Pomeranians (tribe)

Following the exit of the Hamburgian hunters, the area was inhabited successively by Celts and the Wielbark Culture (Germanic tribes similar to the Goths and the Rugians).{{cite web |url= http://www.uni-greifswald.de/~histor/~ufg/mitarbeiter/terberger/Terberger1_LoRes.pdf | title= Across the western Baltic |publisher= Sydsjællands Museum | author= Thomas Terberger | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080911072452/http://www.uni-greifswald.de/~histor/~ufg/mitarbeiter/terberger/Terberger1_LoRes.pdf | access-date= October 19, 2020| archive-date= 2008-09-11 }} Groups of Slavs populated the area as a result of the Slavic migration. The Pomeranian tribes formed around the 6th century. There was also a Pomeranian culture, which was replaced by the Jastorf culture.

From around the 6th century, West Slavic tribes migrated via the Vistula and Oder Rivers into the southern Baltics, where sizable settlements of Vikings and Danes and large trading centers thrived, such as Jomsburg at the mouth of the Oder and Danzig at the mouth of the Vistula and possibly Baltic settlement centres between the Parsęta and the Vistula.{{cite book|author=Johannes Hinz|title=Pommern-Wegweiser durch ein unvergessenes Land|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wxNpAAAAMAAJ |year=1992| publisher=Kraft| isbn=978-3-8083-1196-7}} {{cite book|author=T. D. Kendrick|title=A History of the Vikings|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Z8NgXgRytUC|date=1 January 2004|publisher=Courier Corporation|isbn=978-0-486-43396-7}} According to the 12th-century Nestor Chronicle, the Pomeranians, as well as Poles, Masovians and Lusitanians originated from the tribe of the Lechites.

By 967, Duke Mieszko I had after a decisive battle against the Wolinians, led by Wichmann the Younger, and gained full control over the lands between the Vistula and the mouth of the Oder.{{cite web |url= https://docer.pl/doc/n51nev0- | title= Mieszko I - Gerard Labuda |publisher= Docer PL | author= Gerard Labuda | access-date= October 22, 2020}}{{cite web |url= https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334319127 | title= The realm of Mieszko I. Contribution to the study on fortified settlements |publisher= Adam Mickiewicz University | author= Marcin Danielewski | access-date= October 22, 2020}} The earliest known documented use of the term Pomorie dates to 997 in reference to the Duke of Pomorie.{{cite book|author1=A. P. Vlasto|author2=Vlasto|title=The Entry of the Slavs Into Christendom: An Introduction to the Medieval History of the Slavs|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fpVOAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA275|date=2 October 1970|publisher=CUP Archive|isbn=978-0-521-07459-9|pages=275–}}

The Piast dukes of Poland began to incorporate the Pomeranians into their realm and succeeded initially. In 1005, Polish Duke Bolesław I the Brave loses control over the area. In the Annales Altahenses, a Zemuzil Bomerianorum is mentioned as the first duke known by name in 1064.{{cite book|author=Georg Heinrich Pertz|title=Monumenta Germaniae historica: Scriptores. Scriptores in folio. Annales aevi Suevici / ed. Georg Heinrich Pertz ...|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mLbbZwEACAAJ|year=1925|publisher=Weidmann}}

During the 12th century, the pagan Pomeranians faced continuous incursions by their expanding Christian neighbours of Denmark, Poland and the Saxon dukes of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1121, they were eventually subdued by Polish Duke Bolesław III Wrymouth, who established a diocese with its seat at Kołobrzeg, where Reinbern became the first bishop. Pomerania was Christianized with the help of the German missionary Otto of Bamberg.

At the same time the Pomeranian Prince Wartislaw I conquered the former Lutici lands west of the Oder. After his successors from the House of Griffins were defeated by the Saxons at the 1164 Battle of Verchen, they accepted the overlordship of Duke Henry the Lion. The Pomeranian lands were eventually divided, with the Western parts entering the Holy Roman Empire as the Duchy of Pomerania in 1181, and the Eastern part consisting of Pomerelia under the Samborides coming under the influence of Poland and, from 1309 onwards, the Teutonic Order.{{cite web |url= https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287578230 | title= Die Johanniter und die Eroberung Pommerellens durch den Deutschen Orden |publisher= Researchgat | author= Marek Smoliński | access-date= October 19, 2020}}{{cite book|author=Dietrich Schäfer|title=Die Hansestädte und König Waldemar von Dänemark: Hansische Geschichte bis 1376 - p 10 ff.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_JABAAAAYAAJ|year=1879|publisher=Fischer}}

The influx of settlers from the Holy Roman Empire during the Ostsiedlung caused the Germanization of Pomerania, as many native Pomeranians were slowly and gradually assimilated and discontinued the use of their Slavic language and culture.{{cite web |url= https://www.academia.edu/43493510 | title= Wie die slawischen Vorfahren der Pommern zu Germanen wurden |publisher= Academia | author= Paweł Migdalski | access-date= October 21, 2020}}

The direct descendants of the Pomeranians include:

• Kashubians, who speak the Kashubian language
• Slovincians
• Kociewiacy
• Borowiacy
• Western Pomeranians, who speak Low German or Standard German
• Eastern Pomeranians, who were expelled from Pomerania in 1945 and settled in various parts of Germany and now speak either local dialects or Standard German.

• Conversion of Pomerania
• Kashubian-Pomeranian Association
• Pomeranian culture
• Polish tribes
• Early history of Pomerania
• List of Medieval Slavic tribes

{{reflist|2}}

• [http://www.ruegenwalde.com/greifen/ablauf/ablauf.htm Die regierenden Herzöge (The Pomeranian dukes)]

{{commons|Pomerania|Pomerania}}

{{Commons category|West Slavic tribes}}

{{Slavic ethnic groups (VII-XII century)}}

{{Pomeranian history|dem}}

{{Vistula}}

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Category:Poland in the Early Middle Ages

Category:Lechites

Category:History of Pomerania

Category:West Slavic tribes