Slavic mission
As Slavs mission is proselytizing and spreading the Christian faith ( gospel ) from 7th to 13th century when the Slavs called.
In the early Middle Ages the goal of the mission was not just a church process. There has always been a close connection between conversion and the consolidation of rule. The power of the princes was based essentially on divine right , and the church received its freedom of action through the support of the princes. Through various migration movements of the Slavs from the 5th to the 7th century, ongoing Christianization processes were replaced by pagan customs.
Latin or Byzantine Church
The missions went hand in hand with the divergence of the Church of Rome and that of Constantinople, which led to the Oriental Schism of 1054, i.e. to the Latin Church and the Orthodox Church .
As a result, the two directions clearly separated from each other in the Slavic mission:
- The Western Latin Church prevailed in East Germany, Poland, the Baltic States, Bohemia and Moravia, Carinthia, Slovenia, Croatia and Dalmatia
- The Greek Orthodox Christianity was in Bulgaria , Serbia , Bosnia and Russia say
Slavic mission in Central Europe
Missions based in Bavaria and Franconia
Around 630 Amand advanced from Aquitaine via Bavaria to the mission in the eastern Slavic country. The actual Bavarian mission only began with the Bavarian dukes Theodo I and Theodo II (before 666 to around 717) and the mission bishops Korbinian von Freising (around 720), Emmeram von Regensburg and Erhard von Regensburg (around 680 to around 717) and Rupert of Salzburg , the Apostle of Bavaria . At the end of the 7th century Rupert sailed down the Danube to Lauriacum (today Enns , district Lorch ) and did missionary work in the border area of the Avars , where early Christian settlements were already present. An ecclesiastical and monastic structure came into being in Bavaria.
Mission bishop Bonifatius was able to regulate the church conditions in Bavaria and Thuringia in the papal mandate 738/739 . In doing so, he created the conditions for a cross-border Slavic mission.
Tassilo III. had 769 or 777, the monastery San Candido in Pusteria in South Tyrol and the monastic community of Kremsmünster reasons for the mission. They played a large part in the missionary work in Carantania .
In the Franconian Empire
In the Franconian Empire after the Saxon Wars (772-804) around 790 to 810, Charlemagne had pagan Slavic tribes proselytized or made them dependent on feudal or tributary duties to secure the eastern border of his empire . The Würzburg bishops since Berowelf (* before 769; † 794) evangelized in the Slavic areas of the Main - and Regnitz - Wends and therefore had 14 so-called Slavic churches built (mostly in the Bamberg district ).
In 1007 parts of the diocese of Würzburg and the diocese of Eichstätt became the diocese of Bamberg , which was initially subordinate to Mainz. It became important during the Christianization of the Slavs living between the Main and Regnitz .
These developments, as in Franconia and with the South Slav Avars after Charles' reign, only had a lasting success in part.
In Bohemia and Moravia
- Moravia
In 866 Ermenrich von Ellwangen was appointed Bishop of Passau . During his tenure, the Diocese of Passau , which bordered directly on the Great Moravian Empire, led to great missionary efforts, especially in Moravia .
The Slav apostles Method of Saloniki and Kyrill of Saloniki (also called Constantine) worked in Moravia and Bohemia . In 870 Ermenrich participated in the action of the Bavarian episcopate against the Moravian Archbishop Method, whereupon he was suspended in 873 by Pope John VIII . After the suppression of the Slav mission by Cyril and Method, Moravia and its diocese of Olomouc accepted the Roman liturgy after Method's death .
- Bohemia
In the 9th century, Christianization began in Bohemia , starting with Regensburg and Passau. From the Fulda monastery it was reported in 845 that 14 Bohemian tribal leaders submitted to the East Franconian King Ludwig the German . They were baptized with their entourage.
With the Přemyslid Duke Wenceslaus I, who paid tribute to King Henry I in 929 , the Byzantine liturgy could not prevail and the Latin liturgy was introduced. The ties to the Bavarian Church loosened. The diocese of Prague from 973 was placed under the Mainz Metropolitan Association in 976 .
The Premonstratensians spread in 12/13. Century in Bohemia and Moravia.
In Slovenia and Carinthia
The missionary work of the Slovenes was carried out from Passau and Salzburg in the second half of the 8th century .
In Karantanien , a Slavic principality with a center in what is now Styria and Carinthia , Christian missionary work took place in the 8th century. The area now came under Bavarian suzerainty. Even Abraham of Freising (before 950-993 / 4) appeared in southern Carinthia in the Slav mission. The Freising Monuments , three manuscripts in the Slovene language , were created between 972 and 1039 as part of the missionary work .
