Obotrites
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The Obotrites (German: Abodriten, Polish: Obodryci) were a group of Slavic peoples related to the Wends. After the 6th century they settled in Magna Germania in the regions later known as Mecklenburg and Holstein in northern central Germany, in what is now north-eastern Germany. Because of their links to other neighbouring Slavic ethnic groups they are regarded as a sub-group of Polabian Slavs. The Obotrites are also known in English as Abodrites or Obodrites, and were similar to the Wagrians.
Contolling such trade emporia as Reric and Wolin, the Obotrites were involved in wars (800-1200) with Danish kings seeking supremacy in the Baltic region. In the meantime, German missionaries (such as St Vicelinus) had converted the Obotrites to Christianity.
The Obotrites alternately fought with and were tributary to the Frankish kings and their successors in the East. At times they collected tributes from the Danes and Saxons. In common with other Slavic groups, they were often described by Frankish sources as Wends.
Finally in 1170 they acknowledged the suzerainty of the Holy Roman Empire. After that the region underwent rapid Germanisation. However, up to the late 15th century, most villagers in the Obotrite area were still speaking Slavic dialects (Polabian language); but some time after that their language changed to German.
The German poet Johann Heinrich Voss (1751-1826) born in Mecklenburg-Strelitz, liked to identify himself as an Obotrite to emphasize his Slavic heritage. Obodrits were sufficiently remote and obscure to appeal to the nascent ethnic identifications of Romanticism.
Part of the Obotrites also migrated to the south and settled in the Pannonian Plain, where the Bodrogiensis county of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary was named after them.
[edit] See also
da:Obotritter de:Abodriten (Volk) fr:Abodrites mk:Ободрити no:Obotrittere pl:Obodryci pt:Abroditas ru:Бодричи sr:Бодрићи
