The first Northern Crusade. The conquest and forced conversion of the pagan Wends.Part 1

The first Northern Crusade was aimed at the conquest and forced conversion of the pagan Wends who lived to the east of the Elbe River in what is now North-Eastern Germany. The Wendish people were a Slavic race who had inhabited the area since the 5th Century. Attempts had been made to convert the Wends to Christianity ever since Charlemagne's time but the Wends had successfully resisted the pressure. By the 10th Century onwards however as the Christian Saxons grew in power and a nascent German state (and Holy Roman Empire) developed from East Francia, the pressure both in terms of missionaries and military force increased massively till in 1147CE a Crusade was declared (later called the Wendish Crusade) to convert the Wends by force. However the Crusade wasn't as successful as it should have been as the resourceful Prince Nyklot leading the Wendish pagans outwitted them militarily to an extent. Only a single pagan temple was destroyed in the whole Crusade and the pagan Wends threw off their nominal conversion as soon as the Crusaders left Wendish territory.
This is part 1 of a series of videos on the crusade and its aftermath. Part 1 deals with the background to the Crusade, Saxon pressure, The Magdeburg letter encouraging a seizure of Slav territory, missionary activity in Slavic lands prior to the Crusade and Slavic resistance to Christianity
✅ Subscribe to Flavius Claudius Julianus
@FlaviusClaudiusJulianus361
🙏 Like to support the channel?
Join the channel Patreon community / flaviusclaudiusjulianus .
Or buy us a coffee www.buymeacoffee.com/fcjulianus
One time donation ko-fi.com/flaviusclaudiusjuli...
CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction
03:34 The time. The Wendish Crusade in relation to the Middle Eastern Crusades
06:53 The place. The territory of the Wendish people
09:32 The Wendish people. Their character, their cities, their main temples
18:18 The Christian neighbours. The Saxons, Danes and Poles
22:56 The rise of Saxon power
33:22 Advance of the Church. Expansion of bishoprics and the building of churches
36:00 The Great Slav Uprisings
51:33 Bishops advocating military solutions
59:42 The ‘drive to the east’. The displacement of pagan Slavs by Germanic Christians
01:03:37 Summing up

[@FlaviusClaudiusJulianus361]

Thx for watching. Look out for part 2 of the Wendish Crusade - coming soon!

[@TrueNativeScot]

Such a remarkable documentary about a topic that all Europeans should learn about! The history of how our people became Christian is so heavily, and purposefully, subject to criminal historical revisionism in favour of the semitic religion. Thank you for going through the effort to compile the information for us

[@FlaviusClaudiusJulianus361]

Appreciate that my friend. Comments like yours make it all worthwhile. Glad you like it.

[@jasonmuniz-contreras6630]

That semitic religion was heavily romanized. You know there is a reason why your ancestors adopted the latin alphabet. Medieval christianization was just another form of romanization and romanization was just another form of indo-europeanization.

[@TrueNativeScot]

@@jasonmuniz-contreras6630 Ah yes, worshipping a jew...so Indo-European...

[@legend-vd9ck]

Thank you for putting such a great effort into your channel. We need more passionate intellectuals like you exposing what truly happened in antiquity!

[@FlaviusClaudiusJulianus361]

My pleasure! Thx for taking time out to watch

[@leornendeealdenglisc]

Wow. This is an incredible video. Thank you for sharing this!

[@FlaviusClaudiusJulianus361]

My pleasure! Thx for watching!

[@freedomclub6969]

A wonderful channel during these horrible times. You should increase the volume a bit. Thank you for the videos!

[@FlaviusClaudiusJulianus361]

Sorry about that my friend. Will learn how to increase the volume on recordings - low setting somewhere or other! Appreciate you taking time to watch.

[@svijetlanradov8235]

I was worried you wouldn't return to KZbin because no video was uploaded for a while. It was worth the wait!

[@FlaviusClaudiusJulianus361]

Sorry about the long wait bro. Will defo try and get them out a little faster from now on :) Glad you liked it!

[@sarahsarah2534]

Fascinating and thoroughly researched, it was well worth the wait!

[@FlaviusClaudiusJulianus361]

Thanks!! Glad it was of use!

[@jakek.403]

Worth the wait! Massively appreciate your work

[@FlaviusClaudiusJulianus361]

Much appreciated bro! Appreciate you taking time to watch :)

[@sarahsarah2534]

What an exposition! It must have taken ages to dug up, summarise and organise all the information. I just listened to it again to savour the details. Looking forward to the next "episode".