Slavic mission in the northeast
The mission in the northeast served the Christianization and the expansion of the East Franconian area of rule in the newly formed border marks . Due to the stubborn resistance of the Elbe Slavs , this missionary work was a lengthy process.
First mission
In 967/968, at the Synod of Ravenna , Emperor Otto I obtained the approval of Pope John XIII. for the establishment of the Archdiocese of Magdeburg , an important starting point for the mission in the Brandenburg area .
The Diocese of Oldenburg in Holstein was founded by the Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen Adaldag on behalf of Emperor Otto I in 972 for the purpose of missioning the Slavs and colonizing the Wendish areas. The diocese tried to advance the mission. The residents had to pay high tributes and resisted. The Slav uprising of 983 largely destroyed what had been achieved by then. The Liutizen and Abodriten destroyed the bishopric in Brandenburg and Havelberg . The campaigns against the insurgents from 985 onwards proved ineffective. King Heinrich II even concluded an alliance with the Liutizen in 1003. The pagan rule remained here until the 12th century and the German eastern settlement stagnated.
Archbishop Adalbert von Bremen created the Diocese of Ratzeburg and the Diocese of Mecklenburg (later the Diocese of Schwerin ) from the Diocese of Oldenburg / Holstein (later moved to Lübeck) around 1060 . As early as 1066 the new dioceses fell victim to the bloody revolt of the Wends, which stoned Abbot Ansverus and his followers to death in 1066. This initially failed the Slavic mission of the Oldenburg diocese in what is now Schleswig-Holstein.
New mission assignment
In 1126 the Slavic mission was resumed from Bremen . Adalbero von Bremen , Archbishop of Bremen and Hamburg from 1123 to 1148 , was more successful with the Heidenmission in the northeast. Castle and monastery Segeberg were therefore in 1134 by Emperor Lothar III. handed over to the archbishopric. In the course of the second colonization, the old Wendish missionary diocese of Oldenburg was formally restored.
After the priest Vizelin was not commissioned by the Archbishop of Magdeburg, Norbert von Xanten, with the Slav mission, he turned in 1126 to the Archbishop of Bremen, Adalbero, who sent him on a new mission to the West Slavic Wagriern . The Obotrite tribe lived between the Trave and Kiel Fjord . Due to the military conquest of 1138/39, the territories of the Obodritic sub-tribes of the Wagrier and Polabians came under German rule. Duke Heinrich the Lion gave the fiefdom of Holstein and Stormarn to Count Adolf II of Holstein in 1142 . Vicelin suffered a setback during the Wenden Crusade in 1147 . He was installed as the new Oldenburg bishop by the Archbishopric of Hamburg in 1149. Vizelin was a typical representative of not only Christian but also secular colonization.
In 1154, Gerold von Oldenburg succeeded Vizelin as Bishop of Oldenburg in Holstein. He intensified the slavish Slavic mission and initiated the construction of churches in Ostholstein. In 1160/1163 the diocese was relocated to Lübeck by Heinrich the Lion on Gerold's initiative .
Hermann von Verden , Bishop of Verden from 1149 , had the ambition to usurp the Slavic Mission in the northeast. For this reason he even forged founding documents which gave the East Elbe areas to the Diocese of Verden. After the founding of the Ratzeburg diocese , Hermann renounced these areas.
Wende Crusade
Since 1108 the mission of the pagan Elbe Slavs between Elbe, Trave and Oder was called to the Wendenkreuzzug u. a. by Bernhard von Clairvaux . Secular princes such as Duke Heinrich the Lion , Duke Albrecht the Bear , Duke Conrad I of Zähringen , Count Palatine Hermann von Stahleck , Count Palatine Friedrich II of Saxony , Margrave Conrad I of Meissen , Hartwig Hartwig I of Stade , Count Otto von Ammensleben and Count Adolf II von Holstein were the actual initiators of the crusade. Spiritual participants were u. a. the archbishops Adalbero, Friedrich I of Magdeburg and the bishops Wigger from the Diocese of Brandenburg , Rudolf I from the Diocese of Halberstadt , Anselm von Havelberg , Reinhard from the Diocese of Merseburg , Werner von Munster , Dietmar II. from the Diocese of Verden and Heinrich von Olmütz . The Slavic opponents, in the north under the leadership of the Mecklenburg Obodrite prince Niklot and in the eastern area of the Liutizen and Pomeranen , were inferior to the two crusade armies. They withdrew to the fortresses , forests and swamps and now referred to the missionary work that had already been carried out by Otto von Bamberg - apostle of the Pomorans - and in 1148 in the eastern area under the Pomeran prince Ratibor I , a creed and a pledge to be a Christian Believe. A diplomatic peace was reached.
