Naconids

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The nakonids were a elbslawisches noble family, which as well is 960 to 1129 both the hopes of the failure of Elbslawen in an effort to the Polish comparable state education combined.

dynasty

The consolidation of the Abodritic velvet rulers into a dynasty named after Nakon is more recent. Heinz Stoob was the first to establish a stemma of the Naconids in his new translation of the Slav chronicle by Helmold von Bosau . The most important sources for this dynasty are Helmold Thietmar von Merseburg , Adam von Bremen and the Dane Saxo Grammaticus .

There is uncertainty about the rank of these rulers: Were they kings, dukes or chiefs? Most historians refer to them as "velvet rulers". In the Latin text they are alternately called "regulus" (small king), "dux" (duke), "rex" (king) or "tyrannus" (ruler). In connection with Knud Lavard , i.e. a nonobotrite, there is also the Slavic name Knes .

The Nakoniden belonged to the Abodriten people , which in turn split into the lower tribes of the Wagrier with the main town Starigard / Oldenburg , the Polabians with the main towns Liubice and Ratzeburg , the Linonen with the main town Lenzen on the Elbe and the Warnower . Each of these tribes had their chief, but Nakon seems to have been the first to succeed in gaining respect from all Obodrites, as the neighboring Saxons made them more troubled the longer.

To understand the political situation of the Abodrites, it must be pointed out that they were allied with Charlemagne ( battle on the Sventana field ) when he subjugated the Saxons. The so-called Limes Saxoniae , which was agreed upon with Karl and which was not a fortified border wall, but only consisted of forests, heather areas and rivers, served as the border between the Saxons (mainly the Holsten and Stormarn ) and the Abodrites . B. the Trave . The Abodrites had a lasting tribal rivalry with the Liutizen , who lived further to the east , probably the earlier Wilzen .

At least since the Poles or Polans succeeded by Mieszko I from the Piast dynasty from around 960 to overcome the tribal egoisms that also existed there and to find a Christian political unit, it became clear to the Elbe Slavs that it was an option to go the same way. Only as a Christian tribal association did they have a chance to escape the missionary pressure of the Saxons, which always resulted in political submission. That is why the Naconids repeatedly sought the reference to the Christianizing Denmark and the rapprochement with Christianity, but were repeatedly pushed back by the associated tithe and drastic additional taxes, quite apart from the fact that the tribes with their tribal deities (e.g. Prove in Wagrien, Radegast in Mecklenburg, Swantewit with the Ranen on Rügen ) also linked their identity and therefore were not lightly prepared to sacrifice them to a religion that was perceived as alien. The vacillation between original and Christian religion expresses itself u. a. from the fact that several of these princes had both a Slavic and a Saxon name, which sometimes makes it difficult to interpret the sources correctly. Nakon's son Mstivoj could well be hiding under the Slavic prince Billung des Helmold. The drama of the conflicts over supremacy in the western Baltic region is also evident from the fact that only a few Nakonids died of natural causes.

The following information in brackets is the time of the respective reign.

Nakon

Nakon (also Nako, Nakko, Nacco) (before 955 to 965/67) rose with his brother Stoignew against Duke Hermann Billung , the margrave of the Wendenmark. Stoignew was defeated and beheaded in the Battle of the Raxa in 955 by King Otto I , who later became Emperor. Nakon's participation in the uprising is not documented. He himself probably accepted Christianity, because this battle was followed by a period of peace lasting around 30 years, during which the Slavs remained Christian (Adam). Nakon and his successors, with the exception of Heinrichs, mostly resided in Mecklenburg Castle , which only existed as a ring wall , but used Starigard, Liubice and Lunkini / Lenzen as palaces . The Mecklenburg is already referred to by Ibrahim Ibn Jacub as Nakon's castle .

Mistivoy

Whether Mistiwoj (also Mistivoj, Mistui, Mistuwoi, Taufnahme possibly Billug) (965/67 to 990/995) was Nakon's son is not clearly documented, in any case he followed him and gained control over the Abodritic tribe from the year 967 also the total rule over the tribal association consisting of several sub-tribes. Under Mistiwoj's Christian monarchical rule, a church organization in the Abodritic Empire was set up by the diocese of Oldenburg in Holstein, established around 972 . Mistiwoj maintained close relationships with the bishops and the princes of the neighboring Saxons and Danes , which he sought to secure through dynastic marriages. Although he was credited with participating in the Slav uprising and the destruction of Hamburg in 983 , Mistivoy lost large parts of his dominion to the victorious Lutizen as a result of the uprising . After a few months later in Quedlinburg, he initially sought the support of the Baier aspirant to the throne, Heinrich II , and until his death he proved to be an ally of the Roman-German King Otto III. who paid a friendship visit to Mecklenburg (Burg) in 995. The seat of the Oldenburg bishop Reinbert was moved there in 992 .

