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Nakonids
The Nakonids were the leading noble family of the Slavic peoples of the Elbe River from ca. 960 until 1129. They were themselves of Obotrite origin and engineered the formation of a Slavic principality in the region. They became extinct in the male line in the early 12th century. Their capital was Mecklenburg Castle. The Nakonids derive their name – a modern invention – from the earliest attestable ruler of the dynasty, Nako, who fought the expansionist tendencies of the German kingdom in the mid and late 10th century before being defeated and converted to Christianity. The Nakonid leaders alternated between being lapsed Christians (''mali christiani'') and ardent missionaries of the Slavs who were the prime movers of the Germanisation and Christianisation of the Polabian Slavs. The German historian Heinz Stoob, in his retranslation of the chronicle of Helmold, derived the first genealogy of the Nakonids. Besides Helmold, Adam of Bremen, Thietmar of Merseburg, and Sax ...
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Nako (Obotrite Leader)
Nako, Nakon, Nakko, or Nacco (flourished 954 – c. 966) was an Obotrite leader who, along with his brother Stoigniew, led the forces of a Slavic confederacy in a revolt against the Germans, especially Herman Billung, Duke of Saxony. Małecki, Jan Marian. A history of Kraków for everyone. pg. 18 In 955 Nako and Stoignew were defeated at the Battle of Recknitz by Otto I of Germany. While Stoignew was beheaded, Nako probably accepted Christianity, because there followed roughly thirty years of peace, during which, according to Adam of Bremen, the Slavs were Christian. Nako and his successors, the Nakonids, resided in a "ringwall" of fortresses: Mecklenburg, Starigard, Liubice, and Lenzen (Lunkini). When the Sephardic geographer Abraham ben Jacob travelled through the territory, he referred to Mecklenburg, Nako's principal palace, as "Nako's castle." He was succeeded by his sons Mstivoj Mstivoj (c. 925 – 995) was an Obodrite prince (''princeps Winulorum'') from 965 or 96 ...
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Nobility
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteristics associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles or simply formal functions (e.g., precedence), and vary by country and by era. Membership in the nobility, including rights and responsibilities, is typically hereditary and patrilineal. Membership in the nobility has historically been granted by a monarch or government, and acquisition of sufficient power, wealth, ownerships, or royal favour has occasionally enabled commoners to ascend into the nobility. There are often a variety of ranks within the noble class. Legal recognition of nobility has been much more common in monarchies, but nobility also existed in such regimes as the Dutch Republic (1581–1795), the Republic ...
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Kniaz
A , also , ''knjaz'' or (), is a historical Slavic title, used both as a royal and noble title in different times. It is usually translated into English as 'prince', 'king' or 'duke', depending on specific historical context and the potentially known Latin equivalents at the time; the word was originally derived from the common Germanic ('king'). Feminine forms of the word may be divided into two groups: * "Princess", be it princess consort (wife of a reigning prince), princess regnant (reigning princess ''suo jure''), or princess regent (reigning on behalf of an underage prince, usually her son after her husband's death) ** Belarusian: ''kniahinia'' (княгіня) ** Bulgarian and Russian: () ** Slovene, Serbo-Croatian, and Macedonian: (in Serbian and Macedonian Cyrillic: ) ** Ukrainian: (княгиня) * "Daughter of the prince" ** Belarusian: ''kniazioŭna'' (князёўна) ** Russian: (; the son of a ''knyaz'' is ' ( in its old form). ** Ukrainia ...
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Battle Of The Sventanafeld
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force commitment. An engagement with only limited commitment between the forces and without decisive results is sometimes called a skirmish. The word "battle" can also be used infrequently to refer to an entire operational campaign, although this usage greatly diverges from its conventional or customary meaning. Generally, the word "battle" is used for such campaigns if referring to a protracted combat encounter in which either one or both of the combatants had the same methods, resources, and strategic objectives throughout the encounter. Some prominent examples of this would be the Battle of the Atlantic, Battle of Britain, and the Battle of France, all in World War II. Wars and military campaigns are guided by military strategy, whereas batt ...
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Charlemagne
Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian Empire from 800, holding these titles until his death in 814. He united most of Western Europe, Western and Central Europe, and was the first recognised emperor to rule from the west after the fall of the Western Roman Empire approximately three centuries earlier. Charlemagne's reign was marked by political and social changes that had lasting influence on Europe throughout the Middle Ages. A member of the Frankish Carolingian dynasty, Charlemagne was the eldest son of Pepin the Short and Bertrada of Laon. With his brother, Carloman I, he became king of the Franks in 768 following Pepin's death and became the sole ruler three years later. Charlemagne continued his father's policy of protecting the papacy and became its chief defender, remo ...
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Franks
file:Frankish arms.JPG, Aristocratic Frankish burial items from the Merovingian dynasty The Franks ( or ; ; ) were originally a group of Germanic peoples who lived near the Rhine river, Rhine-river military border of Germania Inferior, which was the most northerly province of the Roman Empire in continental Europe. These Frankish tribes lived for centuries under varying degrees of Roman hegemony and influence, but after the collapse of Roman institutions in western Europe they took control of a large empire including areas which had been ruled by Rome, and what it meant to be a Frank began to evolve. Once they were deeply established in Gaul, the Franks became a multilingual, Catholic Christian people, who subsequently came to rule over several other post-Roman kingdoms both inside and outside the old empire. In a broader sense much of the population of western Europe could eventually described as Franks in some contexts. The term "Frank" itself first appeared in the third cent ...
