A heathen in your tree? Niklot of the Obotrites.
Leo van de Pas
the House of Mecklenburg, were of Germanic origins.
Niklot, Lord of The Obotrites, was killed in battle in August 1160.
As far as I know, of his family only his son and heir, Przybyslaw,
is recorded. (Hope I am wrong)
Surrounded by Christians, Niklot and his tribe, the Wenden, had
remained faithful to the old religion. In 1147, before Emperor Konrad II,
Bernard of Clairvaux wanted to prepare the Empire for a crusade to
the Middle East. However, the German princes were not prepared to go
while there were still infidels living within Germany. Bernard of
Clairvaux decided the Southern German princes should go on the crusade
while the northern German princes would attack the Wenden.
Heinrich the Lion of Saxony and Albrecht of Brandenburg set out with
their armies towards the Wenden. However, they were forewarned;
so secretly they prepared a fleet and, on 26 June 1147, conquered
and plundered the city of Lubeck, killing more than 3,000 people.
Rich with their booty, they returned home to await their attackers.
The 'crusaders' approached by land under the Duke of Saxony with a fleet
of Danish ships giving them support as well as hoping to prevent the
Wenden from escaping by sea. Niklot asked the citizens of the city of
Rugen for support and, when they attacked, the Danish fleet was almost
entirely lost while the remainder hurried home. The Saxons besieged
the castle Dobin which, being built in a marsh, was almost unassailable.
After Niklot promised to free the captured Danes and allow Christian
missionaries into Mecklenburg, Heinrich the Lion was only too happy
to retreat. Albrecht of Brandenburg together with his 60,000 crusaders
destroyed the castle Malchow with its heathen temple and besieged the
city of Demmin; but after three months he had to retreat and return to
Brandenburg.
In 1159 Niklot promised Heinrich the Lion to keep the peace with the
Danes and Saxons while Heinrich went to Italy to be with the Emperor
Friedrich Barbarossa. However, small bands intruded into Denmark after
which the Danish king Waldemar, together with Heinrich the Lion,
attacked the Wenden and Waldemar captured the castle of Rostock.
Niklot, concentrating on the defence, sacrificed the castles of Schwerin,
Dobin, Mecklenburg and Ilow by putting them to fire and retreating to
Werle. Niklot was killed in a small skirmish and his death meant the
end of the independence of the Wenden.
Niklot
-1160
I
Przybyslaw
1120-1178
I
Heinrich Burwin I, Furst von Mecklenburg
1150-1227
I
Heinrich Burwin II co-regent of Mecklenburg
1170-1226
I
Johann I Furst zu Mecklenburg & Wismar
1211-1264
I
Heinrich I the Pilgrim, Furst zu Mecklenburg
1230-1302
I
Heinrich II the Lion, Furst zu Mecklenburg
1266-1329
I
Albrecht II Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
1318-1379
I
Ingeburg of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
I
Gerhard VI, Count von Holstein, Duke of Schleswig
I
Heilwig von Holstein
1400-1436
I
Christian I, King of Denmark
1426-1481
I
Margaret/Margrethe of Denmark
1456-1486
I
James IV
King of Scots
1473-1513
Best wishes
Leo van de Pas
KWhi...@aol.com
Thanks so much for the info on Niklot. He is in my tree. This is what I find
so fascinating. Please keep the tidbits coming.
Regards,
Ky
Wet in Houston
Doug Holmes
Great story.
I find it interesting that Niklot's son has a Slavic name. Does this come
from his maternal or paternal side? Or is it a name given to him by Slavic
writers and just sticks to him like "John of Gaunt" by Shakespeare?
Maybe I'm just uninformed and the Wends (I assume that's the Wenden you're
talking about) are Slavic. I seem to recall reading that, vaguely. Niklot
just doesn't seem to be a Slavic name, though.
I'm sure that if anyone can add to this it is our list friend Mr. Prinke.
Doug Holmes
Sacramento, CA
At 07:11 17.9.1998 -0700, Leo van de Pas wrote:
>Of the Royal Houses in the Germanic lands most, with the exceptions of
>the House of Mecklenburg, were of Germanic origins.
>
>Niklot, Lord of The Obotrites, was killed in battle in August 1160.
>As far as I know, of his family only his son and heir, Przybyslaw,
>is recorded. (Hope I am wrong)
>
.........
Leo van de Pas
was extracted from the genealogy in my computer. The story was better
detailed. As the brother had no genealogical importance I had not entered
him as yet and overlooked him. Przybislaw and Wertislaw were full brothers
as far as I can see. The information I present in regards of these
Mecklenburgs I have translated from Dutch sources and others. When I have
entered the last one of these I will give a bibliography. Don't forget
the mother of the present Queen of the Netherlands can be regarded to
be a Mecklenburg, which explains why over this century there has been a
lot of interest in The Netherlands into the history of Mecklenburg.
Sadly the main source, from which these earliest members of this family
are extracted, does not go into the customs of the Wenden. Yes, Niklot was
a heathen, and if I understand correctly, so was his son and grandson.
However, the son and grandson converted, an explanation is given by
the grandson that it is assumed his heathen name was Burwin and then,
after conversion, called himself Heinrich Burwin. Interesting that quite
recently a member of this family was named Heinrich Borwin.
Best wishes
Leo van de Pas
At 03:43 AM 9/18/98 GMT, you wrote:
>
>
>Leo van de Pas <leov...@iinet.net.au> wrote in article
><1.5.4.32.1998091...@mail.iinet.net.au>...
>> Of the Royal Houses in the Germanic lands most, with the exceptions of
>> the House of Mecklenburg, were of Germanic origins.
>>
>> Niklot, Lord of The Obotrites, was killed in battle in August 1160.
>> As far as I know, of his family only his son and heir, Przybyslaw,
>> is recorded. (Hope I am wrong)
>>
>and
>>
>> After his father's death, Pribislav and his younger brother, Wertislav,
>> together with their families, had to flee, but only after the castle
>> Werle had been burned down. The brothers were hiding in the woods while
>> their families were safe on board a ship. After a while, Heinrich the
>> Lion returned only some of their lands.
>
>and
>
>> Presumed born before 1150, which indicates that Burwin was his heathen
>> name, he received the name Heinrich on baptism. When his father died in
>> 1178, the inheritance was disputed by his cousin, Niklot.
>
>Thank you for a fascinating series. I've never looked into the origins of
>the Mecklenburgs, so these questions are purely based on your mailings:
>
>Can I fill in the missing pieces as follows:
>
>1) Niklot I (killed 1160) in fact had at least TWO sons, not one -- or
>else Przybyslaw and Wertislav were uterine brothers? What do we know of
>heathen Wendish marriage customs -- any room for polyandry or acceptance of
>female promiscuity?
>
>2) Niklot II was the son of Wertislav?
>
>3) He was a heathen?
>
>Chris
>
>
