The Chronicle of the Slavs
written by the venerable
priest Helmold
The Second Book
[Here Begins the Second Book]
96. [1] The Preface of the Following Work
Among writers of history there are few to be found who present what has happened with absolute fidelity of description.To be sure, the different inclinations of men, springing very often from a corrupted source, can be promptly discerned on the face of the narrative itself, inasmuch as undue love or hatred, like an excess of humor welling up in the heart of a man, deflects the course of the narrative, turning it from the way of truth to the right or to the left. Many, striving for the favor of men, have cloaked themselves with a certain fictitious appearance of friendship and, because of their excessive desire for honor or for some other gain, have voiced things pleasing to men, imputing worthy deeds to the unworthy, giving praise to those to whom no praise is due, invoking a blessing on those who deserve no blessing. Others, on the contrary, urged on by hatred, have refrained too little from condemnation, seeking opportunities for calumnies and inveighing with too caustic a tongue against those whom they could not reach with the hand. They are the kind, surely, who put light for darkness and call night day. Now and then there have not been lacking among writers those who, because they might lose their property and suffer bodily harm, feared to publish the godlessness of princes. Now it is more pardonable to have kept silence about the truth through pusillanimity or stress of spirit than to have embellished a lie in the hope of empty gain. Therefore, in portraying the deedsof men, as in chiseling out the most subtle carving, there ought always to be a sincere concern that one be not led from the way of truth by favor, by hatred, or by fear. Because, indeed, the directing of the rudder of speech (so to speak) in a manner that will avoid collision with these rock-like impediments, calls for much experience, nay, even for the greatest skill, I must the more earnestly entreat divine goodness that, having through unexpected enterprise rather than through rashness guided the ship of my story out upon the deep, I may with that assistance and the direction of favorable winds merit bringing it to the shore of a proper ending. Otherwise, I shall easily be emberrassed by the fear of men because of the captiousness of factions that are growing worse and because of the depraved conduct of princes. It is, however, a source of great consolation to all who strive for the truth that, even if the truth sometimes does beget hatred in the impious, nevertheless, remaining unshaken in itself, it does not offend; as when light is unpleasant to the eyes of a sick man, it is plain that the fault is not in the light, but in the ill condition of the eyes. And, again, whoever contemplates in a mirror the countenance he was born with will not attribute to the mirror, but to his own self, what appears depraved or distorted about himself. The following little work I [dedicate], therefore, as I did the preceding one, to your favor, venerable lords and brethren, [2] in the hope of rendering honor to men ofthe present day and of contributing profit through the knowledge of facts to the men of the future. And I also hope that 1shall not be without some little gain from the prayers of the great men who may read this little book. I beseech them not to deny my request for the favor of their prayers.
[1] In all the codices, except that of Liibeck (2), the chapters of this book are num-bered continuously with Book I, including this preface.
[2] Of Lubeck.
97(1) [1] Bishop Conrad
When he had arranged his affairs in Bavaria, Henry the Lion, distinguished by a dual dukeship, returned to Saxony and, having summoned the clergy of Lubeck, gave them as bishop the lord Conrad, abbot of Riddagshausen, a blood brother of the lord bishop Gerold. [2] Although this selection was contrary to the wishes of Archbishop Hartwig and of nearly all the clergy of Lubeck, the duke’s will, which it was dangerous to withstand, prevailed. Bishop Conrad, who was consecrated by Archbishop Hartwig in the city of Stade, was distinguished for his knowledge of letters, eloquence, affability, and generosity, besides many other gifts with which a person of position is properly endowed. But a certain mad rashness, I shall call it, marred the man’s beautiful outward character, a changeableness of mind and readiness of words which never stuck to the point but led to his contradicting himself, doing nothing advisedly, breaking his promises, loving strangers, criticizing his own. He first mistreated with great harshness the clergy whom he found in the undeveloped church, from the first who were in the church at Lubeck even unto the last who dwelt in the country. He declared that all the property of the priests was his own, regarding them not as his brethren but as his serfs. When he began proceedings against one of the brethren, he did not observe the lawful summons, nor the fitness of the time or place, nor the judgment of the chapter, but at his own pleasure either suspended from office or turned out of the church those whom he desired to oppress. On being admonished by the duke, he acted not more mildly, but turned from the duke and allied himself with the archbishop to the end that through combined forces they might the more easily overcome every one who resisted.
About the time he was promoted to the highest priestly rank,while he was still staying with the archbishop in the stronghold of Harburg, which is on the banks of the Elbe, there arose in the month of February—that is, on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of March [3]—a very great windstorm, a hurricane with flashes of lightning and crashes of thunder that here and there either set fire to or overturned many buildings. Moveover, such an overflow of the sea took place as had not been heard of from the earliest times, an overflow which involved the whole coastland of Frisia, Hadeln, [4] and all the lowlands of the Elbe and Weser and all the rivers which descend into the ocean. Many thousands of men and beasts without number were drowned. How many rich persons, how many mighty ones, sat down at night and reveled in luxuries entirely without fear of evil; but sudden destruction came on and overthrew them in the midstof the sea. [5]
[1] The number in parentheses refers to the order of chapters in the second book.
[2] February, 1164. Cf. chap. 80, supra.
[3] February 17, 1164. Cf. Ann. Palid., an. 1164; Chron. regia Colon., an. 1164; Ann. Egmund., an. 1162.
[4] Along the North Sea between the mouths of the Weser and Elbe.
[5] Cf. Exod. 14: 27; Prov. 1: 33.
98 (2). [The Massacre of the Flemings] [1]
The same day [2] that the ocean coastlands were overwhelmed by this terrible calamity there occurred a great massacre in Mecklenburg, the city of the Slavs. Vratislav, the younger son of Niclot, who was held in chains at Brunswick, through messengers upbraided his brother Pribislav, as the report goes,saying:
“Behold, I am held, locked in everlasting chains, and you act indifferently. Watch and endeavor, act manfully and extort by arms what you cannot obtain by peace. Do you not remember that when our father Niclot was held in custody at Luneburg, [3] he could be ransomed neither by prayer nor with money? However, after we with valorous instinct seized our arms and set fire to and demolished the strongholds, was he not released?”
On hearing these words, Pribislav secretly collected an army and came unexpectedly to Mecklenburg. Henry of Scathen, prefect of the castle, happened to be away at the time and the people who were in the castle were without a leader. Pribislav, therefore, went up and said to the men who were in the fortress:
“Great violence, O men, has been done both me and my people who have been expelled from the land of our nativity and dispossessed of the inheritance of our fathers. You also have increased this wrong, who have invaded our confines and possessed the strongholds and villages which ought to be ours by hereditary succession. We set before you, therefore,the choice of life or death. If you are willing to throw the fortress open to us and to return the land which belongs to us, we shall lead you out in peace, with your wives and children and all your household goods. If any one of the Slavs takes anything that belongs to you, I shall restore it twofold. If, however, you are unwilling to go out, nay, if you rather obstinately choose to defend this stronghold, I swear to you that, if God favor us with victory, I shall kill you all with the edge of the sword.”
