View source for Wends

{{short description|Historical term for Slavs}}
{{distinguish|Vends}}
[[File:Limes.saxoniae.wmt.png|thumb|230px|The ''[[Limes Saxoniae]]'' border between the [[Saxons]] and the Lechites [[Obotrites]], established about 810 in present-day [[Schleswig-Holstein]]]]
[[File:Blaeu 1645 - Germaniae veteris typus.jpg|right|230px|thumb|''Germaniae veteris typus'' (Old Germany). [[Aestui]], [[Vistula Venedi|Venedi]], [[Goths|Gythones]] and [[Ingaevones]] are visible on the right upper corner of the map. Edited by Willem and [[Joan Blaeu]], 1645.]]

'''Wends'''{{efn|{{langx|la|Venedi}} {{IPA|la|ˈwɛnɛdiː|}}; {{langx|ang|Winedas}} {{IPA|ang|ˈwinedɑs|}}; {{langx|non|Vindar}}; {{langx|de|Wenden}} {{IPA|de|ˈvɛndn̩|}} / {{lang|de|Winden}} {{IPA|de|ˈvɪndn̩|}}; {{langx|da|Vendere}} {{IPA|da|ˈvene̝ʁə|}}; {{langx|sv|Vender}} {{IPA|sv|ˈvɛnːˌdɛ̠r|}}; {{langx|lt|Vendai}} {{IPA|lt|ˈvʲændɐɪ̯|}}; {{langx|pl|Wendowie}} {{IPA|pl|vɛnˈdɔvʲɛ|}}; {{langx|cs|Wendové}} {{IPA|cs|ˈvɛndovɛː|}}}} is a historical name for [[Slavs]] who inhabited present-day northeast Germany. It refers not to a homogeneous people, but to various people, tribes or groups depending on where and when it was used. In the modern day, communities identifying as Wendish exist in [[Slovenia]], [[Austria]], [[Lusatia]], the [[United States]] (such as the [[Wends of Texas|Texas Wends]]),<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://texaswendish.org/2010/01/01/who-are-the-wends/|title = Who Are the Wends?|date = January 2010}}</ref> and in [[Australia]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wendishheritage.org.au/research/migration-to-australia/history-of-migration/|title = History of Migration}}</ref>

In [[German-speaking Europe]] during the [[Middle Ages]], the term "Wends" was interpreted as synonymous with "Slavs" and sporadically used in literature to refer to [[West Slavs]] and [[South Slavs]] living within the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. The name has possibly survived in [[Finnic languages]] ({{Langx|fi|Venäjä}} {{IPA|fi|ˈʋenæjæ|}}; {{langx|et|Vene}} {{IPA|et|ˈvene|}}; {{langx|krl|Veneä}}), denoting modern [[Russia]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Historical Linguistics |last=Campbell |first=Lyle |year=2004 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=0-262-53267-0 |page=418 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EjXrrOJhex8C&pg=PA418 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Foreword to the Past |last=Bojtár |first=Endre |year=1999 |publisher=Central European University Press |isbn=9639116424 |page=88 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5aoId7nA4bsC&pg=PA88 }}</ref>

==Term==
[[File:Germanische und slavische Volksstaemme zwischen Elbe und Weichsel.jpg|thumb|300px|right|''[[Sorbian March|Limes sorabicus]]'': the [[Sorbian settlement area]] bordering [[East Francia]] on a map of [[medieval Germany]] (''Germanische und slavische Volksstämme zwischen Elbe und Weichsel'', 1869)]]

According to one theory, [[Germanic peoples]] first applied this name to the [[Vistula Veneti|ancient Veneti]].
For the [[North Germanic peoples|medieval Scandinavians]], the term Wends (''Vender'') meant Slavs living near the southern shore of the [[Baltic Sea]] (''Vendland''), and the term was therefore used to refer to [[Polabian Slavs]] like the [[Obotrites]], [[Rani (Slavic tribe)|Rugian Slavs]], [[Veleti]]/[[Lutici]], and [[Pomeranians (Slavic tribe)|Pomeranian tribes]].

For people living in the medieval Northern [[Holy Roman Empire]] and its precursors, especially for the [[Saxons]], a Wend (''Wende'') was a Slav living in the area west of the River [[Oder]], an area later entitled ''[[Germania Slavica]]'', settled by the Polabian Slav tribes (mentioned above) in the north and by others, such as the [[Sorbs]] and the [[Milceni]], further south (see [[Sorbian March]]).

