View source for Vends

{{short description|Baltic tribe}}
{{Distinguish|Wends}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{Expand Latvian|Vendi (Livonija)|date=July 2018}}
{{Expand Estonian|Võndlased|date=July 2018}}
{{Expand Russian|Венды (Ливония)|date=September 2016}}
}}
{{History of Latvia}}

The '''Vends''' ({{langx|la|wendi}}; {{langx|lv|vendi}}; {{langx|et|võndlased, võnnulased, vendid}}) were a [[Balto-Finnic people]] that lived between the 12th to 16th centuries in the area around the town of Wenden (now [[Cēsis]]) in present-day north-central [[Latvia]].

According to the ''[[Livonian Chronicle of Henry]]'', prior to their arrival in the area of Wenden in the 12th century, the Vends were settled in [[Ventava]] county ({{langx|la|Wynda}})<ref>[http://www.dmgh.de/de/fs2/object/display/bsb00000734_00109.html?sortIndex=010%3A070%3A0031%3A010%3A00%3A00&zoom=1.50&html=true Heinrici Chronicon Livoniae, X.14.]: ''Wendi autem humiles erant eo tempore et pauperes utpote a Winda repulsi, qui est fluvius Curonie, et habitantes in Monte Antiquo, iuxta quem 1206.''</ref> by the [[Venta River]] near the present city of [[Ventspils]] in western Latvia. Their proximity to more numerous Finnic and [[Baltic languages|Baltic]] tribes inclined the Vends to ally with the German [[Northern Crusades|crusaders]], who began building a stone castle near the older Vendian wooden fortress in 1207. The castle of Wenden later became the residence of the Master of the [[Livonian Order]]. The last known record of the Vends' existence as a distinct entity dates from the sixteenth century.

== Origin ==
[[Henry of Latvia]] made the first surviving mention of the Vends as they were chased away from [[Courland]] and Christianized by Germans during [[Livonian Crusade]] of 1198–1290.<ref>
{{cite book |title=Foreword to the Past |last=Bojtár |first=Endre |year=1999 |publisher=Central European University Press |isbn= 9789639116429 |page=87 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=5aoId7nA4bsC&pg=PA87&dq }}</ref> Traditionally, researchers believe that Vends spoke a [[Finnic languages|Finnic]] language and were related to the neighboring [[Livonian people|Livonians]]. They are sometimes associated with the Western Slavic [[Wends]].<ref>[https://archive.today/20120716214351/http://drevnosti.rod1.org/the-slavic-antiquities/48-books/76-slavs-in-antiquity-by-valentin-v-sedov-summary-of-the-book В. В. Седов. Славяне в древности. Москва, 1994 (Summary in English)] </ref>

== Legacy ==
Vends may have a connection with the national [[flag of Latvia]]. The ''[[Livonian Rhymed Chronicle]]'' ({{lang|de|Livländische Reimchronik}}) states that in 1290 when the local militia was recruited to defend [[Riga]], they came from Wenden with "a Latvian red banner crossed by white, in the manner of the Vends/of the Wenden" ({{lang|de|nâch wendischen siten}}).<ref>[http://www.old.historia.lv/alfabets/A/AT/atskanu_hronika/hronikas_teksts/09038_10040.vacu.htm Livlädische Reimchronik] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141215035451/http://www.old.historia.lv/alfabets/A/AT/atskanu_hronika/hronikas_teksts/09038_10040.vacu.htm |date=2014-12-15 }}: ''die quâmen hovelîchen dar / mit einer banier rôtgevar,/ daß was mit wîße durch gesniten/ hûte nâch wendischen siten./ Wenden ist ein burc genant,/ von den die banier wart bekant,/ und ist in Letten lant gelegen,/ dâ die vrowen rîtens pflegen/ nâch den siten, als die man./ vor wâr ich ûch daß sagen kan,/ die banier der Letten ist.'' (09223-09233)</ref>

== See also ==
*[[Vistula Veneti]]
*[[Wends]]
*[[Lechites]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Historical ethnic groups of Europe]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Latvia]]
[[Category:Ancient Slavic peoples]]
[[Category:Wenden Voivodeship]]
[[Category:Lechites]]
[[Category:Wendland]]