Goztomuizli

Goztomuizli (also Gotzomuizli, Gozzomiul, Gozzomuil, Gestimulus slaw . Gostomysl) († 844 ) was a abodritischer Samtherrscher ( rex ), whose death in the war on East Frankish King Louis the German the temporary end of the abodritischen Samtherrscherschaft marked.

Succession

Goztomuizli had achieved the dignity of velvet rulers as a result of internal Abodritic disputes with Ceadrag or his successor. In contrast to his predecessors, he was no longer installed by a Carolingian monarch in the supremacy of the Abodritic tribal association.

An internal Abodritic opposition to the velvet rulers loyal to the Carolingian monarchs is already documented for Drasco and Sclaomir . Most recently, Ceadrag had to defend himself against an indictment by Abodritic nobles at the Reichstag in Ingelheim . After the Frankish emperor Ludwig the Pious had him return to the Abodritenland, Ceadrag was no longer mentioned in the sources. In the event of his death, a successor would have been appointed from Ceadrag's family by virtue of inheritance law. Goztomuizli did not come from the name of the Ceadrag family, but apparently formed a new dynasty of Abodritic velvet rulers with his son, the dux Abodritorum Tabomuizli , mentioned in 862 . The reason for the dynasty change is to be found in the weakness of the empire on the one hand and the emerging strength of the Danes under their ruler Horik I on the other. With the emperor, the Franconian-friendly family of the Ceadrag lost one of the pillars of their power, while the Danish penetration of the Abodrite empire in economic, cultural and personal terms made them a natural ally of the Abodrites and encouraged a change of dynasty.

An appointment of Goztomuizli by the Frankish emperor or even the East Frankish king can be ruled out against this background. Such an event would otherwise have found its expression in the Annales Bertiniani , which was well informed about the events on the eastern border of the empire , especially since it would have been of outstanding importance during the intra-dynastic battles of the Carolingians 830–842. In this phase, the exercise of Frankish rule over the Elbe Slavic periphery was exhausted by receiving embassies as the highest expression of Frankish suzerainty.

Velvet ruler

Carolingian cavalry from the Golden Psalter , St. Gallen Abbey Library , Cod. 22, saec. IXex, p. 140 as an illustration for Ps 60 (Joab's campaign)

Goztomuizli's work as a velvet ruler can only be deduced from his mention in 844. The Annales Fuldenses reported that the Abodrites had planned a defection from the Franks. According to this, Goztomuizli could meanwhile have entered into an alliance with the Danish King Horik I, the great adversary of Ludwig the German for supremacy in the north. Horik I. had already demanded recognition of his claims to rule over the Abodrites in 838. Such an alliance would have made itself felt against the Franks by refusing to pay tribute, attacking border fortifications on the Elbe and raiding into Franconian territory. To enforce his own claim to rule, Ludwig the German crossed the Elbe with a strong East Franconian army in August 844, invaded the land of the Abodrites and defeated their contingent in battle. Usually the defense strategy of the Abodrites consisted of avoiding an open field battle and retreating into their well-fortified and therefore difficult to capture castles, in order to later attack the besiegers from outside with summoned relief. It is therefore within the realm of possibility that Ludwig the German marched directly to the main castle held by Goztomuizli in the short time he had, overran it and Goztomuizli was killed in the process. After the death of their velvet ruler, the now leaderless abodritic petty kings ( reguli ) submitted and recognized the sovereignty of Ludwig. Unlike his predecessors, he did not appoint a new velvet ruler, but instead designated some of the small kings present as princes ( dux ) over several small tribes, which in this way were combined into a sub-tribe under monarchical leadership. Even if the intention was to establish a Frankish county constitution on Abodritian territory, this was only of short duration. As early as the following summer there were new armed conflicts between the Abodrites and Eastern Franconia and in 862 the Annales Fuldenses mentioned Tabomuizli as a new velvet ruler.

