Circipania ( German : Circipanien, Zirzipanien ) was a medieval territory in what is now northeastern Germany . The name derives from Latin circum (around) and Pane (the Peene River). The region was enclosed roughly by the upper Recknitz , Trebel and Peene rivers, the western border ran east of Güstrow . The region developed in the 10th and 11th centuries, when it was the tribal territory of the Circipanes ( German : Circipanen, Zirzipanen ), a West Slavic tribe which along with the neighboring tribes was a part of the Lutici federation . The main burghs were Teterow , Malchin , and Demmin .
13-821: In 936, the Circipania was incorporated into the Billung March of the Holy Roman Empire . The Circipanes were one of the four constituent tribes of the Lutici federation centered on Rethra , which started a successful uprising in 983. Rid of the empire's overlordship, the Circipanes stayed with the Liutizians until the federation broke apart due to internal struggles in the 1050s, culminating dissolution in 1057. The Redarians and Tollensians opposed
26-665: The Marca Geronis , the great march of Gero to the south of the Billungs. The Billung March was formed in 936, when Otto II , Duke of Saxony and King of East Francia , made Hermann Billung princeps militiae ( margrave , literally "prince of the militia"), granting him control of the border with rule over the West Slavic Obotrite tribes, including the Polabians , Warnabi and Wagri , as well as
39-779: The Drevani , also known as the Draväno-polaben or Drevanen, in Lüchow-Dannenberg . In 1139, Henry the Lion granted "Polabia" to Count Henry of Badewide . The tribe was subsequently Germanized and assimilated over the following centuries. The last remnants of the Polabians, including the Polabian language , died out in the 18th century. Cultural remnants of the Polabians of Lower Saxony include numerous villages in
52-771: The House of Billung . The march reached from the Elbe River to the Baltic Sea and from the Limes Saxoniae to the Peene River in the east, roughly the territory of present-day eastern Holstein , Mecklenburg , and parts of Western Pomerania . German expansion into the region of the Billung March was "natural" and the settlement "true colonisation." This can be contrasted with the military occupation of
65-785: The Redarii , Circipani , and Kissini tribes of the Veleti confederation, and the Danes , who had repeatedly campaigned the territory. Major parts of the land of the Liutizi and the Hevelli lay beyond Hermann's sphere in the Marca Geronis . The Slavs of this region were often mutually hostile and so no organised resistance was met. Nevertheless, in 955 the Obotrite chief Nako took
78-494: The Circipanes and Kessinians struggling for more influence within the federative administration, and allied with the Obodrites . The Obodrites successfully invaded Circipania and made it a province of their realm. The internal struggles had weakened the area, such that in the following year it became the target of numerous expeditions of an expansive Holy Roman Empire during their Wendish Crusade in 1147), then by Denmark in
91-587: The German settlers called in by Wartislaw III, Duke of Pomerania before the Mecklenburg conquest, and by Mecklenburg knights during the Ostsiedlung . Billung March The Billung March ( German : Billunger Mark ) or March of the Billungs ( Mark der Billunger ) was a frontier region of the far northeastern Duchy of Saxony in the 10th century. It was named after the family which held it,
104-734: The chance and allied with Hermann's nephews, the Saxon counts Wichmann the Younger and Egbert the One-Eyed in their domestic quarrel with their uncle. Their open revolt culminated in the Battle on the Recknitz , where the Obotrites were completely defeated by King Otto's troops. Hermann was given a great deal of autonomy in his march and he is sometimes called the "Duke of Saxony", a title which
117-547: The name Circipania dropped out of use. Though Circipania vanished as a name from political maps, it was still visible on Roman Catholic ecclesiastic maps as the Pomeranian province of the Diocese of Cammin , because the borders of this province did not differ from that of Circipania and remained as they were before the conquest. The Circipanes, whose numbers already dwindled due to the previous warfare, were assimilated by
130-450: The raid of 1170, and finally by the Duchy of Pomerania which subdued and incorporated the area into Pomerania-Demmin in the late 12th century. The last of the territory was invaded by Mecklenburg and subdued in the early 1230s. The 1230s marked the end of Circipania as a distinct territory as well as the end of the Circipanes. Pomerania-Demmin was in a miserable position and lost most of
143-663: The territory to the Margrave of Brandenburg in the Treaty of Kremmen in 1236. Thus, Pomerania-Demmin could not counter the Mecklenburgian advance led by Borwin III of Rostock . Circipania would stay divided with Mecklenburg controlling the western bulk with Güstrow and Teterow, and Pomerania controlling the eastern smaller part around Demmin. Later the Mecklenburg part divided into Mecklenburg- Rostock and Mecklenburg- Werle , and
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#1732780104380156-596: Was actually held by Otto, because of the great deal of authority the king delegated to him as his deputy. The disjointedness of the Germanisation of the eastern marches led to many centuries of warfare; the Roman Catholic Church , however, "more foresighted than the crown ... made use of the tithe in the colonial lands from the very beginning." Like the adjacent Northern March , the March of Billung
169-573: Was finally abandoned following the uprising of the Obotrites and Veleti in 983. Polabians (tribe) The Polabians ( German : Polaben ; Latin : Polabi ) were a constituent Lechitic tribe of the Obotrites who lived between the Trave and the Elbe . The main settlement of the Polabians was Racisburg (modern Ratzeburg ), named after their Prince Ratibor. The Polabians were similar to
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