A gord is a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

Slavonic fortified settlement, usually built on strategic sites such as hilltops, riverbanks, lake islets or peninsulas between the 6th and 12th centuries CE in

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

and

Eastern Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai *Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air Li ...

Europe. The typical gord usually consisted of a group of wooden houses surrounded by a wall made of earth and wood, and a

palisade A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a fence or defensive wall made from iron or wooden stakes, or tree trunks, and used as a defensive structure or enclosure. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymology ''Palisade' ...

running along the top of the bulwark.

Etymology

The term ultimately descends from the reconstructed

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo-E ...

root '' ǵʰortós'', enclosure. The

Proto-Slavic Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the Attested language, unattested, linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately ...

word ''*gordъ'' later differentiated into grad (

Cyrillic , bg, кирилица , mk, кирилица , russian: кириллица , sr, ћирилица, uk, кирилиця , fam1 = Egyptian hieroglyphs , fam2 = Proto-Sinaitic , fam3 = Phoenician , fam4 = G ...

: град), gorod (Cyrillic: город), gród in

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

, gard in Kashubian, etc. It is the root of various words in modern

Slavic language The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavs, Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic language, Proto ...

s pertaining to fences and fenced-in areas (Belarusian гарадзіць, Ukrainian horodyty, Czech ohradit, Russian ogradit,

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and ...

ograditi, and Polish ogradzać, grodzić, to fence off). It also has evolved into words for a

garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate both ...

in certain languages. Additionally, it has furnished numerous modern Slavic words for a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

: *

''gród'', plural ''grody'' (toponymic; nowadays a town or city is termed ''miasto'', but remnants of a ''gród'' are known as ''grodzisko'') * Ancient Pomeranian and modern Kashubian ''gard'' * Slovak and

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places *Czech, ...

''hrad'' ("castle" in the modern language), or ''hradisko/hradiště/hradec'', which are terms for gord * Slovene ''grad'' ("castle" in modern Slovene) * Belarusian ''горад'' (horad) *

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

''город'' (gorod) *

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

''город'' (horod, dialectal and toponymic; nowadays ''misto'') *

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

, and Macedonian ''grad''/''град'' The names of many Central and Eastern European cities harken back to their pasts as gords. Some of them are in countries which once were but no longer are mainly inhabited by Slavic-speaking peoples. Examples include: * Horodok *

Gorod (toponymy) Gorod () is a version of the Slavic word meaning "town", "city" or "castle", and is related to the similar '' grad'' and ''horod''. It is preserved in the toponymy of numerous Slavic places: * Bely Gorod * Belgorod * Gorodets (with -ets as the ...

Hrod (toponymy) Hrod or Gord (archaeology) is a version of the Slavic word meaning town, city or castle, and is preserved in the toponymy of numerous Slavic countries: * Hrodna Grodno (russian: Гродно, pl, Grodno; lt, Gardinas) or Hrodna ( be, Грод� ...

Hrud A gord is a Middle Ages, medieval Early Slavs, Slavonic fortified settlement, usually built on strategic sites such as hilltops, riverbanks, lake islets or peninsulas between the 6th and 12th centuries CE in Central Europe, Central and Eastern Eu ...

Horod Horod ( cyrl, город, und) from Old Slavonic '' gord'' is a version of the Slavic word meaning "town", "city" or "castle", also found in Slavic languages as '' grad'' or '' gorod''. Horod is preserved in the toponymy of numerous Slavic placen ...

Hrad (toponymy) Hrad or Gord (archaeology) is a version of the Slavic word meaning town, city or castle, and is preserved in the toponymy of numerous Slavic countries: * Hradec * Hradec Králové * Vyšehrad * Novohrad * Hradisko * Hradiště * Uherské Hrad ...

* Gard (Slavic toponymy) *

Grod (toponymy) Grod or Gord (archaeology) is a version of the Slavic word meaning town, city or castle, and is preserved in the toponymy of numerous Slavic countries: * Ogrodzieniec * Grodzisk Mazowiecki Slavic toponyms {{topography-stub ...

Grad (toponymy) Grad () is an Proto-Slavic, Old Slavic word meaning "town", "city", "castle" or "fortified settlement". Initially present in all related languages as ''Gord (archaeology), gord'', it can still be found as ''grad'', ''gradić'', ''horod'' or Gorod ...