In answer to these words the Flemings began to throw spears and to inflict wounds. The host of the Slavs, stronger in men and arms, thereupon broke into the fortress with a fierce attack and slew every male in it; and they left of the foreign people not one. They set fire to the fortress and led into captivity the wives and little ones of the Flemings. [4]
After this the Slavs turned their faces toward the fortress Ilow to destroy it. But Guncelin, the duke’s vassal and prefect of the country of the Abodrites, on hearing through scouts that the Slavs had issued forth, went forward with a few knights to Ilow to protect the fort. Now when he had destroyed Mecklenburg, Pribislav went with the bravest fighters in advance of his army to start the siege, that no one might chance to escape. And when Guncelin heard of this he said to his men: “Let us go quickly and fight with him before the rest of his army comes. For they are fatigued from the battle and the slaughter which they perpetrated today.” But the men closely associated with Guncelin answered: “It is not prudent of us to go out, for as soon as we have left, the Slavs who are within this stronghold and seem to stand with us will close its gates behind us, and we shall be shut out and the stronghold will fall into the hands of the Slavs.”
This advice was displeasing in the eyes of both Guncelin and his men. Calling together, then, all the Germans who were inthe stronghold, within hearing of the Slavs who were in the fastness and about whom there was fear of treachery, he said to them:
“I have been told that the Slavs who are with us within the portals of this stronghold have sworn to Pribislav to betray both us and the fortress. Hear ye, therefore, O men, compatriots, who are destined for death and extermination. The moment you notice perfidy, throw yourselves against the gates and hurl fire upon the houses of the city and burn those traitors with their wives and children. Let them die along with us, let not one of them survive, that they may not glory over our destruction.”
On hearing these words the Slavs were terrified and they did not dare to carry out the plan they had devised. Now when evening came, the entire army of the Slavs arrived before the fortress of Ilow, and Pribislav addressed the Slavs who were in it:
“You all know what great calamities and what oppression have comeupon our people through the violent might which the duke has exerted against us. He has taken from us the inheritance of our fathers and settled foreigners in all its bounds—Flemings and Hollanders, Saxons and Westphalians, and diverse folk. This wrong my father avenged even to the point of death. My brother, also, for this very reason is in confinement, bound by eternal chains, and no one save me is left who thinks of the good of our nation or wishes to raise up its ruins. Again pluck up your courage, therefore, O men who are the remnants of the Slavic race, resume your daring spirit, and deliver to me this stronghold and the men who have taken it without right, that I may take vengeance upon them as I took vengeance upon those who had seized Mecklenburg.”
And he reminded them of their promise. But, overwhelmed by fear, they denied him. Then the Slavs withdrew some distance from the fortress because night was coming on and they had to pitch camp. When, however, the Slavs noticed that Guncelin and those with him were brave and warlike men and that the fortress could not be taken without very much bloodshed, they withdrew from the siege at break of day [5] and returned to their homes. Guncelin, therefore, like a brand plucked out of the fire, after leaving Ilow and stationing there a guard of Slavs, went over to Schwerin and the inhabitants of the stronghold were glad over his unexpected coming. They had heard the day before that he had been slain, he and his men together.
[1] The title is supplied by Schorkel.
[2] In chapter 93 Helmold states there was peace in Slavia until the Kalends, the first of February. The renewal of hostilities here takes place February 17, the day of thegreat storm.
[3] Cf. chap. 87 n. 2, supra.
[4] The Annales Palidenses, an. 1164, which refer to this massacre as occurring on theday of the great storm, do not mention the burning of the city.
[5] February 18.
99 (3). Bishop Bern
On the fifth day [1] after the destruction of Mecklenburg the venerable bishop Bern went with a few of the clergy of Schwerin to bury the slain, wearing about his neck the sacerdotal vestments in which it is customary to offer the holy sacrifice. On an altar erected in the midst of the slain he offered for them the saving victim to the Lord God with sorrow and dread. While he was going through with the sacrifice, Slavs rose up from ambush to slay the bishop and those who were with him. But one Reichard of Salzwedel was quickly sent by God and came up with knights. On hearing that Guncelin was being besieged in Ilow, he had proceeded to his assistance and on his way happened to come to Mecklenburg at the very time the bishop and his attendants were at the point of death. The Slavs, terrified by his arrival, fled, and the rescued bishop finished the work of piety and buried upward of seventy bodies of the slain. After that he returned to Schwerin.
Not a long time after Pribislav collected another band of Slavs and came to Malchow and Cuscin. Addressing the inhabitants of the city, he said:
“I know, indeed, that you are brave men and noble and obedient to thecommand of the great duke, your lord. I would, therefore, advise youof what is profitable. Hand over to me the fortress which was once myfather’s and should now be mine according to hereditary succession, and Iwill have you safely conducted to the banks of the Elbe. Should any-one lay violent hand on any of the things that belong to you, I willmake twofold restitution. But if you deem these very favorable terms idle, I shall be obliged again to try my fortune and to battle with you. Remember what happened to the inhabitants of Mecklenburg who spurned the conditions of peace and provoked me to their destruction.”
As the knights who then were the garrison of the stronghold saw that there was no chance in battle, because the enemy were many and the auxiliaries but few, they asked for safe conduct beyond the boundaries of Slavia and Pribislav took the fort.
[1] February 22, 1164.
100 (4). The Hanging of Vratislav
When Duke Henry the Lion heard how critical was the situation in Slavia, he was saddened in spirit, but in the meantime dispatched the flower of his knights to the defense of Schwerin. And he ordered Count Adolph and the elders of Holzatia to proceed to Ilow and protect the fortress. After this he assembled a great army, summoned his cousin Albert, the margrave of eastern Slavia, and all the bravest men in the whole of Saxony to his aid in order to pay back the Slavs the evil which they had done. He also brought up Waldemar, the king of the Danes, with a naval force to harass the Slavs by land and by sea. [1] Count Adolph met the duke near Malchow with all the Nordalbingian people. Now when the duke crossed the Elbe and reached the confines of the Slavs, he caused Vratislav, the princeof the Slavs, to be put to death by hanging near the stronghold Malchow for the reason that his brother, Pribislav, had undone him and had broken the sworn promises of peace. And the duke instructed Count Adolph by messenger:
“Rise up with the Holzatians and Sturmarians and with all the people that are with you and go before the duke as far as the place called Verchen. [2] Guncelin, the prefect of the land of the Abodrites, Reinhold,count of the Ditmarsh, and Christian, count of Oldenburg which is in Amerland and belongs to the land of the Frisians, will do the same: they will all go with you in advance with the number of armed men that belongs to them.”
Then Count Adolph proceeded with the other nobles who hadbeen dispatched with him according to the command of the duke and they came to the place called Verchen which is about two thousand paces distant from Demmin. There they pitched camp. The duke and the other princes delayed in the place called Malchow with the intention of following after a few days with the rest of the army and the pack horses bearing provisions that would be abundantly sufficient for the army. The whole army of the Slavs, however, established itself in the stronghold of Demmin. Their princes were Kazamir and Buggeslav, [3] dukes of the Pomeranians, and with them was Pribislav, the author of the rebellion. They sent messengers to the count, desiring through him to obtain terms of peace and offering three thousand marks. Again they sent other messengers through whom they promised two thousand. This proposal displeased Count Adolph and he said to his men: “How does it seem to you, wise men? Those who yesterday promised three thousand marks now offer two thousand. That is not the speech of one that talks peace, but of one bringing war.”
