dtv science ) 4th edition. Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-423-04601-5 , p. 37 and Joachim Ehlers: Heinrich der Löwe. Biography. Siedler, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-88680-787-1 , p. 73 assume a preventive strike. In contrast, now in detail Hans-Otto Gaethke: Duke Heinrich the Lion and the Slavs northeast of the lower Elbe. 1999, pp. 90-94.
  43. ^ Mikołaj Gładysz: The Forgotten Crusaders: Poland and the Crusader Movement in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries. ( The Northern World: North Europe and the Baltic c. 400-1700 AD, Peoples, Economies and Cultures Vol. 56) Brill, Leiden and Boston 2012, ISBN 978-90-04-18551-7 , p. 71; For this reason for the division of the Army Helmold I, 65. Hans-Otto Gaethke is different: Duke Heinrich the Lion and the Slavs northeast of the lower Elbe. 1999, p. 93 f., Who recognizes in the raid only an additional justification for Henry the Lion, while the division of the army had already been decided shortly before at the Reichstag in Nuremberg.
  44. ↑ Helmold I, 62.
  45. ↑ Hans-Otto Gaethke: Duke Heinrich the Lion and the Slavs northeast of the lower Elbe. 1999, p. 91.
  46. ^ Manfred Hamann: Mecklenburg history. From the beginnings to the rural union of 1523 (= Central German Research. Vol. 51). Revised on the basis of Hans Witte. Böhlau, Cologne et al. 1968, p. 74.
  47. ^ Roman Zaroff: Perception of Christianity by the Pagan Polabian Slavs. In: Studia mythologica Slavica. Vol. 4, 2001, ISSN  1581-128X , pp. 81-96, here p. 92, digitized version (PDF; 145 kB) .
  48. ↑ Hans-Otto Gaethke: Duke Heinrich the Lion and the Slavs northeast of the lower Elbe. 1999, p. 96 on Heinrich's leadership role despite his young age; Jan-Christoph Herrmann: The Wendenkreuzzug von 1147. Lang, Frankfurt am Main et al. 2011, ISBN 978-3-631-60926-2 , p. 160 describes him as the “most important leading figure”.
  49. ↑ Elżbieta Foster, Cornelia Willich: Place names and settlement development. Northern Mecklenburg in the Early and High Middle Ages (= research on the history and culture of Eastern Central Europe. Vol. 31). Steiner, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-515-08938-8 , p. 26.
  50. ^ Nils Rühberg: Niklot and the Obodritische independence struggle against the Saxon duchy. In: Mecklenburgische Jahrbücher. Vol. 111, 1996, pp. 5-20, here p. 15.
  51. ↑ Helmold describes him in 1129 as a great man (chap. 49: maior ), 1151 as a prince (chap. 71: princeps ) and 1156 as a minor king (chap. 84: regulus ), Saxo Grammaticus in 1160 as a duke (Lib. 14, p. 759 : dux ).
  52. ↑ Wolfgang H. Fritze: Problems of the abodritic tribal and imperial constitution and its development from a tribal state to a ruling state. In: Herbert Ludat (ed.): Settlement and constitution of the Slavs between the Elbe, Saale and Oder. W. Schmitz, Gießen 1960, pp. 141-219, here p. 178.
  53. ↑ Helmold I, 62 reports u. a. of the construction of Dobin Castle (et cepit edificare castrum Dubin) .
  54. ↑ Hans-Otto Gaethke: Duke Heinrich the Lion and the Slavs northeast of the lower Elbe. 1999, pp. 142-150.
  55. ^ Jan-Christoph Herrmann: The Wendenkreuzzug von 1147. Lang, Frankfurt am Main et al. 2011, ISBN 978-3-631-60926-2 , p. 134.
  56. ↑ Niklot's presence in the castle cannot be proven, but is mostly assumed, cf. about Nils Rühberg: Niklot and the Obodritian struggle for independence against the Saxon duchy. In: Mecklenburgische Jahrbücher. Vol. 111, 1996, pp. 5-20, here pp. 10-12; Richard Wagner: The turning point (= Mecklenburg history in individual representations. Issue 2). Süsserott, Berlin 1899, p. 151 f.
  57. ^ In the Ratzeburg tithe register there is the following note: Putrowe tota cum censu et decima vacat episcopo. Hanc liberam cum omni iure dux Heinricus Leo fundator contulit Raceburgensi episcopo, quia, cum primum intraret terram cum exercitu, prima nocte quieuit ibi, et hoc primum sacrificium fecit domino et beate Marie.