The words in Polish and Slovak for ''suburbium'', ''podgrodzie'' and ''podhradie'' correspondingly, literally mean a settlement beneath a gord: the ''gród''/''hrad'' was frequently built at the top of a hill, and the ''podgrodzie''/''podhradie'' at its foot. (The Slavic prefix ''pod-'', meaning "under/below" and descending from the Proto-Indo-European root '' pṓds,'' meaning foot, being equivalent to Latin ''sub-''). The word survives in the names of several villages (

Podgrodzie, Subcarpathian Voivodeship Podgrodzie is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Dębica, within Dębica County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in south-eastern Poland. It lies approximately south-west of Dębica and west of the regional capital Rzeszów. Referenc ...

) and town districts (e.g., that of

Olsztyn Olsztyn ( , ; german: Allenstein ; Old Prussian: ''Alnāsteini'' * Latin: ''Allenstenium'', ''Holstin'') is a city on the Łyna River in northern Poland. It is the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, and is a city with county rights. ...

), as well as in the names of the German municipalities

Puttgarden is a ferry harbour and a village on the German island of Fehmarn. It lies on an important route between Germany and Denmark known as the Vogelfluglinie which crosses the strait, the Fehmarnbelt, to Rødby on the island of Lolland. Overview ...

Wagria WagriaArnold, Benjamin (1991). ''Princes and territories in medieval Germany'', Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York, p. 156. . (german: Wagrien, ''Waierland'' or ''Wagerland'') is the northeastern part of Holstein in the German state ...

and

Putgarten Putgarten is a municipality in the Vorpommern-Rügen district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. The municipality is managed by the '' Amt'' of Nord-Rügen with its seat in Sagard. Putgarten is the northernmost municipality in the state of Mec ...

Rügen Rügen (; la, Rugia, ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic city of Stralsund, where ...

. From this same Proto-Indo-European root come the Germanic word elements *''gard'' and *''gart'' (as in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

), and likely also the names of

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and

Gartz Gartz is a town in the Uckermark district in Brandenburg, Germany. It is located on the West bank of the Oder River, on the border with Poland, about 20 km south of Szczecin, Poland. It is located within the historic region of Western Pomeran ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Cognate to these are English words such as ''garden'', ''yard'', ''garth'', ''girdle'' and ''court.'' Also cognate but less closely related are Latin ''hortus'', a garden, and its English descendants ''horticulture'' and ''orchard''. In Hungarian, ''kert'', the word for a garden, literally means ''encircled''. Because Hungarian is a

Uralic The Uralic languages (; sometimes called Uralian languages ) form a language family of 38 languages spoken by approximately 25million people, predominantly in Northern Eurasia. The Uralic languages with the most native speakers are Hungarian (w ...

rather than an

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutch ...

language, this is likely a

loanword A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because th ...

. Further afield, in

ancient Iran The history of Iran is intertwined with the history of a larger region known as Greater Iran, comprising the area from Anatolia in the west to the borders of Ancient India and the Syr Darya in the east, and from the Caucasus and the Eurasian S ...

, a fortified wooden settlement was called a ''gerd'', or ''certa'', which also means garden (as in the suffix ''-certa'' in the names of various ancient Iranian cities; e.g., ''Hunoracerta''). The

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

word evolved into ''jerd'' under later

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

influence. Burugerd or

Borujerd Borujerd ( fa, بروجرد ''Borūjerd'') is a city and the capital of Borujerd County, Lorestan Province in western Iran. At the 2016 census, its population was 234,997 persons. Among the existing modern cities in Iran, Borujerd is one of the ...

is a city in the west of Iran. The Indian suffix ''-garh'', meaning a

fort A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

, and other

Indo-Iranian languages The Indo-Iranian languages (also Indo-Iranic languages or Aryan languages) constitute the largest and southeasternmost extant branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family (with over 400 languages), predominantly spoken i ...

, appears in many Indian place names. Given that both Slavic and Indo-Iranian are sub-branches of Indo-European and that there are numerous similarities between Slavic and

vocabulary, it is plausible that ''garh'' and ''gord'' are related. However, this is strongly contradicted by the phoneme /g/ in Indo-Iranian, which cannot be a reflex of the Indo-European palatovelar /*ǵ/.