The Germans in the south used the term ''Winde'' instead of ''Wende'' and applied it, just as the Germans in the north, to Slavs they had contact with; e.g., the Polabians from ''[[Bavaria Slavica]]'' or the [[Slovenes]] (the names [[Windic March]], [[Slovenska Bistrica|Windisch Feistritz]], [[Windischgraz]], or Windisch Bleiberg near [[Ferlach]] still bear testimony to this historical denomination). The same term was sometimes applied to the neighboring region of [[Slavonia]], which appears as Windischland in some documents prior to the 18th century.

Following the 8th century, the [[Frankish kingdom|Frankish kings]] and their successors organised nearly all Wendish land into [[marches]]. This process later turned into the series of [[Crusades]]. By the 12th century, all Wendish lands had become part of the Holy Roman Empire. In the course of the [[Ostsiedlung]], which reached its peak in the 12th to 14th centuries, this land was settled by [[Germans]] and reorganised.

Due to the process of [[Germanisation|assimilation following German settlement]], many Slavs west of the Oder adopted the [[German culture]] and [[German language|language]]. Only some rural communities which did not have a strong admixture with Germans and continued to use [[West Slavic languages]] were still termed ''Wends''. With the gradual decline of the use of these local Slavic tongues, the term ''Wends'' slowly disappeared, too.

Today, only one group of ''Wends'' still exists: the [[Lusatia]]n [[Sorbs]] in present-day Eastern Germany, with international diaspora.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://texaswendish.org/museum/|title = Museum|date = 29 January 2015}}</ref>

==Roman-era Veneti==
{{main|Veneti (Slavs)}}

The term "Wends" derived from the Roman-era people called in {{langx|la|[[Veneti (Slavs)|Venetī]]}}, {{lang|la|Venethī}} {{IPA|la|ˈwɛnɛt̪ʰiː|}} or {{lang|la|Venedī}} {{IPA|la|ˈwɛnɛd̪iː|}}; in {{langx|grc|Οὐενέδαι|Ouenédai}} {{IPA|grc|uːenéd̪ai̯|}}. This people is mentioned by [[Pliny the Elder]] and [[Ptolemy]] as inhabiting the Baltic coast.

==History==

===Rise (500–1000)===
In the 1st millennium AD, during the [[Slavs|Slavic]] migrations which split the Slavs into Southern, Eastern and Western groups, some [[West Slavs]] moved into the areas between the Rivers Elbe and Oder - moving from east to west and from south to north. There they assimilated the remaining [[Germanic peoples#History|Germanic]] population that had not left the area in the [[Migration period]].<ref>[[Sebastian Brather|Brather, Sebastian]] (2004). "[https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00112980 The beginnings of Slavic settlement east of the river Elbe]". ''Antiquity'', Volume 78, Issue 300. pp. 314–329</ref> Their German neighbours adapted the term they had been using for peoples east of the River Elbe before to the Slavs, calling them ''Wends'' as they called the ''Venedi'' before and probably the ''[[Vandals]]'' as well. In his late sixth century work ''[[History of Armenia (book)|History of Armenia]]'', [[Movses Khorenatsi]] mentions their raids into the lands named Vanand after them.<ref>Istorija Armenii Mojseja Horenskogo, II izd. Per. N. O. Emina, M., 1893, s.55-56.</ref>

The Wends are mentioned in Fredegar IV.74–75. The lived east of the river Elbe and were neighbours of the Saxons. The Saxons paid tribute to the Merovingian Kingdom since Chlothar I (511–561). They had to pay 500 cows yearly and had the obligation to guard the sector of the Frankish border against the Wends. However, the Saxons broke their oath under Dagobert I which resulted in frequent raids of Wends into Frankish territory and spreading out over Thuringia and other territory. The Saxon duplicity is one of the reasons for future military campaigns against them by the Carolingians, especially Charles Martel and Charlemagne.

While the Wends were arriving in so-called ''Germania Slavica'' as large homogeneous groups, they soon divided into a variety of small tribes, with large strips of woodland separating one tribal settlement area from another. Their tribal names were derived from local place names, sometimes adopting the Germanic tradition (e.g. [[Heveller]] from ''Havel'', [[Rani (Slavic tribe)|Rujanes]] from [[Rugians]]). Settlements were secured by round ''burghs'' made of wood and clay, where either people could retreat in case of a raid from the neighbouring tribe or used as military strongholds or outposts.

