Madmen

Tribal area of ​​the Tollensians ( Tholenz ) around the year 1000

The Tollensanen or Tollensians (Latin Tollensani ) were a Slavic tribe from the 10th to the 12th centuries. They settled northwest of the Tollensesees and Tollensefrivers in what is now Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania . They belonged to the Lutizen tribal association .

history

The Tollensanen were mentioned for the first time in 955 as Tolonsensis in the entry in the St. Gallen Annals that is contemporary for that year . Adam von Bremen reported about them around 1070 . Also Helmold of Bosau called them in his Slavic Chronicle .

He reported that there were repeated clashes between the Tollens, Redari , Kessin and Zirzipans around 1056/57. It was about the leadership of the Lutizenbund, because the Tollensians and Redarians claimed this because the tribal shrine Rethra was in their area.

The Tollensians and Redarians succumbed to the dispute at least three times, so they sought help from the Obotrite prince Gottschalk der Wende and the Saxon Duke Bernhard . In 1114 they sent their armies to reinforce and subjugated the Kessiner and Zirzipans. The peace was negotiated for 15,000 marks, but many were slain and taken into captivity. Helmold mentions negatively that the Saxons were only interested in money and not in the Christianization of the still pagan Slavs.

Ramparts

Tollensian castle walls were possibly

• Castle wall in Kastorfer See
• Castle wall Kastorf
• Möllenhagen castle wall
• Wildberg castle wall
• Settlement in Mölln

literature

• Fred Ruchhöft: From the Slavic tribal area to the German bailiwick. The development of the territories in Ostholstein, Lauenburg, Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania in the Middle Ages. (= Archeology and history in the Baltic Sea region. Vol. 4). Leidorf, Rahden (Westphalia) 2008, ISBN 978-3-89646-464-4 , pp. 106-107.

Remarks

1. ↑ Ann. Sangall. May. a. 955: Eodem anno Otto rex et filius eius Liutolf in festi vitate sancti Galli pugnaverunt cum Abatarenis, et Vulcis, et Zcirizspanis, et Tolonsenis, et victoriam in eis sumpsit, occiso duce illorum nomine Ztoignavo, et fecit illos tributarios.