Only the more recent research on the history of the Abodrites classifies Mistivoy as "Slavic princes close to the empire" for the period after the Slavic uprising. In the depictions of the Ottonian Imperial Era, Mistivoy's role is still limited to the destruction of Hamburg and his participation in the Slav uprising of 983.

The prince Mstidrag (also Missidrog) could have been Mistivoy's brother. Mstivoj's daughter Tove married Harald Blauzahn , another daughter Hodica was abbess of the convent on the Mecklenburg.

Mistislaw

Mistislaw (also Mstislaw, Missizla) (approx. 990/995 to 1018), who had fought alongside the hapless Emperor Otto II in the battle of Crotone as a young man in 982 , received his patron King Otto III in September 995 . during his friendship visit on the Mecklenburg. Mistislaw's promotion of Christianity, his struggle against the local nobility and his alliance with the Billungers alienate him from his people, who see their ethnic, cultural and political identity threatened by the “faith of the Saxons”. When the Lutizen invaded the Abodrite Empire in February 1018, presumably in agreement with Emperor Heinrich II, in order to get rid of the threatening approaching Christianity and the emperor of an ally of the Billunger, the Abodrites rose up against their prince. Mistislaw can barely save herself from Mecklenburg with his wife and daughter-in-law to Schwerin Castle . From there he fled, because he would not give up his Christian faith, to the Billungers in Lüneburg , where he allegedly died in old age. From the point of view of Polish and German historians, the Abodrites gambled away one of their greatest chances for the permanent formation of their own state with the expulsion of the unloved ruler.

Udo

Udo (also Uto, Pribignev, Pribygnev) (1020 to 1028) is still called Pribignew in Saxo Grammaticus. He was baptized in the name of Udo - possibly Count Luder-Udo I. von Stade was his godfather. Adam and Helmold following him describe Udo as a "bad Christian" and attribute his murder in 1028 by a Saxon deserter to his cruelty. Since two co-princes are named at the same time ( Anadrag / Anatrog and Gneus / -gnew ), Udo's power cannot have been great. He is said to have been married to a Dane.

Gottschalk

Gottschalk (around 1043 to June 7, 1066 in Lenzen ) was the son of Udo and his Danish wife (the daughter-in-law with whom Mstislaw escaped to Schwerin). While attending school in Lüneburg, he found out about the murder of his father. In order to avenge him, he had crossed the Elbe, gathered a band of robbers and again devastated northern Elbe with fire and sword. The encounter with a Christian Saxon, whose portrayal of the suffering of the people is said to have touched his conscience, dissuaded him from this. Gottschalk went to King Canute the Great in Englandin 1028.

Until his return around 15 years later, Ratibor († 1043, Nakonide, another agreement Mstivojs) and other "tyranni" tried to influence: "The Slav Duke Ratibor was slain by the Danes (1043). He was a Christian and a very powerful lord among the barbarians. He had eight sons, Slavic princes, who were all slain by the Danes when they tried to avenge their father ”(Adam).

In 1043 Gottschalk returned with Sigrid to Elbe Slavia and rechristianized his sphere of influence with such zeal "that he converted the third part of those who had fallen back into paganism under his grandfather Mstivoj (!)" (Helmold). Gottschalk leaned heavily on Archbishop Adalbert of Bremen and Hamburg , who was striving for a Nordic patriarchy into which an independent Elbe Slavia / Northern Albingia / Abodritia would have fitted well. When Adalbert was ousted, Blusso, Gottschalk's brother-in-law, probably started an uprising. Gottschalk was slain in Lenzen Castle , as was Blusso, and Kruto , a non-Nazi son of Grin, came to power (1066-1093). Kruto is described by the sources as a ruthless pagan. "The daughter of the Danish king (Sigrid) was discovered with her wives in the Abodritenfest Mecklenburg and chased away naked" (Adam). Heinrich, Gottschalk's son from Sigrid, escaped to Denmark.