Some tribes unified into larger, duchy-like units. For example, the [[Obotrites]] evolved from the unification of the ''[[Holstein]]'' and Western ''[[Mecklenburg]]'' tribes led by mighty dukes known for their raids into German [[Old Saxony|Saxony]]. The [[Lutici]] were an alliance of tribes living between Obotrites and Pomeranians. They did not unify under a duke, but remained independent. Their leaders met in the temple of [[Rethra]].

In 983, many Wend tribes participated in a great uprising against the [[Holy Roman Empire]], which had previously established Christian missions, German colonies and German administrative institutions (''Marken'' such as ''[[Northern March|Nordmark]]'' and ''[[Billungermark]]'') in pagan Wendish territories. The uprising was successful and the Wends delayed Germanisation for about two centuries.

Wends and Danes had early and continuous contact including settlement, first and mainly through the closest South Danish islands of [[Møn]], [[Lolland]] and [[Falster]], all having place-names of Wendish origin{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}. There were also trading and settlement outposts by Danish towns as important as Roskilde, when it was the capital: 'Vindeboder' (Wends' booths) is the name of a city neighbourhood there. Danes and Wends also fought wars due to piracy and crusading.<ref>{{cite web |title=Venderne og Danmark |url=http://static.sdu.dk/mediafiles//Files/Om_SDU/Institutter/Ihks/Projekter/Middelalderstudier/Venderne_og_Danmark.pdf |archive-date=November 16, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121116144129/http://static.sdu.dk/mediafiles//Files/Om_SDU/Institutter/Ihks/Projekter/Middelalderstudier/Venderne_og_Danmark.pdf }}</ref>

===Decline (1000–1200)===
{{Main|Wendish Crusade}}
After their successes in 983 the Wends came under increasing pressure from Germans, [[Denmark|Danes]] and [[Polish people|Poles]]. The Poles invaded [[Pomerania]] several times. The Danes often raided the Baltic shores (and, in turn, the Wends often raided the raiders). The Holy Roman Empire and its [[margrave]]s tried to restore their marches.

In 1068/69, a German expedition took and destroyed [[Rethra]], one of the major pagan Wend temples. The Wendish religious centre shifted to [[Cape Arkona|Arkona]] thereafter. In 1124 and 1128, the Pomeranians and some Lutici were baptised. In 1147, the ''[[Wendish Crusade|Wend crusade]]'' took place in what is today north-eastern Germany.

This did not, however, affect the Wendish people in today's [[Saxony]], where a relatively stable co-existence of German and Slavic inhabitants as well as close dynastic and diplomatic cooperation of Wendish and German nobility had been achieved. (See: Wiprecht of Groitzsch).

In 1168, during the [[Northern Crusades]], [[Denmark]] mounted a crusade led by Bishop [[Absalon]] and King [[Valdemar I of Denmark|Valdemar the Great]] against the [[Rani (Slavic tribe)|Wends of Rugia]] in order to convert them to Christianity. The crusaders [[Siege of Arkona|captured and destroyed Arkona]], the Wendish temple-fortress, and tore down the statue of the Wendish god [[Svetovid|Svantevit]]. With the capitulation of the Rugian Wends, the last independent pagan Wends were defeated by the surrounding Christian feudal powers.

From the 12th to the 14th centuries, Germanic settlers moved into the Wendish lands in large numbers, transforming the area's culture from a Slavic to a Germanic one. Local dukes and monasteries invited settlers to repopulate farmlands devastated in the wars, as well as to cultivate new farmlands from the expansive woodlands and heavy soils, with the use of iron-based agricultural tools that had developed in Western Europe. Concurrently, a large number of new towns were created under [[German town law]] with the introduction of legally enforced markets, contracts and property rights. These developments over two centuries were collectively known as the {{Lang|de|[[Ostsiedlung]]}} (German eastward expansion). A minority of Germanic settlers moved beyond the Wendish territory into Hungary, Bohemia and Poland, where they were generally welcomed for their skills in farming and craftsmanship.

