The Rani or Rujani (german: Ranen, ''Rujanen'') were a
West Slavic tribe based on the island of
Rugia (Rügen) and the southwestern mainland across the
Strelasund
The Strelasund or Strela Sound is a sound or lagoon of the Baltic Sea which separates Rügen from the German mainland. It is crossed by a road and rail bridge called the Rügendamm in Stralsund. It runs northwest to southeast from a small shallow ...
in what is today northeastern
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 ...
.
The Rani tribe emerged after the
Slavic settlement of
the region in the ninth century,
[Ole Harck, Christian Lübke, Zwischen Reric und Bornhöved: Die Beziehungen zwischen den Dänen und ihren slawischen Nachbarn vom 9. Bis ins 13. Jahrhundert: Beiträge einer internationalen Konferenz, Leipzig, 4.-6. Dezember 1997, Franz Steiner Verlag, 2001, p.15, ] and ranked among the most powerful of several small Slav tribes between the
Elbe
The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Repu ...
and lower
Vistula
The Vistula (; pl, Wisła, ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest river in Europe, at in length. The drainage basin, reaching into three other nations, covers , of which is in Poland.
The Vistula rises at Barania Góra in ...
rivers before the thirteenth century. They were among the last tribes to hold to
Slavic paganism, and the influence of their religious center at
Arkona reached far beyond their tribal borders.
In 1168, the Rani were defeated by King
Valdemar I of Denmark, and his adviser
Absalon
Absalon (21 March 1201) was a Danish statesman and prelate of the Catholic Church who served as the bishop of Roskilde from 1158 to 1192 and archbishop of Lund from 1178 until his death. He was the foremost politician and church father of Denm ...
,
Bishop of Roskilde, resulting in the
conversion of the region to Christianity.
[Jan M Piskorski, Pommern im Wandel der Zeiten, 1999, p.43, ] In the course of the ''
Ostsiedlung
(, literally "East-settling") is the term for the Early Medieval and High Medieval migration-period when ethnic Germans moved into the territories in the eastern part of Francia, East Francia, and the Holy Roman Empire (that Germans had al ...
'' of
the thirteenth century, the tribe was assimilated by German and Danish settlers and the Rani were gradually
Germanised
Germanisation, or Germanization, is the spread of the German language, people and culture. It was a central idea of German conservative thought in the 19th and the 20th centuries, when conservatism and ethnic nationalism went hand in hand. In ling ...
. The
Principality of Rugia
A principality (or sometimes princedom) can either be a monarchical feudatory or a sovereign state, ruled or reigned over by a regnant-monarch with the title of prince and/or princess, or by a monarch with another title considered to fall under ...
remained Danish until 1325.
Settlement
In the late
migration period
The Migration Period was a period in European history marked by large-scale migrations that saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire and subsequent settlement of its former territories by various tribes, and the establishment of the post-Roman ...
,
areas that had previously been settled by Germanic tribes became settled by
Slavs
Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...
. In Rugia and the adjacent mainland, where the
Rugii
The Rugii, Rogi or Rugians ( grc, Ρογοί, Rogoi), were a Roman-era Germanic people. They were first clearly recorded by Tacitus, in his '' Germania'' who called them the ''Rugii'', and located them near the south shore of the Baltic Sea. So ...
were recorded before the migration period, Slavs first appeared in the ninth century;
[ continuous settlement from the pre-Slavic era is suggested based on ]pollen
Pollen is a powdery substance produced by seed plants. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm cells). Pollen grains have a hard coat made of sporopollenin that protects the gametophyt ...
analyses and name transitions, so a Rugian remnant seems to have been assimilated.
The tribal name of the former inhabitants, the Rugii, may be the root of both the medieval name of Rugia and the tribal name of the Slavic R(uj)ani, though this hypothesis is not generally accepted.
Religion
The Rani believed in multiple gods, all of which had several faces and were worshipped as tall wooden statues in their respective temples. They were worshipped in temples, holy groves, at home and in ritual meals. The most powerful of their gods was Svantevit
Svetovit, Sventovit, Svantovit is the god of abundance and war, and the chief god of the Slavic tribe of the Rani, and later of all the Polabian Slavs. His organized cult was located on the island of Rügen, at Cape Arkona, where his main temp ...