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Saxons
The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like them, speakers of West Germanic dialects, including the inland Franks and Thuringians to the south, and the coastal Frisians and Angles to the north who were among the peoples who were originally referred to as "Saxons" in the context of early raiding and settlements in Roman Britain and Gaul. To their east were Obotrites and other Slavic-speaking peoples. The political history of these continental Saxons is unclear until the 8th century and the conflict between their semi-legendary hero Widukind and the Frankish emperor Charlemagne. They do not appear to have been politically united until the generations leading up to that conflict, and before then they were reportedly ruled by regional "satraps". Previous Frankish rulers of Austrasia ...
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Limes Saxoniae
The (Latin for "Limit of Saxony"), also known as the Limes Saxonicus or Sachsenwall ("Saxon Dyke"), was an unfortified limes or border between the Saxons and the Slavic Obotrites, established about 810 in present-day Schleswig-Holstein. After Charlemagne had removed Saxons from some of their lands and given it to the Obotrites (who were allies of Charlemagne), he finally managed to conquer the Saxons in the Saxon Wars. In 811 he signed the Treaty of Heiligen with the neighbouring Danes and may at the same time have reached a border agreement with the Polabian Slavs in the east. This border should not be thought of as a fortified line, however, but rather a defined line running through the middle of the border zone, an area of bog and thick forest that was difficult to pass through. According to Adam of Bremen's description in the ''Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum'' about 1075, it ran from the Elbe river near Boizenburg northwards along the Bille river to the mout ...
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Warnabi
The Warnabi, Warnavi, Warnahi, Wranovi, Wranefzi, Wrani, Varnes, or Warnower were a West Slavic tribe of the Obotrite confederation in the ninth through eleventh centuries. They were one of the minor tribes of the confederation living in the Billung Mark on the eastern frontier of the Holy Roman Empire. They were first mentioned by Adam of Bremen. Etymologically their name is related to the river, the Warnow (also Warnof, Wrana, or Wranava), along which they settled in the region of Mecklenburg. It may have meant "crow river" or "black river" in their Slavic language, or been derived from the name of the Warni (from earlier ''warjan''), a Germanic people who had previously lived in the same area. The name Warnabi may be a combination of ''Warni'' and ''Abodriti''. In Lithuanian language ''Varna -Varnas, Varnai - Varnos'' (plural) means Crow. In the second half of the ninth century the chief town of the Warnabi was on an island in Lake Sternberg at the site of the castle of Gr ...
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Lenzen
Lenzen (Elbe) is a small town in the district of Prignitz, in Brandenburg, northern Germany. The town lies to the north of the Löcknitz River, not far from where the Löcknitz flows into the Elbe. It is part of the '' Amt'' Lenzen-Elbtalaue. Overview Lenzen is situated near the Elbe, approx. 20 km northwest of Wittenberge. It was the scene of the Battle of Lenzen, an early victory by the Germans over the Wends in 929. Frederick, Count of Zollern, confiscated it from the von Quitzow family in 1420 for their part in the uprising of the Wendish nobility, and mortgaged it to Otto von Blumenthal. He redeemed the mortgage and restored the von Quitzows in 1422. Another Lenzen is an Old Prussian site in (former) East-Prussia near the Baltic Sea. Demography Photogallery File:Lenzen on a 1922 Notgeld bill.jpg, Historic view of Lenzen on a Notgeld (German language, German for 'emergency money' or 'necessity money') is money issued by an institution in a time of ec ...
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Linonen
The Linones were a small Slavic people first recorded in the early 9th century. They lived north and east of the Elbe, across from Höhbeck in the region around Lenzen, south of the Wilzi and Obotrites, north of the Hevelli and northeast of the Saxons. They may have been a sub-group of the Wilzi and were often under Obotrite control. They may be associated with the medieval ''Gau'' Liezizi. The '' Annals of Lorsch'' classifies the Linones as Wends.''AL'', s.a. 808 (in ): "''Charles, fils de l'empereur Charles, traversa la rivière Elbe avec une armée franque contre les Wendes. Mais cette attaque ne fut pas un succès, et un grand nombre de Francs furent tués.''" harles, son of the emperor Charles, crossed the river Elbe with a Frankish army against the Wends. But this attack was not a success, and a great number of Franks were killed./ref> According to the '' Royal Frankish Annals'', in 808 the Linones and Smeldingi "defected" to the Danish king Gudfred and in respons ...
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Ratzeburg
Ratzeburg (; Low German: ''Ratzborg'') is a town in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is surrounded by Ratzeburger See, four lakes—the resulting isthmuses between the lakes form the access lanes to the town. Ratzeburg is the capital of the district Herzogtum Lauenburg. History The town was founded in the 11th century as Racisburg. The name is traditionally derived from the local Wends, Wendish ruler, Prince Ratibor (Polabian prince), Ratibor of the Polabians (tribe), Polabians, who was nicknamed Ratse. In the year 1044 Christian missionaries under the leadership of the monk Ansverus came into the region and built a monastery. It was destroyed in a Slavic rebellion of 1066, pagan rebellion in 1066; the monks were stoned to death. Today monuments to the missionaries in two of the town's churches commemorate these events. Ansverus was canonised in the 12th century and his relics were entombed in the Ratzeburg cathedral. Henry the Lion became the ruler of the town in 1143 and estab ...
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