Now the Slavs sent scouts into the camp during the night to find out how the army stood. The Slavs of Oldenburg were with Count Adolph, but they were treacherous, for through scouts they informed the enemy of whatever went on in the army. Marchrad, the elder of the land of the Holzatians, and others who understood the saying that was hid, therefore said to Count Adolph: “We have learned from thoroughly reliable reports that our enemies are making themselves ready for battle. Our men, however, behave very sluggishly; neither in the night watches nor in standing guard do they show due diligence. Hold the people to caution because the duke has confidence in you.” But the count and the other nobles did not take notice and said: “Peace and safety, [4] for the valor of the Slavs is utterly dead.” The army, then, was off its guard. However, as the duke delayed the army’s provisions gave out. Servants were chosen to go to the duke’s army for the purpose of bringing on provisions. When at daybreak they set out on their journey, [5] behold, on the slope of a hill there appeared troops of Slavs with an innumerable folk, both horsemen and infantry. On seeing them the servants retraced their steps and with a strong cry awakened the sleeping army. Otherwise, all would have embraced death in their sleep. Then the illustrious and knightly men, Adolph and Reinhold, with the very few Holzatians and Ditmarshians who happened to have been aroused from sleep and had run out more quickly, engaged the enemy at the foot or the hill, destroyed the first line of the Slavs and smote them until they came deep into the marsh. [6] Close behind the first line came the second line of the Slavs and overwhelmed the Saxons like a mountain. In the encounter Count Adolth and Count Reinhold and the bravest fell. The Slavs took possession of the Saxon camp, and they stripped it of booty.
Now Guncelin and Christian, and with them more than three hundred knights, remained massed at one side of the battlefield, not knowing what to do. For it was a fearful thing to come into conflict with so numerous an enemy after all their comrades had either been slain or put to flight. It so happened, then, that a detachment of Slavs came to a tent in which there were many armor-bearers and several horses. The armor-bearers, valiantly withstanding the assault of the Slavs, cried to their lords who stood together nearby: “Why do you stand there, most valiant knights? Why do you not help your servants: You surely are acting most disgracefully.” Aroused by the clamor of their servants, they leaped upon the enemy, and fighting as if in a
blind fury they freed their aides. The knights plunged, then, most courageously upon the camp. It is hard to say how many blows they dealt and what a slaughter of men they made before they dispersed those victorious lines of Slavs and recovered the camp which had been lost. Finally, God mingled a perverse spirit with the Slavs [7] and they fell at the hands of the most excellent knights. The Saxons who were in hiding places heard and came out. With renewed courage they rushed valiantly upon the enemy and smote them with very great destruction. That field was covered with heaps of dead. [8] The duke also came quickly [9] to the aid of his men. When he saw the slaughter which had been wrought among his people and that Count Adolph and
the bravest were dead, he gave way to many tears. But the abundant victory and the exceeding great slaughter of Slavs, numbering up to twenty-five hundred, mitigated his grief. The duke then ordered the body of Count Adolph to be dismembered, cooked, and preserved according to the work of the apothecary, that it might be transported and buried in the tomb of his fathers. And thus was fulfilled the prophecy which he sang the day before he suffered, [10] repeating very frequently the verse, “Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing.” [11]
The Slavs who had escaped the edge of the sword came to Demmin and, after setting fire to that most mighty fortress, retreated into the interior of the Pomeranian country, fleeing from the face of the duke. On the following day [12] the duke came with his whole army to Demmin and found the stronghold burnt. He quartered there part of his army to pull down the wall and level it with the ground and to act as a guard for the wounded who were in need of care. He himself went with the rest of the army to meet King Waldemar. With their united forces they set out to devastate the length and breadth of the land of the Pomeranians and they came to a place which is called Stolpe. [13] There Kazamir and Buggeslav had long before founded
an abbey in memory of their father, Vratislav, who had been killed [14] and was buried in that place. He was the first of the dukes of the Pomeranians to be converted to the faith at the
hands of the most saintly Otto, bishop of Bamberg. He founded the bishopric of Usedom and admitted the worship of the Christian religion into the land of the Pomeranians. [15] Thither,
therefore, came the army of the duke; “neither was there any that resisted him.” [16] For the Slavs, going always farther away, fled from the duke’s face and did not dare to stop anywhere
out of dread of his countenance.
[1] Cf. Saxo Grammaticus, MGH. SS. XXIX, 115 sqq.
[2] Near Demmin on the Peene River where it flows out of the Kummerower See.
[3] Sons of Vratislav of Pomerania. Cf. chap. 40, supra.
[4] Cf. I Thess. 5: 3.
[5] July 6, 1164. Cf Schmeidler (ed.), Helmold, p. 197 n. 1.
[6] The Kummerower See.
[7] Cf. Isa. 19: 14.
[8] Vide the accounts of this battle in Ann. Palid., an. 1164; Ann. Egmund., an. 1164; Saxo Grammaticus, MGH. SS. XXIX, 115-16; Alb. Stad., an. 1164.
[9] The same day, presumably, but vide infra, “On the following day the duke camewith his whole army. . . .”
[10] Cf. canon of the Mass.
[11] Ps. 17: 3.
[12] July 7?
[13] On the Peene River.
[14] About 1134. Cf. Bernhardi, Konrad. Ill, pp. 577, 715. Hauck (Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands, IV, 610 and n. 2) has shown that the first church built at Stolpe by the bishop of Wollin, Adalbert (consecrated 1140?), and dedicated to Vratislav could not have been founded before 1155.
[15] Cf. chap. 40, supra.
[16] I Macc. 14: 7.
101 (5). The Burial of Count Adolph
In those days [1] there came into the land of the Slavs a messenger who said to the duke: “Behold, there has come to Brunswick a legate of the king of Greece [2] with a great retinue to speak with you.” To give him audience the duke went out of Slavia, leaving the army and giving up the advantages of a successful expedition. Otherwise, because of the recent victory and the course of favorable fortune he would have consumed completely the whole strength of the Slavs and would have dealt with the land of the Pomeranians as he had dealt with that of the Abodrites. All the land of the Abodrites and the neighboring regions which belong to the realm of the Abodrites had been wholly reduced to a solitude through unremitting warfare, par-ticularly through this last war, by the favor of God, namely, and the strength He has always imparted to the right hand of the most pious duke. If there were any last remnants of Slavs remaining, they were on account of the want of grain and the desolation of the fields so reduced by hunger that they had to flee together to the Pomeranians and to the Danes who, showing them no mercy, sold them to the Poles, Sorbs, and Bohemians.
After leaving Slavia the duke dismissed the army, every one to his own place. The body of Count Adolph was brought to Minden and there interred with reverent devotion. His widow Matilda, with her very young son, [3] now held the county. But the face of that land was changed because justice and the security of the churches appeared to be utterly weakened when their good patron was taken away. While he lived nothing seemed hard, nothing troublesome, to the clergy. He was so great in faith, in goodness, in prudence, and in counsel that he seemed to be endowed with all the virtues. As one of the warriors of the Lord, and certainly not the least in the performance of his lot, he was found useful, extirpating the superstitions of idolatry and furthering the work of the new plantation that it should fructify unto salvation. When at last he had finished the course of a good life, he attained the victor’s palm and, bearing the standard in the camp of the Lord, stood even unto death for the defense of his fatherland and for fidelity toward the princes. On being advised to save his life through flight, he vehemently spurned the idea. Fighting with his hands but praying unto God with his voice, he willingly met death for the love of virtue. Stimulated by his example, Guncelin and Bernhard, [4] illustrious men and good vassals of the excellent duke, of whom the one governed Schwerin, the other, Ratzeburg, also worked nobly. In the portion of their lot they fought the battles of the Lord that the worship of the house of our God might be furthered among an unbelieving and idolatrous folk.