The [[Polabian language]] was spoken in the central area of [[Lower Saxony]] and in [[Brandenburg]] until around the 17th or 18th century.<ref>[[Harry van der Hulst]]. ''Word Prosodic Systems in the Languages of Europe.'' Walter de Gruyter. 1999. p. 837.</ref><ref>[[Britannica Online Encyclopedia]]. [http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/335581/Lekhitic-languages#ref32572 Lekhitic languages]. {{Retrieved| access-date=2013-03-09}}</ref> The German population assimilated most of the Wends, meaning that they disappeared as an ethnic minority - except for the [[Sorbs]]. Yet many place names and some family names in eastern Germany still show Wendish origins today. Also, the [[Duke of Mecklenburg|Dukes of Mecklenburg]], of [[Principality of Rügen|Rügen]] and of [[Dukes of Pomerania|Pomerania]] had Wendish ancestors.

Between 1540 and 1973, the kings of [[Sweden]] were officially called ''kings of the [[Swedish people|Swedes]], the [[King of the Goths|Goths]] and the [[King of the Wends|Wends]]'' ({{Langx|la|Suecorum, Gothorum et Vandalorum Rex}}; {{Langx|sv|Svears, Götes och Wendes Konung}}). After the Danish monarch [[Queen Margrethe II]] chose not to use these titles in 1972 the {{as of | 2013 | alt = current}} Swedish monarch, [[Carl XVI Gustaf]] also chose only to use the title King of Sweden" ({{Lang|sv|Sveriges Konung}}), thereby changing an age-old tradition.

From the Middle Ages, the kings of [[Denmark]] and of [[Denmark–Norway]] used the titles ''King of the [[King of the Wends|Wends]]'' (from 1362) and ''[[King of the Goths|Goths]]'' (from the 12th century). The use of both titles was discontinued in 1973.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://lagen.nu/1973:702 |title=Kungl. Maj:ts kungörelse med anledning av konung Gustaf VI Adolfs frånfälle |publisher=Lagen.nu |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140712202406/https://lagen.nu/1973:702 |archive-date=12 July 2014}}</ref>

==Legacy==

The Wendish people co-existed with the German settlers for centuries and became gradually assimilated into the German-speaking culture.

The [[Golden Bull of 1356]] (one of the constitutional foundations of the German-Roman Empire) explicitly recognised in its Art. 31 that the German-Roman Empire was a multi-national entity with "diverse nations distinct in customs, manner of life, and in language".<ref name="CharlesIVGB">Charles IV, Golden Bull of 1356 (full text English translation) [http://avalon.law.yale.edu/medieval/golden.asp translated into English], Yale</ref> For that it stipulated "the sons, or heirs and successors of the illustrious prince electors, ... since they are expected in all likelihood to have naturally acquired the German language, ... shall be instructed in the grammar of the Italian and Slavic (i.e. Wendish) tongues, beginning with the seventh Year of their age."<ref name="CharlesIVGB"/>

Many geographical names in [[Central Germany (cultural area)|Central Germany]] and northern Germany can be traced back to a Slavic origin. Typical Slavic endings include -itz, -itzsch and -ow. They can be found in city names such as [[Delitzsch]] and [[Rochlitz]]. Even names of major cities like [[Leipzig]] and [[Berlin]] are most likely of Wendish origin.

Today, the only remaining minority people of Wendish origin, the [[Sorbs]], maintain their traditional languages and culture and enjoy cultural [[self-determination]] exercised through the [[Domowina]]. The third [[minister president]] of Saxony [[Stanislaw Tillich]] (2008–2017) is of Sorbian origin, being the first head of a German federal state with an ethnic minority background.

===The Texas Wends===
In 1854, the [[Wends of Texas]] departed [[Lusatia]] in north central Europe on the ''[[Ben Nevis Ship|Ben Nevis]]''<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.texasescapes.com/WTBlock/Texas-Germanic-Heritage-2-Ben-Nevis.htm|title=Ben Nevis, Wends and German Texans}}</ref> seeking greater liberty, in order to settle an area of central Texas, primarily [[Serbin, Texas|Serbin]]. The Wends succeeded, expanding into [[Warda, Texas|Warda]], [[Giddings, Texas|Giddings]], Austin, Houston, Fedor, Swiss Alp, Port Arthur, Mannheim, Copperas Cove, Vernon, Walburg, The Grove, Bishop, and the Rio Grande Valley.

