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Crusades in Eastern Europe chapter 27 Crusades in Eastern Europe It remains unclear who exactly had the idea of countering Bernard of Clairvaux’s preaching of the crusade at the diet that took place in Frankfurt on March 13, 1147 by proposing that instead of going to the Holy Land, the Saxon noblemen in attendance would be authorized to launch a crusade against the pagan tribes east of the Elbe River.1 The main target were the so-called “Wends,” an umbrella-term for all Slavic-speaking peoples within the territory of the former Northern March (which had disappeared in the course of the rebellion of 983), as well as farther to the east.2 Bernard responded favorably to that idea, and at his specific recommendation, Pope Eugenius III issued Divini dispensatione consilii on April 11, 1147. Besides an opportunity to redirect, if not stop the violence inside Christian society, both Bernard and the pope stressed the specific quality of the “new” crusade: its prime objective was the conversion of the pagan people, by force if necessary. According to Bernard, no truce was to be made with the pagans until either they would convert, or they would be wiped out.3 The papal bull granted the Wendish crusaders the same indulgences as those that participants in the crusade to the Holy Land received.4 Two out of three contenders for the Danish throne—Sven III Grathe 1 Kahl, Heidenfrage, pp. 623–32; Bysted et al., Jerusalem, pp. 45–46. Reynolds, The Prehistory, pp. 18–19 suggests that the initiative came from the “young lions,” the Welf princes Adolf of Holstein and Henry the Lion of Saxony, who had the most immediate interests in the expan- sion across the Elbe. 2 As early as 1108, Archbishop Adalgod of Magdeburg (1107–1119) circulated a letter to secular and ecclesiastical rulers in Western Europe calling for an expedition against the Wends. The archbishop exhorted those who were ready to help in that expedition to imitate those “Gauls” who had liberated Jerusalem, and wrote of the territories lost to the Wends since 983 as “our Jerusalem.” Bysted et al., Jerusalem, pp. 29–30 believe that to have been the first crusade-in- the-making against the Wends. For a detailed analysis of the letter, see Jensen, Crusading, pp. 112–15. 3 Reynolds, The Prehistory, pp. 21–22; Güttner-Sporzyński, Poland, pp. 129–30. For the eschato- logical dimensions of the crusade objective set by Bernard, see Kahl, Heidenfrage, pp. 633–66. For Bernard continuing the goals set for rulers in the region by the Magdeburg Charter of 1108, see Constable, “The place”; Güttner-Sporzyński, Poland, pp. 130–31. 4 The papal bull specifically associated the campaign against the Wends to those in Outremer and in Spain. However, unlike crusaders to the Holy Land, participants in the Wendish cru- sade were not granted papal protection for their wives and children, freedom from legal suits, exemption from usury on past loans, and increased credit ability (Fonnesberg-Schmidt, The Popes, pp. 33–34). © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/9789004395190_028 Crusades in Eastern Europe 557 and Knud III Magnussen—announced their participation in the “new” cru- sade, which they saw as an opportunity to curb the raids of the Slavic pirates on the Danish coasts. Bishop Henry Zdík of Olomouc, who had already been involved in missionary work in Prussia, exchanged his vows to take part in the crusade to the Holy Land for an obligation to join the Wendish crusaders.5 The bishop came with his troops at the gathering in Magdeburg (July 1147). There he met a Polish contingent under the command of “the brother of the duke of Poland,” most likely Mieszko (the future Mieszko III), who ruled at that time in neighboring Greater Poland.6 The crusading armies took Havelberg, then laid siege to two Slavic forts in the northern part of the lands between the Elbe and the Oder, and finally arrived outside the Pomeranian town of Szczecin (Fig. 27.1). There, they found the ramparts surmounted with crosses, and were met by Adalbert, Bishop of Pomerania (1140–1162), who rebuked the crusad- ers for their idea of forcing conversion by military means.7 As a consequence of the following negotiations, conducted by Bishop Henry Zdík, the crusad- ers decided to abandon the siege in exchange for a public confirmation from Duke Ratibor of Pomerania (1135–1156) that he would remain Christian.8 With that, the Wendish crusade came to an end. However, according to the Annals of Magdeburg, the expedition that Duke Bolesław IV (1146–1173) organized a few months later against the Prussians was part of the same campaign.9 Vincent Kadłubek, writing shortly before or after 1200, claims that after the expedi- tion, the duke instituted a law in the conquered territories, according to which “those who would choose the Christian manner of worship would not be harmed either in person nor would their property suffer. But these who would not renounce the sacrilegious heathen rites would without delay be punished with death.”10 Whether or not Bolesław truly issued such a decree, its content, 5 Canon of Vyšehrad, Continuation, s.a. 1141, p. 147; Monk of Sázava, Continuation s.a. 1147, p. 159. See also Güttner-Sporzyński, Poland, pp. 112–14. 6 Annals of Magdeburg, s.a. 1147, p. 189. For the identity of the leader of the Polish cru- sader army, see Gładysz, Forgotten Crusaders, pp. 82–89; Güttner-Sporzyński, Poland, pp. 123–26. 7 Vincent of Prague, Annals, p. 663. For the conversion of Pomerania to Christianity, see Guth, “The Pomeranian missionary journeys”; Bysted et al., Jerusalem, pp. 32–34 and 36– 37; Rosik, Conversio. 8 Güttner-Sporzyński, Poland, p. 123. 9 Annals of Magdeburg, s.a. 1147, p. 188. 10 Vincent Kadłubek, Chronicle III 30, p. 292; English translation from Güttner-Sporzyński, Poland, pp. 166–67. For Bolesław IV’s expedition to Prussia, see also Gładysz, Forgotten Crusaders, pp. 89–95..
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