The Events of 983

It has been commonplace in scholarly literature to refer to a Slavic "revolt" which took place in the year 983, overthrowing an assumed Ottonian rule over the Slavic lands east of the Elbe and reestablishing that river as the boundary of German control. The narrative primary sources, however, suggest that this interpretation may be inaccurate. The evidence is contradictory, confusing, and much of it very late relative to the events themselves.  At core, there are four mostly independent accounts:  the Annals of Hildesheim, Brun of Querfurt, Thietmar of Merseburg, and Adam of Bremen — who, though late, appears to have access to source material which has not otherwise survived.  The remainder, even the rather well-known version by Helmold of Bosau, are variations and recombinations of these four.

This page acts as a repository for translated sources describing 983, beginning with those written soonest after the year itself and proceeding chronologically. We will continue to update as we translate new sources.

 

Annals of Hildesheim

This passage likely derives from the lost Annales Hildesheimenses maiores, probably started shortly after 983. Translation ours; Latin available here.

983: The emperor held an assembly at Verona, where Henry the Younger was recalled from exile and made dux of the Bavarians; the same year the Slavs were made rebels against the Saxons.

 

Brun of Querfurt, Earlier Life of St. Adalbert

Completed c. 1004. Translation ours; Latin available here.  Repeated basically verbatim, with unbridled substituted for haughty, in the Later Life, also by Brun (1008).

10: At that time the haughty gens of the pagan Liutizi threw off the yoke of Christianity, and — who moreover labored in error — with their servitude having been established, hastened after foreign gods, and many Christians, who were unable to flee those pursuing them, died by the sword.

 

Thietmar of Merseburg, Chronicon

Written 1012-1018, with this passage, from book three, likely composed c. 1013. Translation David Warner, 141-143.

III 17: Margrave Dietrich's arrogance so irritated peoples who had already accepted both Christianity and the status of tribute payer in regard to our kings and emperors, that their members unanimously decided to take up arms. This turn of events was predicted to my father, Count Siegfried, in the following way. In a dream, he saw a sky filled with dense clouds. Astonished, he asked what it meant and a voice replied: "Now that prophecy must be fulfilled: 'God allows the rain to fall both on the just and the unjust.'" The outrage began on 29 July, with the murder of the garrison and the destruction of the cathedral at Havelberg. Three days later, at the sounding of prime, the entire band of Slavs attacked the bishopric of Brandenburg, a see established beyond Magdeburg some thirty years previously. Folkmar, the third bishop of that see, had already fled, and his defender, Dietrich, barely escaped with his warriors on the same day as the attack. The clergy who remained were captured. The second bishop, Dodilo, was dragged frmo his tomb. He had been strangled by his own people and, though three years in the grave, his body and priestly vestments were as yet uncorrupted. The greedy dogs then plundered him and carelessly threw him back again. They also stole all of the church's treasures and brutally spilled the blood of many. Thus various cults of demonic heresy were venerated instead of Christ and his fisherman, the venerable Peter. And not only the heathen praised this sorrowful change, but also Christians!

III 18: In those times, the church of Zeitz was captured and wasted by an army of Bohemians under the leadership of Dedi. Its first bishop, Hugh, had already fled. Afterwards, the Slavs devastated the monastery of St. Lawrence at Calbe and pursued our people as if they were so many fleeing deer. Our spirits were fearful because of our sins, but their spirits were strong. Duke Mistui of the Abodrites burned and ravaged Hamburg which was formerly the residence of the bishop. Yet all Christendom should piously note the miracle that Christ performed there from heaven. A golden hand came down from the highest regions and, with outstretched fingers, reached into the middle of the fire. This occurred in full view of all. The army looked on in astonishment, and Mistui was both terrified and dumbfounded. This incident was related to me by Avico who was then Mistui's chaplain, but later became my spiritual brother. We both came to the conclusion that God had, in this way, taken the relics up to heaven and, at the same time, terrified and put the enemy to flight. Later, Mistui lost his mind and was held in chains. After being immersed in water that had been blessed, he shouted: 'St Lawrence is burning me!' But before he could be freed, he died wretchedly.1

