Wends: The Slavic Pirates that the Vikings Feared

The Vikings have long been recognized as the lords of the early medieval ocean. In their speedy longships they travelled from Britain to Persia, leaving behind burned monasteries and looted settlements. Men and women prayed for God to save them from the wrath of the Northmen, and children were told to behave - lest the Vikings come for them next.

But there was a people, that even the Vikings feared. They came from the southern baltic in similar ships as theirs, but faster, and far more numerous. These fleets were mobile cavalry units, carrying horses and riders, quickly able to make landfall and sweep the countryside. Their raids were swift, deadly, and profitable. The shores of Denmark, Sweden and Norway were littered with corpses, and smoking ruins. Nowhere was safe...from the Wends.

Sources:
Gud vill det- Dick Harrison
The Vikings and the Wends - Francis P. Merchant
Ship and Society - Gunilla Larsson
Heimskringla - Snorri Sturlasson

#history #vikings #pirates

[naky]

Slavic history is sadly underestimated.

[bigozimak]

As a Westerner with obvious Slavic Heritage I sadly wasn't taught much about Eastern Europe. So thanks!

[balticempire]

The comments in a nutshell:
- Wends were actually German
- Wends were actually Serbs
- Wends were actually Scanian
- Wends were actually Balts
- Wends were actually Poles
- Wends were actually Albanians
- Wends were actually Russians
- Wends were Slavs and Slavs ruled the Baltic and Finland
- Wends were actually Korean(yes someone posted this)

[valentinstoyanov]

The Slavic heritage (including genetic) in what is now Germany and Austria is enormous and widely unrecognized at the same time. There are even Austrians who prefer to talk about their supposed Celtic roots while sweeping under the rug their obviously Slavic surnames.

[Nero_Karel]

I was disappointed to see how little information there is about Wendish history on freely available online sources after first having read about them in Morkinskinna, so it's great to finally see a well-produced summary on Youtube!

[agroplode]

The Kings of Denmark claimed to be "King of the Danes, Goths, Cimbri, Vends" only in 1972 when her Majesty Margrethe II became Queen of Denmark, for some reason Vends were left out. Same happened in Sweden, where they left out the "King of the Vends" part.

[hermosafieldsforever]

This was Amazing! Sending love to all of our Slavic, Estonian and Scandinavian friends from California. My family is Lagegren of Sweden.
We always wondered what happened to all of the gold? My Grandfather would say it was hidden in the caves of the Bosphorus Straight, buried forever.
Thank you for this wonderful look into our past.
Many Blessings of love and friendship 🙏🏻💕

[pointgreece]

As a Serb I can tell the same for Balkan peninsula. Serbs always had Knez (or Knyaz) and Župan as a leader title. Major gods Perun, Triglav, Veles are here present even today in toponyms. Ratibor as a name is used widely. Love for all Slavic brothers and let no German or Latin nation to divide us anymore. They always try to make us fighting each other.

[larissawendhausen]

I always wanted to know the origin of my surname Wendhausen. Each year more information is associated with my research. I knew that Wendhausen would be the name of a region in Germany, it would be something like wend's house. A property owned by wend . And now I found out that the Wends were a pirate tribe. It's really exciting to discover that my ancestors were so interesting. Thank you for the vídeo 😊❤

[Detelinara]

Thank you for this video.
I am from love you all. 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

[lazywallstreetnews]

Videos like this make me realize just how watered down the educational system really is. We always talk about the Vikings that went West, but never about the ones that went East.

