From Falster to Latvia

Incidentally, if you are curious how Slavs could have ended up at Ventspylis there are at least three answers.  One is the obvious one – they came from the East.  Another one is that they were there before the Balts came from the Belarus region.  A third one is suggested by Annales Ryenses (Rydårbogen) where there is talk of the Danish king Lotharknut resettling a third of his serfs in Prussia, Karelia and Semigalia sometime between 891 and 901.  At least some of those may have come from the islands of Møn, Falster & Lolland.  These, in turn, it has been suggested were populated at the time by Slavs (articles by Koczy and another by Slaski).

“…et venientes, totam
Pruciam, Semigaliam,
et terram Carelorum,
aliasqve qvam plures
terras subjugaverunt sibi, et…”

What’s striking about this is that it’s not clear whether the Danes included in this settlement process also the Pomeranian coast – if not, then presumably because it was filled with Slavs (the reference to other lands seems rather ambiguous given that lands further removed from Denmark than Pomerania are actually mentioned by name).

A similar tale was apparently also in the lost annals of Valdemar II.

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March 2, 2017

3 thoughts on “From Falster to Latvia

  1. Savalas

    Pomerania was indeed filled with Slavs and Danes sorta ignored them when they could. They were hardly a threat ot competition except as kings and dukes within Denmark and Sweden which they became on occasions. One must know Danes to understand how they tick about things. Well, for one the are isolitionists but have a very specific temper.

    Reply
    1. Savalas

      You are implying Danes got rid of Slavs who lived on the Danish islands. Indeed that could explain a lot. I can imagine sending boats would be an act of agression and Wolin was a “pirates nest”.

      Reply
      1. torino Post author

        No idea. But that is what those articles suggest. The annals themselves do not identify the population transferred as Slavs. Note that the articles’ suggestion was not that they got rid of them but that they tried to use them as colonists – same as the Danes did elsewhere in Western Europe. They were supposed to be agricultural colonists.

        Reply

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