III 19: By the time the Slavs had burned and pillaged all the burgs and villages as far as the river Tanger, there were more than thirty bands of warriors on foot and horseback. Without sustaining any losses and aided by their gods, they did not hesitate to ravage the rest of the region, as their blaring trumpets preceded them. We did not remain unaware of these events. Bishop Giselher and Hildeward joined with Margrave Dietrich and with the other counts: Rikdag, Hodo, Benizo, Frederick, Dudo, my father Siegfried, and many others. At dawn, on Saturday, they heard mass together. Then, after fortifying body and spirit with the sacrament of heaven, they confidently fell upon the approaching enemy and, except for a few who found refuge on a hill, completely annihilated them. The victors praised God, marvellous in all his works, and the truthful word of the teacher, Paul, was confirmed: 'There is neither prudence nor strength nor counsel against the Lord.' Utterly abandoned were those who had once dared to reject God and stupidly chose to worship meaningless idols, which they themselves had made, rather than their own creator. Unfortunately, as night approached and our forces made camp some distance away, the Slavs of whom I have spoken above furtively escaped. The next day, our people happily returned to their homeland, after sustaining only three casualties. While on their way, or once they were at home, they were congratulated by everyone they encountered.

 

Annals of Niederaltaich

Probably adapted beginning in 1033 from a copy of the Hildesheim annals. Translation is ours, Latin here.

983: There was discord between the Saxons and the Slavs; the Saxons were persecuted by the Slavs, who destroyed many churches, monasteries, and fortifications.

 

Adam of Bremen, Gesta Hammaburgensis eccelsiae pontificum

Completed c. 1076. Adam appears to be working here from independent soures which have not survived, though his chronology is somewhat garbled. Translation is Francis Tschan, 83-85. The passage is notable for the density of scholia, which I have included below their adjacent chapters.

II 42: In the meantime the thousandth year since the incarnation of our Lord was happily completed and this was the archbishop's twelfth year. The following year the most valiant emperor Otto, who had already conquered the Danes, the Slavs, likewise also the Franks and Italians, succumbed, overtaken by an untimely death, after he had thrice entered Rome as victor. After his death the kingdom remained in confusion. Then, indeed, the Slavs, more than fairly oppressed by their Christian rulers, at length threw off the yoke of servitude and had to take up arms in defense of their freedom. Mistivoi and Mizzidrag were the chiefs of the Winuli under whose leadership the rebllion flared up. Under these leaders the rebel Slavs wasted first the whole of Nordalbingia with fire and sword; then, going through the rest of Slavia, they set fire to all the churches and tore them down to the ground. They also murdered the priests and the other ministers of the churches with diverse tortures and left not a vestige of Christianity beyond the Elbe.

Schol. 27: The story goes that a Slavic duke sought for his son the hand of Duke Bernhard's niece and that he recieved the promise. Then the chief of the Winuli sent his son accompanied by a thousand warriors with the duke into Italy, where nearly all were killed. And when the son of the Slavic duke asked for the woman that had been promised, the margrave Dietrich broke up the plan, declaring that a kinswoman of the duke was not to be given to a dog.

Schol. 28: Dietrich was the margrave of the Slavs whose villainy forced them to become rebels.

II 43: At Hamburg, then and later, many clerics and citizens were led off into captivity, and even more were put to death out of hatred of Christianity. The long-to-be-remembered king of the Danes who held in memory all the deeds of the barbarians as if they had been written down told us how Oldenburg had been a city heavily populated with Christians. "There," he said, "sixty priests — the rest had been slaughtered like cattle — were kept for mockery. The oldest of these, the provost of the place, and our kinsman, was named Oddar. Now, he and others were martyred in this manner: after the skin of their heads had been cut with an iron in the form of a cross, the brain of each was laid bare; with hands tied behind their backs, the confessors of God were then dragged through one Slavic town after another, harried either with blows or in some other manner, until they died. After having been thus made 'a spectacle... to angels and to men,' they breathed forth their victorious spirits in the middle of the course." Many deeds of this kind, which for lack of written records are now regarded as fables, are remembered as having been done at this time in the several provinces of the Slavs. When I questioned the king further about them, he said: "Stop, son. We have so many martyrs in Denmark and Slavia that they can hardly be comprehended in a book."