A strong influence of the Wendish pioneers remains evident today in thousands  of families (many unaware of their background) descended from them.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://texaswendish.org/2010/01/01/who-are-the-wends//|title=Who Are the Wends?|date=January 2010}}</ref>
[[File:Serbin_church_facing_the_rear.jpg|thumb|center|upright=2.5|The interior of the original Lutheran Church the Wends established in [[Serbin, Texas]], St. Paul.]]

==Other uses==
[[File:Yugoslavia Ethnic 1940.jpg|thumb|right|This 1940 ethnic map by an Austrian scholar uses the term ''Windische'' for the population of [[Styria (Slovenia)|Styria]], in parallel to ''Slowenen'' elsewhere in Slovenia]]

Historically, the term "Wends" has also occurred in the following contexts:

* Until the mid-19th century, German speakers most commonly used the name ''Wenden'' to refer to Slovenes.{{cn|date=February 2025}} This usage is mirrored in the name of the [[Windic March]], a medieval territory in present-day [[Lower Carniola]], which merged with the [[Duchy of Carniola]] by the mid 15th century. With the diffusion of the term ''slowenisch'' for the [[Slovene language]] and ''Slowenen'' for Slovenes, the words ''windisch'' and ''Winde'' or ''Wende'' became derogatory in connotation. The same development could be seen in the case of the [[Hungarian Slovenes]], who used to be known under the name "Vends".
** {{ill|Windischentheorie|de}} was a 1927 work by {{ill|Martin Wutte|de}}, a Carinthian German nationalist historian.
* It was also used to denote the [[Slovaks]] in German-language texts before c. 1400.
* The German term "Windischland" was used in the Middle Ages for the historical [[Kingdom of Slavonia]] (in [[Croatia]]).<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | url=https://www.enciklopedija.hr/clanak/slavonija | language=hr | title=Slavonia | publisher = [[Miroslav Krleža Lexicographical Institute]] | year=2021 | access-date=15 December 2021}}</ref> The terms ''Veneta'', ''Wenden'', ''Winden'' etc. were used in reference to the westernmost Slavs in the 1st and 2nd century CE, as a reference to the name of the earlier tribes of [[Veneti (disambiguation)|Veneti]].<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/clanak/12062 | title=The name "Slavonia" | first=Alemko | last=Gluhak | year=2003 | journal = Migration and Ethnic Themes | publisher = Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies | location = Zagreb, Croatia | issn = 1848-9184 | volume = 19 | number = 1 | language = hr}}</ref>

{{Wikimedia}}

==See also==
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
*[[Sukow-Dziedzice group]]
*[[Northern March]]
*[[Limes Sorabicus]]
*[[Limes Saxoniae]]
*[[Lechites]]
*[[Sorbs]]
*[[Kashubians]]
*[[Drevani]]
*[[Wendland]]
*[[Slovincians]]
*[[Czechs]]
*[[Silesians]]
*[[Slovenes]]
*[[Wendish question]]
{{Div col end}}

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist|33em}}

==Further reading==
{{See also|List of Slavic studies journals}}
*{{cite journal|author=Lencek, R. L.|year=1990|title=The Terms Wende-Winde, Wendisch-Windisch in the Historiographic Tradition of the Slovene Lands|journal=Slovene Studies |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=93–97|doi=10.7152/ssj.v12i1.3797|url=https://journals.lib.washington.edu/index.php/ssj/article/viewFile/3797/3208|doi-access=free}}
*{{cite thesis |type=Master's thesis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r6H4NwAACAAJ |title=The Destruction and Conversion of the Wends: A History of Northeast Germany in the Central Middle Ages |first=Ellis Lee |last=Knox |work=Department of History |publisher=University of Utah |year=1980 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011112114840/http://oit.boisestate.edu/sknox/thesis/ |archive-date=12 November 2001}}

==External links==
{{Americana Poster|Slovenians|Wends}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20030624220528/http://www.sorben.com/ski/ Sorbian Cultural Information]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20011205023704/http://www.texancultures.utsa.edu/publications/texansoneandall/wendish.htm Texas Wends]
*[http://www.wendishheritage.org.au Australian Wends]
*[http://texaswendish.org Texas Wendish Heritage Society]
*[http://wendishresearch.org/ Wendish Research Exchange]
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[[Category:Ancient Slavic peoples]]
[[Category:Historical ethnic groups of Europe]]
[[Category:Sorbs]]
[[Category:West Slavs]]
[[Category:Wendland]]
[[Category:West Slavic history]]