  58. ↑ Hans-Otto Gaethke: Duke Heinrich the Lion and the Slavs northeast of the lower Elbe. 1999, pp. 71-106, especially 99-101 and 456; Elżbieta Foster, Cornelia Willich specifically follows him: Place names and settlement development. Northern Mecklenburg in the Early and High Middle Ages (= research on the history and culture of Eastern Central Europe. Vol. 31). Steiner, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-515-08938-8 , p. 26.
  59. ↑ On the duration of the siege Annales Magdeburgenses 1147: Fere tres menses peragrando omnia vastaverunt.
  60. ^ For Adolf II as the Saxon negotiator Nils Rühberg: Niklot and the Obodritic independence struggle against the Saxon duchy. In: Mecklenburgische Jahrbücher. Vol. 111, 1996, pp. 5-20, here p. 11.
  61. ↑ Joachim Ehlers: Heinrich the lion. Biography. Siedler, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-88680-787-1 , pp. 73, 157 f.
  62. ↑ Hans-Otto Gaethke: Duke Heinrich the Lion and the Slavs northeast of the lower Elbe. 1999, p. 105 f.
  63. ^ Nils Rühberg: Niklot and the Obodritische independence struggle against the Saxon duchy. In: Mecklenburgische Jahrbücher. Vol. 111, 1996, pp. 5-20, here p. 12; on this already Richard Wagner: Die Wendenzeit (= Mecklenburg history in single representations. Issue 2). Süsserott, Berlin 1899, p. 151f.
  64. ↑ Friedrich Lotter: Comments on the Christianization of the Abodrites. in: Mitteldeutsche Forschungen 74 / II, Festschrift for W. Schlesinger, Cologne / Vienna 1974, pp. 395–442, here p. 433; Nils Rühberg: Niklot and the Obodritian struggle for independence against the Saxon duchy. In: Mecklenburgische Jahrbücher. Vol. 111, 1996, pp. 5-20, here p. 12; Roman Zaroff: Perception of Christianity by the Pagan Polabian Slavs. In: Studia mythologica Slavica. Vol. 4, 2001, ISSN  1581-128X , pp. 81-96, here p. 92; Elżbieta Foster, Cornelia Willich: Place names and settlement development. Northern Mecklenburg in the Early and High Middle Ages (= research on the history and culture of Eastern Central Europe. Vol. 31). Steiner, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-515-08938-8 , p. 26 note 43; see already Richard Wagner: Die Wendenzeit (= Mecklenburg history in single representations. Issue 2). Süsserott, Berlin 1899, p. 195 Note 33. with a reference to the possible mention of Niklot's baptismal name Nikolaus in the Annales Palidenses 1160: principem Niclot, qui et Nicolaus trucidavit.
  65. ↑ Hans-Otto Gaethke: Duke Heinrich the Lion and the Slavs northeast of the lower Elbe. 1999, p. 158.
  66. ↑ Hans-Otto Gaethke: Duke Heinrich the Lion and the Slavs northeast of the lower Elbe. 1999, p. 141.
  67. ↑ Elżbieta Foster, Cornelia Willich: Place names and settlement development. Northern Mecklenburg in the Early and High Middle Ages (= research on the history and culture of Eastern Central Europe. Vol. 31). Steiner, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-515-08938-8 , p. 26 emphasize that Heinrich the Lion had little influence on the inner relationships of the Abodrites up to 1158.
  68. ↑ Helmold I, 56 reports that the Wagrians had to pay the Duke 1,000 silver marks a year, that is around 233 kg.
  69. ↑ Helmold I, 71.
  70. ↑ Hans-Otto Gaethke: Duke Heinrich the Lion and the Slavs northeast of the lower Elbe. 1999, p. 105.
  71. ^ Helmold I, 71: Abiitque comes cum duobus milibus et amplius electorum. ; to Karl Jordan: Heinrich the Lion. A biography (= dtv 4601 dtv science ). 4th edition. Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-423-04601-5 , p. 44: with a large team .
  72. ↑ Hans-Otto Gaethke: Duke Heinrich the Lion and the Slavs northeast of the lower Elbe. 1999, p. 114; Elżbieta Foster, Cornelia Willich specifically follows him: Place names and settlement development. Northern Mecklenburg in the Early and High Middle Ages (= research on the history and culture of Eastern Central Europe. Vol. 31). Steiner, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-515-08938-8 , p. 26.
  73. ↑ Helmold I, 84: Sit Deus, qui in celis est, deuus tuus, esto tu deus noster, et sufficit nobis. Excole tu illum, porro nos te excolemus.
  74. ↑ Hans-Otto Gaethke: Duke Heinrich the Lion and the Slavs northeast of the lower Elbe. 1999, p. 19.