Schol. 29: Oldenburg, a large city of the Slavs that are named Wagiri, is situated on the sea called the Baltic or Barbarian, a day's journey from Hamburg.

Schol. 30: Since he would not give up Christianity, Mistivoi was driven from his fatherland and fled to the Bardi, with whom he lived a believer to an old age.

Schol. 31: The margrave Dietrich, deprived of his post of honor and of all his inheritance, ended his life as a prebendary at Magdeburg with the bad death he deserved.

Schol. 32: In the year of our lord one thousand and ten the Hungarian nation was converted to the faith through the emperor's sister, Gisela who, married to the king of Hungary, induced him to have himself and his followers baptized, and he recieved the name Stephen in baptism. He later merited being declared a saint.

II 44: And so all the Slavs who dwell between the Elbe and the Oder and who had practiced the Christian religion for seventy years and more, during the time of all the Ottos, cut themselves off from the body of Christ and of the Church with which they had before been joined. Oh, truly the judgments of God over men are hidden: "Therefore He hath mercy on whom He will; and whom He will He hardeneth." Marveling at His omnipotence, we see those who were the first to believe fall back into paganism; those however, who seemed to be the very last, converted to Christ. But He, the "just judge, strong and patient," who of old wiped out in the sight of Israel the seven tribes of Canaan, and kept only the strangers, by whom the transgressors might be punished — He, I say, willed now to harden a small part of the heathen through whom He might confound our faithlessness.

II 45: These things were done in the last days of the elder Lievizo, under Duke Bernhard, the son of Benno, who grievously oppressed the Slavic peoples. At that time also the controversy of Bishop Bernar of Verden over Ramelsloh was ended in the presence of Pope Sergius.

 

Sigibert of Gembloux, Chronicon sive Chronographia

After 1111; seemingly reliant on Brun. Translation is ours, Latin here, 352.

977: The gens of the Liutizi relapsed into idolatry.

 

Gesta archiepiscoporum Magdeburgensium

Around 1142, Latin here, 387-390.

[Appears to follow Thietmar. We hope to have a full translation soon.]

 

Annalista Saxo

Written 1148-1152. The MGH edition (2006), 234-236, appears not to be available at this time.

[Synthesizes Thietmar and Adam. We hope to have a full translation soon.]

 

Helmold of Bosau, Chronica Slavorum

Completed after 1171. The passage seems to be wholly reliant on Adam. Translation is Francis Tschan, pages QQ.

About the same time ended the year of the incarnation of the Word, 1001, in which the most valiant emperor Otto III sank, overtaken by an untimely death, after he had thrice entered  Rome a victor. There succeeded him on the throne the most pious Henry, remarkable for his justice and sanctity, the one, let me recall, who founded the bishopric of Bamberg and provided for churchly worship with the amplest munificence. In the tenth year of Henry’s reign the duke of Saxony died, Benno, a man conspicuous for his thorough probity and zealous defense of the churches. Bernhard, his son, inherited his princely dignity; he departed, however, from his father’s happy courses. Discord and turbulence never ceased in this country from the time he was established as duke, for the reason that in presuming to rise against the emperor Henry he moved all Saxony to rebel with him against the Caesar. Then he rose against Christ and brought terror and confusion upon all the churches of Saxony, those especially that would not join in the malicious rebellion I have noted. In addition to these misfortunes this duke, entirely unmindful of the esteem in which both his father and his grandfather had held the Slavs, through his avarice cruelly oppressed the nation of the Winuli and sheerly drove it into paganism. At that time Margrave Dietrich and Duke Bernhard held dominion over the Slavs, the former possessing the eastern country, the latter, the western. Their villainy forced the Slavs into apostasy. This heathen folk, still immature in the faith, had previously been treated with great lenience by the most noble princes who had tempered their rigor toward those about whose salvation they were zealously concerned. Now, however, they were pursued by the margrave and Duke Bernhard with such cruelty that they finally threw off the yoke of servitude and had to take up arms in defense of their freedom. Mistivoi and Mizzidrag were the chiefs of the Winuli under whose leadership the rebellion flared up. Now the story goes, and it is ancient lore, that this Mistivoi sought and was promised the hand of Duke Bernhard’s niece. Then the chief of the Winuli in his desire to show he was worthy of the engagement with a thousand horsemen accompanied the duke into Italy and there nearly all of them were killed. When he returned from the expedition, he asked for the maiden who had been promised to him, but Margrave Dietrich opposed the plan, vociferating that a kinswoman of the duke should not be given to a dog. On hearing this the Slav chieftain departed in great indignation. When, therefore, the duke had taken other counsel and had sent messengers after him to say that the desired nuptials might take place, Mistivoi is said to have answered: “It is only right that the highborn niece of a great prince should be married to a man of exalted rank and not, indeed, be given to a dog. The great thanks that are given us for our service is that we are now considered dogs, not men. Well then, if the dog be hale he will take big bites.” And with these words he returned into Slavia. First of all he went to the city of Rethra, which is in the land of the Lutici, called together all the Slavs who lived to the eastward and made known to them the insult that had been offered him and that in the language of the Saxons the Slavs are called “dogs.” But they said: “You, who spurned your co-tribesmen and courted the Saxons, a perfidious and avaricious race, suffer this deservedly. Swear, now, to us that you will give them up and we will stand by you.” And he swore to them.