swell

• Friedrich Kurz (Ed.): Annales Fuldenses sive Annales regni Francorum Orientalis. (MGH SS rer. Germ. 7). Hahn, Hannover 1891. (Reprint: Hahn, Hannover 1978, ISBN 3-7752-5303-3 )

literature

• 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: Giessen Treatises on Agricultural and Economic Research in Eastern Europe, 197). Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-428-05886-0 .
• Eric J. Goldberg: Struggle for Empire. Kingship and Conflict under Louis the German. 817-876. Cornell University Press, Ithaca 2006, ISBN 0-8014-3890-X . (Review)

Remarks

1. ↑ Annales Xantenses 844
2. ↑ 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. 157.
3. ↑ 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: Giessen Treatises on Agricultural and Economic Research in Eastern Europe, 197). Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-428-05886-0 , p. 73.
4. ↑ 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: Giessen Treatises on Agricultural and Economic Research in Eastern Europe, 197). Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-428-05886-0 , p. 76.
5. ↑ Annales Mettenses priores 804: In quibus castris etiam Sclavorum qui vocantur Abodriti principes affuerunt. Quorum causis discussis et secundum arbitrium dispositis regem illis Trasiconem constituit.  ; Annales regni Francorum 816.
6. ^ Annales regni Francorum 826.
7. ↑ 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 inheritance of the velvet rulership.
8. ↑ 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: Giessen Treatises on Agricultural and Economic Research in Eastern Europe, 197). Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-428-05886-0 , p. 72.
9. ↑ Annales Fuldenses 862: Eodem quoque anno rex ducto in Obodritos exercitu ducem eorum Tabomuizlem rebellantem dicto obedire et filium suum cum aliis obsidibus dare coegit.
10. ↑ 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. 157.
11. ↑ 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: Giessen Treatises on Agricultural and Economic Research in Eastern Europe, 197). Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-428-05886-0 , p. 73.
12. ↑ 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: Giessen Treatises on Agricultural and Economic Research in Eastern Europe, 197). Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-428-05886-0 , p. 74.
13. ↑ Christian Hanewinkel: The political importance of the Elbe Slavs with regard to the changes in rule in the East Franconian Empire and in Saxony from 887–936. Political sketches of the eastern neighbors in the 9th and 10th centuries. Münster 2004, p. 104, who only makes this statement for the period after 862, but describes the development as a “creeping process”.
14. ↑ Named for this year in the Annales Bertiniani, Annales Fuldenses, Annales Hildeheimenses and Annales Xantenses.
15. ↑ Annales Fuldenses 844: Hludowico Obodritos defectionem molientes bello perdomuit occisio rege eorum Goztomuizli terramque illorum et populum sibi divinitus subiugatum per duces ordinavit.
16. ↑ Annales Bertiniani 838
17. ↑ Eric Joseph Goldberg: Struggle for Empire: Kingship and Conflict Under Louis the German, 817-876. Cornell, Ithaca 2006, ISBN 0-8014-3890-X , p. 132.
18. ↑ Eric Joseph Goldberg: Struggle for Empire: Kingship and Conflict Under Louis the German, 817-876. Cornell, Ithaca 2006, ISBN 0-8014-3890-X , pp. 122, 126 f.
19. ↑ At the beginning of October, Ludwig the German was already in Diedenhofen for a meeting with his brothers
20. ↑ The exact circumstances of Goztomuizli's death are not known.
21. ↑ 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. 157.
22. ↑ Timothy Reuter: The Annals of Fulda: Ninth-century Histories. Manchester University Press, Manchester 1992, ISBN 0-7190-3457-4 , p. 23, note 4.
23. ↑ Annales Xantenses 845: Eodem anno ivit Ludewicus de Saxonia contra Winidos ultra Albiam.

predecessor	Office	successor
Ceadrag  ?	Velvet rulers of the Abodrites before 844	Tabomuizli  ?