The Hevelli or Hevellians/ Navellasîni (sometimes ''Havolane''; or ''Stodoranen''; or ''Stodoranie''; or ''Stodorané'') were a tribe of the

Polabian Slavs Polabian Slavs, also known as Elbe Slavs and more broadly as Wends, is a collective term applied to a number of Lechites, Lechitic (West Slavs, West Slavic) tribes who lived scattered along the Elbe river in what is today eastern Germany. The ...

, who settled around the middle

Havel The Havel () is a river in northeastern Germany, flowing through the States of Germany, states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Berlin and Saxony-Anhalt. The long Havel is a right tributary of the Elbe. However, the direct distance from ...

river in the present-day

Havelland Geographically, the Havelland () is the region around which the River Havel flows in a U-shape between Oranienburg to the northeast and Rhinow to the northwest. The northern boundary of the Havelland is formed by the River Rhin and the Rhin Cana ...

region of

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

in eastern

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 ...

from the 8th century onwards. West Slavic tribes ("

Wends Wends is a historical name for Slavs who inhabited present-day northeast Germany. It refers not to a homogeneous people, but to various people, tribes or groups depending on where and when it was used. In the modern day, communities identifying ...

") had settled in the ''

Germania Slavica ''Germania Slavica'' is a historiographic term used since the 1950s to denote the landscape of the medieval language border (roughly east of the Elbe-Saale line) zone between Germanic people and Slavs in Central Europe on the one hand and a 20 ...

'' region from the 7th century onwards. The ''Hehfeldi'' as they were called by the

Bavarian Geographer The epithet "Bavarian Geographer" () is the conventional name for the anonymous author of a short Latin medieval text containing a list of the tribes in Central and Eastern Europe, headed . The name "Bavarian Geographer" was first bestowed (in its ...

about 850 built their main fortification at Brenna (later to become

Brandenburg an der Havel Brandenburg an der Havel (; ) is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, which served as the capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg until it was replaced by Berlin in 1417. With a population of 72,040 (as of 2020), it is located on the banks of the ...

) and a large eastern outpost at the current site of

Spandau Spandau () is the westernmost of the 12 boroughs of Berlin, boroughs () of Berlin, situated at the confluence (geography), confluence of the Havel and Spree (river), Spree rivers and extending along the western bank of the Havel. It is the smalle ...

. In 906 the Hevelli princess

Drahomíra Drahomíra of Stodor (; – died after 934 or 936) was List of Bohemian consorts, Duchess consort of Bohemia from 915 to 921, wife of the Přemyslid dynasty, Přemyslid duke Vratislaus I, Duke of Bohemia, Vratislaus I. She also acted as regency ...

married the Přemyslid duke

Vratislaus I of Bohemia Vratislaus (or Wratislaus) I (; – 13 February 921), a member of the Přemyslid dynasty, was Duke of Bohemia from 915 until his death in 921. Life He was a son of Duke Bořivoj I of Bohemia by his wife Ludmila and the younger brother of Duk ...

Baçlabič Baçlabič (''Václav'') (died 936) - prince of Hevelli The Hevelli or Hevellians/ Navellasîni (sometimes ''Havolane''; or ''Stodoranen''; or ''Stodoranie''; or ''Stodorané'') were a tribe of the Polabian Slavs, who settled around the mid ...

was the prince of Hevelli from 921-936, succeeded by Tugumir.Hirsch, Paul and H.-E. Lohmann (eds.), (1935). ''Die Sachsengeschichte des Widukind von Korvei''. MGH Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum 60. Hanover. Brenna was occupied by the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

king

Henry the Fowler Henry the Fowler ( or '; ; – 2 July 936) was the duke of Saxony from 912 and the king of East Francia from 919 until his death in 936. As the first non- Frankish king of East Francia, he established the Ottonian dynasty of kings and emper ...

in his 928/29 Slavic campaign and incorporated into the ''

Marca Geronis The ''Marca Geronis'' or March of Gero was a vast marches, super-march in the middle of the tenth century. It was probably created for Thietmar, Margrave of Merseburg, Thietmar in the 920s and passed consecutively to his two sons, Siegfried, Margra ...

''. Henry's successor

Otto I Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), known as Otto the Great ( ) or Otto of Saxony ( ), was East Francia, East Frankish (Kingdom of Germany, German) king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the eldest son o ...

in 948 established the

Bishopric of Brandenburg Bishopric of Brandenburg may refer to: * Diocese of Brandenburg, the spiritual jurisdiction of the bishop of Brandenburg, active from the 10th to 16th centuries * Prince-Bishopric of Brandenburg, the state ruled by the bishop of Brandenburg fro ...

in order to Christianize the pagan population. These efforts were aborted in the course of the 983

Great Slav Rising In the Slavic revolt of 983, Polabian Slavs, Wends, Lutici and Obotrite tribes, that lived east of the Elbe River in modern north-east Germany overthrew an assumed Ottonian rule over the Slavic lands and rejected Christianization under Empero ...

in the

Northern March The Northern March or North March (, ) was created out of the division of the vast ''Marca Geronis'' in 965. It initially comprised the northern third of the ''Marca'' (roughly corresponding to the modern state of Brandenburg) and was part of the ...

, which again defied German control over the region. Together with the neighbouring

Sprevane The Sprevane or Sprevani (; Slavonic: ''Sprevjane'') were a Slavic tribe who lived around the river Spree, where Berlin is now, in the Brandenburg area of eastern Germany. They were first recorded in 948 and again in 965 as living in the territo ...

in the east, the Hevelli waged war against not only the German

Saxon 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 ...

forces to the west, but also other Slavic tribes. The baptized Hevelli prince Pribislav (died 1150) finally bequested his lands to the

Ascanian The House of Ascania () was a dynasty of German rulers. It is also known as the House of Anhalt, which refers to its longest-held possession, Anhalt. The Ascanians are named after Ascania (or Ascaria) Castle, known as ''Schloss Askanien'' in ...

count

Albert the Bear Albert the Bear (; 1100 – 18 November 1170) was the first margrave of Brandenburg from 1157 to his death and was briefly duke of Saxony between 1138 and 1142. Life Albert was the only son of Otto, Count of Ballenstedt, and Eilika of Sa ...

. Albert until 1157 could re-conquer the territory of the former Northern March, whereafter he established the

Margraviate of Brandenburg The Margraviate of Brandenburg () was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806 that, having electoral status although being quite poor, grew rapidly in importance after inheriting the Duchy of Prussia in 1618 and then came ...

. The Slavic Hevelli were gradually assimilated by

settlers in the course of the ''

Ostsiedlung (, ) is the term for the Early Middle Ages, early medieval and High Middle Ages, high medieval migration of Germanic peoples and Germanisation of the areas populated by Slavs, Slavic, Balts, Baltic and Uralic languages, Uralic peoples; the ...

''.

References

genealogie-mittelalter.de
(German) {{Slavic ethnic groups (VII-XII century) Polabian Slavs Lechites Havelland

See also

References