[1] July, 1164.
[2] Manuel I Comnenus (1143-80).
[3] Adolph III.
[4] Cf. chap. 92 n. 3, supra.
102 (6). The Restoration of Demmin
Pribislav, the author of the rebellion, became an exile from his paternal inheritance and sojourned with the dukes of thePomeranians, Kazamir and Buggeslav, and they began to rebuild Demmin. Sallying thence frequently, Pribislav harassed through ambuscades the confines of Schwerin and Ratzeburg and took many captives, both men and beasts. Guncelin and Bernhard studied his expedients and fought him. They likewise used ambuscades and always proved themselves the better men in the very frequent encounters that took place, until Pribislav, after losing his best men and horses, could no longer undertake anything. Kazamir and Buggeslav then said to him:
“If it pleases you to dwell with us and to enjoy our hospitality, see that you displease not the eyes of the duke’s men; otherwise we shall drive you from our territories. For you have already led us where we sustained very great misfortune and lost excellent men and strongholds. Not content with this, would you again bring on us the prince’s wrath?”
And Pribislav was restrained from his madness. The power of the Slavs was thus humbled and no one durst move for fear of the duke.
The duke was at peace with Waldemar, the king of the Danes, and they held a conference on the Eider or at Liibeck for the advantage of both realms. [1] The king gave the duke much money because his territories had been secured through him from the depredations of the Slavs. All the islands of the sea that belonged to the kingdom of the Danes began to be inhabited because piracy had fallen off, and the ships of the plunderers were broken up. The king and the duke entered into a compact that they would jointly divide the tribute of whatever nations they subjugated by land and sea.
The duke’s power now increased beyond that of all who were before him and he became a prince of the princes of the earth. He trod upon the necks of rebels and broke up their strongholds; he extirpated the men who had revolted and made peace in the land; he built very strong fortresses and possessed an exceedingly great heritage. For besides the inheritance from his great progenitors, the Caesar Lothar and his wife Richenza, and from the many dukes of Bavaria and Saxony, there passed to him also the possessions of many nobles, like those of Hermann of Winzenburg, [2] Siegfried of Hamburg, [3] Otto of Asseburg [4] and others whose names have escaped me. What shall I say of the most extensive power of the archbishop Hartwig, who was descended from the ancient stock of Udo? [5] In his lifetime the bishop obtained, partly by hereditary right, partly by benefices, that noble stronghold Stade, with all its appurtenances, with the county on both banks [6] and the county of Ditmarsh. [7] He extended his sway into Frisia and sent an army against them, and they gave him what he asked in ransom of themselves.
[1] Probably in 1166. Saxo Grammaticus, MGH. SS. XXIX, 121, has the conference take place in 1167, but this date is very questionable. For the critical literature vide Schmeidler (ed.), Helmold, p. 201 n. 5.
[2] Cf. chap. 73 n. 1, supra.
[3] Count of Bomeneburg and Homburg (not Hamburg). Cf. von Uslar-Gleichen, Geschichte der Grafen von Winzenburg, pp. 138 sqq.; Algermissen, “Winzenburg. Ein Ueberblick uber die Geschichte der Burg und des Ortes,” Alt-Hildesheim, Heft 4 (Sept.1922), 33-37.
[4] Asseburg, a castle in the duchy of Brunswick. Cf. von Uslar-Gleichen, op. cit., pp.248 sqq.; Mecklenb. Urkundenbuch, I, no. 92.
[5] Udo II, count of Stade, is mentioned in chap. 27, supra. Cf. Dehio, Hartwich von Stade, pp. 93-104.
[6] On both banks of the Elbe.
[7] In 1145. Cf. Dehio, Geschichte des Erzbistums Hamburg-Bremen, II, 55.
103 (7). The Princes’ Envy of the Dukes’ Glory
But because glory begets envy, and because nothing in theaffairs of men is permanent, all the princes of Saxony were jealous of the great glory of the man. For the latter, supplied with immense wealth, illustrious with victories and sublime in his glory through the twofold principate of Bavaria and Saxony, seemed unbearable to all in Saxony, princes as well as nobles. But fear of the Caesar restrained the hands of the princes, that they did not carry into effect the plans they were conceiving. However, after the Caesar had made preparations for his fourth expedition into Italy [1] and conditions offered opportunity, the old conspiracy at once came out into the open [2] and a strong league of all was formed against one. [3] First among these conspiratorswere Wichmann, archbishop of Magdeburg, [4] and Hermann, bishop of Hildesheim. [5] After them were these princes: Ludwig, landgrave of Thuringia; Albert, margrave of Salzwedel, and his sons; [6] Otto, margrave of Camburg, [7] and his brothers; and Adalbert, count palatine of Sommerschenburg. [8] These nobles aided them: Otto of Asseburg, Widukind of Dasenburg, [9] and Christian of Oldenburg, which is in Amerland. [10] Exceeding all these in his might, Rainald, archbishop of Koln and chancellor of the Empire, [11] plotted against the duke. Although absent and occupied in Italy, he was wholly intent upon the plan to overthrow the duke. Then the princes who were in eastern Saxony with Ludwig, the prince of the Thuringians, besieged the fortress of the duke which is called Aldeslef [12] and they “made many engines of war against it.” [13] Christian, the count of Amerland, also collected an army of Frisians. He occupied Bremen and all its territories and caused great commotion in the western parts. [14]
When, therefore, the duke saw that wars were arising on every side, he began to fortify his cities and castles and to station garrisons of knights in strategic places. At that time the widow of Count Adolph with her son, who was still very young, administered the county comprising Holzatia, Sturmaria, and Wagria. On account of the surging storms of the wars, however, the duke gave the boy as guardian to take charge of his military affairs, Count Henry, born in Thuringia, [15] the boy’s uncle, a man impatient of inactivity and wholly devoted to arms. Also, after advising with his trustworthy followers, the duke admitted into his favor Pribislav, the prince of the Slavs, whom, as was said before, he had after many battles expelled from the province. And he restored to Pribislav all the heritage of his father; namely, the land of the Abodrites, except Schwerin and its appurtenances.[16] Pribislav swore to the duke and his friends in pledge of his fidelity, not to be violated thereafter by the storms of war, that he would stand at his command and would watch the eyes of his friends, never giving them the slightest offense.
[1] October, 1166.
[2] Toward the end of the year 1166. Cf. Ann. Reichersperg., an. 1166.
[3] Helmold is the best authority for what follows. Cf. also Ann. Palid., an. 1166; Alb.Stad., ann. 1166-68; Chron. regia Colon., an. 1167; Chron. Montis Sereni, an. 1166; Cambridge Medieval History, V, 401-2.
[4] Wichmann was bishop of Zeitz-Naumburg, 1149-54, archbishop of Magdeburg, 1152-92.
[5] 1161-70.
[6] The sons of Albert the Bear were Bernhard of Anhalt, Otto of Brandenburg, and Siegfried.
