Sclaomir

Sclaomir († 821 ), brother of Drasco , was from 810 until his deposition in 819 the velvet ruler of the Abodrites and vassal of the Franks .

Succession

Sclaomir was installed in Verden as the velvet ruler of the Abodrites after the murder of his brother Drasco by Charlemagne . The son of Drasco, Ceadrag , had only been taken hostage by his father in 809 to the Danish king Göttrik and was therefore not available for assuming the dignity of rulers or because of his young age.

Velvet ruler

Under the rule of Sclaomir, the Abodrites initially took part in the Franks' campaign against the Wilzen in 812 . After the death of Charlemagne in 814, however, there must have been intra-Abodritic disputes among the small tribes over velvet rule. In November 816, Charles' successor, Louis the Pious , received an embassy from the Abodrites in Compiègne , who called for the establishment of Ceadrag as the hereditary successor of Drasco. As a compromise, Ludwig ordered the co-regency of Ceadrag in 817.

This limitation of his power caused the humiliated Sclaomir to break away from the Franks. He announced that he would never cross the Elbe again and appear at court, so he refused to pay homage to the emperor by making a court trip. Instead, Sclaomir immediately sent ambassadors across the Baltic Sea to the sons of Göttrik, formed an alliance with them and convinced them to send an army to northern Albingia. At the same time, the Danish fleet drove up the Elbe to the Esesfeld fortress and devastated the land on the Stör . Meanwhile, Gluomi, the commander in the Danish border district, moved with his foot troops and the abodrites by land in front of the fortress. Esesfelth was able to withstand the siege, but was soon released and evacuated by the northern Albingian Saxons . In 819, Louis the Pious sent an army from Saxony and Eastern Franconia, led by imperial envoys, across the Elbe to punish Sclaomir for his disloyalty. However, this surrendered apparently without a fight and was brought as a prisoner to Aachen by the commander of the Saxon border march and the imperial ambassador .

In Aachen, Sclaomir was brought before the emperor, who opened formal legal proceedings against him. The accusers were Abodritic nobles, partisans of Ceadrags, who accused him of treason. Ludwig then deposed Sclaomir and sentenced him to exile, while he installed Ceadrag as sole velvet ruler.

When Ceadrag began to get involved with the Danes, Ludwig sent Sclaomir back to the Abodritic Empire in 821 to take Ceadrag's place again. However, Sclaomir fell ill on the return journey and died in Saxony. Among the Saxons he received Christian baptism on his deathbed in 821 . Sclaomir was the first Abodrite prince baptized as a Christian.

swell

• Friedrich Kurz (Ed.): Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum separately in editi 6: Annales regni Francorum inde from a. 741 usque ad a. 829, qui dicuntur Annales Laurissenses maiores et Einhardi. Hanover 1895 ( Monumenta Germaniae Historica , digitized version )

literature

• Wolfgang Herrmann Fritze: Problems of the abodritic tribal and imperial constitution and its development from a tribal state to a ruling state. in: H. Ludat, (Ed.) Settlement and constitution of the Slavs between the Elbe, Saale and Oder. , W. Schmitz, Giessen 1960, pp. 141-219
• 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 Treatises on Agricultural and Economic Research in Eastern Europe. 197), Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1986

Remarks

1. ↑ Annales regni Francorum 819: Sclaomir Abodritorum rex
2. ↑ Annales Sancti Amandi 810: Carolus ... placitum habuit in Fereda: et ibi Wenedi venerunt, et dedit illis regem.
3. ↑ Chronicon Moissiacense 812: Misit Karolus imperator tres scaras ad illos Sclavos, qui dicuntur Wilti. Unus exercitus eius venit cum eis super Abodritos, et duo venerunt obviam ei ad illa marchia.
4. ↑ Annales regni Francorum 816: legatos Abodritorum ... suscepit
5. ^ Bernhard Friedmann: Investigations 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 Ost. Vol. 197). Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-428-05886-0 , p. 65
6. ↑ Annales regni Francorum 817: Sclaomir ... cum Ceadrago filio Thrasconis partiri iubebatur
7. ↑ Annales regni Francorum 819: per praefectos Saxonici limitis et legatos imperatoris ... Aquasgrani adductus est.
8. ^ Annales regni Francorum 819: exilio condempnatus est et regnum Ceadrago Thrasconis filio datum.
9. ^ Annales regni Francorum 821: baptismi sacramento

predecessor	Office	successor
Drasco	Velvet ruler of the Abodrites 810–819	Ceadrag