Therefore, after Duke Bernhard had for apparent reasons taken up arms against the Caesar, the Slavs embraced the opportunity to collect an army and wasted first the whole of Nordalbingia with fire and sword. Then, roving about the rest of Slavia, they burned all the churches and destroyed them even to the ground. They murdered the priests and the other ministers of the churches with diverse tortures and left not a vestige of Christianity beyond the Elbe. At Hamburg, then and later, many clerics and citizens were led off into captivity and many more were put to death through hatred of Christianity. The old men of the Slavs who remember all the deeds of the barbarians tell how Oldenburg had been a city most populous with Christians. There sixty priests (the rest had been slaughtered like cattle) were kept as objects of derision. The oldest of these, the provost of the place, was named Oddar. He and others were martyred in this manner. After the skin of their heads had been cut in the form of a cross, the brain of each was laid bare with an iron. With hands tied behind their backs, the confessors of God were then dragged through one Slavic town after another until they died. After having been thus made “a spectacle … to angels and to men,” they breathed forth their victorious spirits in the middle of the course. Many deeds of this kind, which for lack of written records are now regarded as fables, are remembered as having been done at this time in the several provinces of the Slavs and Nordalbingians. In fine, there were so many martyrs in Slavia that they can hardly be enumerated in a book. All the Slavs who dwelt between the Elbe and the Oder and who had practiced the Christian religion for seventy years and more, that is, during the whole time of the reigns of the Ottos, in this manner cut themselves off from the body of Christ and of the Church with which they had before been united. Oh, truly the judgments of God over men are hidden: “Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will . . . and whom He will, He hardeneth.” Marveling at His omnipotence, we see those who were the first to believe falling back into paganism; those, however, who seemed to be the very last, converted to Christ. But He, “the just judge, strong and patient,” who of old wiped out in the sight of Israel the seven tribes of Canaan, and kept only the strangers in whom He tried Israel – He, I say, willed now to harden a small part of the heathen through whom He might confound our perfidy. These things were done in the last days of Archbishop Libentius, the elder, under Duke Bernhard, the son of Benno, who grievously oppressed the Slavic people. Dietrich, the margrave of the Slavs, who was as avaricious and as cruel as the one mentioned, was driven from his post and from all his inheritance, and he ended his life as a prebendary at Magdeburg with the bad death he deserved. Mistivoi, the chieftain of the Slavs, was toward the end of his time brought to repentance and converted to God. Since he would not give up Christianity, he was driven from his fatherland and fled to the Bardi with whom he lived as a believer to an old age.

 

Annals of Magdeburg

C. 1176. Latin here, 155-156.

[Appears to follow the Gesta archiepiscoporum Magdeburgensium. We hope to have a full translation soon.]

 

Chronicon sancti Michaelis Luneburgensis

C. 1229. Latin here, 395.

[Appears to follow Helmold. We hope to have a full translation soon.]

 

Chronicon principum Saxoniae

C. 1280. Latin here, 473.

[Appears to follow Helmold. We hope to have a full translation soon.]