, a four-headed god whose temple stood 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 ...
on the northernmost shore of Wittow
Wittow is the northernmost peninsula of the island of Rügen. Wittow was a separate island until the High Middle Ages, but since then has been connected to the Jasmund peninsula of Rügen by the Schaabe spit. Wittow is most famous for Cape Ark ...
, at that time still an island immediately to the north of Rügen. This temple was worshipped and collected tributes not only from the Rani, but from all Baltic Wends
Wends ( ang, Winedas ; non, Vindar; german: Wenden , ; da, vendere; sv, vender; pl, Wendowie, cz, Wendové) is a historical name for Slavs living near Germanic settlement areas. It refers not to a homogeneous people, but to various peopl ...
after their earlier main religious centre, Rethra
Rethra (also known as ''Radagoszcz'', ''Radegost'', ''Radigast'', ''Redigast'', ''Radgosc'' and other forms like ''Ruthengost'') was, in the 10th to the 12th centuries, the main town and political center of the Slavic Redarians, one of the four m ...
, was destroyed in by Germanic raiders in 1068/9.[
Other gods were Tjarnaglofi, whose temple was on Jasmund near modern ]Sagard
Sagard is a municipality in the Vorpommern-Rügen district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.
History
Sagard is first mentioned in 1250 as ''Zagard''. The name of the municipality of Sagard comes from the Slavic and means something like '' ...
, and Rugievit
Rugiaevit, Rugievit () or Ruyevit is a god of the Slavic Rani worshipped on Rügen, mentioned in only two sources: ''Gesta Danorum'' and in ''Knýtlinga saga''. His temple, along with those of Porevit and Porenut, was located in the gord of Cha ...
, Porevit
Porevit, Porovit or Borovit (, , , , , ) is a Slavonic god with unknown functions mentioned in only two sources: ''Gesta Danorum'' and in ''Knýtlinga saga''. The only historical information about this god is a description of a statue depicting ...
and Porenut
Porenut (, ) is a god with unknown functions mentioned in only two sources: ''Gesta Danorum'' and in ''Knýtlinga saga''. The only historical information about this god is the description of a statue depicting him with four faces on his head and a ...
, to whom there were temples in the capital, Charenza. Temples to other gods were found throughout Rani territories.
After the forced Christianization
Christianization ( or Christianisation) is to make Christian; to imbue with Christian principles; to become Christian. It can apply to the conversion of an individual, a practice, a place or a whole society. It began in the Roman Empire, conti ...
, monasteries and churches replaced the temples. Built into the church of Altenkirchen
Altenkirchen () is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, capital of the district of Altenkirchen. It is located approximately 40 km east of Bonn and 50 km north of Koblenz. Altenkirchen is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("co ...
is a large stone from Arkona with a relief showing a Svantevit priest.
Administration and culture
Medieval chronicler Helmold of Bosau
Helmold of Bosau (ca. 1120 – after 1177) was a Saxon historian of the 12th century and a priest at Bosau near Plön. He was a friend of the two bishops of Oldenburg in Holstein, Vicelinus (died 1154) and Gerold (died 1163), who did much to ...
described the Rani as the only Wendish tribe ruled by a king and reports them as having subdued many other tribes, while not tolerating subordinance themselves. Common decisions of the Wendish tribes were made only with the approval of the Rani. The highest-ranking position was in fact that of the High Priest, who stood above the king. The oracle decided whether and where campaigns were to be mounted, and after a victory the money and precious metals of any bounty were given to the temple before the rest was partitioned. Subdued tribes were made subordinate to the temple.Kyra T. Inachin
Kyra T. Inachin (19 May 1968 – 10 January 2012) was a German historian.
Biography
Kyra T. Inachin was born in New York City and grew up in Lampertheim, West Germany.
From 1987 to 1992 she studied history, anglistics and political sciences ...
, Die Geschichte Pommerns, Hinstorff Rostock, 2008, p.14,
The Rani political capital was Charenza (then Korenitza, today an unsettled site called ''Venzer Burgwall''). Rani dukes also resided at Rugard
The Rugard, at , is the highest elevation in the central region of the German Baltic Sea island of Rügen. This push end moraine was formed in the last ice age and lies on the northeastern perimeter of the town of Bergen auf Rügen.
There was ...
castle, a precursor of the modern city of Bergen
Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...