Budivoj

Budivoj (also Butue, Buthue) (1066 to 1071) was Gottschalk's older son of an unknown woman. His rule was marked by disputes with the tribal prince Kruto , who resided on the Oldenburg in Wagrien , in which Budivoj lost his sovereignty and life when he was lured into a trap near Plune and slain. According to the chronicler Helmold von Bosau , Budivoj was a weak prince who, because of his Christian faith and his friendship with the Saxon Billungers , was viewed by his tribe as a traitor to freedom. The Pribislaw (also Pribizlaus) mentioned by Helmold was probably his son; He was praised by Helmold for his hospitality and was baptized.

Heinrich

Heinrich von Alt-Lübeck was the only Nakonid ruler who was called King (rex) by contemporaries. During the rebellion against his father Gottschalk, he fled to Denmark with his Danish mother Sigrid, a sister or daughter of the Danish king Sven Estridsson . After his return from exile in Denmark , Heinrich had the Abodritic velvet ruler Kruto, who lived in Wagrien , murdered in 1090 and, with Saxon support in the battle of Schmilau in 1093, also gained control of the Polabians and Abodrites. In the following period he extended his rule to the Oder and Havel and penetrated to Rügen in 1123/1124. The minting of his own coins, the elevation of Alt-Lübeck to his residence and the construction of a stone church are expressions of his supraregional claim to rule. When Heinrich, against the resistance of the anti-Christian and anti-Saxon opposition, began to proselytize the people who were firmly rooted in their pagan beliefs, he was murdered in 1127.

The Abodritic Empire reached its climax under Heinrich. In the more than 30 years of his rule, Heinrich succeeded in building a state of the Slavs between the expanding kingdoms of the Danes and the Germans. Inwardly, however, he was unable to permanently overcome the heterogeneous conditions, as is clear from the rapid collapse of the empire after his death.

Heinrich's sons

Heinrich had four sons. Waldemar († 1123) and Mstivoj († 1127) died before their father. A civil war broke out between Knut and the first-born Sventipolk, during which Sventipolk besieged Knut with the help of the Holsten in Plön Castle. They agreed on a division of the country, but Knut was slain in Lütjenburg as early as 1128 . Sventipolk, now sole ruler in Wagrien , undertook a campaign against the Abodrites with Count Adolf von Schauenburg and the tribes of the Holsten and Stormaren. They conquered Werle Castle and after five weeks of siege they defeated the main castle of the Kessiner . The Sventipolk, victorious with the Saxons, allowed Bishop Vizelin to re-mission in Liubice, but after an attack by the Ranen and the destruction of the city, the priests Ludolf and Volkward, sent by Vizelin, fled to Faldera . In the same year Sventipolk was murdered on behalf of the rich Holsten Daso, his son Swineke was killed in 1129 near the Ertheneburg on the Elbe.

With Swineke, the last chance the Abodrites had to preserve their political independence was buried. "Henry's line died out in the rule over the Slavs with the death of his sons and grandchildren." (Helmold I, 48).

Post-history

Knud Lavard , heir to the throne of Denmark, bought in 1128 the enfeoffment with the Abodritic kingdom from King Lothar III. , but was murdered by his cousin Magnus in 1131.

In 1132 Niklot , a non-Nakonide, took over power in the eastern area of ​​influence, while with Budivoj's son Pribislaw a Nakonide ruled in Wagria until 1138/39 . Niklot died in the war against Saxony and Danes in 1160. His son Pribislaw received Mecklenburg as a fief from Heinrich the Lion and became the progenitor of the House of Mecklenburg (until 1918).

Possible naconids

She was of Obodritic origin. A connection on such a prominent level makes the possibility of an origin from the Naconids appear conceivable.

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The by Bernhard Schmeidler : Hamburg-Bremen and Northeast Europe from the 9th to the 11th century: Critical Studies on the Hamburg church history of Adam of Bremen, Hamburger records and for Nordic and wendischen history. Dietrich, Leipzig 1918, pp. 326, 330 stemming the gender is missing as naconids.
  2. ↑ In addition: Lutz Mohr : The blood bath and criminal court on the Raxa. Obotriten and Lutizen fought on the Recknitz with the armed forces of King Otto I for independence or submission . In: STIER and GREIF. Sheets on the cultural and regional history in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, vol. 21, Schwerin 2011, pp. 59–68
  3. ↑ Snorri stubbornness Lasson: Ólafs helgi saga