Charenza, also Karentia or Karenz, later also Gharense, was a medieval ''

Slavic burgwall A gord is a medieval 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 and Eastern Europe. The typical gord usually consisted ...

'' on the island of

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 ...

in the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

. It was the administrative centre of the Rani tribe and of 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 ...

. Today, the remnants are called Venz Castle (German: ''Venzer Burgwall'').

Name

The name Charenza (also spelt ''Karentia'' or ''Karenz'') may be derived from an old personal name, ''Chareta'', or from the Rani word for "root", ''Koreta''. In its original form, the name was Korenitsa.

Temples

Charenza was not only the administrative hub of the Rani tribe, but also a religious centre with the temples of

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 ...

. The main religious centre of the Rani, however, was Arkona on

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 ...

Danish conquest

In 1168, King Valdemar I of

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

and his archbishop

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 List of (arch)bishops of Lund. Until the Danish Reformation the centre of a gr ...

captured Arkona. Charenza surrendered a few days later after negotiations with the Rugian princes

Tetzlav Tetzlav, also known as ''Tezlaw'', ''Tetzlaw'' and ''Tetislaw'' (before 1163 – between 1170 and 1181) was a Prince of Rügen. Life According to the Pomeranian chronicler, Thomas Kantzow, he was a son of the Rani king, Ratislaus of Rügen (1 ...

and

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 ...

. The temples were destroyed, the princes agreed to become Danish vassals and the population adopted the Christian faith. In 1180, the administrative centre of the

was moved to

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 ...

(today Bergen auf Rügen, just a few kilometres to the southeast).

Records

In the 12th century, Charenza was mentioned by

Saxo Grammaticus Saxo Grammaticus (c. 1150 – c. 1220), also known as Saxo cognomine Longus, was a Danish historian, theologian and author. He is thought to have been a clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, the main advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. ...

and

Helmold von Bosau Helmold of Bosau (ca. 1120 – after 1177) was a Saxon historian of the 12th century and a priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans a ...

. The last records are from the early 13th century. When the Danish king raised money to build 12 churches on

, one of them was the ''capelle nostre in Charenz'', which in 1232 was granted the village of Gagern as a fief. In 1234, when the Rugian prince Vitslav I granted

Lübeck law The Lübeck law (german: Lübisches (Stadt)Recht) was the family of codified municipal law developed at Lübeck, which became a free imperial city in 1226 and is located in present day Schleswig-Holstein. It was the second most prevalent form of ...

Stralsund Stralsund (; Swedish: ''Strålsund''), officially the Hanseatic City of Stralsund (German: ''Hansestadt Stralsund''), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin, Neub ...

, the document was signed in Charenza. The last record mentioning Charenza was in 1237. In the 14th century, "Gharense" was mentioned as belonging to the parish of

Gingst Gingst 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 aft ...

Coordinates

Older research located Charenza at Garz (), while newer studies locate Charenza near Venz (

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, ...

community, ), the supposed site of Gharense, which also fits the hints given in the ''

Gesta Danorum ''Gesta Danorum'' ("Deeds of the Danes") is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th-century author Saxo Grammaticus ("Saxo the Literate", literally "the Grammarian"). It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark an ...

'' of

for Charenza's location.

Sources

*Kratzke, Reimann, Ruchhöft: ''Garz und Rugendahl auf Rügen im Mittelalter.'' In: ''Baltische Studien 2004 – Pommersche Jahrbücher für Landesgeschichte.'' Neue Folge Bd. 90, Verlag Ludwig, Kiel 2005, pp. 25–52, *Sven Wichert: ''Beobachtungen zu Karentia auf Rügen im Mittelalter.'' In: ''Baltische Studien 2005 – Pommersche Jahrbücher für Landesgeschichte.'' Neue Folge Bd. 91, Verlag Ludwig, Kiel 2006, pp. 31–38, {{ISBN, 3-937719-35-0

External links

Garz Castle
Principality of Rügen Early Slavic archaeology