[7] Of Meissen, but named after Camburg on the Saale River.
[8] In western Brandenburg, near Neuhaldensleben and Magdeburg.
[9] Near the Diemel River. Cf. chap. 107, infra.
[10] Cf. chap. 100, supra.
[11] Cf. chap. 87 n. 7, supra.
[12] Neuhaldensleben. In 1167.
[13] I Macc. 11:20.
[14] Cf. Alb. Stad., an. 1167.
[15] Apparently the Henry who signed documents as “comes de Suarzeburg” or “Suarzburch,” or similarly. Leverkus (ed.), Urkundenbuch ties Bistums Lubeck, I, nos. 4, 6 sqq. The Henry mentioned in chap. 107, infra, and by Arnold of Lubeck, Chron. Slav., ii, 6, may be this count of Schwarzburg. He is also known as Henry of Orlamunde.
[16] In documents of 1171 and the years following Pribislav appears as prince of Mecklenburg or of Kessin. Mecklenb. Urkundenbuch, I, nos. 100, 101, 113.
104 (8). The Sack of Bremen
The duke then assembled a great army and entered eastern Saxony to fight with his enemies in the heart of their owncountry. They saw that he came with a strong force and feared to encounter him. And he “brought a great calamity upon” [1] the enemy country and devastated it by fire and plunderings, andhe came up through the land even to the walls of Magdeburg. Then [2] he turned his army into the western parts to put down the insurrection of Count Christian, and he came suddenly upon Bremen and took it. Count Christian thereupon fled into the recesses of the Frisian marshes, and the duke broke into Bremen and plundered it. Its citizens fled into the marshes because they had sinned against the duke and had pledged themselves to Christian. The duke put them under the ban until, through the mediation of the archbishop, they bought peace for a thousand or more marks of silver. A few days later Count Christian died, [3] and the evils stirred up by his rebellious plotting came to an end.
While this civil war was raging on all sides, Archbishop Hartwig, who had decided to avoid the confusion of the surging struggle, sat alone and at peace in Hamburg, intent upon the building of monasteries and upon other interests of his church.Then the archbishop of Koln and other princes charged him by letter to recall to mind all the distress with which the duke had afflicted him; that now at length the time was at hand in which he could with the aid of the princes regain his honorable position; that the city of Stade and the county of which he had been deprived were within his reach if he would support the cause of the princes. Archbishop Hartwig, therefore, although he had been taught by many experiences that the duke was always successful in his wars—also that the fidelity of princes was doubtful—and although he had often been deceived by promises of this kind, began to waver in mind. On the one hand, [indeed,] he was urged on by a desire to recover his position; on the other, he was deterred by the inconstancy of the princes, which he had often experienced. In the meantime he maintained the appearances of friendship, and peace rang in his words. Nevertheless, the archbishop began to strengthen his strongholds, Freiburg and Harburg, and he collected there weapons and provisions sufficient for months and years.
[1] I Macc. 13:32.
[2] After a truce.
[3] Cf. Alb Stad., an. 1167.
105 (9). The Expulsion of Bishop Conrad
In those days [1] Conrad, the bishop of the church at Liibeck,stayed with the archbishop, and on him depended the whole of the archbishop’s policy. And it came to the ear of the duke that the bishop was intent, not on “conditions of peace,” [2] but on destroying the duke, and that he had advised the archbishopto go over to the princes and to break off the friendship which he had maintained with the duke. Wishing to make certain of the information, the duke called the bishop to a conference at Artlenburg. But the latter avoided the wrath of the mighty one and went into Frisia, pretending that he was on a mission for the archbishop. When at length he returned, the duke summoned him a second time. In the company, therefore, of the lord archbishop and the lord Bern of Mecklenburg, he met the duke at Stade to hear his word. And the duke addressed him about those matters of which he had been informed; that is,how he had by evil words belittled his honor and given evil counsel against him. The bishop declared that he knew nothing about these things. After many words had passed between them, the duke, wishing to renew the broken friendship and to bind the once beloved bishop more firmly to him, began in a friendly manner to ask him for the homage that was due, which, it has been shown before, [3] had been by imperial donation granted to him in the provinces of the Slavs that he possessed by right of war according to the rule of war. The high-spirited man recoiled from the terms of this proposition, saying that the income of his church was slight, that in consideration of this he would never engage his freedom or submit to anyone’s power. The duke in return declared expressly that he must either give up his position or yield to the proposals. As the bishop remained fixed in his decision, the duke ordered that entry into his diocese be denied him and all his episcopal revenues be taken away. After the duke’s departure, therefore, the archbishop said to Conrad the bishop: “I think that it is not safe for you to remain with us because the duke’s vassals are all about us. Look rather to our honor and to your safety. Go to the archbishop of Magdeburg [4] and the princes, that you may escape the hands of your enemies. After a few days I shall join you and follow you in your wanderings.” He acted in accordance with the advice of the archbishop and went to the archbishop of Magdeburg, staying with him almost two years. [5] Thence he went into France and attended a council of the Cistercians and effected a reconciliation with Pope Alexander through the mediation of the bishop of Pavia, [6] one of Alexander’s party who, because he had been ejected from his see, was staying at Clairvaux. The latter gave Bishop Conrad a mandate to go to Alexander in person, if that were possible, or to send a legate. After he had thus completed his business, Bishop Conrad returned to Magdeburg and found there Hartwig, the archbishop of Hamburg, for he had also given up his post, and they stayed many days with the archbishop of Magdeburg.
However, the knights of Archbishop Hartwig, who were in the strongholds of Harburg and Freiburg, made frequent forays and started fires and looted in the possessions of the duke. The
latter on this account dispatched a military force and seized Freiburg. He tore down its fortifications and leveled them to the ground, and he had all the episcopal revenues taken away, allowing none of them to remain. Those only who were in the fortress of Harburg held out until the archbishop returned, because the place was protected by abysmal swamps. The fierce tempest of rebellion, however, went on raging throughout all Saxony, as all the princes contended against the duke. Many knights were taken captive and mutilated, many fortresses and houses were destroyed and cities burned. And Goslar was taken by the princes. But the duke ordered the roads to be guarded that no one should bring grain to Goslar, and they were in great want.
[1] 1167.
[2] Luke 14:32.
[3] Cf. chap. 88, supra.
[4] Wichmann.
[5] For a much shorter time because Hartwig died October 11, 1168.
[6] This bishop cannot with certainty be identified. Cf. Schmeidler (ed.), Helmold, p. 206 n. 6.