Construction

A typical gord was a group of wooden houses built either in rows or in circles, surrounded by one or more rings of walls made of earth and wood, a

, and/or

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...

s. Some gords were ring-shaped, with a round, oval, or occasionally polygonal fence or wall surrounding a hollow. Others, built on a natural hill or a man-made mound, were cone-shaped. Those with a natural defense on one side, such as a river or lake, were usually horseshoe-shaped. Most gords were built in densely populated areas on sites that offered particular natural advantages. As Slavic tribes united to form states, gords were also built for defensive purposes in less-populated border areas. Gords in which rulers resided or that lay on trade routes quickly expanded. Near the gord, or below it in elevation, there formed small communities of servants, merchants, artisans, and others who served the higher-ranked inhabitants of the gord. Each such community was known as a ''suburbium'' ( pl, podgrodzie). Its residents could shelter within the walls of the gord in the event of danger. Eventually the ''suburbium'' acquired its own fence or wall. In the

High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history that lasted from AD 1000 to 1300. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and were followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended ...

, the gord usually evolved into a

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

citadel A citadel is the core fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of "city", meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. In ...

kremlin The Kremlin ( rus, Московский Кремль, r=Moskovskiy Kreml', p=ˈmɐˈskofskʲɪj krʲemlʲ, t=Moscow Kremlin) is a fortified complex in the center of Moscow founded by the Rurik dynasty, Rurik dynasty. It is the best known of th ...

, and the ''suburbium'' into a

. Some gords did not stand the test of time and were abandoned or destroyed, gradually turning into more or less discernible mounds or rings of earth (

''gorodishche,''

''gród'' or ''grodzisko,''

''horodyshche,'' Slovak ''hradisko,''

''hradiště,'' German ''Hradisch'', Hungarian ''hradis'' and Serbian ''gradiška''/''градишка''). Notable archeological sites include

Groß Raden Gross or Groß in German is the correct spelling of the surname under German orthographic rules. In Switzerland, the name is spelled Gross. Some Germans and Austrians also use the spelling with "ss" instead of "ß". It is a surname of German, Pru ...

in Germany and

Biskupin Biskupin is an archaeological site and a life-size model of a late Bronze Age fortified settlement in north-central Poland that also serves as an archaeological open-air museum. When first discovered it was thought to be early evidence of a We ...

in Poland.

Important gords in Central and Eastern Europe

Poland

* Bnin * Cherven grods *

Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

Giecz Giecz is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Dominowo, within Środa Wielkopolska County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, in west-central Poland. It lies approximately north of Dominowo, north-east of Środa Wielkopolska, and east ...

Gniezno Gniezno (; german: Gnesen; la, Gnesna) is a city in central-western Poland, about east of Poznań. Its population in 2021 was 66,769, making it the sixth-largest city in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. One of the Piast dynasty's chief cities, ...

Grudziądz Grudziądz ( la, Graudentum, Graudentium, german: Graudenz) is a city in northern Poland, with 92,552 inhabitants (2021). Located on the Vistula River, it lies within the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship and is the fourth-largest city in its prov ...

* Grzybowo * Kałdus *

Kołobrzeg Kołobrzeg ( ; csb, Kòlbrzég; german: Kolberg, ), ; csb, Kòlbrzég , is a port city in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in north-western Poland with about 47,000 inhabitants (). Kołobrzeg is located on the Parsęta River on the south coast o ...

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

* Ostrów Lednici *

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...

Przemyśl Przemyśl (; yi, פשעמישל, Pshemishl; uk, Перемишль, Peremyshl; german: Premissel) is a city in southeastern Poland with 58,721 inhabitants, as of December 2021. In 1999, it became part of the Subcarpathian Voivodeship; it was pr ...

* Rozprze * Stradów *

Szczecin Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major s ...

Szprotawa Szprotawa (german: Sprottau) is a town in western Poland, in Żagań County, Lubusz Voivodeship. It has 11,820 inhabitants (2019). History The region was part of Poland after the emergence of the Piast monarchy in the 10th century. The first me ...

Włocławek Włocławek (Polish pronunciation: ; german: Leslau) is a city located in central Poland along the Vistula (Wisła) River and is bordered by the Gostynin-Włocławek Landscape Park. As of December 2021, the population of the city is 106,928. Loc ...

Wolin Wolin (; formerly german: Wollin ) is the name both of a Polish island in the Baltic Sea, just off the Polish coast, and a town on that island. Administratively, the island belongs to the West Pomeranian Voivodeship. Wolin is separated from the ...

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...

Czech Republic

Bílina Bílina (; german: Bilin) is a town in Teplice District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 14,000 inhabitants. It is known for its spas and as a source of the strongly mineralized water, Bílinská kyselka. The to ...

* Budeč *

Chotěbuz ( pl, , german: Kotzobendz) is a municipality and village in the Karviná District in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 1,400 inhabitants. Polish minority makes up 17.0% of the population. Etymology The name of C ...

