Crusade Against the Slavs of 1147

Crusade Against the Slavs of 1147 

an expansionist crusade of European (mostly Germanic) feudal lords against the Polabian and Baltic Slavs.

The crusade took place at the same time as the Second Crusade to Palestine under the pretext of converting the pagan Slavs to Christianity. The initiators of the crusade were the Saxon feudal lords and clergy, who were trying to recapture Slavic lands beyond the Elbe (Labe) River, which they had lost after the uprisings among the Slavs in 983 and 1002. Troops of the Saxon duke Henry the Lion tried to seize the lands of the Bodrichi; however, under the leadership of Prince Niklot, the Bodrichi undertook energetic military operations against the Crusaders, forcing a peace treaty upon them. Another feudal army, led by Albert the Bear, which operated against the Lusatians and Pomeranians, also failed in its goal. However, in the 1150’s and 1160’s the Germanic feudal lords renewed their onslaught and seized the lands of the Bodrichi and Lusatians.

REFERENCE

Gratsianskii, N. “Krestovyi pokhod 1147 g. protiv slavian i ego rezul’-taty.” Voprosy istorii, 1946, nos. 2–3.