  75. ↑ Magdalena Naum: Convivencia in a Borderland: The Danish-Slavic Border in the Middle Ages. In: W. Paul van Pelt (Ed.): Archeology and Cultural Mixture (= Archaeological Review from Cambridge. Vol. 28, 1, ISSN  0261-4332 ). University of Cambridge - Department of Archeology, Cambridge 2013, pp. 75–94, here p. 84.
  76. ^ Helmold I, 87: slavi de Mikilinburg . In addition, Hans-Otto Gaethke: Duke Heinrich the Lion and the Slavs northeast of the lower Elbe. 1999, p. 235 f.
  77. ↑ Saxo Lib. 14, chap. 5 and 15 remarked that Zealand and Funen were depopulated as a result of the constant attacks, and that Denmark's existence was threatened.
  78. ↑ According to Saxo Lib. XIV chap. XXIII.2, in 1159 the Danish king no longer even had his own ship: Iam pridem enim regem expeditionum desuetudo navigio spoliaverat.
  79. ↑ Hans-Otto Gaethke: Duke Heinrich the Lion and the Slavs northeast of the lower Elbe. 1999, p. 170.
  80. ↑ Oskar Eggert : The push-pull trains Valdemar I and Canute VI. from Denmark to Pomerania and Mecklenburg. In: Baltic Studies . NF Vol. 29, 1927, ISSN  0067-3099 , pp. 10-149, here p. 33, note 3.
  81. ^ Rahewin : Gesta Friderici Imperatoris. Lib. III, chap. XXV: Eodem loco hisdemque diebus nuncii regis Datiae N., nuper electi, principis adeunt presentiam, postulantes, quatinus investituram de regno suo regi mittere ac electionem de ipso factam ratihabitione confirmare dignaretur.
  82. ↑ Hans-Otto Gaethke: Duke Heinrich the Lion and the Slavs northeast of the lower Elbe. 1999, p. 459.
  83. ↑ Saxo Grammaticus Lib. XIV chap. XXV, 12: Nucleti filius, quem, quod Waldemari sororem in matrimonio haberet.
  84. ↑ Annales Palidenses 1158: Sclaviam cum exercitu intrans, totam terram ferro et igne devastat.
  85. ^ Helmold II, 98: Non recogitas, quod pater noster Niclotus cum Lunenburg teneretur in custodia .
  86. ↑ Helmold II, 98: neque prece neque pecunia redimi potuit.
  87. ↑ Hans-Otto Gaethke: Duke Heinrich the Lion and the Slavs northeast of the lower Elbe. 1999, p. 173.
  88. ^ The villages Lvbemari villam, Maliante and Gressowe , Mecklenburgisches Urkundenbuch, listed in the foundation deed of the diocese of Ratzeburg from 1158 . Volume 1: 786-1250. Stiller, Schwerin 1863, 65 (p. 58).
  89. ↑ Hans-Otto Gaethke: Duke Heinrich the Lion and the Slavs northeast of the lower Elbe. 1999, p. 178.
  90. ↑ Helmold I, 87.
  91. ^ Helmold I, 88: igne et gladio.
  92. ^ Friedrich Wigger: Berno, the first bishop of Schwerin, and Meklenburg at his time. In: Yearbooks of the Association for Meklenburg History and Archeology. Vol. 28, 1863, pp. 3–278, here p. 114, note 1, online .
  93. ↑ Helmold I, 52
  94. ↑ Helmold I, 88: tantus vir , on this Nils Rühberg: Niklot and the Obodritic struggle for independence against the Saxon duchy. In: Mecklenburgische Jahrbücher. Vol. 111, 1996, pp. 5-20, here p. 18.
  95. ↑ Saxo Lib. XIV, chap. XXV, 12: potentissimi Sclavorum principis Nucleti.
  96. ↑ Mecklenburg record book. Volume 1: 786-1250. Stiller, Schwerin 1863, 74: in IIdo anno, postquam perfidam gentem slavos videlicet.
  97. ↑ Ludwig Weiland (ed.): Saxon World Chronicle. Eberhard's rhyming chronicle from Gandersheim. Brunswick rhyming chronicle. Chronicle of the monastery of S. Simon and Judas zu Goslar. Holstein rhyme chronicle (= Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Scriptores. German Chronicles and other history books of the Middle Ages. Vol. 2). Hahnsche Buchhandlung, Hannover 1877, p. 224: He let oc slan the gentlemen van Weneden Nyclote unde bedwang alle de dar neither ene weren.
