Bavaria Slavica
The Bavaria Slavica in today's northeastern Bavaria is part of the historical research as Germania Slavica settlement area designated Slavic populations in what is now Germany .
In Upper Franconia and the Upper Palatinate , in addition to the Franconian population , there lived in the early and early High Middle Ages , Slavs who had immigrated from the Danube region and the Bohemian region between the 6th and 9th centuries . These groups appear the 8th to the 10th century as a main, Regnitz and Naab in written sources call . The inland colonization and the expansion of the country in the 10./11. Century took place in the Obermaing area with the help of other Slavic settlers. In the course of a process of adjustment and adjustment, however, they largely gave up their own language and cultural tradition as early as the 10th and 11th centuries.
Their presence is still reflected today in several types of sources that are the subject of various research disciplines. They require different methods of evaluation or interpretation and allow different statements.
The written sources
The earliest sure mention of Slavs in the Main area is in connection with the foundation of the Würzburg diocese in 741. Around 790, Charlemagne commissioned the Würzburg bishop Berowelf to build 14 so-called Slavic churches for the Christianized Slavs on the Main and Regnitz as part of the Slav mission , but their location can mostly only be assumed. In the Diedenhofener Kapitular (805) Hallstadt , Forchheim , Premberg bei Burglengenfeld and Regensburg are named as customs places for trade between Franconia and Slavs. In 863, Slavs were first mentioned in the Upper Palatinate . In connection with donations to the Fulda monastery and churches in Würzburg and Ansbach , several places “in Slavic land” are mentioned in the 8th to 10th centuries. When the diocese of Bamberg was founded in 1007, the Christianization of the Slavs was expressly pointed out. At the Bamberg diocesan synod in 1059, the refusals of the Slavs to pay church tithes and continued pagan practices were an issue. At the next episcopal synod in 1087, however, Slavs were no longer mentioned. Overall, the tradition is largely due to chance. The area around Bamberg in particular is illuminated, while regions further away rarely appear in the documents.
The sources based on names
In the names of places , fields and waters in Upper Franconia and the Upper Palatinate, Slavic names or parts of names are often recognizable. In addition to other aspects, the name -based (onomastic) analyzes also enable statements to be made about the Slavic population. In doing so, however, it is less possible to determine the specific settlement of an individual place by a Slavic or German population than to draw conclusions about a larger area, the name landscape. Settlers can e.g. B. have taken over an older name of the place or that of a neighboring place. In the opposite case, Slavic place names can also have been translated later or replaced by a new German name. Place names that begin with “Windisch-” or end with “-wind” or “-wind” and are often associated with a German personal name or official titles such as abbot or bishop represent a separate group. The name already indicates the Slavs, known as winds or wends , who lived in this place. A typical part of the name of Slavic origin is, for example, the ending " -itz ".
The archaeological sources
Archaeological finds, especially ceramic vessels with typical wave decorations and metal jewelry, show close parallels to the Slavic populated East Central Europe. They show that they were made in the same tradition and that there were close relationships, especially with the Sorbian area between the Elbe and Saale and Bohemia . However, their chronological classification often allows for a wide range of dates of up to a century. At the same time, the excavation or reading finds show only a certain area in which a Slavic population lived, without it being possible to make more precise statements about the origin or time of the immigration of individual groups. Important information can be obtained from the graves, but their precise chronological classification between the 8th and 11th centuries still causes difficulties. In contrast to the regions further west of the empire, objects such as clothing, jewelry and food were given to the grave of the dead in northeast Bavaria. These grave customs differ significantly from the otherwise common Christian grave custom and still show pagan relics. The cemeteries and burial grounds from the Carolingian - Ottonian period shared by Franks and Slavs support the assumption that the integration of Slavic immigrants was largely peaceful.
See also
literature
- Hans Losert: The Slavic settlement of north-east Bavaria from an archaeological point of view . In: Karl Schmotz (Hrsg.): Lectures of the 11th Lower Bavarian Archaeological Day. Deggendorf 1993, pp. 207-270.
- Jochen Haberstroh : Slavic settlement in northeast Bavaria . In: Alfried Wieczorek and Hans-Martin Hinz (Hrsg.): Europes Mitte um 1000. Contributions to history, art and archeology 2. Stuttgart 2000, pp. 713–717.
- Ingolf Ericsson: Slavs in Northeast Bavaria. On the Main, Regnitz and Naabwendi and their importance for the development of the state . In: Rolf Bergmann (Hrsg.): Medieval research in Bamberg (contributions from the Center for Medieval Studies. Research Forum. Reports from the Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg. Issue 10) Bamberg 2001, pp. 30–39.
- Ernst Eichler u. a .: Settlement names in the Upper Franconian city and district of Bamberg. Contributions to Slavic-German language contact research 1, Heidelberg 2001
- Roman Grabolle: Map of the Slavic settlement in northeast Bavaria . In: Josef Kirmeier, Bernd Schneidmüller, Stefan Weinfurter, Evamaria Brockhoff (eds.): Kaiser Heinrich II. 1002-1024 . Catalog for the Bavarian State Exhibition 2002, Bamberg, July 9 to October 20, 2002. Publications on Bavarian history and culture 44 (Bamberg 2002) p. 137 f., Cat. No. 17, ISBN 392723382X
- Jochen Haberstroh: Slavic finds from Upper Franconia . In: Wolfgang Jahn (Ed.): Noble and free - Franconia in the Middle Ages . Catalog for the Bavarian State Exhibition 2004, Pfalzmuseum Forchheim, May 11 to October 24, 2004. Publications on Bavarian History and Culture 47, Augsburg 2003, p. 132 f., Cat. No. 24, ISBN 3927233919
- Matthias Hardt: Slavs and Germans in early and high medieval Upper Franconia . In: Erich Schneider and Bernd Schneidmüller (eds.): 1000 years ago. The Schweinfurt feud and the landscape at Obermain 1003 . Schweinfurter Museumsschriften 118, Schweinfurt 2004, pp. 43–63.
- Joseph Schütz: Franconia's Mainwendische names: past and present . Munich 1994