. Throughout the Rani lands there were castles (''burghs''), all having a ring-like wall of wood and clay, protecting villages and/or religious sites, and functioned as strategic strongholds or seats of the gentry.
The Rani also established a main, mixed Slavic and Viking, trading center in Ralswiek
Ralswiek is a municipality in the Vorpommern-Rügen 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 Europe ...
. In the 11th and 12th centuries, they also conducted Viking-style raids on their neighbors.
Language
The Rani spoke a Polabian language, one of the Lechitic group of West Slavic languages
The West Slavic languages are a subdivision of the Slavic language group. They include Polish, Czech, Slovak, Kashubian, Upper Sorbian and Lower Sorbian. The languages have traditionally been spoken across a mostly continuous region encompass ...
. In the course of the 12th to 15th centuries, it was replaced by Low German
:
:
:
:
:
(70,000)
(30,000)
(8,000)
, familycolor = Indo-European
, fam2 = Germanic
, fam3 = West Germanic
, fam4 = North Sea Germanic
, ancestor = Old Saxon
, ancestor2 = Middle L ...
as politics and ethnic structure had changed due to ''Ostsiedlung''. The Rani language went extinct when the last Rujani-speaking woman died on the Jasmund peninsula in 1404.[Werner Besch, Sprachgeschichte: Ein Handbuch zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und ihrer Erforschung2nd edition, Walter de Gruyter, 1998, p.2707,]
/ref>
History
In 955, Rani took part in the Battle of Recknitz
The Battle on the Raxa river (german: Schlacht an der Raxa) was fought on 16 October 955 over control of the Billung march (in present-day Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, northeast Germany) between the forces of Otto I of Germany allied with the Rani (Sla ...
, assisting German Otto I
Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), traditionally known as Otto the Great (german: Otto der Große, it, Ottone il Grande), was East Frankish king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the oldest son of He ...
in defeating the Obotrites
The Obotrites ( la, Obotriti, Abodritorum, Abodritos…) or Obodrites, also spelled Abodrites (german: Abodriten), were a confederation of medieval West Slavic tribes within the territory of modern Mecklenburg and Holstein in northern Germany ...
at the Recknitz
The Recknitz (historically known as ''Raxa'') is a river in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in northeastern Germany. The Recknitz's glacial valley stretches as far south as the heights at Glasewitz near Güstrow. The river has no definite source, but rath ...
(''Raxa'') River.
As the Obodrite
The Obotrites ( la, Obotriti, Abodritorum, Abodritos…) or Obodrites, also spelled Abodrites (german: Abodriten), were a confederation of medieval West Slavic tribes within the territory of modern Mecklenburg and Holstein in northern Germany ( ...
state expanded in the late 11th century, the Rani were also pressed and in 1093 had to pay tribute to Obodrite prince Henry.[Joachim Herrmann, ''Die Slawen in Deutschland'', Akademie-Verlag Berlin, 1985, p.367] They launched a naval expedition in 1100, in the course of which they sieged Liubice Liubice, also known by the German name Alt-Lübeck ("Old Lübeck"), was a medieval West Slavic settlement near the site of modern Lübeck, Germany. Liubice was located at the confluence of the Schwartau with the Trave across from Teerhof Island, a ...
, a predecessor of modern Lübeck
Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...
and then the major Obodrite stronghold.[ This attack was however repulsed.][ In 1123, the Rani struck again and killed Henry's son Waldemar. When in 1123/24 an Obodrite army led by Henry reached Rani territory, the ]Svantevit
Svetovit, Sventovit, Svantovit is the god of abundance and war, and the chief god of the Slavic tribe of the Rani, and later of all the Polabian Slavs. His organized cult was located on the island of Rügen, at Cape Arkona, where his main temp ...
priests were forced to sue for peace.[ Henry's army consisted of 2,000–6,000 men, devastated the coastal settlements, and the terms of the subsequent agreement were that the island would only be spared in return for an immense sum which had to be collected from the continental Slavs further east. Regrouping after Henry's death (1127), the Rani again assaulted and this time destroyed Liubice in 1128.][ At this time they seem to have been devoted pagans, with their priests holding theocratic powers.
]
In 1136, the Danes
Danes ( da, danskere, ) are a North Germanic ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural.
