ABSTRACT

In mid-July and early August 1147, two large military contingents set off from German territories, heading northeast to eastern Germany/western Poland. Their destination was a region called the Wagria, between the Elbe and Oder rivers, near the Baltic coast.1 They were undertaking an offensive mission under the leadership of German, Saxon, and Polish secular aristocrats and ecclesiastical authorities, against Polabian Slavs, called Wends, by their Christian German and Saxon neighbors.2 The first group to set out from Arlenburg, Saxony attacked settlements throughout the countryside as they traveled.3 Danes in the region joined them, as they approached the Baltic coast.4 This group’s mission ended with a battle at Dobin, which concluded with peace treaties, promises of conversion by Wends, and the reassertion of German political and economic authority in the region.5 The second group to set out, from Magdeburg, Germany, also attacked settlements in the countryside as they moved toward strategically valuable targets on the Baltic coast.6 This force split into two as it approached Demmin, Germany: some continued to that city while others turned southeast to Szczecin.7 Neither destination brought the victory for which the Christian knights hoped. Discontent broke out among them during the lengthy battle for Demmin, and by early September many were returning home.8 Meanwhile, men who arrived at Szczecin prepared to fight enemies of the Christians faith were surprised to find crosses on the city walls. The city’s residents and Bishop Adalbert of Pomerania (d. 1162) hurried out of the city to secure peace. After the city’s leader publicly confessed his faith and swore to defend Christianity in the region, most of the crusaders returned home.9