The crusade, with its predominantly colonizing endeavors, initially had only moderate success, but Christianization quickly caught on, even if the pagan customs persisted for a long time. With the construction of the Havelberg Cathedral , which was consecrated in 1170, Christianity strengthened in the diocese of Havelberg, which was founded in 948 . The further settlement of colonists in the acquired areas secured the religious community. The Cistercians then had greater importance in the 13th century through their colonization activities northeast of the Elbe. The Premonstratensians also proselytized here as well as in Bohemia and Moravia.
The royal family of Obodrites remained in Mecklenburg . The Mecklenburg dynasty ruled until 1918 (!). Prince Pribislaw became Christian around 1167. Many Westphalians settled in Mecklenburg, as many place names prove, but western Lower Saxony, Frisians and Holsteiners also came to the neighboring country. The principality was able to break away from the fiefdom of the tribal duchy of Saxony in the 13th century and in 1348 was raised to a direct imperial duchy in the Holy Roman Empire .
In Poland, Pomerania and the Baltic States
- Poland
In Poland , in the tribal area of the very self-confident Polans , Christianization took place through the prince and from 963 Duke Mieszko I. He and his entire people were baptized in 966, due to his marriage to the Christian daughter of the Bohemian Duke Boleslav I.
- Pomerania
In 1059 Gunther von Bamberg convened a synod which was supposed to promote the further mission of the Slavs. But he died in 1065. Otto von Bamberg , the apostle of the Pomerania , succeeded in Christianizing the Pomerania on behalf of the Duke of Poland Bolesław III. Crooked mouth . During his two mission trips of 1124/25 and 1128, many Pomeranians were baptized and the temples of the Slavic gods destroyed.
- Prussia
The Teutonic Order of 1198, which initially primarily operated nursing and poor relief, turned to conquering and proselytizing the Baltic region at the instigation of Grand Master Hermann von Salza . In 1226, the Polish Duke Konrad I called the Teutonic Order to help in his fight against the Prussians for the Kulmerland . In 1226 the Pope and Emperor assured the order that after the subjugation and proselytizing of the Prussians, the conquered land would fall to the order. The country was conquered from 1231 to 1234.
With the submission and Christianization, a German settlement followed. The Teutonic Order state later included the old Prussia, later West and East Prussia , as well as the independent mastership of Livonia , large parts of today's Estonia and Latvia , after the land of the Brothers of the Sword came to the Teutonic Order in 1237.
- Baltic states
The Bremen canon Albert von Buxthoeven , 1199 Bishop of Livonia in the diocese of Riga , was one of the most important missionary bishops of the 13th century. The Brothers of the Sword Order was commissioned in 1202 by Theodoric of Estonia on the initiative of Bishop Albert I of Riga to proselytize Livonia. The Order of the Brothers of the Swords quickly conquered and Christianized Livonia and Estonia. The order lost its influence in 1236 after the battle of Schaulen.
Mission in Southeast Europe
Photios I the Great was one of the initiators of the Byzantine Mission in Eastern Europe from the 8th to the 11th centuries. On the basis of his advice to the Byzantine Emperor Michael III. In 863 or 864, Cyril of Salonica and his younger brother Method von Saloniki began the Slavic mission in Greater Moravia , which their Prince Rastislav had asked for.
The Church Slavonic (Old Slavonic) originated in the Slavic mission by Cyril and Methodius, and was until modern times, the most important Slavic literary language. Constantine (Kyrill) created the 40-letter Glagolithic alphabet (Glagoliza), the oldest Slavic script , around 863 .
In Croatia and Dalmatia
The Christianization of the Croatians in the Middle Ages took place as early as the 7th century. In 925 Pope John X confirmed in a letter to their King Tomislav that the Dalmatian Slavs were their "specialissimi filii" due to their long membership in the Holy Roman Church.
The Gospel was preached from Aquileia in the Alpine region, influenced by the long-established Christians of the coastal cities of Dalmatia .
The Slav apostles Cyril and Method also made a contribution to the Christianization of the Croats.
In Serbia, Bulgaria and Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Serbia
The Christianization of the Serbs took place from Byzantium. This is why the Byzantine liturgy prevailed here. The conversion of the Serbs to Christianity is said to have taken place under Prince Mutimir (around 850-891).