Danes generally regard t ...
defeated the Rani, who in turn had to promise to adopt Christian faith — yet returned to their pagan beliefs as the Danish headed back.[Joachim Herrmann, Die Slawen in Deutschland, Akademie-Verlag Berlin, 1985, p.268]
A force of Rani attacked the Danish fleet during the 1147 Wendish Crusade
The Wendish Crusade (german: Wendenkreuzzug) was a military campaign in 1147, one of the Northern Crusades and a part of the Second Crusade, led primarily by the Kingdom of Germany within the Holy Roman Empire and directed against the Polabian Sl ...
. Saxon
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
*
*
*
*
peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
armies repeatedly managed to raid Rugia.
The Danes, who had attacked the Rani already in 1136 and 1160, finally conquered the Rani stronghold of Arkona in 1168, forced the Slavs to become vassals of Denmark and to convert to Christianity.[ The wooden statues of their gods were burned and monasteries and churches were built throughout Rani territories.
The former Rani realm henceforth became the Danish ]Principality of Rugia
A principality (or sometimes princedom) can either be a monarchical feudatory or a sovereign state, ruled or reigned over by a regnant-monarch with the title of prince and/or princess, or by a monarch with another title considered to fall under ...
.
List of rulers
Reported names of Rani tribal leaders ("kings" or "princes") were:
* Ráni were one of the Lutici
The Lutici or Liutizi (known by various spelling variants) were a federation of West Slavic Polabian tribes, who between the 10th and 12th centuries lived in what is now northeastern Germany. Four tribes made up the core of the federation: th ...
tribes who were often described as a "tribe without a ruler", meaning political power was asserted via discourse in an assembly. [Lübke, Christian: Lutizen. Historisches. In Beck, Heinrich; et al. (eds.). RGA XIX, 19 (2 ed.). de Gruyter, 2001, p. 51, ][Garipzanov, Ildar H. Franks, Northmen, and Slavs. Identities and state formation in early medieval Europe. Cursor mundi. 5. Geary, Patrick J.; Urbańczyk, Przemysław. Brepols, 2008, p. 198, ]
* ''c''. 1066 Kruto
Kruto the Wende (or Cruto) (died 1093), son of Grin or Grinus, was a prince of Wagria.Joachim Herrmann, ''Die Slawen in Deutschland'' (Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1985), 366. James Westfall Thompson believed his family belonged to the Rani of Rugia ...
(according to some disputed theories a grandfather of Ratislav, considered to be a ruler of Rujána as the ruler of Lutici
The Lutici or Liutizi (known by various spelling variants) were a federation of West Slavic Polabian tribes, who between the 10th and 12th centuries lived in what is now northeastern Germany. Four tribes made up the core of the federation: th ...
after the death of Gotšalk)
* ''c''. 1092 Vartislav
* ''c''. 1105 Ratislav (the 1st ruler of Rujána that's known for sure)
* ''c''. 1164 Tetislav (the last ruler of pagan Rujána, became Danish Prince of Rugia in 1168)
* ''c''. 1170 Jaromar I Jaromar is a masculine given name. It is the Polabian form of the West Slavic name, Jaromir. It may refer to:
People:
Jaromar, also Jaromar of Rügen, is the name of several members of Rügen's princely house:
*Jaromar I (1141–1218), Prince o ...
* 1218 Barnuta
* 1221 Vislav I. (after resignation of his brother Barnuta)
* 1249 Jaromar II.
* 1260 Vislav II.
* 1302 Vislav III. (his only son died before him)
* 1325 Vartislav IV. (nephew of Vitslav III., the last ruler of Rani blood. His death led to the Rügen wars of succession and in 1354 the former principality went to Pomerania-Wolgast The Duchy of Pomerania-Wolgast, also known as the Duchy of Wolgast, and the Duchy of Wołogoszcz, was a feudal duchy in Western Pomerania within the Holy Roman Empire. Its capital was Wolgast. It was ruled by the Griffin dynasty.Edward Rymar, ''R ...
)
Sources
*
*
See also
* List of Medieval Slavic tribes
This is a list of Slavic peoples and Slavic tribes reported in Late Antiquity and in the Middle Ages, that is, before the year AD 1500.
Ancestors
*Proto-Indo-Europeans (Proto-Indo-European speakers)
** Proto-Balto-Slavs (common ancestors of Bal ...
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rani (Slavic Tribe)
Polabian Slavs
History of Pomerania
Lechites
West Slavic tribes