[@FlaviusClaudiusJulianus361]

Thx! Did take a bit of time! Still not a natural at video editing which can take a fair amount of time as well. But glad it came out as a good video. Folks like yourself liking it makes it all worthwhile!

[@freedomclub6969]

After finishing watching it, the quality of the video is remarkably good, even compared to your previous videos! Keep it up!

[@FlaviusClaudiusJulianus361]

Thanks a ton! Trying to get better a little better with each video.

[@zorangajic504]

thank you for this detailed research and remarkable presentation, hope to see part 2 soon

[@FlaviusClaudiusJulianus361]

Glad you enjoyed it! With a bit of luck, part 2 will be out later this week!

[@derauserwahlte5402]

Can you make a video about Aurelian and Sol Invictus?

[@FlaviusClaudiusJulianus361]

Great idea on a great emperor! Will add to my list. Thx for suggesting

[@derauserwahlte5402]

@@FlaviusClaudiusJulianus361 Thank you. Continue your good videos.

[@apokalupsishistoria]

21:20 Redigast sounds like the Tolkien wizard.

[@FlaviusClaudiusJulianus361]

Ha Ha - More on Redigost coming up shortly!

[@apokalupsishistoria]

Thanks for the video. Hope you continue your content and make your way to higher subs! I've been particularly interested in seeing what parallels between Saints and possible pagan myths, most notably St Columbo and the Picts/Loch Ness Monster. Has connections to St Patrick story and maybe more if you think the snakes = pagans metaphor.

[@FlaviusClaudiusJulianus361]

Much appreciated! I have St. Patrick's story in my to-do list. Interesting metaphor regarding no snakes. May well have some truth.

[@theprinceofdarkness4679]

if number of "martyrs" is a measure of the "right" religion it seems that paganism would win against christianity hands down

[@FlaviusClaudiusJulianus361]

Sadly the contemporary accounts we have of that time mention little of the persecution of the pagan priests and believers and destruction of countless pagan shrines and temples in the cities and countryside although invariably mentioning any Christian martyrs there might have been. Classic case of victors writing the history.

[@Brandon-kt1qh]

Methinks the mythic Vanir from Norse mythology may have been the ancestors of the Wends

[@NefariousKoel]

I was wondering whether the 'Vendo', the mythical murderous barbarians living in the backwoods, was some derivative word related to the Wend. Such a close match.

[@FlaviusClaudiusJulianus361]

Not come across any information on that I'm afraid. Interesting link if so!

[@scottgraham1143]

I came to this subject from hearing Thomas Sheridan's emotional rants against Christianity. Up to that point, I'd never heard it cast in such a light. It's such an incredible untold story. I grew up fascinated by, in particular, the Irish myths and legends, but I never asked myself why or how Christianity supplanted the beliefs of the pagan peoples, which must have gone back into the mists of time.

[@FlaviusClaudiusJulianus361]

The history of the conversion of the European people (forced or otherwise) is a fascinating tale. Strangely a subject that you don't get many modern books on though considering the seismic social/religious/cultural shift that it brought about.

[@JamieBar]

I miss Europe's Pre-Christian religions, heritage, and cultures.

[@user-oi1tu5cu1w]

Very good video. The only remark is that there are no racial differences between the Germans and the Slavs, all these peoples come from the northern wing of the Indo-Europeans, the Corded Ware culture, this culture spread to the entire North and East of Europe in the Bronze Age.

[@FlaviusClaudiusJulianus361]

Thx! glad you liked it. Regarding racial differences- possible - although Slavic practices, religion, deities and culture were quite different from the Germanic races.

[@user-oi1tu5cu1w]

@@FlaviusClaudiusJulianus361 Race is a biological concept and does not depend on culture, language and religion. In a religious sense, before baptism, the Scandinavians, Saxons and South Germans had different gods and rituals. Also among the pagan Slavs. And in a linguistic sense, there are still many common words between, for example, English and Russian. Day - Den' Night - Noch Water - Voda Snow - Sneg Stop - Stop Nose - Nos Eyebrow - Brov' Son - Syn Daughter - Doch, Docher Brother - Brat Sister - Sestra Mother - Mater There are hundreds of such words preserved from Indo-European unity.