- Bulgaria
The Bulgarians were also Christianized from Byzantium. According to legend, Kubrat , Khan of the Proto-Bulgarians in the 7th century , was the first ruler to be baptized in Constantinople, and later his people too.
Both the Catholic and the Orthodox Churches tried to bring Khan Boris I of Bulgaria under their ecclesiastical and political sovereignty. In order not to succumb to Byzantine dominance, he sought to work more closely with King Ludwig the German from 852 onwards . Frankish missionaries were supposed to contain the Greek influence. A military action of 863/864 by the Byzantine Emperor Michael III. forced him to terminate the alliance. Around 865 the prince was baptized by Byzantine missionaries. Boris tried again to make a pact with the East Franconian Empire. Ermenrich von Ellwangen , Bishop of Passau from 866 , unsuccessfully initiated missionary work by the Roman Church in Bulgaria in 867. Boris failed because of the military threat from Emperor Michael. The Patriarchs of Constantinople remained responsible for Bulgaria. Boris then took in the students of Method who were fleeing from Moravia in 886 and ensured that an independent Bulgarian path could be taken with the Slavic liturgical language of Method and an independent Bulgarian Orthodox Church was established in 919/927 .
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
The Bosnians and Herzegovinians were in the sphere of influence of different rulers. From the 7th century onwards, Bosnia was mostly under Byzantine rule , combined with a Christianization of Constantinople . The western parts, however, were in the Croatian sphere of influence. Later it was also part of the Bulgarian and Serbian empires as well as part of Hungary. For a while, all of Bosnia and Herzegovina belonged to the Croatian Kingdom. A Bosnian church , independent of Catholicism and Orthodoxy, existed in the 13th to 15th centuries. The Orthodox character was able to prevail in one part of the country, while the Roman Catholic Church was able to prevail in the other part.
Today the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church exist here
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Mission in Eastern Europe
Grand Duchess Olga of Kiev (after 900–969), baptized in Constantinople in 957 , appointed a bishop in 959 and promoted the Christianization of the Kievan Rus .
When Grand Duke Vladimir I , later called Vladimir the Holy , ruler of the Kievan Rus , was baptized in 988 and had his subjects baptized, the Russian Orthodox Church was born. Vladimir was baptized mainly in order to get the support of the Eastern Roman Emperor Basil II against the common enemy, the Bulgarians.
From 11/12 In the 19th century, the patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church was established in the wake of the Slavic mission .
swell
- Helmold von Bosau : Chronica Slavorum . Translated from Latin by JM Laurent and W. Wattenbach. Phaidon, Kettwig 1990.
- Ludolf Müller (Ed.): The Nestor Chronicle . Fink, Munich 2001. (digitized version)
literature
- Eberhard Demm : Reform monasticism and Slavic mission in the 12th century. Investigations in the sociology of values and the history of ideas on the lives of Bishop Otto of Bamberg. In: Historical Studies. Vol. 419; Lübeck / Hamburg 1970.
- Dietrich kurz : Slavic paganism and Christian church between the Elbe and Oder from the 10th to the 12th century . In: Saherwala, Geraldine: Slavs and Germans between the Elbe and the Oder. 1000 years ago. The Slav uprising of 983 . Berlin 1983, pp. 48-68.
- Herbert Ludat (Ed.): An Elbe and Oder around the year 1000. Sketches on the politics of the Ottonian empire and the Slavic powers in Central Europe . Cologne 1971.
- Bernhard Friedmann: Studies on the history of the abodritic principality up to the end of the 10th century . In: Eastern European Studies in the State of Hesse. Row 1, Berlin 1986.
- August Schleicher : The form theory of the Church Slavonic language explained and presented comparatively . Bonn 1852. (Reprint: H. Buske Verlag, Hamburg 1998, ISBN 3-87118-540-X )
- Lutz E. von Padberg : Christianization in the Middle Ages . WBG, Darmstadt 2006.
- Lutz E. von Padberg: Bonifatius - missionary and reformer . CH Beck, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-406-48019-5 .
- Lutz E. von Padberg: The staging of religious confrontations. Theory and Practice of Missionary Sermon in the Early Middle Ages . Hiersemann, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-7772-0324-6 .
- Albert Brackmann : The beginnings of the Slav mission and the renovatio imperii of the year 800 . In: Meeting reports of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. Berlin 1931.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Katičić, Literarum Studia, Zagreb 1998, 402–403