The Example of Pomerania in the 11Th-12Th Century

The Shaping of Post-barbarian Identity 293 Chapter 15 The Shaping of Post-barbarian Identity: The Example of Pomerania in the 11th-12th Century Stanisław Rosik Today Pomerania is a historical territory extending along the Baltic Sea in both Poland and Germany. At the time of the formation of nation-states – from the end of the Middle Ages and down into the 20th century –Pomeranian identity became a component of the complex identities of particular regional communities, which were also defined in relation to a nation, a state and a religious denomination (from the time of the Reformation). Today this situation is con- solidated by the administrative geography of Poland and Germany, which is generally seen as fostering a way of perceiving the Pomeranians as a regional community, being as it were ex definitione a component of wider communities collected within states. However, this was not so ‘in the beginning,’ which is of key importance from the perspective of the problems discussed in this paper. The aim of this essay is to examine fundamental transformations in the life of Baltic communities in the 12th century, i.e. drawing them into the spheres of Christian monarchies. At that time the name ‘Pomeranians’ (Pomorani, Pome rani) defined a community (gens or natio) treated as a separate ethnic entity and political object.1 Meaningful evidence about this is given in a historical record from the mid-12th century written by Ebo, a Benedictine from Michels- berg. They are referred to as the ‘brothers’ of the Poles in his Vita of St Otto of Bamberg, which shows that the two communities enjoyed equal status.2 Only later did they form the basis of two communities of different status: Poles – national, and Pomeranians – regional (although, please note, supporters of the idea that there was once a Pomeranian nationality are today quite numerous). The very name ‘Pomeranians’ indicates that they lived near the sea, which was stressed ca 1159 by Herbord of Michelsberg.3 In the east the Pomeranians 1 See e.g., Jan M. Piskorski, Pomorze plemienne. Historia – Archeologia – Językoznawstwo (Poznań-Szczecin, 2002) 18-29; Stanisław Rosik, Conversio gentis Pomeranorum. Studium świadectwa od wydarzeniu (XII wiek) (Wrocław, 2010), 57-68. 2 Ebo, Żywot św. Ottona biskupa bamberskiego, eds. Jan Wikarjak, Kazimierz Liman, Monumenta Poloniae Historica nova series, vol. 7, part 2 (Warszawa, 1969) [henceforward: Ebo], III, 13. 3 Herbord, Dialog o życiu św. Ottona biskupa bamberskiego, eds. Jan Wikarjak, Kazimierz Liman, Monumenta Poloniae Historica nova series, vol. 7, part 3 (Warszawa, 1974) [henceforward: © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2018 | doi 10.1163/9789004363793_016 294 Rosik were neighbours of the Prussians, in the south of Poland and in the west of the Lutici tribes. In the 1070s Adam of Bremen described their location in the fol- lowing way in his chronicle.4 The earliest records relating to the Pomeranians indicate that they did not form a single political unity and in fact were com- posed of a few tribal communities. However, this did not prevent authors from characterising them as one nation (gens, natio). This was the way in which the Pomeranians were treated in German, Polish,5 or Bohemian6 contexts, in which the sources were created.7 Thus, here we are dealing with something characteristic for such an ‘exter- nal’ perspective, one which expressed not only the geographical concept, but also reflected political currents among the Christian neighbours of Pomerania. Its land fell into their expansion zone as early as the 10th century and the first to be mentioned in this respect should be Poland, Germany and Denmark. In the case of Germany it was mainly Saxony and also, in the first decades of the 12th century, the Duchy of the Obotrites (in Northern Polabia), which belonged to the same political circle. The competition among these Christian monarchies for influence in Pomerania, although sometimes interrupted by temporary alliances, started as early as the second half of the 10th century, i.e. from the Ottonian era in Germany and the beginnings of Polish monarchy. Herbord], II, 1. Herbord was the author of the third vita of St Otto of Bamberg. The first one, the so-called Vita Prieflingensis (Die Prüfeninger Vita Bischof Ottos I. von Bamberg nach der Fassung des Groβen Österreichischen Legendars, ed. Jürgen Petersohn, Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum (Hannover, 1999) [henceforward: VP]), was written by an anonymous monk from the Benedictine monastery of Prüfening (near Regensburg), and the second one by the above-mentioned Ebo. For more information on vita Ottonis and his authors see e.g., Stephanie Haarländer, Vitae episcoporum. Eine Quellen gattung zwischen Hagiographie und Historiographie, untersucht an Lebensbeschreibungen von Bischöfen des Regnum Teutonicum im Zeitalter der Ottonen und Salier (Stuttgart, 2000) 527-535; Jerzy Strzelczyk, “Einleitung”, in Heiligenleben zur DeutschSlawischen Geschichte. Adalbert von Prag und Otto von Bamberg, eds. Lorenz Weinrich, Jerzy Strzelczyk, Ausgewählte Quellen zur Deutschen Geschichte des Mittelalters (Darmstadt, 2005) 18 f, 23-26. 4 Magistri Adam Bremensis Gesta Hammmaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum, ed. Bernd Schmeidler, Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum (Han- nover, 1917), II, schol. 14; III, 22. 5 See footnotes above and below. 6 Kosmas of Prague ca 1125 see Cosmae Pragensis Chronica Boemorum, ed. Berthold Bretholz, Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores nova series, vol. 2 (Berlin, 1923) III, 72. 7 See e.g., Stanisław Rosik, Pomerania and Poland in the 10th to 12th Centuries: The expansion of the Piasts and the shaping of political, social and state relations in the seaside Slav communities, in The Expansion of Central Europe in the Middle Ages, ed. Nora Berend, The Expansion of Latin Europe, 1000-1500, 5 (Farnham, 2012) 451-489..

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