Niklot

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Niklot

 

Date of birth unknown; died in 1160. Prince of the Bodrichi from about 1131 to 1160 and leader of the Polabian-Baltic Slavs in their struggle against the aggression of German and Danish feudal lords.

During the Crusade against the Slavs undertaken by northern European feudal lords in 1147, Niklot not only successfully defended the Bodrichi lands against the army of Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony, but he also attacked the Crusaders’ strongholds in Vagria, set fire to Lübeck, and defeated the Crusaders at Dobin, a fortress he had built to repel the Saxon invaders. The Saxons were obliged to conclude a peace treaty with Niklot. In 1160, on the pretext that Niklot had violated the conditions of the treaty, Henry the Lion resumed military operations. Niklot was killed during a sortie against the Germans.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.