Obotrites

The Obotrites (German: Abodriten, Polish: Obodryci), also commonly known as the Obodrites, Abotrites, or Abodrites, were a confederation of medieval West Slavic tribes within the territory of modern Mecklenburg and Holstein in northern Germany (Polabian Slavs). For decades they were allies of Charlemagne in his wars against Germanic Saxons and Slavic Veleti.

In 798 the Obodrites, ruled by prince Drożko, or Draško (Thrasco, orig.), defeated Saxons in the battle on Swentana river. The still heathen Saxons were dispersed by the emperor, and the part of their former land in Holstein north of Elbe was awarded to the Obotrites in 804, as a reward for their victory. This however was soon reverted through an invasion of the Danes.

Obotritic confederation tribes

Map of the Billunger Mark (ca. 1000 AD) showing
different tribes of the Obotritic confederation

The Bavarian Geographer, an anonymous medieval document compiled in Regensburg in 830, contains a list of the tribes in Central Eastern Europe to the east of the Elbe. The list includes the Nortabtrezi (Obotrites) - with 53 civitates. Adam of Bremen referred to them as the Reregi because of their lucrative trade emporium Reric. In common with other Slavic groups, they were often described by Germanic sources as Wends.
The main tribes of the Obotritic confederation were:

• the Obotrites proper (Wismar Bay to Lake Schwerin);
• the Wagrians (the eastern Holstein as part of Saxony);
• the Warnower (the upper Warnow and Mildenitz);
• the Polabians proper (between the Trave and the Elbe).

Other tribes associated with the confederation include:

• the Linonen near Lenzen,
• the Travnjane near the Trave,
• the Drevani in the Hanoverian Wendland and the northern Altmark.