Kouřim Kouřim (; german: Kaurzim, Kaurzin, Kaurim) is a town in Kolín District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 1,900 inhabitants. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument zone. A ...

Levý Hradec Levý Hradec is an early medieval Bohemian gord situated 3 km northwest of Prague borders near Roztoky, in the Czech Republic. This fortified settlement served as the original seat of Bořivoj I, the first known Přemyslid ruler. It wa ...

Libice nad Cidlinou Libice nad Cidlinou (german: Libitz an der Cidlina) is a municipality and village in Nymburk District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 1,200 inhabitants. It is one of the oldest settlements in Bohemia. Geography ...

Libušín Libušín is a town in Kladno District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 3,300 inhabitants. Geography Libušín is located about northwest of Kladno and northwest of Prague. It lies mostly in the Prague Plateau ...

Mikulčice-Valy Mikulčice-Valy is an archaeological site and a museum with remains of a significant Slavs, Slavic Gord (archaeology), gord from the times of the Great Moravian Empire. The site is located in Mikulčice in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Rep ...

Prague Castle Prague Castle ( cs, Pražský hrad; ) is a castle complex in Prague 1 Municipality within Prague, Czech Republic, built in the 9th century. It is the official office of the President of the Czech Republic. The castle was a seat of power for kin ...

* * Stará Boleslav * * Tetín *

Uherské Hradiště Uherské Hradiště (; german: Ungarisch Hradisch, hu, Magyarhradis) is a town in the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 24,000 inhabitants. The agglomeration with the two neighbouring towns of Staré Město and Kunovice has over ...

Vyšehrad Vyšehrad (Czech for "upper castle") is a historic fort in Prague, Czech Republic, just over 3 km southeast of Prague Castle, on the east bank of the Vltava River. It was probably built in the 10th century. Inside the fort are the Basilica ...

(Prague)

Slovakia

Ducové Ducové ( hu, Ducó) is a municipality (village) situated in western Slovakia, near the spa town of Piešťany. It was part of the municipality Moravany nad Váhom from 1976 to 1992. The village lies under the Považský Inovec, Váh Inovec. Accord ...

Ukraine

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

Russia

Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( rus, links=no, Великий Новгород, t=Great Newtown, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət), also known as just Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the ol ...

Belarus

Grodno Grodno (russian: Гродно, pl, Grodno; lt, Gardinas) or Hrodna ( be, Гродна ), is a city in western Belarus. The city is located on the Neman River, 300 km (186 mi) from Minsk, about 15 km (9 mi) from the Polish b ...

Germany

Rügen

* the fort at

Cape Arkona Cape Arkona () is a 45-metre (150-foot) high cape on the island of Rügen in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It forms the tip of the Wittow peninsula, just a few kilometres north of the Jasmund National Park. The protected landscape of Cape Arko ...

– the

Jaromarsburg The Jaromarsburg was a cult site for the Slavs, Slavic tribe of Rani (Slavic tribe), Rani dedicated to the god Svantovit and used from the 9th to the 12th century. It was located on the northeastern tip of the Baltic Sea island of Rügen at Cape ...

Garz Castle Garz Castle is a Slavic fort, of the type known as a burgwall, located southwest of the town of Garz on the German Baltic Sea island of Rügen. The earthworks have an oval shape, are about 200 metres long and 140 metres wide. There is an entranc ...

* the fort of

Charenza Charenza, also Karentia or Karenz, later also Gharense, was a medieval ''Slavic burgwall'' on the island of Rügen in the Baltic Sea. It was the administrative centre of the Rani tribe and of the Principality of Rugia. Today, the remnants are cal ...

near Venz in the municipality of

Trent Trent may refer to: Places Italy * Trento in northern Italy, site of the Council of Trent United Kingdom * Trent, Dorset, England, United Kingdom Germany * Trent, Germany, a municipality on the island of Rügen United States * Trent, California, ...

* the Herthaburg near the

Stubbenkammer The Jasmund National Park (German: ''Nationalpark Jasmund'') is a nature reserve on the Jasmund peninsula, in the northeast of Rügen island in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is famous for containing the largest chalk cliffs in Germany, th ...

in the

Jasmund National Park The Jasmund National Park (German: ''Nationalpark Jasmund'') is a nature reserve on the Jasmund peninsula, in the northeast of Rügen island in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is famous for containing the largest chalk cliffs in Germany, th ...

