Bucu or Buku is a hill

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

surrounded by the

Trave The Trave () is a river in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is approximately long, running from its source near the village of Gießelrade in Ostholstein to Travemünde, where it flows into the Baltic Sea. It passes through Bad Segeberg, Bad Old ...

and Wakenitz Rivers in

Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It is also the name of a medieval Slavic

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

, now ruined, on the island. Count

Adolf II of Holstein Adolf II of Holstein ( – 6 July 1164) was the Count of Schauenburg and Holstein from 1130 until his death, though he was briefly out of Holstein from 1137 until 1142. He succeeded his father Adolf I under the regency of his mother, Hildew ...

founded Lübeck on the island in 1143. The ''Burgkloster'', or fortified monastery, of Lübeck is located atop the ruins of Bucu. "Bucu" is also the name of a hill.

History

Fortifications probably existed at Bucu by the end of the 7th century or the beginning of the 8th century. When the

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

Obotrite The Obotrites (, ''Abodritorum'', ''Abodritos'') or Obodrites, also spelled Abodrites (), were a confederation of medieval West Slavic tribes within the territory of modern Mecklenburg and Holstein in northern Germany (see Polabian Slavs). For ...

prince Gottschalk was killed at

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. Ov ...

in 1066, the pagan

Kruto Kruto the Wend (or Cruto) (died 1093), son of Grin or Grinus, was a prince of Wagria.Joachim Herrmann, ''Die Slawen in Deutschland'' (Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1985), 366. James Westfall Thompson believed his family belonged to the Rani of Rugi ...

took control of

Wagria WagriaArnold, Benjamin (1991). ''Princes and territories in medieval Germany'', Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York, p. 156. . (, ''Waierland'' or ''Wagerland'') is the northeastern part of Holstein in the German state of Schleswig- ...

and made it his base of power. Kruto neglected the developing settlement of Liubice and instead developed Bucu between the Trave and the Wakenitz; Gottschalk's son

Henry Henry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Henry (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters * Henry (surname) * Henry, a stage name of François-Louis Henry (1786–1855), French baritone Arts and entertainmen ...

made Liubice the Obotrite capital after killing Kruto in 1093, however. With the death of Henry in 1127 and the

Rani ''Rani'' () is a female title, equivalent to queen, for royal or princely rulers in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It translates to 'queen' in English. It is also a Sanskrit Hindu feminine given name. The term applies equally to a ...

sack of Liubice the following year, Bucu began to assume greater importance as merchants moved to the fortified hill. Count

founded Lübeck in 1143 near the castle, which offered protection to the new harbour settlement.

Excavation

Bucu was excavated by archaeologists in the 1970s. Recovery excavations at the Kleine Gröpelgrube unearthed a nearby settlement, the suburbium, in 1997. The exposed findings indicate that the region east of the castle was inhabited by Slavs from the 8th or 9th century until the middle of the 12th century. In a southern section of the current Große Burgstraße, a 3.5 m wide and 2.5 m deep trench protected the settlement. The northern border was presumably north of the current Königstraße. To the west the settlement bordered the castle directly, while to the east it reached the Wakenitz. The settlement area was probably about 6 ha. Discoveries in the interior include mines, mining houses, hearths, and a great number of ceramic objects. The remnants of a potter's workshop were found in the Kleine Gröpelgrube. A Slavic pottery tradition could have existed at the location until the arrival of

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 th ...

in the 12th century. The Kleine Gröpelgrube was first mentioned in 1297 as ''parva platea lutifigulorum'', or the small street of the loam potters.

References

History of Lübeck Castles in Schleswig-Holstein Ruins in Germany Islands of Schleswig-Holstein {{SchleswigHolstein-struct-stub