  98. ↑ Nicolai Mareschalci Chronicon of the Mecklenburg Regents & c. Rhyme-wise. In: Ernst Joachim de Westphalen (ed.): Monumenta inedita rerum Germanicarum praecipue Cimbricarum et Megapolensium. Volume 1. Martini, Leipzig 1739, Col. 561–646, here Col. 586–594. : King Nicoloth.
  99. ↑ Quotations from Richard Wagner: Die Wendenzeit (= Mecklenburg history in individual representations. Issue 2). Süsserott, Berlin 1899, p. 140 ; Research- historical assessment by Bernhard Friedmann: Studies on the history of the Abodritic Principality up to the end of the 10th century (= Eastern European Studies of the State of Hesse. Series 1: Giessener Abhandlungen zur Agrar- und Wirtschaftsforschung der European East. Vol. 137). Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-428-05886-0 , p. 14, note 7 (also: Frankfurt am Main, University, dissertation, 1980).
  100. ^ Manfred Hamann: Mecklenburg history. From the beginnings to the rural union of 1523 (= Central German Research. Vol. 51). Revised on the basis of Hans Witte. Böhlau, Cologne et al. 1968, p. 82; similar to Karl Jordan: Heinrich the Lion. A biography (= dtv 4601 dtv science ). 4th edition. Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-423-04601-5 , p. 87.
  101. ↑ David Russa (that is: David Jacob Assur): The Obotrite. A historical novel. FA Leo, Leipzig 1833.
  102. ^ Manfred Hamann: Mecklenburg history. From the beginnings to the rural union of 1523 (= Central German Research. Vol. 51). Revised on the basis of Hans Witte. Böhlau, Cologne et al. 1968, p. 82.
  103. ^ Bernhard Friedmann: Investigations into the history of the Abodritic Principality up to the end of the 10th century (= Eastern European Studies of the State of Hesse. Series 1: Giessener Abhandlungen zur Agrar- und Wirtschaftsforschung der European Ost. Vol. 137). Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-428-05886-0 , p. 13 (At the same time: Frankfurt am Main, University, dissertation, 1980).
  104. ↑ Wolfgang H. Fritze: Problems of the abodritic tribal and imperial constitution and its development from a tribal state to a ruling state. In: Herbert Ludat (ed.): Settlement and constitution of the Slavs between the Elbe, Saale and Oder. W. Schmitz, Giessen 1960, pp. 141-219.
  105. ^ Manfred Hamann: Mecklenburg history. From the beginnings to the rural union of 1523 (= Central German Research. Vol. 51). Revised on the basis of Hans Witte. Böhlau, Cologne et al. 1968, p. 82.
  106. ^ Manfred Hamann: Mecklenburg history. From the beginnings to the rural union of 1523 (= Central German Research. Vol. 51). Revised on the basis of Hans Witte. Böhlau, Cologne et al. 1968, p. 83.
  107. ↑ Nils Rühberg: Obodritische Samtherrscher and Saxon imperial power from the mid-10th century to the collection of the Principality Mecklenburg 1167. In: Mecklenburg Yearbooks. Vol. 110, 1995, pp. 21-50; Nils Rühberg: Niklot and the Obodritian struggle for independence against the Saxon duchy. In: Mecklenburgische Jahrbücher. Vol. 111, 1996, pp. 5-20.
  108. ^ Nils Rühberg: Niklot and the Obodritische independence struggle against the Saxon duchy. In: Mecklenburgische Jahrbücher. Vol. 111, 1996, pp. 5-20, here p. 19.
  109. ↑ Hans-Otto Gaethke: Duke Heinrich the Lion and the Slavs northeast of the lower Elbe. 1999, p. 458; Elżbieta Foster, Cornelia Willich specifically follows him: Place names and settlement development. Northern Mecklenburg in the Early and High Middle Ages (= research on the history and culture of Eastern Central Europe. Vol. 31). Steiner, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-515-08938-8 , p. 26, note 41.
  110. ↑ On the limited repeatability of the Deditio Gerd Althoff: Otto III. and Henry II in conflicts. In: Bernd Schneidmüller, Stefan Weinfurter (Ed.): Otto III. and Heinrich II. A turning point. Sigmaringen 1997, pp. 77-94, here: p. 80.
predecessor Office successor
- Prince of the Abodrites
1129–1160 		Pribislaw
This article was added to the list of excellent articles on April 18, 2014 in this version .
personal data
SURNAME Niklot
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Niclot; Nuclet; Mjúklátr
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prince of the Abodrites
DATE OF BIRTH 11th century or 12th century
DATE OF DEATH August 1160
Place of death Werle