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

Mecklenburg Castle Mecklenburg Castle was a medieval castle and a residential capital of the Nakonid and Nikloting dynasties of the Obotrites. It was located just south of the modern village Dorf Mecklenburg, sevenHerrmann, p. 189. kilometres (4 miles) south of the ...

in the village of

Dorf Mecklenburg Dorf Mecklenburg is a municipality in the Nordwestmecklenburg district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is located 6 km south of Wismar. It is home to the castle "Mikilenburg" (Old German: "big castle"), that gave its name to the whole ...

near

Wismar Wismar (; Low German: ''Wismer''), officially the Hanseatic City of Wismar (''Hansestadt Wismar'') is, with around 43,000 inhabitants, the sixth-largest city of the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and the fourth-largest city ...

(origin of the state name) * the fort of Groß Raden near Sternberg * the fort of

Behren-Lübchin Behren-Lübchin is a municipality in the district of Rostock, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Eur ...

, partly reconstructed in the

Groß Raden Archaeological Open Air Museum The Groß Raden Archaeological Open Air Museum (german: Archäologische Freilichtmuseum Groß Raden) lies a few kilometres north of the small town of Sternberg and about a kilometre northeast of the village of Groß Raden in the German state o ...

* Gädebehn Castle (Gemeinde

Knorrendorf Knorrendorf is a municipality in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous coun ...

) in the county of

Mecklenburgische Seenplatte The Mecklenburg Lake Plateau or Mecklenburg Lakeland
- Federal Ministry of Economics ...

* Ganschendorf Castle (Gemeinde Sarow) in the county of

Mecklenburgische Seenplatte The Mecklenburg Lake Plateau or Mecklenburg Lakeland
- Federal Ministry of Economics ...

* the fort of Grapenwerder (Gemeinde

Penzlin Penzlin () is a town in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in E ...

) in the county of

Mecklenburgische Seenplatte The Mecklenburg Lake Plateau or Mecklenburg Lakeland
- Federal Ministry of Economics ...

* Quadenschönfeld Castle in the county of

Mecklenburgische Seenplatte The Mecklenburg Lake Plateau or Mecklenburg Lakeland
- Federal Ministry of Economics ...

Neu Nieköhr Castle Neu! (; German language, German for "New!"; styled in block capitals) were a West German krautrock band formed in Düsseldorf in 1971 by Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother following their departure from Kraftwerk. The group's albums were produced ...

(Gemeinde

) in the county of

Rostock Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, c ...

* the fort of Neu-Kentzlin (Gemeinde Kentzlin) between

Demmin Demmin () is a town in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. It was the capital of the former district of Demmin. Geography Demmin lies on the West Pomeranian plain at the confluence of the rivers ...

und

Stavenhagen Stavenhagen () is a municipality in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated 28 km northwest of Neubrandenburg. Subdivisions Stavenhagen is divided into following parts: History The ...

* Mölln Castle (Gemeinde Mölln (Mecklenburg)) in the county of

Mecklenburgische Seenplatte The Mecklenburg Lake Plateau or Mecklenburg Lakeland
- Federal Ministry of Economics ...

* Möllenhagen Castle (Gemeinde

Möllenhagen Möllenhagen is a municipality in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Personalities * Adolf Georg of Maltzan (1877–1927), German diplomat * Friedrich Griese Friedrich Griese (2 October 1890, Leh ...

) in the county of

Mecklenburgische Seenplatte The Mecklenburg Lake Plateau or Mecklenburg Lakeland
- Federal Ministry of Economics ...

* the

Ravensburg (Neubrandenburg) Ravensburg (Swabian: ''Raveschburg'') is a city in Upper Swabia in Southern Germany, capital of the district of Ravensburg, Baden-Württemberg. Ravensburg was first mentioned in 1088. In the Middle Ages, it was an Imperial Free City and an impor ...

* the forts at Kastorfer See near

Neubrandenburg Neubrandenburg (lit. ''New Brandenburg'', ) is a city in the southeast of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is located on the shore of a lake called Tollensesee and forms the urban centre of the Mecklenburg Lakeland. The city is famous for its ...

* the island fort in the

Teterower See The Teterower See is a lake within the Mecklenburgische Schweiz und Kummerower See Nature Park in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated immediately to the north-east of the town of Teterow, and is about north of Berlin. The lake is app ...

* the ''Schlossberg'' near Feldberg * the Slavic fort near Menkendorf, a village in the parish of Grebs-Niendorf *

Wittenborn Castle Wittenborn is a municipality in the district of Segeberg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after R ...