106 (10). The Enthroning of Pope Calixtus [1]
In those days Emperor Frederick tarried in Italy and crushed the Lombard rebellions by the dread of his valor. He demolished many populous and fortified cities and harried Lombardy more than the kings that were before him for many days. He turned his face toward Rome in order to put to flight Alexander and to set up Calixtus; for Paschal had died after living but a short time. While, then, the Caesar was laying siege to Genoa, [2] which was of Alexander’s party, he sent forward Rainald of Koln and Christian of Mainz [3] and ordered part of his army to lead the way to Rome. They came to Tusculum which is not far from Rome. When the Romans learned of their coming, [4] they came out with an immense army to fight for Alexander, and Rainald and the German knighthood went forth and fought them, a handful against a host. They overpowered the Romans, struck down about twelve thousand of them, and pursued the ones who fled even to the gates of the City. The earth was corrupted by the dead bodies of the slain, and the women of the Romans remained widows for many years because there were lacking men among the inhabitants of the City. [5] The very day [6] on which these deeds were done at Rome, the Caesar fought with the Genoese and obtained a victory which made him master of the city. With his army, then, he proceeded to Rome where he found Rainald and the force, which he had sent on in advance, rejoicing over its safety and the ruin of the Romans. He moved the army forward to capture Rome, stormed the cathedral of Saint Peter, because there was in it a guard of Romans, and commanded fire to be set at its portals to smoke the Romans from its towers. He took the temple and filled the church with the slain. Then he set Calixtus upon the throne and celebrated there the feast of Saint Peter in Chains. [7] When he turned his forces upon the people of the Lateran to destroy them, they gave him for their lives as well as for their city whatever he demanded. Required to apprehend Alexander, they were unable to do so because he had taken to flight during the night. And Frederick took the sons of the nobles as hostages, that in the future they would obey Calixtus with irrefragable fidelity.
Sudden destruction followed these fortunate deeds of the Caesar; for such a pestilence came all at once upon Rome that within a few days nearly all perished. In the month of August
pestiferous fogs are said to arise in those parts. There died of this plague Rainald of Koln and Hermann of Verden, [8] who were the leaders of the council, besides the most noble young man, King Conrad’s son, who had married the only daughter of our Duke Henry; [9] furthermore, many bishops, princes, and nobles perished at the same time. With what was left of the army the Caesar returned to Lombardy. While there he heard of the insurrection going on in Saxony and, dispatching an embassy, [10] he checked the rising tide of sedition by frequent truces until the time should pass and he should himself be freeof his Italian expedition.
In the course of those days Henry, the duke of Bavaria and Saxony, sent to England legates who brought the daughter of the English king, with silver and gold and great treasures, and the duke took her to wife. [11] For he had been separated from his first wife, the lady Clementia, on the ground of consanguinity. [12] He had, however, a daughter by her, whom he gave in marriage to the son of King Conrad, who survived but a short time. As was said before, he was cut off by a premature death while on the Italian expedition.
[1] Throughout this chapter Helmold names Calixtu9 in place of his predecessor, Paschal III. Paschal III died September 20, 1168. Both were anti-popes, the successors of Victor IV, Octavian, with whom began the schismatic opposition to Alexander III. Cf. chap. 91, supra.
[2] Correctly, Ancona.
[3] Christian I, archbishop of Mainz (1165-83).
[4] Toward the end of May. The engagement described here took place May 29, 1167.
[5] Helmold counts, no doubt, both the number slain and the number captured. The pest that followed also claimed many. Cf. Rahewini Gest. Frid., Appendix, an. 1167, in which nearly nine thousand are recorded to have fallen, nearly three thousand to have beencaptured. Cf. Ottonis Morenae . . . Historia Frederici I; Continuatio anonymi, pp. 196-99.
[6] At about the same time. Ancona surrendered in the last days of May or early in June. Cf. Ottonis Morenae . . . Historia Frederici I; Continuatio anonymi, p. 183.
[7] Frederick encamped before Rome July 24, 1167, and conflicts occupied the following days. Calixtus was enthroned two days before the feast, August 1. Cf. ibid., pp. 202-5; Giesebrecht, op. cit., V, 544-46.
[8] Hermnnn, bishop of Verden (1148-67).
[9] Frederick IV of Rothenburg, younger son of Conrad III, enfeoffed with the duchyof Swabia by Frederick in 1152, had married in 1166 Gertrude, the only legitimate daugh-ter Henry the Lion had prior to 1172. Gertrude later married Cnut VI of Denmark. Cf. chap. 110, infra.
[10] Christian I, archbishop of Mainz, and Berthold, duke of Zahringen. Cf. Ann. Palid.,an. 1167; Varrentrapp, Erzbischof Christian I von Mainz, p. 40 n. 1.
[11] Matilda, the oldest daughter of Henry II, was married to Henry the Lion, February 1, 1168, at Minden on the Weser. Cf. Schmeidler (ed.), Helmold, p. 209 n. 3.
[12] The divorce had been granted November at, 1162, at Constance by the anti-pope Victor. Henry the Lion made amends by giving the neighboring monastery of Petershausen five pounds of silver. Giesebrecht, op. cit., V, 347-48. On the nature of the relationship vide Wedekind, Noten zur einigen Geschichtschreiber des deutschen Mitlelallers, I, 177.
107 (11). The Concord of the Princes with the Duke
Not a long interval of time had passed after these occurrences when the Lombards, perceiving that the pillars of the realm had fallen and that the strength of the army had failed, plotted together against the Caesar and purposed to kill him. Divining their guile, he secretly withdrew from Lombardy and returned to Germany. [1] He proclaimed a diet to meet at Bamberg [2] and,
summoning all the princes of Saxony, he accused them of violating the peace and declared that the sedition in Saxony had given the Lombards occasion for defection. And so, after many
delays the dissensions which existed between the princes and the duke yielded, as a result of much prudence and wisdom, to a convention of peace. [3] Everything turned out as the duke wished and, without any loss on his part, he was saved from being encompassed by the princes. The lord archbishop of Hamburg was recalled to his see, but was taken sick and died within a few days. [4] With his death was ended the long standing controversy over the county of Stade, and the duke held possession of it from that time on without any contradiction. Conrad, the bishop of Lubeck, was also through the Caesar’s mediation allowed to return to his diocese, on condition, however, that he give up his former obstinacy and render the duke his just dues. After securing his return through the favor of the duke he was changed into another man, for from what he had suffered he learned to have compassion on his brethren and thereafter was readier in the observance of kindness. No less did he defend the clergy from circumvention by the princes and the mighty, and particularly at the hands of Henry, count of Thuringia, [5] who, fearing neither God nor man, coveted the property of the priests.
When, however, by the dispensation of God, all the turmoil of war gave way to the serene quiet of peace, Widukind of Dasenburg objected to the reconciliation which the princes had declared. Prompt in evil from his very youth, he had always perverted the calling of knighthood to rapine, but that he might not be able to do the wrong which he designed the duke heldnot be able to do the wrong which he designed the duke heldhim very strictly in leash. For once, on being captured andthrown into chains, he had pledged his word for the future to abstain from rapine and to wait in honest obedience on the duke’s commands. [6] But when the storm of war came, he forgot his promise and raged against the duke worse than all the rest. After the others had been reduced to peace, the duke besiegedthis singularly fierce man in his castle of Dasenburg. Since the height of the mountain defied all the assaults of the besiegers and all the power of the machines, the duke called skilled men from Rammelsberg [7] who undertook the difficult and unheard of task of boring into the base of the Dasenberg. By exploring the inner parts of the mountain they discovered the spring fromwhich the defenders of the castle drew water. When theystopped it up, water failed the defenders, and Widukind was obliged to surrender himself and his fortress into the duke’s power. The duke let the others [8] go, and they dispersed, everyman to his own land.
[1] May, 1168.
[2] Frederick issued several summonses to a diet which was to meet at Wurzburg, May 5, May 19, and June 29, 1168. The Saxon princes disregarded the first two summonses but came at the third. At this diet the emperor allayed the Saxon discord. Cf. Ann. Palid., an. 1168; Giesebrecht, Deutsche Kaiserzeit, V, 613-14. According to Albert of Stade (an.1168) the Saxon quarrel was settled at Bomeburg. The Chronica regia Coloniensis (an.1168) indicate that the peace was made in a diet held at Frankfort on the Kalends of June.