[ukrainiangir]

Take a look in google translator and see how it says “Russia” in Finnish (Venäjä) and Estonian (Venemaa/ Vene) languages. Does anyone still have doubts about who the Wends are? 😂

[jokemon]

Interestingly, the names for Russia in Finnic languages (Venäjä in Finnish and Venemaa in Estonian) derive from the Wends. The term being a general name for all Slavs would make sense, as this borrowing of "Wend" into Finnic predates the eastern Slavic migrations north and it was borrowed from Germanic speakers centuries before Slavs migrated and established themselves as neighbours to Finnic speakers. Finnic speakers probably acquired the word when conducting trade with Germanic speakers in Scandinavia and northern Germany, where they then came into contact with Slavs or "Wends" and just took the word that the people they were already familiar with used for them. Venäjä is something along the lines of "Wendia" and Venemaa "Wendland".

[magdalenabuljan]

Modern day Croatia was named after White Croats who settled there in the 7th and 8th century.
Croats came from an ancient pagan state White Croatia once located in Western Ukraine, south-eastern Poland, northern Slovakia-Czechia and Hungary.

In Western Ukraine today still exists an ancient settlement of Stilsko-capital city of White Croats.
❤Bili Horvati ❤

[kickinghighify]

Good job on the video. Rugen and Arkona history probably deserve a video of its own.

[ivancar]

My first playthrough of crusader kings 2 was as the obotrites around 860, and what a first impression that was, fell in love with the game since and the wends still have a special place in my heart.

[robwalsh]

The similarity that the Wends had with their Germanic and Baltic neighbors reminds me of how the Mongols competed against Turkic and Tungusic peoples who also had a similar nomadic cavalry culture.

[keithstevens]

Other tribes along the Baltic coast became merchants rather than pirates. Just east of the Wends was Wolin (Volinn), one of the greatest trade centres in Europe in the tenth century. It boasted a large Greek population who came to trade Byzantine goods for furs and amber. Even many Vikings came in their longboats to shop there when they got tired of raiding.

[StoicHistorian]

Great video, pre-Christian history simply does not get enough attention. Great channel you got going here man just found it!

[adboroutdoor..]

Interesting description of the Wends temple in Radogoszcz/Retra:

In the country of the Redars there is a triangular town with three gates leading to it, called Radogoszcz, which is surrounded on all sides by a great wilderness, untouched by the natives' hand and revered as sacred. Two gates of this stronghold are open to all entering, the third from the eastern side is the smallest and opens onto a path that leads to the nearby and terrible-looking lake. There is only one temple in the city, intricately built of wood and resting on a foundation of wild beast horns. Its outer walls are decorated with various images of gods and goddesses - as you can see if you look closely - in a strange carved way, while inside there are man-made gods in terrible helmets and armor, each with a name carved on the bottom. The first of them is called Swarożyc and is especially honored by all pagans. There are also banners (stanice), which they do not take anywhere, unless they are needed for a military expedition, and then they are carried by foot warriors.

To guard all this with due diligence the natives appointed separate priests. When they gather here to offer sacrifices to idols or to appease their wrath, priests alone are allowed to sit while others stand. Whispering mysterious words to each other, they tremble in digging the earth in order to examine the essence of doubtful matters by the lots they have cast. At the end of these divination, they cover the lots with green turf and, having driven two spearheads crosswise into the ground, they humbly lead a horse through them, which they regard as the greatest thing and they venerate as sacred. Then, casting lots, by which they had previously examined the matter, they resume the divination by this divine beast, as it were. If both of these omens show the same sign, then these tribes follow it in their operation; if not, they sadly abandon the enterprise altogether. From antiquity, which has been falsified by various erroneous tales, comes the testimony that whenever they are threatened by the grievous annoyances of a long civil war, a great boar emerges from the above-mentioned lake, foam glistening on its white tusks, and delights to roll in a puddle amid terrible tremors in the sight of all. .

As many districts in this country, there are as many temples, and as many images of idols are worshiped by the infidels, but among them, the aforementioned city has priority. When they go to war, they always salute him; when they return safely from it, they honor him with due gifts, and by lots and by horse, as has been said above, they diligently examine what a fitting sacrifice the priests should make to the gods. The silent wrath of the gods is appeased by the sacrifices of men and cattle.
- Thietmar of Merseburg.