( municipality of

Galenbeck Galenbeck is a municipality in the district Mecklenburgische Seenplatte, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country ...

) in the county of

Mecklenburgische Seenplatte The Mecklenburg Lake Plateau or Mecklenburg Lakeland
- Federal Ministry of Economics ...

Kieve Castle Kieve can mean: * Kieve, Müritz, a municipality in the Müritz district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany * St Nectan's Kieve, a waterfall and pool near Tintagel, Cornwall See also * Keeve (disambiguation) * Kiev (disambiguation) {{disa ...

in the county of

Mecklenburgische Seenplatte The Mecklenburg Lake Plateau or Mecklenburg Lakeland
- Federal Ministry of Economics ...

* Wulfsahl Castle in the county of

Ludwigslust-Parchim Ludwigslust-Parchim is a district in the west of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is bordered by (clockwise starting from the west) the state Schleswig-Holstein, the district Nordwestmecklenburg, the district-free city Schwerin, the districts R ...

Berlin-Brandenburg

* Brandenburg Castle *

Spandau Castle Spandau () is the westernmost of the 12 boroughs of Berlin, boroughs () of Berlin, situated at the confluence (geography), confluence of the Havel and Spree (river), Spree rivers and extending along the western bank of the Havel. It is the smalle ...

(Berlin) * the Römerschanze near Potsdam * the Reitweiner Wallberge, fortanlage near

Reitwein Reitwein is a municipality in the district Märkisch-Oderland, in Brandenburg, Germany.Mapa Polski 1:500 000 Wojskowy Instytut Geograficzny Sztabu Generalnego W.P., Warszawa 1947 It is located near the border with Poland Poland, officially ...

in the Landkreis Märkisch-Oderland * the

Slavic fort of Lübben Slavic, Slav or Slavonic may refer to: Peoples * Slavic peoples, an ethno-linguistic group living in Europe and Asia ** East Slavic peoples, eastern group of Slavic peoples ** South Slavic peoples, southern group of Slavic peoples ** West Slavi ...

* the

Slavic fort of Raddusch Slavic, Slav or Slavonic may refer to: Peoples * Slavic peoples, an ethno-linguistic group living in Europe and Asia ** East Slavic peoples, eastern group of Slavic peoples ** South Slavic peoples, southern group of Slavic peoples ** West Slavi ...

near

Vetschau/Spreewald Vetschau/Spreewald ( dsb, Wětošow) is a town in the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district, in Lower Lusatia, Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated in the Spreewald, 18 km west of Cottbus. History Vetschau was first mentioned in 1302 as Veczicz. I ...

* the

Slavic fort of Tornow Slavic, Slav or Slavonic may refer to: Peoples * Slavic peoples, an ethno-linguistic group living in Europe and Asia ** East Slavic peoples, eastern group of Slavic peoples ** South Slavic peoples, southern group of Slavic peoples ** West Slavi ...

* Lossow Castle,

Frankfurt (Oder) Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder (), is a city in the German state of Brandenburg. It has around 57,000 inhabitants, is one of the easternmost cities in Germany, the fourth-largest city in Brandenburg, and the largest German ...

* the fort near Kliestow

Saxony-Anhalt

* the fort of Altes Dorf in the

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebur ...

subdistrict of Pechau *

Wust Castle Wust may refer to: *Wust, Saxony-Anhalt, a village in the district of Stendal, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany *Wust-Fischbeck, a municipality in the district of Stendal, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany * WUST, a radio station broadcasting in Washington, DC *Wüst W ...

Schleswig-Holstein

* including: * the fort of the Slavic settlement of Starigard in present-day

Oldenburg Oldenburg may also refer to: Places *Mount Oldenburg, Ellsworth Land, Antarctica *Oldenburg (city), an independent city in Lower Saxony, Germany **Oldenburg (district), a district historically in Oldenburg Free State and now in Lower Saxony *Olde ...

–

Bavaria

Rauher Kulm The Rauher Kulm is a small basalt mountain located in the Upper Palatinate (Oberpfalz) region of the state of Bavaria, Germany. It is located 23 kilometers southeast of Bayreuth and 5 kilometers south of Kemnath. The town of Neustadt am Kulm ...

Austria

* Thunau am Kamp

References

External links

Reconstruction of a ''gród'' at Grzybowo, Poland
– images of a typical ancient Slavic settlement with ''suburbium'', earth-and-wood wall and moat; by Tomek Birezowski (Polish text) {{Fortifications Fortifications by type Early Slavic archaeology Archaeology of Poland Human habitats