[@richardcrawley9614]

Really interesting stuff. I look forward to seeing more. Can I just provide some feedback on German pronunciation? Trying to approximate to British English: Bosau would be BOH’zow (rhymes with slow cow) Bremen rhymes with lemon Elbe is a two-syllable word - ELL’buh (not unlike Elba where Napoleon was briefly exiled).

[@FlaviusClaudiusJulianus361]

Thx! Glad you liked it. Appreciate the corrections on the pronunciations. Handy as I will be returning to the topic in future

[@esotericulmanist8331]

Regarding 21:55, I don't think the Baltic Prussians were ever referred to as being part of the Slavic space, though, do you have any sources for that? I'd love to learn more :)

[@FlaviusClaudiusJulianus361]

You're quite right. Just had a quick browse through Eric Christensen's book 'The Northern Crusades' a he classifies them in the Balt category. Thx for pointing that out!

[@Mendogology]

@@FlaviusClaudiusJulianus361 How can you even make a video about this matter without learning those basic points? Your channel is a joke

[@nickkemp4938]

Wow, fascinating and well presented on an area of history I now realise I knew precious little about. Keep it up👍

[@FlaviusClaudiusJulianus361]

Glad you enjoyed it! Plenty more coming up on the Wendish Crusade soon!

[@henkstersmacro-world]

👍👍👍

[@istvansipos9940]

"sprits and sh!t and magic invented locally? No. Magic is stupid. Here, take this mag... I mean, miracle collecti0n from the Middle-East. Or else... " - too many popes.

[@charlesmaximus9161]

My dear boy, there is no such thing as “the Middle East”. You neopagans sure don’t mind resorting to using postmodern terms and ideas as long as it is in the spirit of revising history, which you have a knack for doing even worse than leftists. The “Middle-East” is a misnomer; it is a British invention of the early 20th century. The term “Levant” is probably a far more correct and historically accurate term, but even that distinction did not arise until roughly the late Middle Ages. This weird concept that Christianity is somehow “fOrEiGn” to Europe is stunningly and embarrassingly as bizarre as it is asinine. It literally makes absolutely no sense; the monarchical lineages of Europe’s lands alone are shining proof of this. That anyone would even have the gall the deny that is realms beyond preposterous and serves as a testament to that person’s poor understanding of our civilisational heritage. Four major points here: 1.) The boundaries of what we now call Europe were far, far larger and stretched much further in classical antiquity. And this included Anatolia and parts of Northern Africa. The darker peoples did not even arrive there until well after the 7th century. This idea that the East was somehow the exotic Islamic world that it is today is absolutely insane. 2.) We did not use the word “Europe” back then in the geopolitical, civilisational, and regional sense that we do now. That term, in that geopolitical and civilisational context would not even exist until the 8th century. Neopagans will refute this with the argument about Europa being the mother of the king of Minos, and yes, this certainly when the name “Europa” was created, but not when Europe as a civilisational idea was created. 3.) Christendom is the heir of Greco-Roman civilisation; that is actual and factual. Attempting to separate the two is impossible, since virtually every facet of Rome was bequeathed to Europe/Christendom. One of the more historically recent examples that demonstrates this is the murder of the Russian Royal family. When Tsar Nicholas II and his family were murdered by jwsh Bolsheviks, Yurovsky, one of the executioners, scrawled Talmudic symbols along with a message onto the wall above the bodies. It was addressed to the “nations” (meaning, the gentiles, namely the Christian lands). That message called Nicholas as the “last of Rome’s kings” (Old Moscow, when it was Orthodox, was literally referred to as the “Third Rome”). 4.) Protestant evangelicalism is NOT genuine Christianity. Even from a secular, scholarly standpoint, it does not factor anywhere into the development of the ancient apostolic Christian religion as still practiced today by the Eastern Orthodox and traditional Roman Catholics. It is no mere accident that the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church are two largest churches. The endless and ever developing slew of weird Protestant sects do not even come close in numbers. No one before the 18th century would have recognised the more recent evangelical sects that exist today. Even the earliest Lutherans and Congregationalists would have found Pastor Jim-Bob’s Living Waters Revival Hour to be as foreign as the practices of the saracens. The only way neopagans can make their arguments against Christianity work is if they present it as a singular, overly generalised Protestant monolith; this naturally never works because it relies upon erroneous interpretations and misunderstood concepts. How many times have we all heard, “the Bible makes no sense…” whilst pointing out the supposed contradictions of Matthew 5:38? (the widely misinterpreted line about turning the other cheek). The biblical canon is a compendium of many books. It is not nor was it ever intended to be a self-interpreting text. One does not simply pick up an ancient text and start reading from it, expecting to understand exactly what it means. This is where the early church fathers come into the picture; these are the men that decided which books would comprise the biblical canon. One does not even luck to the US constitution and expect to understand it, let alone the Bible. Yet neopagans will mock this, whilst simultaneously making exceptions for ancient texts that they like, such as the Bhagavad Gita. With all due respect, I believe many of you are deeply, deeply confused. You seem to have the borderline childish hatred of Christianity and its pivotal influence and role in our history and its development of Europe. This is an extremely modern idea that would have been alien to our forebears. Most of the neopagans I’ve encountered do not even seem to accurately know or understand just what Christianity even is (here’s a hint: even from a secular point of view, it is definitely not Protestantism) let alone identify any clear notion of what paganism is. They think Christianity is basically some kind of vague, generalised strain of Protestant evangelicalism. Many of the ones that fixate exclusively on Norse aesthetics and pantheons also seem to strangely believe that Europe somehow begins and ends with Scandinavia and Germania. I don’t even think I need to mention the lack of consistency in the arguments, as I’m sure you are already well familiar. Somehow, we are, simultaneously, both a “weak desert cult” (never mind the fact that the Levant’s topography is diverse) AND an “oppressive bloodthirsty doomsday death cult that murdered billions by putting them to the sword”. Odd how that works. How do you not see that you have basically modelled this straight off of older leftist narratives of “oppressor vs oppressed”? It’s literally classic shit-lib atrocity porn. Highly exaggerated tales of “oppression” and “bloodshed” whilst borrowing from the long cliched dialectical template of class struggle, only switched out with religion instead. Not to be too snarky, but I am surprised that none of you are demanding reparations.