[3] Apparently at Wurzburg in July, 1168.
[4] October 11, 1168.
[5] Cf. chap. 103 n. 13, supra.
[6] Apparently in 1157. Cf. Schmeidler (ed.), Helmold, p. 211 n. I. Helmold no doubt
entitles Widukind as of Dasenburg because in this insurrection that castle was the center of
operations; he is more generally known as Widukind of Schwalenberg. Giesebrecht, op. cit.,
V, 615.
[7] In the Harz near Goslar. Cf. Kretschmer, Historische Geographic von Mitteleuropa,
p. 395; Boyce, Mines of the Upper Harz (Chicago, 1920), pp. 14.-19.
[8] Widukind’s garrison. Widukind seems later to have returned into the duke’s favor.
108 (12). Svantovit the Idol of the Rugiani
At that time [1] Waldemar, the king of the Danes, collected a great army and many ships to invade the land of the Rugianiin order to subjugate it to himself. Kazamir and Buggeslav, theprinces of the Pomeranians, and Pribislav, the prince of theAbodrites, helped him because the duke had ordered the Slavs to give aid to the king of the Danes whenever he should turn his hand to the subjugation of foreign nations. Now the work prospered in the hands of the king of the Danes, who obtained the land of the Rugiani with a strong hand, and they gave him for their ransom whatever the king imposed. He had that most ancient image of Svantowit, which was worshiped by every nation of the Slavs, brought out and ordered a rope to be fastened around its neck. Then he commanded that it be dragged through the midst of the army in the sight of the Slavs and that it be hacked to pieces and cast into fire. He destroyed the fane with all its apparatus of worship and plundered the riches of its treasury. He directed the Slavs to renounce the errors in which they had been born and to adopt the worship of the true God. He provided means for the building of churches, and there were erected twelve churches in the land of the Rugiani, and priests were appointed to take care of the people in the things which are of God. There were present on this occasion Bishops Absalon of Roeskilde and Bern of Mecklenburg. They upheld the hand of the king with all diligence, that the worship of the house of our God might be established in a crooked and perverse nation.
Jaremarus, a noble man, was at that time prince of the Rugiani. When he was informed about the worship of the true God and the Catholic faith, he came quickly to be baptized and bade all his people to be reborn with him in holy baptism. On becoming a Christian he in truth was so strong in the faith and so settled in his preaching that he seemed a second Paul, called by Christ. Acting in the capacity of an apostle, partly by assiduous preaching, partly by threats, he converted the folk, rude and savage with bestial madness, from their natural wildness to the religion of a new life.
For of the whole nation of the Slavs, which is divided into provinces and principalities, the Rugian folk alone endured even to our own times more obdurately than the rest in the darkness of infidelity, being inaccessible to all on account of the surrounding sea. [2] A vague report has it that Louis, the son of Charles, had of old dedicated the land of the Rugiani to Saint Vitus in Corvey. Louis was the founder of that monastery. Preachers going out thence are said to have converted the nation of the Rugiani, or Rani, to the faith, and to have founded there an oratory in honor of Vitus, the martyr, to whose veneration the province was dedicated. Afterwards, however, when the Rani, who also are called Rugiani, under changed circumstances strayed out of the light of truth, their error became worse than the first. For the Rani began to worship as God Saint Vitus whom we confess as a servant of God, making a very great image for him, “and served the creature more than the Creator.” [3] So strong did this superstition become among the Rani, that Svantowit, the god of the land of the Rugiani, secured a primacy among all the divinities of the Slavs, as being most illustrious in victories, most efficacious in oracular responses. Hence, too, not only the land of Wagria, but all the provinces of the Slavs, even to our own age sent tribute thither every year in acknowledgment of his being the god of gods. Among the Rugiani the king is held in slight esteem in comparison with the flamen. For the latter divines the responses and ascertains the results of the lots. He depends on the command of the lots, but the king and the people depend on his command.
Among their diverse offerings, too, the priest was accustomed at times to sacrifice a Christian, declaring that the gods were wholly pleased with the blood of such. A few years ago a great multitude of merchants happened to have come together there on account of the fish catch; for in November, when the wind blows strong, many herring are caught there and free access is afforded merchants on condition only that they pay in advance the lawful tribute to the god of the land. A certain Gottschalk, a priest of the Lord from Bardowiek, happened to be there at the time, having been invited to do the things which are of God for the great number of people. [4] This fact did not long remain hidden from the barbarian priest and, summoning the king andhis people, he announced that the gods were very much angered and that there was no other way of placating them than by theblood of the priest who had presumed to offer a strange sacrifice among them. The astonished barbarian folk then called together all the merchants and asked that the priest be delivered to them, that he might be offered as a propitiatory sacrificeto their god. When the Christians objected, the Rugiani offered one hundred marks as a bribe. Since this proposition came to naught, the Rugiani turned to the use of force and threatenedon the following day to declare war. As their ships were then already well laden with the catch, the merchants started that night on their voyage and, unfurling their sails to favorable winds, both they and the priest escaped the atrocious danger.
Although the hatred of the Christian name and the tinder of superstition abides more fiercely among the Rani than amongthe other Slavs, they are distinguished by many natural gifts. For there prevails among them an abundance of hospitality, andthey show due honor to their parents. There is not a needy per-son or a beggar to be found in their midst at any time. As soon as infirmity or age has made any of them frail or decrepit, he is committed to the charge of his heir to be cared for with theutmost kindness. Regard for hospitality and respect for parentsstand as prime virtues among the Slavs. The land of the Rugiani, furthermore, is rich in crops, fish, and game. The principal stronghold of the land is called Arkona.
[1] Statements differ as to the date of this expedition; it is 1168 on the basis of what
Helmold says in the chapter following, but the Annales Lundenses record it as of the year
1167, the Annales Magdeburgenses as of the year 1169, the Annates Ryenses and the
Annales Danici Colbazienses as of the year 1170, and the account by Saxo Grammaticus,
MGH. SS. XXIXC, 121 sqq. fits the year 1169 better than 1168. Cf. Schmeidler (ed.), Hel-
mold, p. 211 n. 6.
[2] Helmold here repeats matter and even expressions which he used in earlier chapters,
particularly chapters 6, 36, 52, supra.
[3] Rom. 1:25.
[4] The visiting; merchants.
109 (13). The Changing of the Body and Blood
Thus in the year of the Incarnate Word 1168 was establishedthe work of the new plantation in the land of the Rugiani, andchurches were erected and distinguished by the presence of the priests. The Rugiani served the king of the Danes, paying tribute, and he took the sons of the nobles as hostages and led them off with him into his own country. These things were done while the Saxons were engaged in their civil wars. However, as soon as the Lord had restored peace the duke at once sent messengers to the king of the Danes, asking for hostages and half of the tribute which the Rani were paying because it had been agreed and established under oath [1] that the duke was to give aid to the king of the Danes no matter what peoples he should wish to conquer, and by partaking in the effort was to become also a sharer of the profit. When the king refused and the messengers returned without having accomplished their mission, the duke was moved to anger. He summoned the princes of the Slavs and bade them take vengeance on the Danes. They were called and they said: “Here we are.” [2] With joy they obeyed him who sent them. The bars and doors with which the sea had been closed were moved away; and it burst forth, surged, poured over, and threatened with destruction the many islands and the coastal regions of the Danes. The Slavs restored their pirate ships and seized opulent islands in the land of the Danes. They were, after their long abstinence, filled with the riches of the Danes; they grew fat, I say, thick, gross! I have heard it said that on a market day at Mecklenburg captive Danes to the number of seven hundred souls were counted, all for sale if buyers enough could be found.
