Wends (German: Wenden) is the English name for West Slavs that had settled in the area between the Oder River on the east and the Elbe and Saale rivers on the west by the 5th century CE, in what is now eastern Germany. ^[1] It is believed that Germanic peoples originally adopted the ethnonym from the ancient Northern Veneti and later transferred it to their easterly neighbours, the Slavs (see Relation between Veneti and Slavs for further details).

In the present day, the term Wends specifically refers to the Sorbs living in modern Germany.^[2] The name is derived from the German term Wenden, used for various non-Germanic tribes (see also Germanic placenames).

History

Early sources

In the third book of his Geographia, Ptolemy mentions the Ouenedai among other dwellers on the Baltic shore in the middle of the 2nd century CE. Some early scholars suggested the Ouenedai are synonymous with the Wends,^[3] however, based on linguistic facts, modern academic views now argue that the Ouenedai were ethnolinguistically different from Slavs and hence cannot be equated with Wends.^[4]

Rise (500-1000 AD)

As a part of the Slavic migrations in the first millennium, splitting the just evolved Slav ethnicity into Southern, Eastern and Western groups, some West Slavs moved into the areas between the Elbe and Oder Rivers from east to west and from south to north. There, they assimilated the remaining Germanic population that had not left the area in the Migration period. Their German neighbors adapted the term they had been using for peoples east of the Elbe River before to the Slavs, calling them Wends as they called the Venedi before and probably the Vandals also.

While the Wends were arriving in so-called Germanica Slavica as large homogeneous groups, they soon divided into a variety of small tribes, with large strips of woodland separating one tribal settlement area from another. Their tribal names were derived from local place names, sometimes adopting the Germanic tradition (e.g. Heveller from Havel, Rujanes from Rugians). Settlements were secured by round burghs made of wood and clay, where either people could retreat in case of a raid from the neighboring tribe or used as military strongholds or outposts.

Some tribes unified to larger, duchy-like units. E.g., the Obotrites evolved from the unification of the Holstein and Western Mecklenburg tribes led by mighty dukes known for their raids into German Saxony. The Pomeranians, the only Wends east of the Oder River (in contrast, the Poles south of the Warthe River are not called Wends), emerged from the tribes north of the Warthe River and around the mouth of the Oder River, and were led by a duke, too. The Liutizians were an alliance of tribes living between Obotrites and Pomeranians. They did not unify under a duke, but remained independent and had their leaders meet and decide in the temple of Rethra.

The Wends of Pomerania are named by Saxo Grammaticus as having taken part in the Battle of Bråvalla on the side of the Danes.^[5]

In 983, many Wend tribes participated in a great uprising against the Holy Roman Empire, which before had established Christian missions, German colonies and German administrative institutions (Marken such as Nordmark and Billungermark) in pagan Wendish territories. The uprising was successful and the Wends delayed Germanisation for about two centuries.

Decline (1000-1200 AD)

Main article: Wendish Crusade

After that victory, Wends were under increasing pressure from Germans, Danes and Poles. The Polish invaded Pomerania several times. The Danish often raided the Baltic shores (and, in turn, were often raided by the Wends). The Holy Roman Empire and its margraves tried to restore their marches.

In 1068/69, a German expedition took and destroyed Rethra, one of the major pagan Wend temples. The Wendish religious centre shifted to Arkona thereafter. In 1124 and 1128, the Pomeranians and some Liutizians were baptised. In 1147, the Wend crusade took place.

In 1168 during the Northern Crusades, Denmark mounted a crusade lead by Bishop Absalon and King Valdemar the Great against the Wends of Rugia in order to convert them to Christianity. They captured and destroyed Arkona, the Wendish temple fortress, and tore down the statue of the Wendish god, Svantevit. With the capitulation of the Rugian Wends, the last independent pagan Wendish were defeated by the surrounding Christian feudal powers.

From 12th to 14th century, German colonists were called in the Wend lands and settled there in large numbers, changing the area from Slav to German. The settlers were called in by local dukes and monasteries to repopulate land devastated in the wars, to cultivate the large woodlands and heavy soils that have not been settled before, and to found cities as part of the "Ostsiedlung" (German eastward expansion).

The German population assimilated most of the Wends, making them disappear as an ethnic minority except for parts of the Kashubs and Sorbs. Yet, many place names and some family names in eastern Germany still are of Wendish origin today. Also, the Dukes of Mecklenburg, of Rügen and of Pomerania had Wendish ancestors.

Between 1540 and 1973, the kings of Sweden were officially called king of the Swedes, the Geats and the Wends (in latin translation king of Suiones, Goths and Vandals) (Sw. Svears, Götes och Wendes Konung). The current monarch, Carl XVI Gustaf would be able to use the same title, but chose his royal title to be simply King of Sweden (Sveriges Konung), thereby changing an age-old tradition.

Since the Middle Age, the kings of Denmark and Denmark–Norway carried the titles King of the Wends and Goths. The use of both titles was discontinued in 1972.

Other uses

The term Wends was also used in history in the following meanings:

1. The Franks referred to most Slavs living between the Oder and Elbe rivers as either Wends or Sorbs, while in Slavic literature these people are called Polabian Slavs.
2. In general, a German name for West Slavic people formerly inhabiting territories of pre-World War II Pomerania and historical eastern Germany. The term Wends was used in connection to all Slavs west of Poland and north of Bohemia — Polabians, Pomeranians and Sorbs. It was also used to denote the Slovaks in German texts before ca. 1400.
3. German and English name for Sorbs (White Serbs), a Slavic people who moved into Central Europe during the great migration, most likely in response to pressure by the westward movement of warlike peoples such as the Huns and Avars. Some of their descendants, also called Wends or Lusatian Sorbs (Łužyski Serby), still live in Lusatia today, where the Sorbian language is maintained in schools. Many Wends were driven out of the Kingdom of Prussia during the Revolutions of 1848. Many Lusatian Wends immigrated to countries that welcomed them as a source of cheap labor, including the United States and Australia. In the United States, the majority of Wends settled in Texas, where they became some of the earliest members of the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran church. A notable settlement of Wends in Texas is the town of Serbin, in Lee County, where a church, St. Paul's Lutheran Church, stands as a typical example of Wendish architecture. In St. Paul's, the pulpit is located in the balcony of the church.
4. A Finnish historian, Matti Klinge, has speculated that the words Wends or Vandals used in Scandinavian sources occasionally meant all peoples of the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea from Pomerania to Finland, including some Finnic peoples. The existence of these supposed Finnic Wends is far from clear. In the 13th century there was indeed a people called Wends or Vends living as far as northern Latvia around the city of Wenden and it is not known if they were indeed Slavs as their name suggests. Some researchers think they were related to Finnic-speaking Votians.

References

See also

• Pomerania
• Kashubians
• Wendland
• Venedes
• Milceni

External links

• Sorbian Cultural Information
• Sorbian internet portal
• Wends — Handbook of Texas
• Texas Wends
• The Painted Churches of Texas
• Australian Wends