[@thomasfloyd3146]

Were the wends and curonions both slavic.who were the finno ugrian baltsic vikings

[@joangrant5248]

Do you have a reading list?

[@FlaviusClaudiusJulianus361]

I don't unfortunately at the moment - but it's a great idea. I think I'll start formulating one as the channel develops for interested folks :)

[@Mendogology]

His only source is wikipedia and even with that, his brain can't understand and read everything

[@marley7868]

those "europeans" you mentioned were priodominatley american born and raised on the continent herritage from home was also waned thin regardless so I'd say that's a bad take

[@Mendogology]

The map you use in the first seconds of the video is a joke, right? Looks like made by an American who read European history for 5 minutes in his whole life.

[@FlaviusClaudiusJulianus361]

Hi, could you elaborate? Is the map incorrect?

[@Mendogology]

@@FlaviusClaudiusJulianus361 ​ By the Umayyads being in Iberia I suppose this map is from X century or before ( The Umayyad Emirate of Cordoba in Iberia transitioned into the Caliphate of Córdoba in 929 AD). I also see Croatia, so that means it must be after 925 AD, when it became a Kingdom. Or is this map show Franks vassals as independent countries, in any case, I also see England and not Wessex, so it must be after 927 AD. So I suppose this map is showing Europe in any period between 927 and 929 AD...knowing that: - Why is France called France and not West France? - Why Is Kievan Rus so advanced to west? - First record from Poland as solidified state comes from 963... This map is like a simplified collection of different timelines. If the map is from after 927-929, the Umayyads is not the correct name, Germany is Holy Roman Empire, etc

[@thefisherking78]

Study history. Learn about all the awful 💩 people do to each other in the name of righteousness and purity, for the actual purpose of nothing but power.

[@FlaviusClaudiusJulianus361]

Quite so. Shame we have few or none slavic sources that survive as well

[@thefisherking78]

@@FlaviusClaudiusJulianus361 Thanks for what you do

[@snipzmattio5887]

W crusade

[@saber8156]

You sound like slorgs

[@FlaviusClaudiusJulianus361]

I take it you didnt like the sound quality? I'm working on it. Hopefully better in future video.

[@saber8156]

@@FlaviusClaudiusJulianus361 I meant you kind of sound like this other youtuber kzbin.info/www/bejne/eYCvfImjgK9rm5osi=Xuo-TsGAihxqU8ho and i think it makes the video even better. good video.