Signs, moreover, had declared this great and destructive misfortune. As a certain priest in the land of the Danes, which is called Alsen, stood at the holy altar and lifted up the chalice to partake of the host, behold he saw what appeared to be flesh and blood in the chalice. When he had at length recovered from his fear he went to the bishop, not daring to consume what was of unusual appearance, and there he produced the chalice to be looked upon in an assembly of the clergy. While many declared that this had been done by Heaven to confirm the faith of the people, the bishop interpreted it in a higher sense— that grave tribulation threatened the Church and that the blood of Christian people would be freely shed. For as often as the blood of martyrs is poured out Christ is crucified again in his members. The words of the prophet did not fail. Fourteen days had hardly gone by when the army of the Slavs came on, seized all that land, overturned the churches, made captive the people and, in truth, with the edge of the sword slew all who resisted.
For a long time the king of the Danes, unmindful of the ruin of his folk, remained inactive. The kings of the Danes, dilatory and dissolute, always drunk between their rounds of feasting, sometimes are hardly aware of the strokes of the wounds. [3] At length aroused from his sleep, as it were, the king of Denmark collected an army and smote a small part of the Circipanian region. [4] A son of the king, named Christopher, born of a concubine, also came with a thousand mailed men, as they say, to Oldenburg, which in Danish is called Brandenhuse, [5] and ravaged along its coast. But they did not harm the church in which the priest Bruno ministered, and they did not in the slightest touch the priest’s property. [6] As the Danes withdrew the Slavs followed upon their heels, making good their losses with ten-fold vengeance. Now Denmark is for the most part dispersed over islands around which the sea flows. The wiles of the pirates cannot easily be guarded against for the reason that the recesses there afford the Slavs excellent hiding places; thence they sally unnoticed to attack the unwary from ambush. The Slavs are exceedingly skilled in making clandestine attacks. Hence, also, predatory habits have until this present age been so strong among them that they have always turned their hands to the fitting out of naval expeditions to the utter neglect of the advantages of agriculture. The ships are their only hope and the sum total of their wealth. They do not even take pains in the construction of their houses; nay rather, they make them of plaited withes, only taking counsel of necessity against storms and rains. Whenever the tumult of battle resounds, they hide in trenches all their threshed grain, also their gold and silver and whatever is valuable; they safeguard their wives and children in strongholds, or at least in the woods. Nothing but their huts, the loss of which they regard as very slight, is exposed to the plundering of the enemy. They think nothing of the attacks of the Danes; in fact, they esteem it play to measure arms with them. [7] They fear only the duke who has worn down the strength of the Slavs more than all the dukes that were before him, much more than he who was called Otto. [8] The duke has put the bridle in their jaws [9] and he leads them wherever he wishes. He declares peace and they obey; he orders war and they say, “Here we are.”
[1] Cf. chap. 102, supra.
[2] Bar. 3:34; Job 38:35.
[3] Cf. Isa. 30: 26.
[4] Perhaps 1171, as the Knytlingasaga seems to indicate. MGH. SS. XXIX, 315. Cf. Saxo Grammaticus, ibid., XXIX, 142.
[5] Saxo Grammaticus has it Brammeseos. Ibid., XXIX, 140.
[6] Cf. chap. 84, supra.
[7] Peisker, Cambridge Medieval History, II, 456-57, cites this passage in illustration of the viking admixture among the Baltic Slavs. This passage applies, however, not merely to the men of Rugen, the Rugiani, as Peisker implies, but particularly to the Slavs under the jurisdiction of Henry the Lion. Cf. Widukind, Rerum gest. Sax., ii, 20.
[8] Possibly Otto the Illustrious, died 912, father of Henry I, the Fowler.
[9] Cf. Isa. 30: 28.
110 (14). The Reconciliation of the King of the Danes with the Duke
When he contemplated the misfortune of his people, the king of the Danes saw, at length, that peace is good, and he sent messengers to the most valiant duke, asking that he be vouchsafed opportunity for a friendly conference on the Eider. [1] The duke came accordingly to the place in which the king desired the conference on the feast of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist. [2] The king of the Danes met him and showed himself favorably disposed to the duke’s every wish. He conceded the latter a moiety of the tribute and of the hostages which the Rani had given and a like portion of the treasure from the fane; the king devoutly complied with each and every one of the demands which the duke saw fit to exact. Friendship was renewed between
them, and the Slavs were for the future restrained from making attacks upon Denmark. And the countenances of the Slavs became very sorrowful because of the agreement of the princes. The duke sent his messengers along with the king’s messengers into the land of the Rani and the Rani served him, paying tribute.
The king of the Danes also asked the duke to give his daughter, the widow of Frederick, the most noble prince of Rothenburg, as wife to his son who had already been designated king. [3] On the advice of the great princes, the duke consented and sent his daughter into the kingdom of the Danes. Then there was great gladness among all the people of the northern nations; cheer and peace began at the same time. The icy cold of the north gave way to the mildness of the south wind; the harassing of the sea stopped and the tempestuous storms abated. Now the way was safe for those who passed between Denmark and Slavia; women and little children walked over it because hindrances were removed and robbers disappeared from the road. For all the country of the Slavs, beginning at the Eider which is the boundary of the kingdom of the Danes, and extending between the Baltic Sea and the Elbe River in a most lengthy sweep to Schwerin, a region once feared for its ambuscades and almost deserted, was now through the help of God all made, as it were, into one colony of Saxons. And cities and villages grew up there and churches were built and the number of the ministers of Christ multiplied.
Since he saw that there was no advantage in his kicking against the pricks, [4] Pribislav also gave up his obstinate and long-drawn-out rebelliousness and remained quiet and contented with the portion that was his lot. He built the strongholds of Mecklenburg, Ilow, and Rostock, and settled the Slavic people within their territories. Because Slavic robbers disquieted the Germans who lived in Schwerin and in its district, Guncelin, the prefect of the fortress, a brave man and a vassal of the duke, [5] ordered his men to catch and forthwith to put to death by hanging any Slavs they found roaming the byways for no evident reason. Thus the Slavs were prevented from thieving and robbery.
[1] Saxo Grammaticus, MGH. SS. XXIX, 140, 143, speaks twice about a conferenceon the Eider River, but whether there were two conferences or one is still matter of dispute. Cf. Schmeidler (ed.), Helmold, p. 217 n. 5.
[2] June 24, 1171?
[3] Cnut VI. Cf. chap. 106 n. 9, supra; Alb. Stad., an. 1171; Chron. regia Colon., an. 1172.
[4] Cf. Acts 9:5; 26:14.
[5] Helmold nowhere gives Guncelin the title of count although he appears as such in
documents after 1167. Cf. Schmeidler (ed.), op. cit., 218 n. 4.
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